#52Ancestors-Heirloom

My Heirlooms

This is a Summer Girls #2 cast iron stove with the patent date of December 26 '93 (1893). My father gave this stove to me. He said it came from his grandparents home. They were Freemont Floyd Utter,1886 - 1940 and Lucina Ada Hopkins 1890 -1955.

 The little windows are made of isinglass.

These are two tea towels that my grandma hand embroidered. Her name was Dorothy Louise Marlin Boorsma 1913 - 2003. They were made circa 1945. When grandma died, we had to sort through some of her things. We found these towels. No one really wanted them except me, so now they have new life on my  kitchen wall.
(One has slipped a little, I will have to fix that)

Also handed down from my mother, is my Grandma Dorothy Boorsma's wedding ring and her art deco watch. Dorothy Marlin married Louis Boorsma July 1931.

This locket was my mothers. Her mother, Dorothy Boorsma gave it to her, and now I own it. Those two pictures in it are of Dorothy.

 In this picture is my mother's (Marilyn Boorsma) toy jacks she used to play with as a little girl, in the 1940's.

In the same picture, is a sweet little cupid jewelry box that my father bought for me, when I was a little girl. He often had to be gone for the whole week for his work. Several times, he brought home little gifts for me and my brother. It is still a special little treasure!

                                                                                       

This is my baby bracelet that was put on me by the nurses at Blodgett Hospital, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My mother took it to a jeweler and had the beads restrung on this wire bracelet, after the original string disintegrated.                                                                         

                                                                                           

#52ancestors- Valentine

  This weeks topic is Valentine, but I am changing it to Valentines. Valentine Whitman and Valentine Whitman Jr., are two of my very early Rhode Island ancestors.

  Valentine Whitman Sr. was born in England.His father may have been John Wightman, who was the son of  Edward Wightman. Edward, Valentine Sr. grandfather, has the distinction of being last person in England who was burned at the stake for heresy.
 Valentine Sr. immigrated to the American colonies by 1648, supposedly six years before his father and brothers would arrive to New Port, Rhode Island.
For some reason, Valentine started spelling his surname Whitman as opposed the original spelling of Wightman.
  Valentine could speak the local indian language, so he became an interpreter. He assisted in communications between the local Indians and early settlers, as well as helping with transactions of the land companies of Connecticut and Massachusetts in 1658.
   In 1660, Valentine witnessed a contract between a indian chief called Ninigret and the United Colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford.
He was an industrious person serving in the rolls of:

• Surveyor of Highways, 1656
• Commissioner in the General Court of Commissions for Rhode Island,18 May, 1658,
• Jury duty, 1657 - 1661
• Rhode Island Militia, King Philip's war,14 Aug 1676 

  He married a Mary ,that some think is Mary Aldrich, daughter of George Aldrich and Catharine Seald, but for right now we have no verification of that.

  They had 9 Children: Mary who married John Inman, Elizabeth, Susanna who married James Ballou, Deborah who married Joseph Smith, Alice, Hannah, Esther who married John Steere, Grace and Valentin Jr. who married Sarah Bartlett
Valentine Sr. made some land purchases:
Jan. 28, 1655, he bought a parcel of meadow and 25 acres of upland of Robert Coles at Mashapaug
 Aug. 27,1656, of John Greene, Sen., a house lot lying between the lot of William Harris on the north and Edward Manton on the south, which was confirmed by Philipa Greene, widow of John, May 13, 1659.
  He was admitted a freeman of Providence, May 18, 1658. His name is also attached to an agreement, dated October 18, 1654, between the United Colonies and Ninegret, and upon the list of those who stayed in Providence through Phillip’s war.
  Valentine Sr. made his last will and testament on 13 Jan 1701 and on 11 Mar, 1701 his will was proven in court.

  From the Narragansett Historical Register Vol 2, page 297,  His death is thus recorded : “ Valentine Whittman Senior, of this Towne of Providence died the 26‘11 day of January 1701 about the breakeing of ye day or a little before, as his Son Valentine Whittman Gives an account.”

  Valentine Whitman Jr. was born on 25 Aug 1668. He married 12 Dec 1694, Sarah Bartlett, daughter of John Bartlett and Sarah Aldrich. Their children were Sarah, John, Henry, Abiah, Robert, Benjamin, Noah and two or three more children.

  *Their son John and his wife Sarah Sprague are my ancestors. Sarah was the daughter of Anthony Sprague,who was the son of Elizabeth Bartlett and who was the daughter of Mary Warren, the eldest daughter of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. 

  Valentine Whitman Jr., and a group of men, met in his home on 17 Mar 1730, The meeting was to organize their future town, later to be named Smithfield, Rhode Island.

