Anyone who has done Dutch research has come across names similar to van den Bos. The van and den part of the name are prefixes.
Prefixes are common with Dutch surnames. Some of the common prefixes are de, der, den, van, te, ter, ten. Combinations of these prefixes can be found also: van den, van der, etc. Kirk's dutch heritage has a variety of these prefixes in their surnames.
van den Bos is one of those surnames. van means 'from'; den means 'the'. So van den Bos means 'from the Bos'. Bos is bunch or bundle. van den Bos means 'from the bunch (or bundle). The van den Bos family in Kirk's family tree comes from Sint Philipsland, Zeeland, Netherlands.
One of the interesting things about dutch names with prefixes is that the name is alphabetized in dutch search engines and dutch records without the prefix. If searching a Dutch surname with a prefix in an online Netherlands search engine, search without the prefix(es). When I search for van den Bos, I search for Bos. A few of the online search engines provide a separate space for the prefixes. If looking at registers that are alphabetized, I would look in the 'B' section, for those records in the Netherlands. In the United States records, I have found them alphabetized by the 'V'.
Kirk's van den Bos, which became VandenBos in the United States, ancestry is:
Kirk Leyndyke
James Leyndyke
Peter LeynDyke (1894-1991)
The following van den Bos family members were all born in Sint Philipsland, Zeeland, Netherlands.
Neeltje 'Nellie' van den Bos (1877-1910)
Marinus 'Martin' van den Bos (1856-1916)
Cornelis van den Bos (1825-)
Marinus van den Bos (1793-1865)
Johannes van den Bos (abt 1759-1829)
Arend van den Bos (no sources for dates yet.)
Kirk's paternal grandparents, Peter LeynDyke and Nellie VanOeveren were married New Year's Day, 1917 in Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan. They were married an amazing 74 years.
I started my research into Kirk's family in the Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan area. One of the first places I looked was the Western Michigan Genealogical Society (WMGS) website. I was amazed. It was, and still is, one of the best society website's I have found. I have spent hours looking at their database section.
WMGS has basic society information such as membership, meetings, newsletter, and publications. The publications can be purchased from their website. In addition, the website has resource pages that includes research assistance, databases, biographies, and internet links.
If you have Western Michigan ancestors, especially Grand Rapids and Kent County ones, then you must check the database section out. The majority of the databases are free, with a few requiring payment. The free databases are:
186 years ago today Amable Seraphim (DeGanne) DeGan and Adelaide Ducharme Tetreau were married in Quebec, Canada. They celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1876. An article in The Daily Courier on 28 April 1876 reported the occassion. This well written article made you feel like you were there. I did find it interesting that Adelaide was never mentioned by name.
The Dollaway surname can be found on Kirk's maternal line of ancestors. I am not sure of the origin of the name, but I believe it may be English in origin. The Dollaway's can be found in the United States as early as 1762. Kirk's line of Dollaway's came from New York (Dutchess, Orange, and Schuyler counties) and Lowell Township, Kent, Michigan.
Here is Kirk's lineage of Dollaway's:
Kirk
Elizabeth
Leona Adelia Dollaway (30 May 1905-2 July 2005)
Willis George Dollaway (29 October 1863-28 June 1940)
Andrew Dollaway (1840-)
Isaac Dollaway (1810-1861)
Andrew Dollaway (about 1762-27 May 1826)
One of the fun things about researching family history is delving into the reasons people leave their home country and immigrate to the United States. I find this fascinating whether it is my family I am researching or my husbands.
Pieter Luijendijk, Kirk's great, great grandfather, was born 29 August 1823 in Zuid-Beijerland, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was the twelfth generation of Luijendijk men who lived in Zuid-Holland. I was curious what would make someone leave such strong family ties to the area and set out for the United States.
To understand his reasoning one needs to understand the history of the emigration in that period. Tom deMeijer shared the following with me, "Both Pieter and his father Jacob are known as “workman”. They were part of the rural upper class of that time, with official positions as deputy mayors, sheriffs and “dijkgraaf” which is the highest authority in each polder.
What happened? In the period after the Napoleonic wars ending with the battle of Waterloo in 1813, the population in The Netherlands was growing exponentially. After the Congress of Vienna, the Southern Netherlands (now known as Belgium and Luxembourg) were united with “Holland” under the Orange monarchy. The population initially got work, energy and children, a lot of them. In the previous period the land was attributed to the elder son or daughter and the others made sure that they married a wealthy farmer or farmer’s daughter as well. With the explosion of the population these options became increasingly scarce. At the same time there were no good alternatives yet. It was too early for the industrial revolution that started only after 1870 (that could have absorbed a lot of people) and there was no fertilizer yet, allowing more intensive agriculture. Result was impoverishment all over, rather than the improvement of conditions hoped for after the wars."
The reason Pieter stated for emigration was "improvement of existence". Like many others from many lands, he thought the United States would give him a better life. In 1849, at the age of 26, Pieter and his wife, Jaapje (Maasdam) emigrated to the United States.
Kirk's maternal grandfather, Bertrand 'Bert' Francis Corcoran, died of a heart attack on 21 July 1959 in Elk Rapids, Antrim, Michigan. Bert and his wife, Leona, were in Elk Rapids visiting his daughter, Elizabeth 'Betty', and her husband Jim (Kirk's parents). Jim was on a temporary assignment for Western Electric at the time.
Kirk remembers the days before his grandfather's death as fun. His grandfather was a very generous person. He would talk to his grandchildren and was fun to be with. Whenever Grandpa Corcoran came to visit he would slap a silver dollar in his grandchildren's hands. That week Grandpa Corcoran had taken Kirk and his brother and sisters to a dime store type store and the kids got to buy a toy.
The morning of Bert's death was a sunny, summer day. Kirk, who was eight at the time, remembers the family eating hamburgers on the screened-in porch. While Bert was eating he started having problems. He went inside to lay down and an ambulance was called. The kids were kept on the porch while the paramedics attended to Bert, so they wouldn't see anything. But kids being kids, they peeked through a window. Kirk remembers the paramedics plunging a hypodermic needle into his grandfather's chest before being told to get away from the window. Bert died shortly afterwards at the age of 56.
Below is the obituary for Bertrand Francis Corcoran (7 Jan 1903-21 Jul 1959). Bertrand was the son of Timothy Francis Corcoran and Helen (Schmitt) Corcoran.
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