I've had great intention of posting on this blog regularly now that I have more time -- but somehow, it seems that time keeps getting filled with other activities!  So, here I am, 2+ years later and giving it another shot.
Back in May I went to a genealogy conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Heard some excellent lectures and discovered a few neat things.  Including access to more Michigan newspapers.  And stumbled upon this!

So, the plan is to look for more newspaper articles, as well as my usual research.

Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary

Today is the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  I remember the 50th, because Mom and Dad were visiting at my house.  We were watching some commemoration on tv and dad started talking about his experience that day.  This was the first time I can remember of him talking about Pearl Harbor.  I hadn't known, but he was already in the Army.  He had been drafted in October or November, 1941.  By December, he was stationed at Camp Joseph T. Robinson in Arkansas.  I remember him talking that about that camp before this time - probably because we had some photos of him there.

He said he remembered that he was off base, in town, just casually walking down the street.  He came upon an officer who sternly asked him,  "Where's your hat, soldier?  You're out of uniform!  Don't you know there's a war on?"  And that is how he found out.

Later I went to the National Archives and found some unit histories that summarized some of the activities of his unit.  I also got a copy of his discharge which details his date of entry also.  Come to find out, Dad was in the Army from before the war started   He was in just a month shy of 4 years.  his official date of enlistment was 18 Nov 41 and he was discharged in October 1945 - well after both V-E and V-J days.

Fold3 has a lot of digitized WWII records available for free for a while in recognition of the anniversary.  If I can find my notes about his unit I'll look for more records.

In between house remodeling and stuff like that, I've been playing with my family history data again.  Although the plan was to clean up sources, instead I have been working more on the problem reports.  So far, most are pretty easy fixes like wrong dates (typos) making someone 213 yrs at death or married before born.  A few have been "unknown sex" generally because I forget to select  when entering the person, but a couple are not immediately clear from the name.  On those, I've gone back to the record of birth or baptism to see if sex is given.  Usually it will say a son of or daughter of.  If I do not have birth or baptism, it's back to the census or marriage or other record which named this person as a child of parent.  I think I have all those problems settled.

One of the more major errors caught was where I had a person who died as an infant married and having children.  This is pretty easy to do with the Dutch families in particular because of the tradition to name children for the grandparents and other family members.  If that child then dies, then name is re-used for the next child of that sex to be born.  I have found families where the same first name is given to at least 3 children.

In this case, I thought it was going to be a chore to delete all those facts from the infant and add them all to the living person.  But then I wised up and realized all I had to do was change the birth and death dates of each to the other!  Presto correct!!  The little warning sign disappeared!

Well, not a great reboot!  Over two weeks since my last post.  Well, really, not so bad.
I have at least accomplished some things genealogical in these past 2 weeks.  For one, much has changed in the online world as far as websites and records available for research.  I am tempted to jump in and explore all these new sources!! However, there has also been a new edition of my genealogy software (RootsMagic, now version 7).
   So, I upgraded to that and have been spending some time learning what new features are available.  I also have been finding problems in my data.  RM has a little warning symbol show up as a "Problem Alert"  by items it thinks might be wrong, such as died before being born(!) or child born before marriage (not always a "problem"!!)  I am looking at these and trying to clean up some of those issues.  I've also found some errors that have crept in, either due to moving from one program to another or simply data entry errors. The error I am particularly interested in correcting has to do with misplaced sources.  I find some facts have a completely wrong source.  I think these errors came up when I transferred from one program to another.  But now -- find and fix!!
  None of this is very exciting, not likely to discover new lines or relatives.  but it is a very necessary part of the record-keeping.  And a side benefit is it refreshes my memory of who was who, what I know and what I don't know, so maybe I can be a bit more focused in my research after this!

No clue who these people are or even if they are family.  Looks like a pleasant Sunday in the park.

Wow.  This is so strange!  It has been so long since I posted anything here...I couldn't even find it.  Could not remember which of many email addresses I used.
But now, I've found it.  I am here.  The blog is here.  Still exploring changes made to the platform.

