Gerhardus Boven

GEDCOM Note

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1265\cocoasubrtf210{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;}{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}\pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\pardirnatural\f0\fs24 \cf0 Gerhardus Boven must have listened carefully as his father, Geert Thomas Boven, read the letters from America sent by Geert's brother Pieter Thomas Boven who was farming in Graafschap in the 1880's. The letters contained news of Missaukee County, Michigan. Dutchmen like John Vogel were advertising in Graafschap and the Netherlands, telling about land that was available for homesteading in Missaukee County. There was almost no chance that Gerhardus would ever have his own farm in the Netherlands no matter how hard he worked. In the hopes of finding a better life for his family and owning his own farm, Gerhardus decided to emigrate to America from Midwolda in 1883. He was thirty years old and only spoke Dutch. Gerhardus brought his wife Grietje and two young sons, Geert (George) and Jan (John). \par \par When the Boven family arrived in the United States, they were processed through emigration at Castle Garden, a big converted stone fort in New York City. First they had to pass through registration which included the recording of each emigrant's name, birthplace, and destination. Later they received assistance from a Railway Association agent who gave them directions for obtaining tickets to Michigan. \par \par He exchanged currency for them as well. There was also a post office in Castle Garden which Gerhardus used to send news of their safe arrival to his father, Geert, in Midwolda. The Castle had crude sleeping facilities on benches or the floor while the family waited for their transportation. They could buy food and milk, but no beer or strong drinks. Castle Garden also had a system to handle trunks and bundles so the family did not have to worry about thieves. Before the trunks left the ship, they were identified with numbered copper tags and Gerhardus received duplicates of these tags. Then the luggage was placed in a guarded warehouse until Gerhardus claimed it personally. The luggage was then transported from the warehouse to the correct railway station, where it was loaded directly for transport to Michigan. \par \par The train did not come to the Falmouth area until 1888, so Gerhardus and his family took the train as far as Cadillac and then loaded their belongings onto a wagon drawn by oxen for the rest of their journey. Falmouth was the first county seat and a center for the lumber industry. The first saw and shingle mill was built there in 1871. Falmouth also boasted the first grist mill and hotel in the area. \par \par When he arrived in Falmouth, Gerhardus said "Ik ga naar Stad" (I go to town). Everyone laughed because Falmouth was a very small town. In the etherlands a person from the Province of Groningen would say the same thing when going to the town of Groningen. Gerhardus filed for a homestead on 60 acres southeast of Falmouth (in the township of Clam Union on Federal census sheets). This is where the Boven farmhouse is still located today in 1995. \par \par Gerhardus and Grietje must have worked very hard the first few years. They had to clear the land of hard maple and white pine. Their first house was a log cabin built from trees on the land. Later some of the trees were taken to a nearby mill where they were cut into lumber which would be used to build their frame house--the one which still stands today. After the trees were cut, they managed to pull out the stumps and burn them so Gerhardus could use his plow and begin to plant crops. An open well was dug and a bucket made so they could have water. Gerhardus had to build a barn to house his two oxen and eventually a few cows, chickens and pigs during the hard Michigan winters. Potatoes were planted in straight rows along with beans, corn and oats. Gerhardus cleared most of the land himself. The harvesting was all done by hand, with Grietje helping in the field as well as with the chores at the barn while also doing all the housework and cooking. The only means of transportation and working the land was with a team of oxen, and later with horses. The men in the community worked in the woods in the winter and then cleared the land and worked the farm in the summer. After a couple of years Gerhardus and Grietje were able to accumulate a few farm animals and raise a large portion of their own food. Any excess crops they grew could be easily sold to the lumber camps in the area. \par \par Deer and bear were plentiful in the area during the early years and were a source of meat. Bears often tried to steal food from the farm or were encountered while in the woods. Pioneering in the Missaukee Wilderness might entail chasing a bear away from the farm with a broom. Stories were told by a neighbor of lynxes and wolves encountered in the woods while trying to deliver food to the lumber camps. The neighbor had to leave the food for the animals and run. \par \par Gerhardus was a Dutchman and had