Pieter and Maria: Part II

(click image to enlarge)

"Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L996-KQJQ?cc=1987615&wc=4627-BFY%3A265564801%2C265694401 : 1 May 2019), Hamilton > Declarations of intention 1860-1873 > image 150 of 306; county courthouses, Ohio.

(Part I can be found here.)

Life for Pieter and Maria in America as Dutch immigrants was very hard. While they had arrived in New York City, it was not their ultimate destination; rather, it was Cincinnati, Ohio. It's not clear why they and the others from the Netherlands that they traveled with went to Cincinnati, which was not a typical Dutch immigrant settlement location, like Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, or Washington State were. However, Cincinnati was a growing city with a growing economy. River commerce was high and spurred many industries, such as steamboat construction. It was well-known for its pork packing center, and many German and Irish immigrated there in the years before the Civil War.

The Ton family lived in a succession of boarding houses, and Pieter worked as a laborer. They likely worshiped in the homes of their fellow Seceders, for although Christian Reformed Church history states a congregation started in Cincinnati in 1867, no church by that denomination (called Holland Reformed Church in those days) was found in the city directories until long after they had left the city.

They faced grief many times. In March 1860, Pieter and Maria had a second son, Louis, likely an Anglicization of Leunis, named for Maria's father. He was not listed with the family in the 1870 Federal Census, so he likely died young. Pieter's sister Suzanna (Ton) Pape died 10 October 1860 from "confinement", probably after giving birth to a son Jacob. Her daughter, Neeltje, has not been found in records beyond the ship's passenger list, indicating she also died young.

Pieter's work as a laborer was probably quite dangerous. One of his employers was Wood & McCoy's Eagle White Lead Works. A history of the company can be found at this link, with information about the various toxic products their employees were exposed to over a century-and-a-half: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/eagle-picher-industries-inc-history/.  It is entirely possible that Pieter was familiar with processing white lead, used in those days as paint. There was a well-known method of processing called the "Dutch method" and it could be that Pieter had worked with this process in the Netherlands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_lead). We shall see how working with this product may have affected his quality of life in the next post.

There were also celebrations. Pieter declared his intention to become a citizen on 22 January 1862 and was naturalized by 1870. By 1867, three daughters were born to him and Maria: Neeltje "Nellie"; Marina "Mary"; and my great-great-grandmother, Adriana, also known as "Jana" (YAH-nuh) or "Jennie". Maria's sister Adriana married Leendert Klinke in 1864, and Maria's daughter Cornelia married Joseph Meyer in 1874.

(Part III)

Pieter and Maria: Part I

(click image to enlarge)

Manifest, S. S. E. C. Scranton, 7 December 1857, 6th page (unnumbered; contains passengers numbered 271-324), lines 29-32 (passengers 299-302), Peter Ton household; "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 March 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication M237, roll 181.

On December 7, 1857, my maternal 3rd-great-grandparents, Pieter and Maria Modena (Van Klinken) Ton disembarked from the E.C. Scranton in New York City at the Emigrant Landing Depot at Castle Garden, America's first official immigrant center, 35 years before Ellis Island opened. They had left the port of Rotterdam on October 31, 37 days earlier.

With them were Maria's six-year-old daughter, likely from a previous relationship, Cornelia Van Klinken; Maria's almost-26-year-old single sister, Adriana Van Klinken; Pieter's married sister Suzanna Ton, her husband Izak Pape, and their two-year-old daughter Neeltje Pape; and about a dozen other Dutch immigrants heading to Ohio, along with many other European passengers headed to various U.S. destinations.

The Tons, Van Klinkens, and Papes were Seceders: a religious group who had split from the official state church of the Netherlands, the Dutch Reformed Church, both in the Netherlands and the United States. The Seceders would form what became the Christian Reformed Church. They were not unlike the Separatists, whom we know as the Pilgrims, who separated from the official state church of England, the Anglican Church, in the early 1600s.