Since I was last here, there have been many changes to me, my life and family.  But I have been involved with genealogy all that time.  I added a son-in-law to the tree (and did some research on his family) and now a granddaughter and grandson.  Will be adding another son-in-law next spring (and have done some research on his family also).  I joined Find-A-Grave and have been creating memorials and adding photos.  I did more research and added 4 more DAR Patriot ancestors for my daughter.  And I quit work!

This last has been the Fantastic!  I moved, so now am close to grandkids and enjoy being able to help out.  I've been dealing with remodeling issues a lot for the past 3+ months.  But now, I'm hoping to get myself into a research and report routine.
I finally upgraded RootsMagic and will be taking some time learning about changes.  And then will decided what line or topic I will write on next.

Stay tuned.

Hop relatives come to America

To find more information on the Hops in Michigan I searched Ancestry.com for individual given names I knew were related.  In a search for Jacob Hop, it came up with 9 Jacobs on passenger lists.  One of these was an Arrival in 1867 of Jacob born about 1866.  This fit well with one a Jacob I was interested in - son of Brand Hop and Lubbertjen Luchtenberg.  His mother was related to me on two lines - her mother was the sister of Aalt Lubbertsen Hop, her father was the brother of Pietertje Willems.  Aalt and Pietertje were the parents of Lubbertje Hop, wife of Willem Morren.  So, two of my great-great-great-great-grandfathers were Jacob's great-grandfathers.  Got that??  I think Brand Hop (father of Jacob) is also related to me, but not sure yet.

So. I pulled up the image of that passenger list   It was definitely the Jacob of interest.  Listed directly above him is Jan Witteveen, age 14.  This is Jacob's half-brother from his mother's first marriage, to Jan Witteveen. (Jan the father died in October 1852, and Jan the son was born in February of 1853.) Next above on the passenger list are Wilhelm ", Jeannette  " and above that Hendrik  ".  I believe them to be Willem, Jannitje and Hendrik Luchtenberg - the brother, sister and father of Lubbertje.  Then is Lubbertje Luchtenberg  and listed above her name, Brand Hop.

So, clearly, this is the Luchtenberg family related to me..  It certainly helps that on this list the women are listed under their own surnames in the Dutch manner, not under the husband's name.

But - the real find of this story is this:
Since I was already browsing the list to find who was traveling with Jacob, I continued to scroll up the list.  Next was a Timmer family.  I know there are Timmers from the same village and who married Hops (although so far not proven to be related).
Next up the list -- my Morren family!! But that is a whole other story...

the problem with indexes....

Some time ago, I started on a project to find the interrelationships between the various members of my family who were Hops or married Hops.  It all started when I discovered that the mother of my great grandmother, Aaltje Morren (married Douma) was NOT Neeltje Dekker, as we thought from the North Holland church records and cemetery, but was actually Lubbertje Hop and that Aaltje's sister married a Hop.  I wondered if the two Hops were related.  Thus began a project to identify Hop families and make connections to Morrens and other families.  (See earlier posts, beginning in August 2009, for more about this family.)

The fourth daughter (5th child) of Willem Morren and Lubbertje Hop was Willempje Morren.  In 1881, Ottawa Co., Michigan, she married William Hop.  There are quite a few William (or Willem) Hops, so it takes some sorting to get the families straight.  It is not made easier sometimes by the indexing.

In various indexes, I have found Willempje Morren Hop listed as:

Wittentje Monen

Wiley Morren

Wilsie Mavien

Weley Mairen

Wilcy Morren

...llemptfe Morren

Willanke Hop

Willentji Hop

Willtje Hop

Williamtje Hop

Willamtje Hop

Wielemtje Hop

Willamke Hop

Wiltse Hop

Wilcy Hop

Wilwetze Hop

Willemtje Hop

Wilhelmina Hop

Many times, when I look at the actual record I can tell the indexer simply could not read the handwriting, but many times it is creatively spelled.  (And spell-check here goes crazy!)

One would think it would not be a problem with a simple name like William Hop, but even that can be a problem.  Is he recorded with the Dutch spelling Willem?  Many Ottawa Co. records in late 19th century especially do maintain the Dutch names.  Maybe his name is Americanized to William.  Or abbreviated to Wm.  Depending on the database, it may make a difference in search results.  But in general, that is the only variation.  Or so I thought.  Then I discovered:

William Heop

Wm Klep

and a daughter is indexed as Katie Hep

In some OCR newspaper indexes, what turns up is William Bishop, or William, bell hop, or Wm Hughes, hop grower.

