Robert Rankin at Valley Forge

A Rankin researcher and blogger recently stated, "If you want to continue believing that Lt. Robert was at Valley Forge, you might want to skip" a future blog post that the researcher has yet to publish.  The researcher, who is a Rankin but is not from the Lt. Robert Rankin part of the tree, is implying that she can prove Robert was not at Valley Forge.  I heartily disagree and doubt his presence can be disproved.

To reassure Robert's descendants, I have painstakingly retraced my previous research to again convince myself that Robert was indeed at Valley Forge, and I have learned a bit more than I already knew, especially about Robert's enlistment.  The PDF linked below is the conclusion of that process.

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nivek/genealogy/charts-reports/Thompson/narratives/Robert-Rankin-Valley-Forge.pdf

Unless some miraculously unexpected piece of new evidence appears, I am confident that Robert Rankin was indeed at Valley Forge and that the researcher's claim is mistaken.  Only time will tell, but I am certainly comfortable with the current analysis and conclusion.

As a final note, Robert Rankin is a well-known and accepted ancestor for the Society of the Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge.  Given the focus of the Society, they probably know more than just about anyone about Valley Forge and the soldiers that wintered there with George Washington.  This is all the more reason to suspect that the Rankin researcher's claim is unlikely to be true.

The Genealogy Reward

I have been doing genealogy research for more than 10 years off and on. It has taken this long to get the result shown below: almost 7 generations completely documented (12 missing people out of 127).

Fan Chart for Kevin Thompson

From the additional charts below centered on my grandparents, you can see that in some areas much more than 7 generations are known.

Fan Chart for Clark Minard Thompson
Fan Chart for Evelyn Thorst Erickson
Fan Chart for George Avner Baldwin
Fan Chart for Adda Wanda Anders

If you have done serious genealogy research for any length of time, you know that these charts are definitely a reward in themselves...

The Mystery of Emily Morse (Moss) Pegoda

(This is an old post I had started on 23 Sep 2012 but failed to post for some reason. The information is a bit dated now, but I felt it worthwhile to post.)

Part of my ancestry contains a curiously unique surname: Pegoda. If you know a Pegoda (spelled exactly like that), especially one that lives in Texas, there is a 99.99% chance I am related to them. So, recently, I decided to focus my research on the Pegoda family. Such a unique name sure makes weeding out non-relatives easy - they are all related to me!

While researching the Pegoda lines, I have luckily solved one of the long standing mysteries in my family. It was a minor mystery about the first wife of my 3rd great-grandfather John Pegoda, but nonetheless it was a mystery. And, it was a mystery to my part of the family, but apparently not to at least a few others in the distant family.

After John Pegoda immigrated to the United States in 1851 and settled in Walker County, Texas, he married a woman named Emily Morse on 17 Oct 1852 in Walker County. But, we should first note that her surname might not be Morse. When we first see John and Emily together in the 1860 United States census with their 3 children (Nancy, Mary Frances, and John), there is a curious older woman living with them by the name of Nancy Moss who the record states was born in Indiana. Since the record states that Emily was born in Illinois, I have assumed that Nancy is Emily's mother. No guarantees, but a relatively safe assumption given their relative ages and almost identical surnames - Morse and Moss. I have not been able to trace Nancy and Emily back to the 1850 census with any surname: Moss, Morse, Morris, etc. So, there is another remaining mystery (they never really end do they?). As we will see, some of the new evidence I have found also points to the Moss surname. [NOTE: Since Sep 2012 I have learned of new evidence that points to Emily being of the Mass family - see my book "The Pegoda Family in America" for more information.]

Now, by the 1870 census, Emily has vanished along with the 3 children she had with John, and John has remarried to another woman named Nancy McGraw (my 3rd great-grandmother) and had new children. And, this is the mystery I have solved. (Since solving it, I have finally come across at least two other people who had put these pieces together. It was just not readily available on the internet - only in ancestry.com family trees.)

I have always believed that Emily died, and probably also the three children. This belief was rooted in a note in a Walker County, Texas history book stating that John and "his wives" were buried in unmarked graves in Bath (Possum Walk) Cemetery in Walker County. Although I have not found Emily Morse's grave yet, I do not believe this is true, especially not how I thought - with Emily dying in the 1860s. John is likely buried there with his second wife Nancy, but probably not his first wife. Why? Emily did not die in the 1860s.