They were also poor laborers from the municipality of Nieuwerkerk (New Church) in the Province of Zeeland (Sea Land); my only non-Frisian immigrant Dutch ancestors. Frisians are an ethnic minority in the northern provinces of the Netherlands and western areas of Germany, who are ethnically and linguistically closer to the English than the Germanic peoples of Western Europe. The Ton, Van Klinken, and Pape families were ethnically Dutch.

Pieter and Maria had been married only a year, and had had one son, Adriaan Ton, named for Pieter's father. Adriaan had been conceived before they were married; not unusual in a time and place where the marriage fee to the church was prohibitive for the lower classes. Many couples co-habitated and had several children before they could afford a church wedding. Maria's daughter Cornelia was five years old when her mother married, and there's little evidence that Pieter was actually her biological father. Baby Adriaan died at four months old; three months before his parents and extended family arrived in New York City.

For a drawing of a similar ship to the one the Ton and Van Klinken families traveled on, see http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gerber/genealogy/gerbership.html.

(Part II)

Unofficial Holland-American Line Website Back Online

Four and five years ago, when I was researching my Dutch and Frisian ancestry and creating family history pages on these lines for my personal genealogy website, I came across a website that was invaluable: the "unofficial" Holland-America Line website, originally located at http://www.unofficial.net/hal/. The term "unofficial" was used, because the Holland-America Line is still very much a viable passenger ship company with its official website located here.

This comprehensive site was vital for researching the ships on which my Dutch and Frisian ancestors immigrated. Filled with photographs and paintings of the many ships of the H-A Line, along with the history of each ship and occasional information on the captains and crews, it gave me background for the history of each of my immigrant families. You can see how I used this information on my TUINSTRA and DeVRIES pages (caution: I have not yet updated the links on the pages).

Then several years ago, Hans Segboer the webmaster, closed the site due to not being able to maintain it. It was a great loss to the Dutch-American genealogical and historical community. I am happy to report that last week I discovered that it has reopened at the URL http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/.

I'm very excited to see that the site is back up. Since it went down, I discovered more names of ships on which my immigrant ancestors sailed. I look forward to using "Unofficial HAL" to do expand my research on these Dutch families!

If you had ancestors who immigrated from the Netherlands, or from other European countries via a Netherlands port such as Rotterdam, be sure to check out this fascinating and informative website!

This and That

I backposted an advent memory, "The Christmas Tree," as I start catching up on some of the posts I missed.

Did you know that T.K. of Before My Time was a cousin of mine? Neither did I, until I read this. She's my 10th cousin, twice removed (she and my maternal grandmother are the same generation!). Randy is also my cousin; I discovered this last September when he was posting his ahnentafel reports. I suppose if you have any roots that go back to Massachusetts in the 1640s, we could figure out that you're my cousin, too!

The grandmother of Tim of Genealogy Reviews Online recalled seeing the Statue of Liberty when she arrived in America, yet her ship landed in Philadelphia. Go here to find out how Tim's amazing discovery at Google Book Search helped him confirm his family's oral history.

Kevin explains how mold has destroyed the entire contents of a Michigan library in the small community where my 3rd-great-grandparents, Sylvester Fredenburg and Cornelia McClellan, were married. How tragic!

What genealogist doesn't love books? Kimbooktu shares a video on an exhibit of some of the world's tiniest tomes.

Want to know the latest news in your ancestral locations? Go here to locate a newspaper from your ancestor's residence, then check out the paper's website to see if they have a blog you can add to your newsreader. I've been keeping an eye on the blogs of The Grand Rapids Press and The Muskegon Chronicle of Western Michigan. That's how I discovered this story. Refdesk is also how I look for obituaries for recently deceased relatives from out of state.

The SWEERS Connection

Find your ancestors in Revolutionary War Rolls.

Before I left for vacation two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a lady named Nancy, who coincidentally hails from Yakima, Washington, just a three-hour drive from my hometown. Nancy has been chasing the HILT family all over Maine and Massachusetts, she says, and she found my record of Peter HILT who married Margaret ZWIERS on my WorldConnect database at RootsWeb.

