Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Saturday, July 13, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Allene Wisner Slideshow
Today was the funeral for my wife's Grandma, Jennie Allene (Orrell) Wisner. During the service they had some technical difficulties with the DVD player during a slideshow I put together. So I uploaded it to YouTube for anyone who wanted to see.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Broersma Family Crest?
I recently got to take a trip to the Netherlands with my dad to visit the towns and villages where our family was from. On one stop we were looking around in the church in Allingawier, which is in Wonseradeel in the province of Friesland.
Inside the church in the entry way, up on the tower was this coat of arms and inscription:
Alsmen schref 1634 en een
heeft Jelle Tiercks Broersma van
Allinvier aen dese toere geleyt
den eersten sten tot momory
van het heeft hi sin wapen hier
boven geset den 3 Yulyo
1635
It basically says that on the 3rd of July 1634, Jelle Tjerks Broersma laid the first stone in the tower when it was being constructed. Now we haven't been able to connect this Broersma to our Broersma line. Our Broersmas did live in Allingawier and the neighboring villages, but if this Jelle Tjerks is a part of our line, then he would be at least 2 generations further than we have documented in our direct line, and more likely 3 generations back.
I would love to connect to this Broersma, but I kinda think that we won't be able to. You would probably have to be rich to get the privilege of laying the first stone in a tower and getting an inscription about you. Also there is a coat of arms which would be awesome to have.
Inside the church in the entry way, up on the tower was this coat of arms and inscription:
Alsmen schref 1634 en een
heeft Jelle Tiercks Broersma van
Allinvier aen dese toere geleyt
den eersten sten tot momory
van het heeft hi sin wapen hier
boven geset den 3 Yulyo
1635
It basically says that on the 3rd of July 1634, Jelle Tjerks Broersma laid the first stone in the tower when it was being constructed. Now we haven't been able to connect this Broersma to our Broersma line. Our Broersmas did live in Allingawier and the neighboring villages, but if this Jelle Tjerks is a part of our line, then he would be at least 2 generations further than we have documented in our direct line, and more likely 3 generations back.
I would love to connect to this Broersma, but I kinda think that we won't be able to. You would probably have to be rich to get the privilege of laying the first stone in a tower and getting an inscription about you. Also there is a coat of arms which would be awesome to have.
Monday, June 24, 2013
RIP Grandma Wisner
A few days ago, on 22 June 2013, my wife's grandmother Jennie Allene (Orrell) Wisner passed away. She was 89 years old. She had a nice laugh, kind of like a chuckle that I will always remember.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
The Wedded Life
Last weekend when we were moving stuff out of my wife's grandma's house, one of the things that I came across was this book: The Wedded Life by J.R. Miller. It was with a little bit of luck that I came across it at all. It was on their shelves with a bunch of other books that we were putting out for the garage sale. It looked a little old to me so I took a closer look and saw written in pencil on the cover "Martha Morey weds Lawrence Wisner."
This would be in reference to my wife's grandpa's grandparents (or her 2 great grandparents). It looks like it would have been possibly a wedding present for them as the book is about how to have a good marriage, or how to be married. Also consistant with it being a wedding present is the fact that it was printed in 1894, and they were married in 1899.
Also inside in one of the front pages was a fill-out-page of wedding info, sort of like a Bible with family tree info. It had the date of their wedding and the witnesses and is made to look like a wedding certificate. I thought that was kinda cool, I already had that info. But the real treasure was what was just inside the front cover. BAM! 4 newspaper clippings - 3 for their wedding and an obituary for their son that died when he was 3.
I already had the date for their wedding, June 1 1899 and the basic info, but it's always cool to find them in the newspaper. Plus these give a little bit more detail about their life, how they were married and where they went on their honeymoon. In the obit it tells of how their son died, which I didn't know before. So anyway I was pretty excited by this find. Here are the 4 clippings from the book if you'd like to see more detail.
This would be in reference to my wife's grandpa's grandparents (or her 2 great grandparents). It looks like it would have been possibly a wedding present for them as the book is about how to have a good marriage, or how to be married. Also consistant with it being a wedding present is the fact that it was printed in 1894, and they were married in 1899.
Also inside in one of the front pages was a fill-out-page of wedding info, sort of like a Bible with family tree info. It had the date of their wedding and the witnesses and is made to look like a wedding certificate. I thought that was kinda cool, I already had that info. But the real treasure was what was just inside the front cover. BAM! 4 newspaper clippings - 3 for their wedding and an obituary for their son that died when he was 3.
I already had the date for their wedding, June 1 1899 and the basic info, but it's always cool to find them in the newspaper. Plus these give a little bit more detail about their life, how they were married and where they went on their honeymoon. In the obit it tells of how their son died, which I didn't know before. So anyway I was pretty excited by this find. Here are the 4 clippings from the book if you'd like to see more detail.
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