In the 1870 census there is an Emilie Pegodie (yes, that spelling would throw a wrench in searching by an index) in Trinity County, Texas. (Searching with soundex is beautiful, isn't it?) Her age and place of birth are a little off from the 1860 census, but there are two children with her: Nannie and Fannie, nicknames for Nancy and Frances. And, their ages and birth places are perfect. Little John is missing, but it is very possible to lose a child in 10 years during that time period.

Emily lives on until after the 1900 census often living with her daughter Frances. I believe she is buried somewhere in Robertson County, Texas as this was her last known place of residence. I find it very unlikely that after almost 40 years of separation in different locales that Emily would be buried back in Possum Walk Cemetery with her ex-husband and his second wife.

Apparently John and Emily divorced, although unfortunately the census records never confirm this. I have not checked for a divorce record in Walker County, but it seems someone would have mentioned it before now. Perhaps the record does not exist or is archived (as some are in Walker County).

So, what started all of this? The death certificate for John and Emily's daughter Mary Frances from 1949. Old death certificates are powerful genealogy tools! It states her parents as "Mr. Pegoda" and "Emma Moss." We always knew from the 1860 census that John and Emily had children. I thought they vanished off the face of the earth. But, when I found Frances' death certificate, I knew that was not true. So, she had to be somewhere in 1870. And I found her. With her mother. In Trinity County, Texas.

Mystery solved!

And, through all of this, I have finally been able to locate the immigration record for John Pegoda. I knew it existed, but I had never located it. One of the two people who had already put these parts of the Pegoda family together had a link to it.

New Books - Pegoda, Thompson

I have mostly finished two new genealogy books.

The first is a book called "The Pegoda Family in America" and it documents the first three generations of descendants of John Pegoda, Sr. who immigrated from Ruda, Prussia to Walker County, Texas.  The book is largely complete and is awaiting input, corrections, and additions from other Pegoda researchers I have reached out to.

The second is a book called "The Descendants of Paul Thompson" and it documents the first three generations of descendants of Paul Thompson (an immigrant from Sweden) of Muskegon, Michigan.  It also is largely complete and is awaiting input, corrections, and additions from a few Thompson researchers I have reached out to.

The books are being published electronically and can be downloaded as PDF files from the front page of my genealogy website:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nivek/

If you are a descendant of either of these immigrants, please have a look at the books and provide corrections and additions. It is my hope that these will be the most complete and accurate genealogies of descendants possible.

- Kevin

The Mystery of Jane (continued)

I have previously shared a narrative illustrating why we believe that my 4th great-grandmother Jane (Baldwin) was married to a William D. Baldwin. This narrative also attempted to establish that Louisa, the wife of John Covington Thomas, is the first child of William and Jane. There is one piece of evidence to this mystery that I have not seen highlighted publicly very much, so I wanted to give it some attention.

In 1963, a man named Clarence W. Roberson, Jr. of Terrell, Texas produced an unpublished booklet on the family history of his wife, Nannie Fay Sadler, called "The Samuel Washington Lindley Family." Nannie was a great-granddaughter of John Covington Thomas. In this booklet, a pedigree chart was included on page 49 to illustrate several Baldwin and Lindley marriages in the family tree. This chart is shown below (click to enlarge).

Nannie's great-grandfather surnamed Thomas is shown as married to a Baldwin. A little work is needed to identify this Thomas and his wife, but the trail is easily followed with census records and Texas death records to arrive at none other that John C. and Louisa Thomas, the couple who are the common thread in the Jane Baldwin narrative.

There are four reasons why I think great weight should be given to this piece of secondary evidence. First, as I have researched the other content of this pedigree chart, it contains no mistakes. All of the other parent-child relationships and marriages can be proven to be correct.  This does not prove the Thomas-Baldwin marriage to be correct, but it gives a high degree of assurance that it is correct.

Second, as stated by my distant cousin Cathy Magleby, Clarence Roberson's booklet contains the only known complete listing of children of Francis Marion Baldwin and Mary Sadler. Therefore, he and his family had access to general and specific information about the Baldwin family history that no longer exists. It is logical to believe this information extended to Francis' proposed sister Louisa in the pedigree chart.

It should be noted here that three of Francis Marion Baldwin and Mary Sadler's children were alive in 1960 when the Roberson's began their research. So, it is quite possible they had conversations with nieces and nephews of Louisa. This could be where Clarence had access to a reported Francis Marion Baldwin Bible to compile the birth dates of Francis and Mary's children.

