Genealogy Highlights of 2013

This year, I made some good headway, genealogically speaking. On my wife's side I found a couple caches of pictures and documents that revealed new information. Unfortunately some of these discoveries were made as a result her grandparents passing away. I wish we had asked them just a few more questions about their history, before we were no longer able.


Also this year I got to connect with a long sort-of-lost relative on my wife's side. She is my wife's grandma's cousin, and we didn't know who she was, or that she lived 25 minutes from our house! Not only that but she has been doing genealogy for many years and has lots of great info.


Also this year we got to celebrate my wife's great aunt's 90th birthday. She is still going strong. We have been able to visit with her a few times this year and also as a result have came across a treasure trove of old pictures that we had never seen before, and that revealed new information.


One big highlight for my side of the family was being able to visit the Netherlands with my dad. We drove through just about every town we could that we had ancestors from.


In one of those towns, in the church tower, was a dedication to a Broersma that laid the first brick. We haven't been able to connect this Broersma to our direct line yet, but it certainly was exciting to see the possibility since our family live in the area.


Also while visiting the Netherlands, I got to visit with relatives and get more family stories and pictures to bring back with us. One of the visits was with our cousin that is one of the only living people in the world that has met my great great grandpa Broersma, and had some stories of him and what he was like.


With some new information that he gave us, we were able to drive to another town and find the exact spot where a picture of my great great grandpa Broersma was taken.


Overall it's been a great year that's has expanded our knowledge of our family. I hope to have more great finds in 2014.

Luitske van Gunst Heirlooms

When visiting relatives in the Netherlands, me and my dad discovered that my Great Great Grandma Luitske van Gunst (Broersma) had made a cross stitch sampler when she was 12. I don't know if she made a lot of them, but 1 still existed and it was given to one of my aunts. When we got home my dad called her and asked if she still had it, and she did. She said we could have it, and also something else.


It says: Luitsche van Gunst, 12 years old, 1882. We hope to have it framed. I've seen some of these come up on Antiques Roadshow and can be worth a lot, but those are really old and have a lot of detail. I like this one though because it's from my family.

Included with the sampler was a church book that also belonged to Luitske.


This church song book almost everyone would have from that congregation, and would bring it each Sunday to church. Most of it is songs, but it also has the New Testament and catechisms. This one was printed in 1881. Another cool thing with this book is that is says it belonged to Luitske.


It says: Churchbook of Luitske Thijses van Gunst, born in Piaam the 11th day of October 1869. Luitske would go on to marry Jetze Broersma in 1890.

Jetze Broersma in Makkum

While on our trip to the Netherlands we were able to learn a little bit more about my great great grandfather Jetze Broersma. Me and my dad visited with Theo Wip, who is our closest Broersma relative that we know of still living in the Netherlands, and also his wife Hinke. He is my grandpa's cousin, which would make him my 1st cousin once removed. Theo's mother was Dieuwke Broersma, daughter of Jetze.


After talking with them for a while and hearing a lot of great family stories we started showing him some pictures and asked him about Jetze Broersma. Theo is probably one of only 3 people alive who have actually met my great great grandfather, and not only that but he also spent some time with him and had some great memories to share.

We knew that Jetze used to peddle petrol around on a cart and sell it because we have a picture of him doing it from the 1940s, or maybe the 1950s.


We showed this picture to Theo and he said that this was during the time that Jetze was living in the town of Makkum, and that this was probably taken on the main street. So a few days later we drove through Makkum and tried to find the spot where the photo was taken. All of the buildings look very similar, so after looking for a while I didn't think we were going to find it.

My dad had a copy of the photo on his phone and started comparing the roof line on the main street and saw some similarities. He then narrowed in on the exact spot where the picture was taken. The buildings look pretty similar, some of the window coverings have changed, but if you look at the roof line you can see that it's a match.


It was tough to get the same perspective, but I think we got pretty close. Also with cars diving through it made it a little more difficult to stand in the middle of the road and try to take a picture. We were getting a few funny looks, but we looked like tourists so I think we were ok.

Photo Comparison - The Backdrop

One of the cool old pictures that we have of my family is if my Great Great Grandpa Jetze Broersma's family, taken in the Netherlands probably around 1911.


This portrait has some unique stuff. Everything looks pretty symmetrical as far as people go. My GG Aunt Dieuwke Broersma on the far left has her arm on an empty chair. They might have been able to do without that, but it does seem to balance out the rail on the opposite side that my G Grandpa Laas Broersma is sitting on. And behind him are some bushes and trees that seem to fade away towards the left, and what looks like a river flowing nearby. Maybe the studio has a few different backgrounds painted and depending on what type of picture you wanted they would move you to the left or right. Since this was a wider portrait I guess they just got everything from a curtain on the left, to blank in the middle, to a forrest on the right.

One thing that you can say about it is that it makes for a unique picture setting. I didn't think much of it until I saw another one that had a similar pose and furniture.


This photo of the Tjeerd Harmens Andringa family is out of the book "Andringa" and I believe it is from around 1902. It has the same rail on the right side. And the chair in the far left looks extremely similar to the one that Jetze Broersma is sitting in the other one. Just look at the knots in the legs and the diamond shape on the cross bar. To me this looks like it could be in the same studio based on the furniture.