Of course, if I don't specify a place and just search for the surname, I'll get hundreds of unrelated people like:

Yee Hop

Chow Lum Hop

Wong Hop and

Fung Sen Hop Ho

Surely they ARE unrelated to me!!????

When I was in Holland last fall and spent time going through old probate files, I found pages of wonderful information about many branches of the family.  To continue with the Morren family -
In the index I found a listing for William Morren, not as a probate file, but listed as an "Incompetency" case.  Reading the file I found that the children of William Morren are petitioning the court for a guardian to be appointed to have the care and custody of his person and his personal estate (valued at $400) and real estate (valued at $1500).  It is 1895 and William is at this time 72 years old. 

"The said William Morren is old and at times is very forgetful, his mind becoming very weak and at times when his mind becomes weak (which is very often) he is utterly unable and mentally incompetent to have the care and management of his property and during such periods and in fact almost all of the time he is liable to be imposed upon to such and extent as to lose his property (by and through designing persons) ...
It then goes on to say he has expressed the desire to his children that a guardian be appointed to protect him. and look after his property.
  It then goes on to list his next of kin: 
Peterje Van der Schraaf, daughter, lives at Holland
Aaltje Douma, daughter, lives at North Holland
Willemtje Hop, daughter, lives at Beaverdam
John Morren, son, Post office North Holland, Mich.

William Morren signs a statement that he desires and consents that Halbe Douma (husband of his daughter Aaltje) becomes his guardian and cares for his property and person.  Interestingly - the statements are notarized by Wietse Douma, brother of Halbe (not my grandpa).
And so, the court does appoint Halbe Douma as guardian.  Halbe, however, dies in 1898. In the 1900 census, William is living with his daughter Petertje van der Schraaf.  I did not find another hearing for appointment of a new guardian.  Possibly his daughter Aaltje carried on the responsibility, or her sister and her husband took over.  He died in 1908 at age 84.

In all the trips I made to Michigan after Mom moved back and before she moved down to Texas, I never once made it to the Ottawa County court house or archives or wherever they have records.  Most of my trip time was spent visiting, not researching.  I did occasionally spend some time at Herrick Library, and I wandered in a few cemeteries.  But I never got up to Grand Haven, the county seat, where I assumed records would be. 

Finally, last fall I made a trip to Holland just to get more stuff out of storage.  No Mom to visit (although I did visit a bit with aunts and cousins).  So I allowed an extra day to do some research.  I looked online first to find out where probate records are, and called to make sure they would be available. (They are not available from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.)  And so, on one snowy day in November, I had my first real research day!

I first went up to the counter and said I would like to look at old wills.  The building also holds the juvenile and family courts, and it looked like everyone else was there for that.  The nice woman behind the counter asked what name I wanted.  Well.  I started a list!  She looked at the 9 or 10 names so far and said maybe she should just bring out the index volumes for me to look through.  Good idea!  So she buzzed me in and set me down with the volume of the first half of the alphabet.  I started scribbling lists of names, film and file numbers.  After a bit, she came around and took a set of numbers and pulled films for me. 

Now, even though I had not done this type of research in Ottawa County, I have done plenty of courthouse research.  I was expecting microfilms of will books.  I picked up the first one, popped in the film cartridge and fast forwarded to the right file number.  Whoa!  Not will books.  These are films of the complete probate packets.  Fabulous!!  (Well, ok, makes sense now that it needed a file number.)

Some of the pages were pretty poor and a few actually illegible.  Sadly, the originals no longer exist, so was not possible to request a copy from an original.  But most were fine.  I started to hit the print button.  Then went to ask the crucial question - how can I pay?  Once she said they take a credit card, I printed at will. 

I was there from about 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m.  I nearly closed the place up!  Everyone was astounded at the number of pages I printed at the outrageous price of $1 per page (you don't want to know!).  But, I am so glad to have the information, it was worth it to me. Very considerately, they did not charge me for the pages they thought were unreadable - even though I was happy to have them, however poor the copy. 