First off, if you aren't familiar with WorldConnect, it is a place at RootsWeb where you can upload your family tree database in GEDCOM format. Information on living persons is automatically "cleaned" from viewers on the Internet, for privacy's sake. As a submitter of my GEDCOM, I can use my database as a backup file in the event of a computer crash, home fire, natural disaster, etc. and download a copy of my entire GEDCOM back into my computer in the event that it is necessary. Did I mention this is free, as is everything on RootsWeb?

One of the nifty features of WorldConnect--and this feature is also available at many of the other databases at RootsWeb--is the ability to add Post-ems. Say that you, like Nancy, were searching for Peter HILT and you found him on my WorldConnect database. When you click on his file, you can then click on the "Add Post-em" link near the top of the page. You will then be prompted to register for a free member account, if you don't already have one and are signed in. Next you will be able to leave a Post-em; think of it as an electronic sticky note. This will include your name, e-mail address, and a short message, such as "Hi, I'm researching this individual, too!" or "I have records that show a different death date for this individual." You can leave the URL and title of your website or blog, if you wish, and then create a password for security's sake. After you click the "post" button, an e-mail will be sent to me, and we can connect further, if we desire.

Anyway, back to my SWEERS family. From my research, I knew that a Daniel ZWIERS, a Palatine born in Germany, immigrated to the U.S. on the galley Ann, where he landed in Philadelphia on 27 September 1746. Then I have no more record of him until 1762, when he and his wife Margery join the First Church of Lancaster, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on June 18th. He and his family lived in the Lancaster area until his death in 1779. Thus far, I've been able to determine that he and Margery had at least six children: Jacob, Daniel Jr., Margaret (who married Peter HILT), Barbara (who married William SHAW), Peter, and a son who was "killed with a cart" in Lancaster on 30 April 1765.

Jacob, Peter, and Daniel Jr. (my ancestor) all served in the Revolution; the first two for Massachusetts, and Daniel for Vermont. In fact, I've recently found Daniel in the Revolutionary War Rolls at Footnote (more on that another time). I've been able to trace this family all through New England, New York, Ontario and into Michigan, as the name has evolved from ZWIERS to ZWEARS, then SWEARS and finally, SWEERS. But what has puzzled me was that 19-year gap from Daniel Sr.'s arrival in Philadelphia until his appearance in Lancaster. And why Lancaster? It was a Puritan stronghold, and to my knowledge, no Palatines were in the area. Where in the Palatine did Daniel and Margery hail from? I haven't been able to find them in histories of Palatine immigrants. Nancy may have the answers.

She sent me copies of pages from the book, Broad Bay Pioneers: 18th Century German-Speaking Settlers of Present-Day Waldoboro, Maine by Wilford W. Whitaker and Gary T. Horlacher. I found a long history of the HILT family, as well as a short mention of the ZWIERS family, stating that the name "Zwier" was an occupational surname, "meaning a member of a two person group in court or other official duties." According to this book, the original spelling was "Zweier." Hmmm...I know just enough German to know that Zwier and Zweier would have two distinct pronunciations--zhveer and zhvy-er, respectively--so I wonder about the accuracy of this.

The book continues that the ZWIERS family's origins in Germany are unknown and that Daniel apparently arrived in Boston on 9 November 1751 on the Priscilla, coming to Broad Bay later. Broad Bay Plantation was a settlement founded in 1748 by German immigrants from the Rheinland area (the present-day Rheinland-Pfalz [also known as Rhineland-Palatinate] area of Germany is the home of the Palatines). The settlement is now known as Waldoboro, Lincoln Co., Maine.

Daniel's daughter Margaret is listed, with a birthdate that I did not have, as well as a child of Margaret and Peter's, and some information on grandchildren of this couple. The children I had in my database as being the offspring of Peter and Margaret actually turn out to be children of Peter and his second wife, Anna Margaretha Löbensaler, whom he married in early 1768 (giving me a probable death date of 1767 for Margaret ZWIERS).

