Will was the topic to write about this week. I took a different look at the word Will.
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| This is a picture us on a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. |
My daughter Haley and I went on a trip to Israel November 23 - December 2 , 2017. We traveled with a group of people we did not know, but by the end of nine days they felt like family.
One day we were having a picnic near Mount Gilboa and Haley wanted something to do. So I gave her my phone and sent her around to snap some photos of the groups eating lunch. I posted the pictures to face book. That's where this story starts.
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| And this is a picture of the Wilderness of Judea, where Jesus spent 40 days. |
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This was a photo I posted of a few people from our group. Kathy V on the left in navy, Husband Henry in aqua next to her and daughter Lori in aqua across from Henry.
After the picture was posted my mom's cousin Harry DB left me a comment. He said the lady on left was a relative of my mom through her aunt,Katherine Boorsma. The next morning, I eagerly asked the Kathy V. about her relatives and sure enough ,we were related! Kathy said she was the granddaughter of Katherine (Catherine) Gritter Boorsma and that Katherine had married Ed Boorsma My mom was a Boorsma and I remember she had an uncle Ed. I was thrilled...finding family from Michigan, while while on our trip in Israel. How cool is that!
After returning home, I started to dig into this connection. Katherine Gritter had indeed married my mom's Uncle Ed Boorsma, December 31, 1952 in Kent County Michigan.
With special thanks to cousin Jennifer BK, I have pictures to share.
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| Aunt Katherine & Uncle Ed |
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| From left: Margaret Bont Boorsma, Aunt Katherine, Uncle Ed and John (Jan Jans) Boorsma. |
So it looked like my connection to Kathy, from the Israel trip, was not a true Boorsma family connection but a marriage connection.
I found that Katherine had first been married to a man named Arthur Gritter and they had eight children together. I could find the family in the 1930 and 1940 census but they were not listed in anymore records after that. I assume they were divorced because of Aunt Katherine's marriage to Uncle Ed. Arthur died in Kent County Michigan in 1982, so he was still around the area.
I looked at this second marriage record and saw the names of Katherine's father and mother. I remember my mom telling me about an Uncle Pete and Aunt Minnie. Things were starting to come together then I found this:
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| U.S., Dutch Christian Reformed Church Vital Records, 1856-1970, Archive at Calvin College |
This helped a lot. I knew my great grandfather Jan Jans (John) Boorsma's vital information including his parents Jan Jans II and Tryntje. I also had heard my mom talk about an Uncle Louie from Detroit. Here they were all three siblings listed in the Alpine Ave. Christian Reformed Church records. Minnie has her full dutch name listed as Willemke and the year of her birth is December 6 1878, very close to "about 1879".
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Left is Lieuwe Jan Boorsma, Jan Jans Boorsma II, Willemke (Minnie) Boorsma Dryer and Jan Jans (John) Boorsma |
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| Jan II and the boys came to America August 16, 1886. Willemke came two years later to join her father and brothers. |
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| From left : Willemke "Minnie" Boorsma, Gerritt Kuipers, Lieuwe Jan Boorsma I, (Aunt) Boujke Boorsma Kuipers, Jan Jans (John) Boorsma III |
It turns out that Kathy V, her daughter Lori B., grandson Brady and I are related through parents, Jan Jan and wife Tryntje plus the sibling ancestors, John Jan Jans Boorsma and Willemke Boorsma. Not only did our Israel group feel like family, Kathy and I discovered we were actual family.
PS. An interesting side note, In the 1900 census of Pete and Minnie J Dryer, minnie's brother Louie then 18 is living with them and Katherine, age 4 months is listed as Trina. Because of naming patterns, I believe Katherine Dryer was named after her grandmother Tryntje Kracht. Which also means Kathy V is named for her grandmother and great great grandmother!