Sorry I've been away

It has been nearly a year and a half since I last posted here.  A lot has happened, family- and research-wise.  But I am hopeful that now I will get back to a sort-of-routine of posting bits of family history.
For now, the explanation (or excuse) for being gone so long.  I was doing a lot of research for my friends.  Their 8 grandparents came from at least 6 locations in Europe.  Two grands married in the old country and one I believe came from a town near her American-wed husband's birthplace.  I did a lot of research in US records and also in online indexes and microfilms.  I ordered records from England, films of Polish records, worked with a researcher in Buffalo, learned a lot about Jewish research and entered data into the database.  With the native towns identified (2 cities in England, one now in Belarus, 2 in Poland and one in Ukraine), my friends are now about to hire overseas researchers to trace the lines back further.
In the meantime, there were changes in my own family.  My Mom, who had moved to Texas in 2009 to be near my sister, passed away in May 2011, a month after her 90th birthday.  She was ready to go, and fully expected to join my Dad, my sister and brother, so I can't be sad for her.  Just for me.  I still miss her - especially about 9:30 at night when she used to call just as I was getting ready for bed.  We had a lovely service in Holland in June with all the grandkids and great-grandkids (including the week-old great-grandson!),  my 2 aunts, cousins, second cousins, and a lot of Mom and Dad's friends of old.  We stayed at a fabulous beach house and had a great family reunion.  Then, a lot of paperwork to deal with after.
Now, with my friends pretty much set (I have reached the end of my capabilities in that case), it is time to get back to my own research.  To give me a kick-start -- last week at work, a visitor came to the Library asking about descendants of New Netherland settlers (That's old New York.)  My coworker suggested he talk to me.  So we had quite a chat (me doing most of the talking as usual).  Turns out, he works at the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie in The Hague, a major source for Dutch genealogical research.  So I was inspired to get myself moving and start back on this blog!

So.  That's the long and the short of the explanations.  Next time, real info!  I did have one great research trip in that time, so new things to write about.

SNGF - The Time Machine

I've been away for a long time (doing research for a friend), but this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun has tempted me back!  The directive is to identify which event in ancestral history you would like to be a part of via Time Machine.  Well, that is easy for me -while any day in any life would be a thrill to witness, one event really struck me when I first learned of it.
I would like to be a part of the travels of my Great-great grandparents and family to America in 1856.  Teunis Snijders and Grietje van der Bie left their home in Goudswaard, Zuid-Holland and sailed from Rotterdam to New York with their 2 boys, 8 and 10, and my 3-month-old great-grandmother Trijnte (later Kate Snyder, married Levi Cole).  When I first found this passenger list (long before Internet databases) I had a young daughter myself.  I knew how difficult it had been for me simply to get this child a few miles down the road (in my car) to the grocery store!!  I could not (and still cannot) imagine traveling off to a whole new land, new language, new people with 2 kids and a three-month-old.  Oiy!  The Snyder family traveled somehow from NY to Michigan where they lived for a time in Washtenaw Co., then moved on to Kent Co.  Years later I learned that Grietje's mother, Trijntje van der Jagt and at least 3 brothers and a sister also came to the United States and settled in Allegan Co.
I have the greatest respect and admiration for these - and my other - immigrant ancestors and I wonder if I could do what they did?

Time off

I've been busy with other people's families for a while and have not had time to do any more here.  A little research for a former client and some research for friends to identify their ancestral towns of origin.  They are in Europe and hope to go visit towns if I can identify them, so there is a bit of a time schedule to work to.
I can relate to their interest as Karen and I went to many of our towns in the Netherlands on our trip - and had a wonderful time.  I hope to get back - maybe this fall - and visit some archives on the next trip.  Also visit some new towns, eat some pannekoeken, and take a lot of photos!

more on the Morrens

So now I know that the woman listed with the family in the church register is NOT the mother of the children.  But another interesting finding is that one of the children listed, Cornelia, actually died in the Netherlands and never was at the North Holland Church!

On the 17 April 1866, Cornelia Morren, age 14, daughter of Willem Morren and Lubbertje Hop, deceased, died.  It reported and signed by Willem Morren, father.  Signature is the same as on his marriage record.