many of the traits often associated with a Dutchman. He was stubborn, surly, and trustworthy. He walked differently than other Americans. He was devoted to his children and was very \par religious. His ideology was Dutch Calvinism. He was not a teetotaler as Grietje was, however. The Dutch from Midwolda knew how to make good beerenburg (a mixture of herbs with 35% alcohol) and Dutch gin (called White Mule in Missaukee County). \par \par The Falmouth area was heavily logged in the 1880's. As the logging ncreased, camps were set up throughout the county. Settlements sprang up around the churches, schools and general stores. In 1888, the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan Railroad came further north. A settlement named Owens, which consisted of a general store and a few sawmills and houses, grew around the tracks. The settlement was renamed McBain in 1889. When the village incorporated in 1893, there were three saloons for the lumberjacks and a general store run by Jim McBain. The McBain family owned most \par of the town. When you bought groceries in McBain, you read your grocery list to Jim McBain himself. \par \par In 1884 a son, Matthew, was born to Gerhardus and Grietje followed by Henry, Mary, Etta, Dick, Emma, Charlie and finally Fred in 1900. Gerhardus and Grietje managed to produce eleven children and only lost one at birth. The rest lived well into adulthood. (The author's grandfather John was the first to die in 1954 and Fred was the last, living until August 1994.) They worked hard to build up their farm and to raise their family. They were very devoted to the church and were part of the Dutch Community. This community helped each other and socialized together. Everything raised on the Boven Farm was put to good use or sold or traded to improve their lot. \par \par Gerhardus died of Brights Disease in 1901 when George was twenty and John was nineteen. Grietje was left with young children to feed and a farm to manage. George and John took jobs in lumber camps to earn money to help Grietje. Even young Dick had to go and live with the Bunings who had a general store and a farm. The logging camps of the Michigan forests were rough places in 1901. Certainly the language, manners, and drinking habits of the lumberjacks were quite different from the habits of two Dutch boys brought up in a Dutch Reformed church. The lumberjacks lived in the camps in the woods, received $1.00 per day and were paid once a month. They also received their board and room. Those who guided the logs down the rivers in the spring and summer were called River Hogs. George and John would later demonstrate their prowess at rolling logs in a pond when the family got together for a picnic in Falmouth. \par \par Jans Lutke, who was a widower with eight children, around 1908. They combined their families, as they both had children living with them at the time. Jans Lutke taught farming to Charlie and eventually Charlie ran the Boven farm and Grietje and Jans moved into Falmouth. Charlie and his family lived on the family farm until he died in 1974. George, Matt and Dick all had farms in the Falmouth area, married and raised their children there. Mary married Rickus Mulder and they also operated a farm nearby. John moved to Chicago's South Side Dutch community in 1907, where he married and started a wholesale grocery business, later he was a saloon keeper. Henry was deaf and never married. Grietje didn't allow him to go to school because she thought deaf was dumb. Henry tooled around the farm in a model T that always ran at one speed, "slow." Henry lived with Grietje until she died. He worked for both Charlie and Mary at times. Emma married Cornelius DeKam and stayed in Missaukee County to raise her family. Etta became a school teacher, teaching in Chicago for a while and then eventually marrying Henry Kuiper and moving to Holland, MI. Fred moved to Flint, MI where he married and raised his family while working for an ice and oil \par company.}

GEDCOM Note

GEDCOM Source

@R-1046800732@ Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,9289::0

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1,9289::10860728

GEDCOM Source

@R-1046800732@ Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,9289::0

GEDCOM Source

1,9289::10860728

GEDCOM Source

@R-1046800732@ Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,9289::0

GEDCOM Source

1,9289::10860728

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@R-1046800732@ Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,60872::0

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1,60872::2515577

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@R-1046800732@ Netherlands, Birth Index, 1787-1915 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,61292::0

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1,61292::12862157

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@R-1046800732@ Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,9093::0

GEDCOM Source

1,9093::1050367204

GEDCOM Source

@R-1046800732@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=73679534&pid...