Tombstone Tuesday - the Morren family

Another Geneabloggers weekly prompt, and a good way for me to move on to the next research topic.
Many years ago when I first went to the cemetery where some of the ancestors are buried, I was disappointed to find many of the gravestones worn or vandalized and unreadable. I went back in July 2009 and took new pictures:


This is the gravestone of Willem Morren, my great-great-grandfather. The stone is just barely legible.

Alongside it is the stone of his wife, Neeltje Dekker Morren. All that can be read is his name where is says "wife of." When I first saw these, her stone was lying in pieces on the ground - it has since been repaired.


I could not (then or now) read her dates of birth and death. Luckily, there was a book with that information:


The name is misspelled as "Marren" but it does give her place and date of birth (Ned Sept 10, 1830) and death (North Holland, Mich. July 10, 1881).


I found this information in a Genealogical Records Committee report of the local DAR Chapter. Back in 1932-1941 when the DAR ladies went out and recorded the gravestone data, Neeltje's stone was still legible.

Recently, Michigan death records for this time frame have become available on two fabulous websites. I searched for Neeltje's official death registration at www.familysearchlabs.org but was unable to find it by searching for her name. Because I knew from the book that she died in 1881, I could search for all deaths in Ottawa County in 1881 and narrow it down.



Her name is recorded as Neetje (or Neltje) Maren. She was married, 53 years old, died of Billious Fever, born in the Netherlands. She was a housekeeper [housewife] and her parents names are not given, just the fact that they died in the Netherlands.

Not perfect, but it does give me more to go on.

The second death record, that of Willem Morren was found at seekingmichigan.org



He died Feb 10, 1908 (same as the gravestone says). The stone says he was born "te Hulshort, Ned" - in Hulshorst, Netherlands. The death certificate gives his birhdate (July 28, 1823) and his father's name (Jan Morren)and reports he was the parent of 5 children, three still living. He was a farmer and died of apoplexy. His death was reported by Mrs. Douwma -- that would be his daughter Aaltje who was my great-grandmother.

So now -- on to this line of the family and a big surprise.

Wives of the Coles

One of the wonderful things about the Dutch records is that women usually retain their surname. This make it much easier to find their children - especially when there may be a number of men with the same name - and also to find their parents.
Levi Cole, born in Michigan, was the son of the immigrant couple Pieter Koole and Thona van Beek. Thona was born 1829 in Zeeland, Netherlands, daughter of Barend van Beek and Neeltje Kramer.

Pieter Koole was the son of Lieven Cole and Adriaantje (Aarjaantje) Leeuw, daughter of Barend Leeuw and Cornelia van Bloois. Aarjaantje was born 24 Jul 1787 in Dreischor, Zeeland, Netherlands.



Lieven Koole's mother was Ariaantje (Adriaantje) Jonker. She was born 3 Nov 1765 in Oosterland, Zeeland, Netherlands, daughter of Lieven Jonker and Jannetje Onderdijk.



The parents of Cornelis were Pieter Mattijsse Koole and Maria Beluijts. She was the daughter of Cornelis Borluijt and Adriaantje Bouman. No exact date of her birth has been found, but she was baptised 19 Oct 1732 in Zonnemaire, Zeeland, Netherlands. Customarily, in this time and place, children were baptised the Sunday following their birth. Which would make Maria born somewhere between Oct 12 and 18.




The next step back in time is Pieter Matthijsse, son of Mattheus and Maria Stoudens. This Maria was born in Dreischor and baptised 25 Oct 1705. Her parents were Joost Stouten and Adriana Cornelisse. The database index gives her the surname Kleijn, but it is not shown on Maria's baptismal record. One more thing to investigate.



This takes us back to Pieter Koole and Lijsbeth Robberegts, the earliest couple identified in this line (so far!). And now I have these surnames to research: van Beek, Leeuw, Jonker, Borluijt, Stoutens, all the spelling variations, and the wives of these fathers!!