Morren marriages

Once I found the birth registrations for the Morren children naming their mother as Lubbertje Aalts Hop, I had to resolve this conflict. Up 'til then, I had named Neeltje Dekker as the mother. After all, she is named in the list of the family in the North Holland Church register, census records and she is buried beside Willem Morren. SO next up was a search of the marriage registers.

Here is the marriage certificate of Willem Morren and Lubbertje Aalts Hop.

What this says is (briefly) that on the 19th of January 1848, Willem Morren, bachelor, age 24, farmer, born in Ermelo, living in Harderwijk, son of Jan Morren and Cornelia van Welsum
and Lubbertje Aalts Hop, maiden, age 24, no occupation, born and living in Harderwijk, daughter of Aalt Lubbertsen Hop and Petertje Willems, both deceased
were married, having filed the following papers: certificate of groom's military service, extract of the groom's birth record, extract of the bride's birth record, and extracts of the death certificates of both of the bride's parents. (That last part I cropped off)

Next to find was if there was a death certificate for Lubbertje Hop.  And, for sure, it was there.

It starts out with a staement of who is making the report of death and then states that on Wednesday the 26th of December 1860, Lubbertjen Hop, wife of Willem Morren, born and resident of Harderwijk, daughter of Aalt Lubertsen Hop and his wife Petertje Willems, died at the age of 36.

Thanks to all the detail in these records, it is easy to see that they are talking about the same person.
Just to put the final piece in place, I next found a marriage record for Willem Morren and Neeltje Dekker. I don't have the certificate scanned, but here is the online extract of the marriage:

This gives Willem's parents, so we know it is the same Willem, and also identifies him as the widower of Lubbertje Hop.  In 1865, Willem married Neeltje and a couple years later they came with the children to America.

Morren children

At the Family History Library, I set out to get copies of the birth registrations for the immigrant ancestors - or as many as possible. For the Morren family, I had birth dates as recorded in the North Holland Church register. [see Dec. 6 post] So it was not necessary to look in the tien-jarige tafel (10-year index). I started with Aaltje Morren, as she is my direct ancestor (great-grandmother). I pulled the film covering the time of her birth (according to the church record) 30 Nov 1854.
What this says is that on the first of December, 1854, Willem Morren, age 30, farmer, came to the the registrar in the town of Harderwijk to report that on the 30th of November in the village of Hierden, his wife Lubbertje Aalts Hop, age 29, gave birth to a female child named Aaltje. Hmm, right date, but not the mother I'm looking for. Could there be 2 Willem Morrens having 2 daughters named Aaltje? Born on the same day????
Well, maybe a mistake was made.

What about the other children? The oldest was Petertje, born 11 May 1849.

Hmm, right date and name, same other woman for the mother.


Kornelia, born 3 November 1851. Same story. Aaltje was next, born 1854.





Jan was the next child after Aaltje, born 2 September 1857 according to the church, and his birth registration -- and also the child of Lubbertje Hop.



And the youngest was Willempje, born 18 December 1860.


Not likely that an error was made in recording the name of the mother 5 times!! Not likely that there are 2 Willems each having five children of the exact birthdates and names! No, clearly the mother of the children of Willem Morren was Lubbertje Hop. So who is Neeltje Dekker, named in the North Holland (Michigan) Reformed Church register and buried beside Willem Morren in North Holland Cemetery???
A new puzzle to solve.

To the FHL for research

In 2002 I went to Salt Lake City with a friend for a week of research at the Family History Library. We went with the NGS group, which was nice as it gave you someone to meet for meals, discuss problems or finds and just chat. The members of this group came from all over the US. We found it interesting how some of these people headed straight to the US Census films. For them, this was a goldmine!! (There was not so much content on the Internet back then.) Since we had all the census near to hand at home, we headed out for filmed local records.
I had prepared for the trip by searching the FHL catalog from home and found my own goldmine. Since my family is all Dutch, I had one specific area to work. Lucky for me - zillions of records from the Netherlands are filmed. Also, they have civil registrations of births, deaths and marriages starting quite early (relatively speaking!). When Napoleon took over the Netherlands, he instituted a system of civil registrations. For most of the country these began in 1811. A couple years later, Napoleon was out but the civil registration stayed. For a few short years (it seems to vary by locality), the records are in French, but then revert to Dutch.
So there I was, with thousands of rolls of microfilm covering all the areas of the Netherlands I was interested in. And many of them have indexes! In many cases they have other films called tienjarige tafels - literally ten-year tables, or indexes covering 10-year spans.
Of course, you do need to know where the person or family of interest lived. There was no overall index for the country. Now there are many online sources, but most of these are for a province or smaller area. The most comprehensive is Genlias (www.genlias.nl) which has indexed records from many parts of the country (though not all). Many more sites are now adding digital images of the records. But when I started this, film was the way to go.
And I was in seventh heaven! I was going back and forth from microfilm reader to printer, saying "thank goodness for Napoleon!" and "Gotta love bureaucracy!!" for making so much material available for research. And also, of course, thanks to the Genealogical Society of Utah for filming these records and the records keepers for allowing that.
And so, armed with names and dates from the North Holland Church register, and a place name from the gravestone of Willem Morren, I looked for the birth registrations of the children, including my great-grandmother.