Then I was forwarded this portrait that has another Broersma in it, Antje Broersma (cousin of Jetze Broersma, center with white hair covering).


This one has the same background as the first one, with trees on the right and curtain on the left. The chair that Johannes Werkhoven (man in the middle) seems to be the same style that Dieuwke had her arm on in the first one. Based on the the 2 sons having wives, I would estimate this picture was taken around the same time as the others, somewhere around 1914. The youngest son Klaas (on the left) was married in 1914 and this might even have been taken on that occasion.

This last one was taken in the same place as the first, almost certainly. Most of the people in it are the same, Jetze Broersma's family at Tjerk Broersma's wedding in 1916. See the trees on the right and the river? I don't see the curtain on the left, but the exposure on this one doesn't seem to be as good so I don't know what's going on on the left. Also the bench on the far right seems to be the same as in the previous picture on the left


So anyway, I thought that it was pretty interesting that these photos could possibly be from the same studio. Now what would be really awesome is if that studio was still in business and someone could go there and look at the archives of photos from way back. I'm guessing that there were not a lot of photo studios in that part of the Netherlands so many people would use the same one.

Birthday Bio - Jetze Broersma (1865-1955)

Jetze Broersma is my Great Great Grandfather, and today he would be 147 years old. He was born on 13 July 1865 in the town of Piaam in Friesland, the Netherlands.


He married Luitske van Gunst on 10 May 1890.

     
From his marriage he had a total of 6 children that lived:
1. Tjerk “Jack” Broersma b: 24 FEB 1891 in Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands
2. Ynskje Broersma b: 12 APR 1893 in Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands
3. Thys Broersma b: 17 SEP 1895 in Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands
4. Dieuwke Broersma b: 6 APR 1898 in Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands
5. Laas “Lawrence” Broersma b: 4 FEB 1901 in Piaam, Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands
6. Unnamed Broersma b: 25 MAR 1906 in Sneek, Friesland, Netherlands
7. Pier “Peter” Broersma b: ABT 1908 in Friesland, Netherlands


The picture above was probably taken around 1911. I don't really have any other biographical info on him, but I do have a couple of pictures from later in life. The one on the left is of him pedalling petro, and the one on the right is one of him standing with a hat on.

     
He lived to be 89 years old, and died on 21 May 1955 in Sneek.

Birthday Bio - Dieuwke Broersma (1898-1958)

Dieuwke Broersma was born 114 years ago today, on 6 April 1898 in Friesland in the Netherlands. She was one of the 2 children of Jetze Broersma and Luitske van Gunst that stayed in the Netherlands and did not move to America. Her other siblings Lawrence and Thys emigrated to America and eventually ended up in Washington state. Jack and Peter ended up in Canada.


Dieuwke married Jisk Wip (also known as Julius) on 1 May 1922 in Sneek. I do not have a whole lot of information about their life together, but apparently they enjoyed sailing as I have a few of pictures of them doing that. Perhaps they used that summer activity to celebrate their birthdays, as their 3 sons we all born in the summer:
Jules Hildrbrand b. 12 Jul 1923
Jetze b. 19 Jun 1926
Theodorus b. 12 Jun 1932


The boy sitting is not one of Dieuwke's sons, and there is no mention on the back of the picture as to who it is. All 3 sons grew up and were married. Jetze appears to have joined the navy based on a couple of pictures of him. Perhaps he served in some capacity during World War II? Maybe the sailing he did as a child prompted him to try it as a career? I don't really have any other information on their children at this time.


Dieuwke lived to be 1 month shy of 60 years old, and passed away on 6 Mar 1958 in Sneek. You can find a few more pictures of their family that I have scanned on my Flickr page.

Tjerk Jack Broersma & Baukje Betty Reeder

Tjerk "Jack" Broersma and Baukje "Betty" Reeder were married 96 years ago today on 19 February 1916 in Sneek, the Netherlands. Tjerk would be my GG Uncle, which would make him my Great Grandfather's brother. My Great Grandfather, Laas Broersma is in the far left, and his dad Jetze Broersma is the one with the beard.

Workday Wednesday - Pedalling Petro

Jetze Broersma pedalling petro in the Netherlands.

Birthday Bio - Luitske van Gunst (1869-1925)

Today, 142 years ago, Luitske van Gunst was born in Piaam, Wonseradeel, Friesland, The Netherlands. She was my 2 Great Grandmother. I really don't have much biographical info on her other than just dates, so here they are: born 11 October 1869, daughter of Thys Lazes van Gunst and Ynskjen Jelles Attema. Here is the record of her birth off of allefriezen.nl.


She married Jetze Broersma on 10 May 1890 in Makkum, Wonseradeel, Friesland, The Netherlands when she was 20 years old. Together they had 7 children:
Tjerk "Jack" b. 24 Feb 1891
Ynskje b. 12 Apr 1893
Thys b. 17 Sep 1895
Dieuwke b. 6 Apr 1898
Laas "Lawrence" b. 2 Feb 1901
Unnamed b. 25 Mar 1906
Pier "Peter" b. abt 1908

I only have come across 2 pictures so far with her in them and here is my favorite. A family picture from around 1911 or 1912. She is the woman sitting in the chair.


I descend through her son Laas, who emigrated to the United States in 1920. It's most likely that he never saw her again because she died on 25 August 1925 in Sneek.