Siblings Saturday: Children of Emigration

Kornelis Bolhuis & probably Hilje Vos, his third wife
I wrote in My Dutch Heritage, that according to kin related to the Timmer family in the Netherlands, Kornelis Bolhuis advised his children to leave Europe and emigrate to America. All but the oldest daughter did so. 

Family here in America stated that after the marriage of my great-grandparents, Martha Bolhuis and John Timmer, in 1906, they emigrated to the United States for their honeymoon with Martha's brother and sisters. 
John Timmer, 1906
original cdv photo owned
by Dawn Westfall

A check of the online Ellis Island records showed that John and Martha arrived in America on 5 June 1906 on the ship called Ryndam, from the town of Stedum in the Netherlands. Martha's brother Gerrit Bolhuis and sister Johanna Bolhuis were also listed on the ship's manifest. A record of Winnie's immigration was not readily located, either by her maiden name or married name. The 1930 Census for Georgetown Township in Ottawa County, Michigan indicates that Dick and Winnie (Bolhuis) Dyke emigrated in 1908.

Online records from the Netherlands give the marriage date for John and Martha as May 14, 1906. These photographs of them were taken in the Netherlands. They are identified as John and Martha and their ages are written as 26 and 21 respectively. These then were likely taken around the time of their marriage

Martha Bolhuis-Timmer, 1906
original cdv photo owned
by Dawn Westfall






I also have this wedding photograph of Gerrit Bolhuis and his bride Gerritdena Dijkema. They were married in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan on May 14, 1914.
Gerrit Bolhuis & Gerritdena Dijkema, Grand Rapids, MI 1914

I do not have any photographs of Winnie or Dick Dyke and until recently, this newspaper clipping was the only photograph I had of Johanna.
Martin DeVries & Johanna Bolhuis-DeVries, 1969


Just recently, a new cousin found me through this blog. She is descended from Kornelis' daughter Johanna who later married her cousin Martin DeVries. She graciously shared some photographs of the family, including this one below showing Johanna, Marten and two of their sons. The cousin estimated the photo was likely taken around 1911 or 1912 and said that her grandfather (the taller of the children in the photo) told her that the other gentleman in the photo was a cousin visiting from the Netherlands. I don't know the identity of this cousin. He is likely a DeVries and I will have to leave that mystery to a DeVries researcher. There were probably several other family members who emigrated as well, but my focus at the time was just on Bolhuis and Timmer. 


Johanna Bolhuis-DeVries, Cornelius DeVries, Edward/Egbert DeVries, Martin DeVries
(man on left identified only as "a cousin visiting from the Netherlands"), taken in Wisconsin ca. 1911-12



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