There is also information on another possible son of Daniel and Margery, born about 1751. This cannot be the same as the unknown son who died in 1765 in Lancaster, as the former was married with children who were born in 1779 and 1787.

There's a Daniel ZWAUR who signs a petition in Broadbay in 1788. This cannot be Daniel ZWIERS, I, as he died in Lancaster in 1779. It could be his son, my ancestor, Daniel ZWEARS, II who has a 17-year gap between records I've found for him as a member of First Church in Lancaster in 1773 and his appearance on the 1790 Federal Census for Dummerston, Windham Co., Vermont.

Unfortunately, Broad Bay Pioneers has no sources cited for its information, according to Nancy, so it's difficult to determine where the authors got their information and how accurate it is. It does provide me with some possible answers to my questions, especially informing me that there was a settlement of German Protestants in New England at the time my ZWIERSes were living in the area. Maine was considered a part of Massachusetts in those days, and it wasn't unusual for people to move back and forth between those two areas.

A couple of theories I've since developed with this information that will bear further investigation include:

• 1. My Daniel ZWIERS first came to what is now the U.S. in 1746 on the galley, Ann, to Philadelphia without his wife and children. He worked to save money to bring the rest of the family over, returning to Germany to fetch them, and arriving on the Priscilla in Broad Bay, Maine in 1751. Later, he moved to Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1762, where he lived for the remainder of his days.
• 2. The Daniel ZWIERS who appears in Philadelphia is not my ancestor, but another immigrant with the same name. My Daniel does not come to America until 1751, arriving in Broad Bay.

This information excites me, because this family is one of my few colonial families that does not already have a published history. It's much more fun to do the research yourself than to discover that the history has been done to death, as what has happened all-too-frequently in my many Puritan and Pilgrim lines!

P.S. This is only one of two known German ancestral lines that I have. The other is my ENGBRENGHOF line, a family that came from Burgsteinfurt, Westfalen to the province of Friesland, the Netherlands between 1774 and 1778, and married into my DOLSTRA line there in the village of Marrum, municipality of Ferwerderadeel.

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 10

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I posted lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I am continuing this series into the subsequent months. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

In Part 2 of this series, I presented census information on my paternal grandmother living in the home of her adoptive parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE. Nellie's parents were both deceased by 1930, although she had a step-mother (Minnie Belle FIELD) and younger half-brother (Everett CONCIDINE), possibly living in California (they are currently missing-in-action in this census). In this post, I will discuss Alfred's parents, Johann "John" D. HOLST and Ida C. (or Marie) GUSTAVSON, in relation to the 1930 Federal Census.

On April 9, 1930, John and Ida were enumerated (E.D. 28, Sheet 9B) at their home on Center Street in the village of Coopersville, Polkton Township, Ottawa County, Michigan. This is the village in which my father, his siblings, his mother and his uncle grew up, and where one of my aunts and some of my cousins live today. In 1930, all five of John and Ida's surviving children (they apparently lost two in infancy) were living in the area, with the exception of John, Jr., who lived in Florida.

The household consisted of:

• John D. Holst; head of household; owner of a home worth $2,000; home not on a farm; male, white, age 69, married; age at marriage: 20; did not attend school in the last year; able to read and write; born in Germany; parents born in Germany; language spoken before coming to the United States: German; immigrated to the U.S. in 1883; a naturalized citizen; able to speak English; works as a janitor at a condensery for wages; employed; not a veteran.
• Ida C. Holst; wife; female, white, age 68, married; age at marriage: 19; did not attend school in the last year; able to read and write; born in Sweden; parents born in Sweden; language spoken before coming to the United States: Swedish; immigrated to the U.S. in 1883; a naturalized citizen; able to speak English; occupation: none.