                                                 Valentine Whitman Jr. home Circa 1937

Valentine's home is called a Stone ender. This is a unique style of Rhode Island architecture that developed in the 17th century where one wall in a house is made up of a large stone chimney.The large farmhouse was built around 1694 and is the second oldest surviving building in Rhode Island
.
Valentine Whitman, Jr. House, Great Road & Meetinghouse Road, Lime Rock, Providence County, RI

Valentine Jr. died on 26 Aug 1750, Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island and is buried in the Whitman-Mowry Cemetery, Lincoln, Providence County, Rhode Island

#52ancestors-Favorite name

In talking about the writing prompt "favorite name",with my husband, he reminded me about the name Foster. And I am glad he did.
 My Foster surname had become a favorite middle name for three of my male ancestors and one sibling.The first Foster in my tree is Eleanor Foster, also know as Ellen. She was born 22 February 1794 in Virginia. Married John DeArmond 21 August 1817 and died 23 Apr 1859.

Their marriage was performed by John's uncle, King DeArmond. King also married a Sarah Foster to John A George. Could Sarah be Eleanor's sister?

Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993

1850; Census Place: Division 10, Berrien, Michigan; Roll: M432_346; Page: 194B; Image: 386

Eleanor Foster DeArmond Grave

John and Eleanor's son, William DeArmond, married Clarissa Brown. And their son was named Camlin Foster DeArmond.  

 I have written about Camlin in a previous post linked here :#52ancesters-Start

Camlin (pictured above) married Clytie Agnes Harris and they had several girls, one of whom was my grandmother Dorothy May DeArmond.

The picture above shows my grandparents (Dorothy May DeArmond and Earl Howard Utter) newly married, I assume.  The were married on 21 June 1929 in Steuben County, Indiana.

Allen Foster Utter

Earl and Dorothy had three boys, Earl Jr., Allen, and Gordon. My dad's,(pictured above) full name was Allen Foster Utter. I assume he was named after his grandpa Camlin Foster DeArmond.

My dad married my mom,on July 25, 1958 and had first (me), Michelle Lynne and my brother with the middle name of Allen, and third...

Christopher Foster Utter

23 Sept 1965- 11 Feb 1966

 My brother Christopher Foster was born with with more rare form of spina bifida. My mom describes it as looking like a little blister with a white cord. A few days later he would show signs of also having hydrocephalus. 

At eleven days old he had surgery to cover up his open spine and at eighteen days old he had surgery to install a Holter valve for the excess fluid on his brain.

 According to my mom the valve was the size of a car fuse and had plastic where the glass would be. The valve (Spitz-Holter shunt) was implanted behind his ear with a tube to his brain to collect the fluid. The opposite end of the valve had a tube to a main vein to take the fluid to his heart for dispersal and removal. My mom had to push on the valve to move the fluid from Christopher's brain to a vein.

 Because he kept growing he was producing more spinal fluid, so he had his third surgery just before Christmas to repair the valve.

Sadly, Christopher's spinal defect was in the center of his back and as he grew that repaired area stretched from top and bottom. His little spine severed and he passed away. My mom didn't get much time with her little boy, what with him in and out of hospitals and two older children at home needing care. And the after affects of this family trauma would span many years for her.

Today as I finished up writing this story, I took a closer look at the dates and amazingly this is the exact day my brother Christopher died, fifty-two years ago.

 After Christopher died and some years later, my parents had two more boys with the middle name of Allen.
Christopher Foster was the only and is the last Foster in our family, but maybe another generation will pick up the name and use it again.

#52ancestors- In the Census

 I have come to my senses or rather census on who to write about this week. Her name is Maranda. Maranda is my mysterious ancestor. I know next to nothing about her. I wish that was not the case. 

Maranda married Miles Hodges. You can see the couple, twice on my tree. Two of their children Benjamin and Delilah are also also shown circled in red and if you follow to the left you will end at Earl Utter, he is my grandfather. You can see that Maranda and Miles are doubly important to my research.

I have not been able to find out a whole lot about Miles but Maranda is worse. I do not know when or where she was born, married or died. I don't have one single family clue, and do not no her last name. She was either born in New York or Vermont. I cannot make any connections through their children's first and middle names. I do not have any bible information and stories. As far as I can tell she is only listed 3 times in her whole life. The 1850, 1860 and 1870 census. So sad really. I thought because she is important to me, I would dedicate this week to her.

1830 Census  Butler, Wayne, New York. Miles (bottom line) is listed but only a tic mark for Maranda.

1850 Census Dallas, Clinton, Michigan. Maranda is listed as being born in New York here.

 1860 Census, Bloomer, Montcalm Michigan. She is listed as being born in Vermont on this census.

1870 Census Bloomer, Montcalm, Michigan. They list Vermont as birth place again.

I will keep working on her from time to time. Maybe someday i'll have a breakthrough.