Third, the purpose of the given pedigree chart is to illustrate a somewhat complicated set of marriages and family relations between the Lindley, Sadler, Thomas, and Baldwin families. If it were a simple pedigree chart, Mary Sadler and Francis Marion Baldwin would not have been included. The fact that they were included indicates there was specific, relevant information to the purpose of this chart. That information was another Baldwin marriage into the Lindley-Sadler family that also connected to Thomas family.

Fourth, as I have analyzed the life spans of everyone from Nannie Sadler to Jane Baldwin, there is much overlap in their life spans. Part of what we are considering here is how close this report is to Jane Baldwin and Louisa Thomas and how much discontinuity has occurred in the family that would interrupt or corrupt the flow of family history information. Consider the following:

- Jane Baldwin lived past 1870 in Limestone County.
- John and Louisa Thomas probably both died before 1870 in Leon County.
- Children of John and Louisa Thomas lived from 1843 until 1934, in the latter years in Limestone County.
- Children of James "Jim" Hamilton Thomas (grandchildren of John and Louisa) lived from 1871 (in Leon-Madison-Limestone counties until at least 1900) until 1965 (two of them in Terrell, Texas in the latter years). Specifically, Nannie's mother Minnie Pearl Thomas lived until 1957 in Terrell.
- Nannie Fay Sadler was born in 1909.
- Nannie's husband begins compiling family history info in Jan 1960 from Terrell, Texas.

With so much overlap and virtually all of these families remaining in relatively close proximity well into the 20th century, the situation was conducive for sharing and communication of family history.

Therefore, I am quite comfortable with the conclusion that Louisa is a sister of Francis Marion Baldwin and therefore a child of Jane Baldwin. Despite the lack of primary evidence, I think we have likely established the truth. I believe the Baldwin family history developed by Clarence Roberson was done on a firm foundation and is reliable.

Finally, it is important to note that there were very few Baldwins in Texas in the 1840s. If indeed the maiden name of Louisa Thomas was Baldwin, and there is close geographical proximity and interaction between the families of John C. Thomas and Jane Baldwin throughout the 1840s and 1850s, the likelihood of Louisa being the daughter of William D. and Jane Baldwin is very high.

Clark Thompson - 1940 US Census

As successful as it was, I am glad to be done going page by page in the 1940 United States census. My last find includes my grandparents Clark Minard Thompson and Evelyn Thorst Erickson. They are in lines 1 and 2 of the image below (Hartford County, Connecticut enumeration district 2-23, page 61B). The process of finding this record was interesting.

I have a 1940 selective service registration card for my grandfather. Using Google maps, I mapped his 1940 home address and found the nearest cross streets. I then used the "find enumeration district by intersection" feature in the 1940 census at ancestry.com. This led me to the right enumeration district that had some 20 odd pages. Of course, near the end of the pages, there they were. The internet is an amazing tool...

1940 United States Census
Hartford County, Connecticut, ED 2-23, page 61B

Austin Thompson - 1940 US Census

Page by page searching is working remarkably well in the 1940 United States census. I have also found my great-grandparents Austin William Thompson and Orpha Vandermade. They are in lines 75 and 76 of the image below (Muskegon County, Michigan enumeration district 61-40, page 10B).

1940 United States Census
Muskegon County, Michigan, ED 61-40, page 10B

Iver Erickson Family - 1940 US Census

Still enjoying the page by page search of the 1940 United States census, I found my great-grandfather Iver Frank Erickson and his family. They are in lines 39 through 45 of the images below (Muskegon County, Michigan enumeration district 61-65, pages 20A and 20B). My 2nd great-grandmother Anna Christina Nelson is also present.

1940 United States Census
Muskegon County, Michigan, ED 61-65, page 20A

1940 United States Census
Muskegon County, Michigan, ED 61-65, page 20B

Lucinda Gregson - 1940 US Census

Still going page by page in the 1940 United States census, I found my 2nd great-grandmother Lucinda Gregson. She is on line 1 of the image below (Muskegon County, Michigan enumeration district 61-65, page 8B).

