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.

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.

Happy 177th B-day Thijs Lazes van Gunst!

177 years ago today, on 8 Jan 1835, my 3 Great Grandfather Thijs Lazes van Gunst was born in Idsegahuizum, which is a small town in Friesland, in the Netherlands. His name could either be spelled Thys or Thijs. As you can see in the birth record, the name Thys is actually spelled with 2 dots on top of the y like this: Thÿs. So I don't know which one is correct, or maybe they both are. Here is an article on Wikipedia that explains the diagraph of IJ in more detail. The only thing I do know is that the pronunciation of the name Thÿs is like this - Tice.

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.