#52ancestors- Invite to dinner

I was thinking about who I would like to "invite to dinner"and James Chapman is one who came to mind. Mainly because I know so little about him and have so many questions about his life.
  Our dinner conversation would include asking him how, where and when he died and where he is buried?
I would also ask if am correct in assuming that his parents were Thomas Chapman and Martha Delap?  And who were the parents of Thomas Chapman ? And finally, were Martha Delap's parents, James Delap and Catherine Grimes?

Here is how I am related to  James Chapman. My maternal Grandmother was Dorothy Louise Marlin (Boorsma) daughter of Mamie Lavonde Chapman, daughter of Cassius W Chapman, son of James Chapman and Susannah Haynes (Haines).
.
 James was born in Henry County Indiana around 1831. According to a Find a Grave story, posted by Trevis Tuell, his parents were Thomas Chapman and Martha DeLap or DeLapp.

 Thomas and Martha were married 21 December, 1826 in Wayne County, Indiana which is one county to the east of Henry county.
Recently, on another person's family tree they listed the parents of Martha Delap as being James Delap and Catherine Grimes.The tree owner had no source listed, so I have no clue where this information came from in the first place. 

 I found a rootsweb Land index possibly about  Thomas Chapman. This is it below.

  NAME                           DATE                        OFFICE         DOC#          ACCESSION/SERIAL#

CHAPMAN, THOMAS                     8/5/1834                      Indianapolis     12111              IN0580__.329

CHAPMAN, THOMAS                     9/2/1834                      Indianapolis     13334              IN0610__.058

So, that puts Thomas and James in the same county and around same time. They could be father and son. If  this is the same Thomas that married Martha DeLap then that would make her James mother.

I next see James in  the 1850 Wayne County, Indiana census,in Centro Township. I am having trouble finding that place but I did find a Centerville. Perhaps that is the current name.

You can see James highlighted in yellow, 19 years old, male, teacher,born in Indiana. He is living with the Stiggleman family. Father Philip,mother Susan ,children  Hamilton,Samuel Mary,Nancy, George John Lydia,James and my James Chapman. Right below James Chapman on the census form is another household with a 24 year Stiggleman as head, most likely, another son of Philip.

The next event in James life was his marriage to Susannah Haynes on 30 January 1853

I found  this on ancestry.The information comes from page 150 of a book called,

 Historical Southern Families.Volume XVIII

Haynes of Southside Virginia with Related Families. I do not know which son was the printer,

Moving forward in time we now find our teacher, James in the Iowa State Census Collection 1836-1925. This census was taken in DeMoines,Dallas County ,Iowa in 1856. But he is not teaching, he is listed at a merchant. Also we see his wife :Susanna' Haynes Chapman and their 2 year old son Robert

Then in 1860  we see  James is listed as 29, school teacher born in Indiana. Susan is 28, born in Indiana. Robert is now 5 years old, CW ( Cassius W) is 3, mistakenly listed as female and is the first member born in Iowa. Finally,3 month old Flora E, also born in Iowa.

Here is where his trail ends. He is gone.

 It is noted on his Find A Grave site that;

"Susannah presented the will of James Chapman in Wayne Co., IN on April 21st, 1866. "

So something tragic happened to James and I would like to find out more details. I have found on Ancestry.com, a James Chapman of Wayne County, in the  Indiana, Wills and probate records (Will records, Vol 1-4 1812 - 1865)

Also from the Find a Grave site

" Susannah, married A.J. Stigleman some time between the summer of 1866 and 1870" 

This also supports that James is deceased. 

Here is the last I can find on Susannah (Susan) Haynes Chapman Stiggleman. 

In this 1880 US Census from Pipe creek,Miami County, Indiana.

  Andrew J. Stigleman, 55 years old, Miller

Susan Stigleman, wife, 48 years old

Arthur Chapmn, step son,18 years old, laborer, born in Iowa

James Chapmn, step son,14 years old, laborer, born in Indiana.

It is Interesting to note that James D. Chapman Jr.  was  born in 1866 the same year that James Sr. died. So I took a look on his  find a grave site. It states he was born March 19, 1866.

That is the story of James Chapman as far as I can tell. I hope to someday have many more details to fill in the gaps of his story. 

#52Ancestors - Longevity

These wonderful people whom I never met are my great grandparents. Jan Jan (John) Boorsma was born 17 September 1877 in Kollum, Kollumerland,Friesland, Netherlands. Grietje (Margaret or Maggie) was born 30 July 1876, Netherlands. They are my mom's paternal grandparents.  These pictures were taken at their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1954

Margaret and her family departed from Rotterdam, Netherlands on the ship Rotterdam. They  arrived in New York probably 15 June 1888. She was about 10 or 11 years old.