1940 United States Census
Muskegon County, Michigan, ED 61-65, page 8B

Loretta Jones - 1940 US Census

Again, going page by page in the 1940 United States, I found my 3rd great-grandmother Loretta Josephine Jones. She is on line 63 of the image below (Walker County, Texas enumeration district 236-11, page 19B). She is living with the wife (Mary Rebecca Jones) of her deceased brother Edmon Foster Jones and her daughter Mary Myrtle.

1940 United States Census
Walker County, Texas, ED 236-11, page 19B

Roy Anders Family - 1940 US Census

Going page by page right after the 1940 United States census was released, I found my great-grandfather Roy Jacob Anders, Sr. and his family. They are in lines 74 through 79 of the image below (Walker County, Texas enumeration district 236-1, page 7B), my grandmother being the oldest child in the family. My 2nd great-grandmother, James "Jimmie" Adda Anders, is also present.

1940 United States Census
Walker County, Texas, ED 236-1, page 7B

S.C. Baldwin Family - 1940 US Census

Going page by page right after the 1940 United States census was released, I found my great-grandfather Spencer Clarke Baldwin, Sr. and his family. They are in lines 21 through 25 of the image below (Walker County, Texas enumeration district 236-1, page 2A), my grandfather being the youngest child in the family.

1940 United States Census
Walker County, Texas, ED 236-1, page 2A

New Research - Kuijper (again)

Thanks to a kind, distant half-cousin (of some order) named Christa in Germany who contacted me recently, I have been able to add and extend the Kuijper part of the family tree again. From this research another signature has appeared: my 4th great-grandfather Daniel Kuijper, Sr. He is the immigrant ancestor for the Kuijper line. His signature was found on the birth certificate for his daughter Aaltje.

Signature of Daniel Kuijper, Sr., 1837

This birth certificate was a key find. The line up through Aaltje to Daniel and beyond was missing Aaltje's birth certificate to firmly confirm the line. Aaltje was born in Wieringen, Noord-Holland. Birth certificates for 3 additional siblings have also been found (Dirk, Eva Wilhelmina, and Daniel, Jr.). Two younger siblings are indicated in the immigration record but are yet to be confirmed with birth certificates (Meetje and Grietje). Dirk also immigrated but he is listed after his father and siblings as a separate family. Dirk died on 23 April 1896 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Daniel, Sr. was baptized on 31 May 1801 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Daniel's father Dirk was baptized on 20 Oct 1773 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Dirk's mother Grietje Smient was baptized on 30 Nov 1738 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She died on 29 Jul 1808 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. Grietje married Jan Kuijper on 12 Aug 1770 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands (or possibly 28 Jul 1770, I can't read the Dutch to determine which date is the marriage date). Grietje's parents were Dirk Smient and Aafje Bruijn. She had at least 3 siblings (Cornelis, Antje, and a younger sister Grietje who died very young).

Dirk Smient and Aafje Bruijn, my 7th great-grandparents, were married on 12 Nov 1734 in Twisk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. Dirk's father was named Jacob; Aafje's father was named Cornelis. This 277 year-old document is shown below.

Marriage of Dirk Smient and Aafje Bruin, 12 Nov 1734,
Twisk, North Holland, Netherlands

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.

New Research - Thompson

Well, it has been a long time since I have made any progress on the Thompson line in my family. I was essentially stuck with just basic information about the immigrant ancestor Paul Thompson and his wife Emma Christina Friedberg. While their information is mostly complete, it lacks a specific birth place in Sweden and reliable information about their parents. The birth place in particular is essential to Swedish genealogy research as the Swedish records I know of are not indexed in any way. You must at least know an exact date and an exact place to even have a hope of getting started. Sigh.

In the 1980s, a woman named Marva Wickland wrote to my grandparents inquiring about the Thompson ancestry. She was a granddaughter of Paul Thompson (and therefore a cousin of my grandfather Thompson). Marva included enough information in her letter about her siblings that I was able to locate two of them who are still living. I initially contacted Robert Wickland of Muskegon, Michigan, but his wife wrote back that he has alzheimer's and is unable to help. She directed me to his brother Charles of Tabernash, Colorado. Charles wrote back just recently and sent some photos and quite a few new pieces of the Thompson puzzle.

The Paul Thompson Family - Cir 1904
Back row: Emma Julia Christina, Austin William, Esther Lauretta, and Edith Paulina Thompson
Front row: Paul Thompson, Alice Maria Thompson, and Emma Christina Friedberg

Children of Paul and Emma Thompson - 1898
Esther, Emma, Alice, Edith, and Austin Thompson

Charles also sent a partial baptismal / birth record for the Thompson family from an unknown church in Muskegon, Michigan.