According to a local historian, Chris Heimler, the home that John and Ida lived in was actually 468 Center Street, and it had quite a history in and of itself. The house had been a residence for several prominent families in that community. In looking over my notes to write this post, I realized there were some loose ends that needed tying up, and I hope to discover more about this residence and perhaps even obtain photos of it.

The 1920 U.S. Federal Census states that John had been born in Hannover, and the 1900 census gives his birthdate as April 1860. Ida, born 28 October 1861 in Sweden, must have immigrated to Germany before her marriage there to John on 6 February 1880. Their son, Alfred, was born in Germany before the young family immigrated in 1883, departing Europe from Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France. They arrived in New York City on 5 July 1883 on the Lessing (go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a photo of the ship). Also aboard was 17-year-old Henriette HOLST, who was listed as being a citizen of Prussia, while John, Ida and Alfred are citizens of Hannover. Holst is a common German name, however, as its meaning is "woods." I'm keeping an eye out for Henriette to see if she ever shows up in my Holsts' lives again.

The Holst family first settled in Spring Lake Township, Ottawa County, Michigan, where they were enumerated on the 1884 Michigan State Census. In 1900, they were in Ravenna Township in nearby Muskegon County, and in 1910 and 1920, resided in Sullivan Township, also in Muskegon County. According to John's obituary, they moved into Coopersville in 1923; it erroneously states they had always lived in Ottawa County since immigration. John enjoyed hunting even into his elder years, and he and Ida celebrated their 50th anniversary in a community-wide event in 1930. She died in 1939; and John died the following year.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 11, Part 12)

Happy Birthday - March 4

Happy Birthday to:

• Willemke Gerryts ENGBRENGHOF, my 4th-great-grandmother, whose father, Jan Gerryt Martens ENGBRENGHOF, brought what little German ancestry I have into the family tree. Willemke's mother was Trijntje HESSELS, a Frisian, and daughter of a ship master. Willemke was born on this date in 1788 in the village of Marrum, municipality of Ferwerderadeel, Friesland, the Netherlands, the fifth of 11 children. She married my ancestor Gerrit Hendricks DOLSTRA on 29 June 1806 in Marrum, and they proceeded to have three children, all widely spaced apart. The youngest was my ancestor, Trijntje Gerrits DOLSTRA, who as a widow, emigrated to the United States in 1888 to live with her one surviving child, Tjamme Wiegers "James" VALK. Willemke died 3 September 1843 in Ferwerderadeel, and was buried three days later in the Marrum Churchyard. Although she was buried in Row 30, Grave 5, probably no gravestone exists, as the Dutch custom is to dig up graves after a period of many years, burn the bones, and thus leave room for new burials (in the Netherlands, land is at premium). One can pay more to have a loved ones' body buried for a much longer time before the necessary unearthing and subsequent cremation. In Willemke's case, her family must have been indigent, as the deacons' fund paid for her burial.
  

Research Log - HOEKSTRA

I spent a little over an hour the night before last working on some documents for my 3rd-great-grandfather (ahnentafel #58), Jan Martens "John" HOEKSTRA (1820 - 1909). I realized that I did not have a copy of his enumeration on the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, so I went to Ancestry to download and print it. The copy printed onto a standard 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper was rather small to read, so I then printed a copy of the free 1900 census form they offer. With pencil I filled in all the information on the form pertinent to Jan and third wife Grietje "Grace" [--?--] Van DAM, then placed both the census image copy and the filled-out form in my Hoekstra Family binder.

(The census image has been removed)

I then opened up my RootsMagic genealogy software, and used the Source Wizard feature to add all the pertinent census data to Jan and Grietje's personal records in proper format.

Observations I noted:

• The couple are enumerated as "John" and "Grace" HOEKSTRA, anglicized versions of their forenames.
• Jan's age (79) and date of birth (Mar 1821), while consistent with each other, are incorrect. He was 80 years old and born in March 1820, information shown in abstracts of the birth records found online in the archives of the Province of Friesland, the Netherlands. His county death record and obituary match his birth record abstract.
• There are squiggles in the columns for "Number of years of present marriage" for both Jan and Grietje. They had been married for nearly 6 years at that point (I have their county marriage record). I know it was his third and her second marriage.
  