Jan (John) arrived 16 Aug 1886 on the ship Schiedam from Amsterdam. He was about 7  years old on the ships manifest. It looks like it is just the three of them, John, his  father Jan and sister Willemke,    aka Minnie. My great grandfather's mother, Tryntje Kracht and some siblings did not come along.
Jan and Margaret were married 24 July 1904 in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan

Front row, left to right Theresa Boorsma Robinson, Jan John III Boorsma, Margaret Bont Boorsma, Angeline Boorsma Wademan
Back row, left to right Dena Boorsma, Louis (my grandfather), John IV (aka Shorty), Earnest, Edward, Henry, Wilhelmina (aka Wilma & Babe) Boorsma Boersen

The picture above includes all the children minus one son, Mike (Menno), whose photo is on the table to the left in the picture. Mike was killed and an industrial accident at the Continental Motors plant in Muskegon, Michigan in 1943.
  Continental made huge engines for World War II vehicles. He and my grandpa both worked there. My grandpa was coming onto his shift, when he heard about the engine accident involving his brother. He told my mom that when he got to the hospital, Mike was still alive but the explosion had taken off his arms and legs. He would not live long. Grandpa described it this way. "what was left of him could be put into a basket". It was a terribly site to see. Mike had a wife Marie (VanderLaan) and two small boys, Roger and David, at the time of his death.
  Great grandma Margaret died on 1 July 1955 and Jan (John) lived for three more years without her. My mom told me he that my grandpa picked him up a few times so he could take him to church. Great grandpa John died 18 February 1958.
My mom was getting married in July of  1958 so she was sad that her grandpa would not be there for her wedding.
They had 51 years of marriage together...their love and longevity is a blessing to our family.

52 Ancestors- Favorite Photo

This is one of my favorite photos. It is of my Grandmother Dorothy Louise Marlin Boorsma, my favorite Uncle, Wayne Boorsma and my youthful mother, Marilyn Lou Boorsma Utter.

In talking with my mom about it she thought it was their Easter Photo and based on my uncles possible age, I think it was taken circa 1946. My mom would have  been about 11 but her height in the picture made me wonder if I got the year wrong.

 I asked her about her size and she said " I was the tallest and boniest girl in elementary school". She stopped growing in junior high but all the other kids did and caught up to her.

The picture was probably taken in their backyard at their home They lived at 4268 Buchanan Ave SW. in Wyoming, Michigan.

 Grandma Boorsma lost her mother when she was 6,in 1919, to Tuberculosis and Influenza. Sometime after that the house they were living in burnt to the ground.
As a teenager, Grandma cleaned house for the wife of the owner of Kamp Oil company. It was located at 310 eastern ave, Wyoming, Michigan.
When my mom was in high school, my grandma went back to work at Herpolsheimers in the drapery department. Also working in the same department was man by the name of Art Gritter.
After a while Art and a friend Bill Westveer decided to start their own custom drapery business called Gritter and Westveer. They asked my grandmother to join them as an in home sales lady.  She would bring in drapery samples book, measure the windows, write up orders and take deposits from clients.
 She started circa 1952 and continued for over 20 years. She had an accident on the job circa 1965. She was measuring windows at a clients house, the chair she was standing on gave way and she fell backward onto the floor. Both of her wrists were broken. My Mom had to help care for her during the day. It was a concern and hardship for my mom as she was several months pregnant, had one (me) in school all day and my brother (Steve) was in half day kindergarten. We did not ride buses,so she had drive back and forth from Kentwood to Wyoming a couple times as day. Also they were a one car family as most were in the 1960's
  My Dad was able to get work at Gritter & Westveer as a drapery installer. Eventually that would lead him into starting his own  company, Jamestown Draperies.

My mom's first job was at the Ferguson Droste Ferguson hospital. She would take the bus after school and worked for the kitchen delivering meals to the patients. The hospital was well known for its colorectal floor but they also had a plastic surgery floor. My mom heard rumors of stars like Bing Crosby and others may have come to this out of the way hospital to get some surgery done.

Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards: 1890-1940
By Thomas R. Dilley





  Her second job was working for Bell Telephone. She was about 18 years old at this time and was a sorter for long distance calls, later to be moved to the foreign calls.
   In the 1970's, she took a job at a local nursing home. She liked working with the patients quite a bit and remembers many stories about several of them.
 Eventually she was working with my dad in the drapery business, doing customer in home sales, ordering fabric,rods and blinds,handling the billing,even making drapes for people.
  Shortly after I was married in 1982 there was a situation in the family that forced her to look for other employment. She ended up at D&W Grocery store in Jenison as a deli clerk. Later she was able to get a position in the pharmacy. She took some classes and become a Pharmacy Technician. I think this must have been her best job and it brought out the best in her. She was good at it and got along with people very well. She worked hard all her life and is now enjoying retirement. I'm glad.Thanks mom for taking care of our family.