So, here are the highlights from Charles' letter.

- My immigrant Thompson ancestor, Paul Thompson, was actually born Paul Truittson. He changed his name to Thompson after arriving in Massachusetts.-

- Paul apparently sailed around the world multiple times.

- Paul and Emma were both from Suundsvaal, Sweden, but I am not certain Paul was born there. This is because the partial birth / baptism record seems to indicate Paul was born elsewhere in Sweden.

- I now have middle names and exact birth dates for all of Paul and Emma's children.

- Paul and Emma's daughter Esther commited suicide on Christmas Eve 1936.

- Either Paul was baptized on 01 Dec 1847 or his date of birth derived from his death certificate (04 Oct 1847) is incorrect.

Now the search begins. I hope to finally locate birth records and parentage for Paul and Emma. I am just not sure I have an exact birth place yet.

(More) New Research - van der Klok

I have received more van der Klok (Thompson line) research items. Death certificates from Muskegon County, Michigan arrived for Tiete van der Klok and his wife Stijntje van Zanten. They nicely confirm parentage already established with Dutch records.

I also received photographs of their grave markers (Tiete and Stijntje) in Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon from Jane Schapka, a wonderful local genealogist.

New Research - Mastenbroek

While working on the new Vanderklok research, I was also able to fill in a few holes in another part of the Dutch branch of the Thompson tree.

From Genlias, the death record for my 5th great-grandfather Jan Mastenbroek, Sr. gives his date of death (27 Feb 1834 in Ouddorp, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands) and parentage (Cornelis Mastenbroek and Jannetje Breen). This led to additional information in the Families of South Holland CD. Jan was christened on 07 Jun 1770 in Ouddorp. His parents were married on 21 Jul 1762 in Ouddorp. He had older siblings Jacob and Leendert.

Tracing Jan's father Cornelis, we find he was born to Leendert Mastenbroek and Willemtje Blÿenburgh and was christened on 09 Sep 1731 in Hekelingen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. For Jan's mother Jannetje, she was born to Jacob Breen, Jr. and Ariaantje Breen and was christened on 22 Feb 1740 in Ouddorp.

I was also able to find the death record for Jan's wife Jacomijntje van der Klok. She died on 07 Apr 1853 in Ouddorp.  The record also confirmed her parentage that was established with her christening record.

New Research - Vanderklok

Sometimes all it takes is one small lucky break to open a blocked research path. I happened across a message board post that referenced the surname Vandermade (Thompson line). I added a message to the thread and it generated an email response from a man named Dave Bush in Muskegon, Michigan with a complete listing of the children of Tiete van der Klok and Stijntje van Zanten. And, sure enough, in the list of children was my 2nd great-grandmother Jennie Vanderklok and her husband Minard Vandermade.

It seems my previous research effort had been blocked by name variations found in Jennie's death certificate. It stated her father as Tiede Vanderkolk, both names being variants of the most common names Tiete Vanderklok.

With this corrected information I have been able to use the Genlias website (an incredible website for Dutch genealogy research after 1811) and ancestry.com to further document the van der Klok line.

Before I summarize the research findings, I need to address three inconsistencies in Jennie's birth record. First, her name was Janna, although Jennie is a logical Americanization. Second, her last name is shown as van der Kolk. Although this is consistent with her death certificate, it is not consistent with the many other family records for her parents and siblings. The surname van der Klok (or Vanderklok in America) is deemed to be correct. Third, her father's name is listed as Pieter instead of Tiete or Tiede. This is believed to be a mistake for several reasons - her mother's name is correct; Tiete did have a brother named Pieter that was perhaps recorded by the clerk as the father by mistake; the birth certificate of Jennie's younger sister Henderika has the same mistake; but the birth record of a still younger stillborn infant is correct ensuring that Tiete had not died. I think the weight of the evidence tips easily toward Janna van der Klok as being the daughter of Tiete van der Klok.

Here is a summary of the newly discovered information, beginning with Jennie Vanderklok's parents and then extending to her grandparents. Patronymics (father's first name) are given parentheses. Note also that if a child dies then traditionally the next child of the same sex is given the name of the deceased child. So, a list of children could contain two or more children with the same name.