• Jan's year of immigration (1881) and number of years of residence in the United States (19) were way off. He immigrated in 1867 and so had lived 33 years in the U.S. by 1900. I am beginning to wonder if this was Grietje's immigration information.
  
• He was listed as a naturalized citizen. I then went to the State of Michigan's website and found a Jan Hoekstra listed in the Ottawa County Naturalization Index. The first paper for this individual is in Volume 2, Page 368. I can access these on microfilm through my local Family History Center to see if this Jan Hoekstra is the same man as my ancestor.
  
• Jan is listed as a home owner of a mortgage-free home at 481 Wood Avenue, Muskegon (5th Ward), Muskegon Co., Michigan. Obtaining deed records would be a good idea. A while ago, I did a keyword search for "481 wood" at Ancestry's "Muskegon, Michigan Directories, 1887 - 1890" database. For the year 1887 - 1888, there were four Van DAM gentlemen, Guerin (laborer), Jeremiah (laborer at Ryerson manufacturing Co., boarder), John (laborer, boarder), and Joseph (laborer for T. D. Stimson). For the year 1889 - 1890, only Guerin (laborer) and Joseph (laborer at Ryerson manufacturing Co.) were listed at the home. Jan and Grietje were married in September 1894, and from his obituary we learn that he moved to Muskegon around 1895 from Holland, Ottawa Co., Michigan (likely at the time of his marriage to Grietje). I need to do further research on Grietje's first husband and children to see how the above names fit into her family group record. I think her first husband probably died, as did Jan's first and second wives, before she married Jan. But I don't know her husband's first name, and looking at a Van DAM family in Holland, Michigan in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census--a possible match for Grietje--does not clarify things for me, but rather leaves me with more questions. So I'll be doing more research on her first marriage and subsequent children later. And I'm curious about the transfer of the property from the Van DAM family to Jan HOEKSTRA.
  

WESTABY and WILSON ancestors' immigration on Western World

Ancestry has added a great number of records to its Immigration Collection, and I was able to find my husband's immigrant WESTABY and WILSON ancestors today. George Rice WESTABY, I (1822 - 1894) and Ann WILSON (1822 - 1902) arrived in New York on May 22, 1850 on the Western World. Accompanying them was George's brother Charles (1825 - 1897) and a three-year-old Emma WESTABY, a new name in our family history. Was she a niece (Charles' daughter? He married for the first time--so we thought--in 1852 in Illinois...or perhaps another sibling's daughter?) George and Ann were newlyweds...their marriage was recorded in the General Registry Office in June 1850, so they had to have been married sometime between March and May. They were married in Glanford Brigg, Lincolnshire, England, and both George and Charles had been born in Barrow-Upon-Humber in Glanford Brigg.

Also on board was a John WILSON...perhaps a relative of Ann's, although our current family history doesn't list a brother by that name. There are also some small WILSON children emigrating with what appears to be a mother and step-father named MILLTHORPE. John WILSON's family is listed on the passenger list between two MILLTHORPE families. Could the WESTABY, WILSON and MILLTHORPE families emigrating together also all be related to each other? Very likely. I need to do some more detective work!

I also found some info online about the Western World. Apparently she sunk off the coast of New Jersey in 1853, and is a scuba diver's paradise.

Free Access to Subscription Sites during Thanksgiving Weekend

I have heard that there is free access to subscription genealogy websites during Thanksgiving weekend.

Ancestry offers free access to its Immigration Collection until November 30th. They've recently added 80.5 million names to the collection, mostly in passenger lists. If you find your ancestor on a passenger list, you may also be lucky enough to find an image of the ship posted. I blogged recently about finding my TON and Van KLINKEN ancestors at Ancestry. They came over on the E.C. Scranton, an image of which is not available. However, there is a drawing of a similar ship available here, along with the history of the Scranton.

