Saturday, March 15, 2014

William & Susan Morey

Today is William Nelson Morey and Susan Amanda Greene's 149th wedding anniversary. I know it's not as cool as the big sesquicentennial, but I wanted an excuse to show off some photos that I found of them. I was never expecting to find any, but while visiting my wife's great aunt's house I came across some.

William and Susan were married on March 15, 1865. These photos of them were labeled on the back saying they were taken in 1865, so probably for their wedding. On a side note, my guess is that these are probably copies as I would expect photos of this age to be tin-type or something.

1865 William N Morey  1865 Susan Amanda (Greene) Morey

Also, with these 2 photos was another one. This one is of the entire Morey family from probably around 1882. They had 6 children total with one dying in 1874 and another dying in 1882. This picture shows 5 children, so it must be from around 1881 or 1882.

William N Morey Family ca 1882

The children in the photo are:
Nellie Hannah (1866-1959)
Edward Henry (1870-1935)
Martha Cornelia (1876-1939)
Mary Etta (1877-1882)
Charlotte Amanda (1879-1949)
*Not in the photo - John F (1867-1874)

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Wedding Wednesday - Common Ancestor

My grandparents, Lloyd and Catherine Broersma are 5th cousins. That means that they have the same 4th great grandparents. My grandparents were married in 1951. 183 years before their marriage, their common ancestors were married on 5 March 1768, in Paesens in the Netherlands. Their names were Sybe Jans de Jong and Dieuwke Dirks.

I recently got to visit the church that they were married in, in Paesens. It was built sometime in the 13th century originally as a Catholic church. Later during the Protestant reformation in the 16th century, most churches in Friesland were converted to the Dutch Reformed church.

Paesens Church

The church is still in use today and I got the chance to go inside and look around. It has been remodeled inside, but still has a traditional look similar to what would have been over the centuries.

Paesens Church Inside

I thought it was pretty cool to see where these two family lines met in history. Another interesting thing was that on the wall it had the names of the pastors of this church through the years. So in 1768 the pastor who married my 6th great grandparents would have been Jan Adam Kesler.

Paesens Pastors      Paesens Pastors 2

Monday, March 3, 2014

Hattem Gemeentehuis

Last summer when I was visiting the Netherlands with my dad, we stopped in the city of Hattem cause that's where some of the ancestors on my mom's side were from (the de Haans). While we were there we had to find the county building located there. My dad had remembered seeing it in a postcard that we had. This is probably from the 40s maybe? There was no date.

Hattem Gemeentehuis

It's where people go to register their marriage and births of children and stuff. Here is what it looked like in 2013. It kinda looks like it's made out of LEGOs, with the alternating red and white bricks.

Hattem Gemeentehuis 2013

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Koops, Peas and Pies

Today, 236 years ago, my 5 great grandfather was born. His name was Koop, son of Barelt Koops and Roelofje Jacobs. It was on the 2nd of March in 1778 when he was born, and a few days later he was baptized in the church of Peize in the Netherlands. He would live an die there.

I always thought that Peize was pronounced like peas, but it's not. It's like PIE-zuh. I got the chance to visit the church where he was baptized this last summer. It's still in use today.

Peize Church