My 3rd great-grandmother's married name in America was Orpha Vandermade. Her death certificate states her father's name as Daniel Kuiper, and her first name is spelled Aafae in some census records. Somehow a while back I figured out that Cooper is an Americanization of Kuiper, and I located Daniel in the census records with a wife named Mary. A researcher in Muskegon also identified an immigration record for me. A Daniel Kuiper had immigrated in 1855 with a wife named Mary Post and several children, one named Antje. All three were almost the perfect ages for the people I had pieced together from census and death records. At this point, the research went cold since I could not locate Daniel and Mary's marriage nor Aafae's birth record on genlias.nl. I believe the research is correct, but the link between Aafae and this specific Daniel Kuiper is weaker than I would like.
Today I made significant progress in this area. I was able to locate Daniel and Mary's marriage record on genlias.nl. Daniel Kuijper (note the spelling difference) and Mietje Poth (not Post) were married 04 Apr 1824 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. But, birth records are not available yet on genlias.nl for Twisk (and probably neighboring areas as well). So, I have not located any birth records or other evidence of children of Daniel and Mietje.
But, the marriage record contains the names of parents for Daniel and Mietje. So, I have been able to trace back 2-3 additional generations for each of these ancestors and also construct parts of the families from marriage and death records. All of this will be more complete when the Noord-Holland birth records become more complete online.
So, for now, here is what I have learned.
- Daniel Kuijper was born in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Daniel's parents were Dirk Kuijper, Sr. and Aafje Leeuwrik.
- Dirk Kuiper, Sr. was born about 1773 and died on 27 Jun 1825 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Dirk's parents were Jan Kuijper and Grietje Smient. They had at least 3 children (Dirk, Jr.; Daniel; and Jacob)
- Mietje Poth was born in Medemblik, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Mietje Poth was born in Medemblik, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Mietje's parents were Volkert Poth and Eva Wilhelmina van Schaeck.
- Eva was born about 1778 and died on 13 Jul 1814 in Medemblik, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. I believe Eva died during childbirth since her last child died at 0 years and shares her date of death (and her name).
- Volkert and Eva had at least 3 children (Bernardus, Mietje, and Eva)
- Eva's parents were Hendrik van Schaeck and Albertina Maria Bolk.
- Hendrik was born about 1735 and died on 04 Jun 1813 in Enkhuizen, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- Hendrik and Albertina had at least 4 children (Eva Wilhelmina, Andreas Nikolass, Ida Geertruid, and Dirk Hendrik)
- Hendrik's parents were Andries and Catharina van Schaeck.