Another site that is offering free access is the National Genealogy Society, which has opened up its "Members Only Section" to the public, using the user name member and the password ngspromo. Warning: the site was hit so many times, it was rendered virtually unusable. I sent out an e-mail to the webmaster, and received three very nice e-mails in response, encouraging me to keep trying. I was able to get in for a short period (15 minutes), but the results I got on the searches I made were rather disappointing.

TON, Van KLINKEN, PAPE, TUINSTRA and Van ESSEN research

Found my 3rd-great-grandparents, Pieter TON and Maria Van KLINKEN, on Ancestry.com's passenger list (on the ship "E. C. Scranton," which arrived in New York on 7 Dec 1857). Pieter's name was right under Peter TIMMERMAN. The whole list was mis-transcribed. My Pieter is listed as "Peter Con Zimmerman" and so therefore, Maria, his wife is listed as "Maria Zimmerman." Zimmerman, by the way is German for "carpenter," and Timmerman is Dutch for "carpenter."

(click on photo several times to view zoomed image)

Also with Pieter and Maria are Adriana "Zimmerman" (Ton) and Cornelia "Zimmerman" (Ton), which I believe are Pieter's sister and perhaps a niece. [Correction: A closer look at the Zeeland Provincial Archives online database led to the discovery that Cornelia was the daughter of Maria Van KLINKEN, prior to her marriage to Pieter TON. It's not clear whether Pieter was Cornelia's father, although she is listed as "Cornelia TON" on the passenger list. I believe Cornelia died young, as she does not appear in the 1870 Federal Census with the rest of the family. In addition, Pieter and Maria named a later daughter Nellie (b. 1860). It was not uncommon for the Dutch to name a child after a deceased older sibling.]

There is also Pieter's sister Suzanna "Susanna" Van KLINKEN, her husband Izak "Isaac" PAPE and their daughter, Netye PAPE. ("Netye" is probably supposed to be Neeltje, who would have been named after Pieter, Suzanna, and Adriana's mother.) They are all with a group from the Netherlands headed for Ohio. My family records show Pieter and Maria lived in Cincinnati for 16 years, then moved north to Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm not sure what it was about Cincinnati that attracted them...jobs, a Seceder's Church...?

---------------------------------
This evening at the Family History Center, I reviewed FHL microfilm # 1,377,933, Item 2: City of Grand Rapids [Michigan] Record of Burials, 1874 - 1877, and made some terrific finds!:

Van KLINKEN, Maria, age 51 [my records say 50], White, Female, Place of Birth: Holland, Disease: Dropsey; died 22 Apr 1878; buried in the Pottersfield, Valley City Cemetery, record #6168 - this is my 3rd-great-grandmother, mentioned above

TRIMSTRA (TUINSTRA?), Stjoestje, age 3 mos, 5 days, White, Female, Place of Birth: City; Disease: Cholera Infantum; died at 224 Elizabeth St., 24 Jul 1886; buried in Lot 75, Block K, Greenwood Cemetery, record #6046 - not sure if this is a TUINSTRA, but if so, she would be related

Van ESSEN, Meinn [sic - Meine], age 86, White, Male, Place of Birth: Netherland; Disease: old age; died at 2 Fifth Ave., 17 Jan 1887; Permit [4, 9, 7, C, G...?...can't read it], Valley City Cemetery, record #6471 - this is my 2nd-great-grandfather's father-in-law (of 3rd wife)

Van KINKEN [sic], Giertje, 52 yrs, 7 mos, 11 days, White, Female; Place of Birth: Netherland; Disease: malignant tumor; died at corner of Alpine & 10th St., 18 May 1887; buried in Lot 14, Block N, Greenwood Cemetery, record #6485 - this may be a relative of my Van KLINKENs

