New Research - Kuijper

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'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.

New Research - van der Klok (Part 2)

The neatest part about the recent van der Klok research is the images of original documents from the Netherlands. One of them, the birth certificate of my 3rd great-grandmother Stijntje van Zanten, contains the signature of her father. This is the first signature I have found for an ancestor outside the United States.

Signature of Derk Hendriks van Zanten

Below at left is the original document (Stijntje's birth certificate), and to the right the birth certificate of her husband Tiete van der Klok. I found all of these documents on a website Thea pointed me to for Groningen, Netherlands: http://www.allegroningers.nl

Birth certificate of Stijntje van Zanten

Birth certificate of Tiete van der Klok

I was also able to locate Tiete and Stijntje's marriage license (below). They are the immigrant ancestors for the van der Klok line. It is interesting that almost all of Tiete's siblings remained in the Netherlands.

Marriage license for Tiete van der Klok and Stijntje van Zanten

I can't read them, but they are neat to find nevertheless!

New Research - van der Klok

Recently a woman named Thea who lives in the Netherlands contacted me about van der Klok family history. She is distantly related through a sibling of my 3rd great-grandfather Tiete van der Klok who stayed in Holland when Tiete came to America. She was able to offer some additional information to push this line further back. In addition, she pointed me to a few websites in the Netherlands where one can download original Dutch records for births, deaths, etc. What a blessing!

Things I have learned:

- Tiete's father Steven is the man with whom the van der Klok surname originated. When Napoleon ruled Holland, he ordered that everyone take a surname. (Prior to this, your surname was essentially your father's first name.) Steven Derks chose the surname van der Klok, and that is how we have known his descendants since then. The reason for his choice of surname is not known.

- Steven Derks van der Klok was baptized on 11 Aug 1782 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands. This date also corrected his approximate birth date which was apparently incorrect before.

- Steven's parents were Derk Okkes and Anje Stevens.

- Derk was baptized on 30 Jan 1735 in Woltersum, Groningen, Netherlands. He died before 1805. He was married first to Bauke Seebes on 05 Apr 1772 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands. He married Anje on 13 Nov 1779 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands. Derk and Anje had 7 children.

- Anje was baptized on 17 Mar 1754 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands. She died on 29 May 1820 in Huizinge, Groningen, Netherlands. Anje married second Jacob Willems on 19 May 1805 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands.

- Derk's parents were Okke Sijmens and Anje Derks.

- Anje's parents were Steven Pieters and Aagtje Jans

- Returning to Steven's wife Menje Reinders, she was baptized on 21 Oct 1781 in Garsthuizen (Stedum), Groningen, Netherlands.

- Steven and Menje were married on 23 Oct 1806 in Westeremden (Stedum), Groningen, Netherlands.

- Menje's parents were Jan Reinders and Aafke Addens.

- Aafke was baptized on 07 Oct 1742 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands. She died on 09 Dec 1808 in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands.

- Aafke's parents were Adde Aijlts and Geertje Rienjes.