Back to the Morren family

Back in August I started with the Morren family, posting pictures of gravestones, later photos from the village in The Netherlands and a chart of what I knew to start with.When I began gathering information on my ancestors, I had copies of family information my Dad's aunt had compiled. Aunt Nellie had written out her siblings and spouses and all the siblings of her father and their spouses.
Then I found the North Holland Reformed Church register at the Herrick Library in Holland. This listed my grandfather's family and also his father's.

Grandpa is Wietse, the third from the last child of Halbe and Aaltje.
My great-grandfather is also listed as a child in his father's family.

Foeke and Jeltje came to the US with the 4 oldest children.
Also at this same little church was the family of my grandfather's mother - the Morren family. Here Aaltje is recorded as a child in her parents family. It was easy to make the step backward because this church register follows the Dutch tradition of retaining the maiden names of the women after marriage.


For the most part, the church records match Aunt Nellie's. In general, census records also match this family group. In 1870 Aaltje is listed as Albrecht, but everyone else is right - it is definitely the family. This was all I knew for a long time, until I went to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on a research trip.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - MRUA

A bit of a detour for some more Saturday Night Fun at Randy Seaver's suggestion. This week he asks "Who is your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor?" This I know!! My most recent unknown is a 3rd Great Grandfather. Number 60 on my Ahnentafel is a missing person. Randy asks what have I looked at my files for this Unknown person recently and what sources might be available to help identify the person.
I first reached a dead end in finding the birth certificate for this unknown man's son (my great-great-grandfather, Teunis Snijders) and discovering the mother listed as an unmarried woman and no father named. I found Heindersje Snijders was the widow of Adriannus Meinster when she died and son Teunis reported her death. Later, from an online index, I found a marriage record of a woman naming her father as Adrianus Meijster and mother Heijndersie Snijder. This marriage was 15 years after Teunis' birth.
I knew Meinster must have been dead by Heindersje's death in 1847, but I did not know when he died. Luckily, the marriage records required copies of bride and groom birth registrations, and if a parent was dead, they had to file a copy of the death registration. So I ordered microfilm from the Family History Library of these marriage records for this daughter.
I thought possibly Meinster was the father of Teunis and married Heindersje sometime after his birth. However, in the marriage appendices, I found a copy of Meinster's death record. He died years before Teunis was born!!
Randy's next question is what sources might help identify this Unknown person. So far, I don't know if there are any court records or other material which might identify or at least provide clues to his identity. For now, I am working on improving my Dutch language skills so I will be able to read guides to archives and the records.

Saturday night fun - surname distribution

Randy Seaver's Saturday night genealogy fun suggests mapping your surname's distribution. I have done this with many of my family names using the tool at the Nederlandse Familienamen Databank. www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfd/index.php?taal=eng
Pretty much every time, research shows my family is from the area with the highest concentration of the name The data for these maps is taken from the 1947 census of the Netherlands. Interesting that nearly a hundred years later, after 2 World Wars, still the name remains in the same general area.
As I am now working on the Morren family, here is the map of locations of that surname. My family is definitely in the province (Gelderland) with the 290 examples (although we are actually at the far opposite end of the province from where the number displays)


As I get more info here, this name will become meaningful. Trust me for now, it is a complicated story of how I learned about the Hop family and our connection.