3rd great grandparents:

Tiete van der Klok was born on 17 Oct 1821 in Westeremden gem. Stedum, Groningen, The Netherlands to Steven (Derks) van der Klok and Menje (Jans) Reinders. He married Stijntje van Zanten on 17 Nov 1849 in Uithuizen, Groningen, The Netherlands. Stijntje was born on 10 Feb 1831 in Uithuizen to Derk (Hendriks) van Zanten and Sijtje (Tjarks) Hoffman. Tiete died on 12 Dec 1908 in Muskegon, Michigan. Stijntje died on 12 Nov 1909 in Muskegon. They are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon, Michigan (lot 3-10-8).

1870 United States Census: could not locate them

1880 United States Census: Muskegon, Michigan, Page 196 B

(indexed as Peter Clock, but reads more like Tetev Clock; includes daughter Jennie; Clock is the Americanization of Klok minus the 'van der')

1900 United States Census: Muskegon, Michigan, Page 167 B

Children of Tiete and Stijntje:

1) Sietje van der Klok: b. 19 Mar 1850 in Uithuizen; m. a Mr. Haan; d. 12 Jan 1921 in Muskegon.
2) Mina van der Klok: b. 19 Sep 1851 in Uithuizen; d. 29 Sep 1879 in Muskegon.
3) Derk van der Klok: b. 22 Sep 1853 in Uithuizen; d. 07 Jun 1854 in Uithuizen.
4) Derk van der Klok: b. 15 Sep 1855 in Uithuizen; d. 18 Oct 1855 in Uithuizen.
5) Derk van der Klok (a.k.a. Dell Clark): b. 19 Oct 1856 in Uithuizen; d. 19 Sep 1913 in Muskegon.
6) Henderika van der Klok: b. 22 Nov 1858 in Uithuizen; d. 15 Feb 1923 in Muskegon.
7) Janna van der Klok (a.k.a. Jennie): b. 09 Sep 1860 in Uithuizen; m. Minard Vandermade on 13 Jun 1882 in Muskegon; d. 26 Dec 1928 in Muskegon; buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
8) Infant Vandermade: b. and d. 30 Apr 1864 in Uithuizen.

4th great-grandparents (parents of Tiete van der Klok):

Steven (Derks) van der Klok was born about 1786, surely in the Netherlands, to Derk van der Klok. His mother's name is not known. He married Menje (Jans) Reinders before 1806. Menje was born about 1782, surely in the Netherlands, to Jan Reinders and Aafke Addens. Steven died on 13 Apr 1828 in Stedum, Groningen, The Netherlands. Menje died on 25 Oct 1843 in Westeremden (Stedum).

Children of Steven and Menje:

1) Derk van der Klok: b. Abt 1806; d. 27 Aug 1853 in Loppersum, Groningen, The Netherlands.
2) Jan van der Klok: b. 12 May 1813 in Westeremden (Stedum); d. 23 Nov 1848 in Westeremden (Stedum).
3) Pieter van der Klok: b. 19 Aug 1816 in Westeremden (Stedum); d. 18 Nov 1892 in Garsthuizen, Groningen.
4) Arend van der Klok: b. 19 Aug 1819 in Westeremden (Stedum).
5) Tiete van der Klok: b. 17 Oct 1821 in Westeremden (Stedum); m. Stijntje van Zanten on 17 Nov 1849 in Uithuizen, Groningen; d. 12 Dec 1908 in Muskegon, Michigan.

4th great-grandparents (parents of Stijntje van Zanten):
Derk (Hendriks) van Zanten was born about 1806 to Hendriks and Trientje van Zanten. He married Sijtje (Tjarks) Hoffman on 09 May 1829 in Uithuizen. Sijtje was born about 1805 to Tjark (Jans) and Stijntje Hoffman. Derk died on 03 May 1851 in Uithuizen. Sijtje remarried to Eisse van der Molen on 05 Apr 1854 in Uithuizen. Sijtje died on 14 Mar 1882 in Uithuizen.

Children of Derk and Sijtje:
1) Stijntje van Zanten: b. 10 Feb 1831 in Uithuizen; m. Tiete van der Klok on 17 Nov 1849 in Uithuizen; d. 12 Nov 1909 in Muskegon, Michigan.
2) Trientje van Zanten: b. 11 Feb 1833 in Uithuizen; d. 03 Aug 1833 in Uithuizen.