HOEKSTRA - JONKER - TON - ZIGTERMAN - DICKINSON marriages, Ottawa Co., Michigan

I went to my local Family History Center this evening. The film I had ordered (FHL microfilm #0984231: Ottawa County, Michigan Marriage Records, Vol. 5 - 7, 1867 - 1902) was in. I had a number of marriages to search. The first was for my great-great-great-grandparents, Jan Martens HOEKSTRA and Grietje JONKER. Both widowed, they emigrated separately to the U.S. from Kloosterburen, Groningen, the Netherlands to Holland, Ottawa County, Michigan. Jan came in 1867 with a daughter, Geertje "Gertrude", from his first marriage. I haven't been able to find Grietje JONKER's immigration information, but it had to be between 1862, when her youngest son, Filippes DEKKER, died in Kloosterburen, and 1867, when she married Jan.

I found Jan and Grietje's marriage in Volume 5, page 3. It was record #45, and extremely difficult to read. They were married in Holland (Michigan) on 28 Oct 1867, a mere short four months after Jan emigrated. The officiant was J. B. DeBEE(K?), officiant of the "T. Ref. Ch." Now looking at the Ottawa County GenWeb site, I cannot find a Reformed Church that starts with a "T." It might be a "J" or maybe a "1". Couldn't find a pastor's name with DeBEE or DeBEEK, either. More investigation needed. Also, I had a difficult time reading the witnesses names: J. HUIGESTAGES (?) and E. HATLE/HIGTE/SLIGTE (?), both of Holland.

The second important marriage record was for Jan and Griete's son and daughter-in-law, Martin HOEKSTRA and Jennie TON (my great-great-grandparents). I had long suspected that the "Martin HOEKSTRA - Jana FOW" marriage I had seen listed in the bride's index at the Ottawa County GenWeb site was for my ancestors, with TON misspelled. I found their record (#233) in Vol. 6, pg. 59. Yes, TON was misspelled as FOW on the record itself...which probably was copied from the original marriage certificate or the clergyman's records incorrectly. Martin and Jana/Jennie were married 27 Nov 1886 in Holland (Michigan). I know this is their record, because Jennie's birthplace is correctly listed as Ohio, and Martin's parents, Jan and Grietje, were the witnesses. It also matches the information Martin and Jennie's son, John (my great-grandfather), wrote in his Family Record Book, that his parents were married November 1886.

A fun new discovery was a marriage record for Catherine DEKKER, Grietje JONKER's daughter by her first marriage to Jans Freerk DEKKER, and a half-sister to Martin. She married Bene HAIT of Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan on 12 Jan 1874 in Holland (Michigan), according to their marriage record (#83) found in Vol. 5, pg. 98. It lists Catherine's birthplace as Kloosterburen, which is terrific! Groningen does not yet have all its birth/baptisms listed online at the Dutch National Archives website, so I did not have a specific birthplace for Catherine before now, although I did find other family records (marriages and deaths) located in Kloosterburen. I suspect now that the E. HATLE/HIGTE/SLIGTE witness to Jan and Grietje's marriage may actually be HAIT. UPDATE: I've since discovered that this difficult-to-read surname was actually STUIT, and not HAIT. The witness was very likely Hattie STUIT, mother of Beene STUIT, who married Grietje's daughter Catherine.

Other marriage records found of lesser importance include those for Zigert ZICHTERMAN - Anna BRONSEMA (Zi was a brother to my step-ancestor, Trientje ZIGHTERMAN BOS BARSEMA); and Wallace William DICKINSON - Elizabeth GARRISON (Wallace was a brother to my ancestor, Lucy May DICKINSON). I could not locate a marriage record for Fonytje "Finnie" HOEKSTRA (Jan and Grietje's daughter) to Riekel VanTIL, although a descendant of theirs lists 27 Oct 1892 in Holland (Michigan) as their marriage date and location. I found Sherman DICKINSON (a brother to Wallace and Lucy) in the index, but ran out of time to locate the record. And I still need to investigate all DEKKER listings to see if I can locate Fredrich DEKKER's marriage (brother to Catherine/son of Grietje from her first marriage).