This past Saturday I had the distinct privilege in sitting down with the great-granddaughter of Frances Slooter.  Marge Evert Byington Potter is the daughter of Frances Slooter Evert, who was the daughter of Marie Bolthouse and Frank Jacob Slooter.  She had a lot of information to share that included many pictures.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures may be identified as the Kruizenga family, other than Frances, but it was rewarding just the same.

Frances Slooter was the half-sister to Derk Jacobs Kruizenga, the only living natural son of my emigrating ancestor, Jacob Derks Kruizenga.  Below are pictures I have identified as Frances Kruizenga Slooter.

If any photos of Jacob Derk Kruizenga and his 2nd wife Gezina Rotmans or his 3rd wife Jennie exist, they would have certainly been passed down in the family.  I have exhausted all resources on the Derk Jacob Kruizenga (1879-1952) lineage as far as I am aware.  No pictures have been found.  Only a few of Derk and his wife Katherine.

So I turn now to another leg in the family. 

From Jacob Derk Kruizenga's (1830-1906) first marriage to Janna Nannenga come the following children:

Jessie (1858-1919).  She never married.
Carrie (1860-1931).  She never married.
Nettie (1861-1939).  She married John Hendricks.  A potential lead.

From Jacob Derk Kruizenga's second marriage to Gezina Rotmans came the following children:

Frances (1866-1944).  She married Jacob Frank Slooter.  A definite lead.
Derkje (Della) (1868-1872).
Zena (1871-1871).

From Jacob Derk Kruizenga's third marriage to Jennie Wittink came the following child:

Derk Jacobs Kruizenga (1879-1952).

The only two leads are in the family legs of Frances Kruizenga Slooter and Nettie Kruizenga Hendricks.

Using Census reports and obituaries I have successfully tracked down the family of Frances Kruizenga Slooter.  Here is the Slooter lineage as I researched it.

Jacob Frank Slooter (1865-1929) married Frances Kruizenga on 20 August 1885.  This union produced:

Frank Jacob Slooter (1886-1959) who married Marie Bolthouse on 4 Oct 1905.  This union produced:

Frances M. Slooter (1906-1982) who married Martin C. (Barney) Evert (1905-1982).  And this union produced:

Thomas C. Evert and Marge Evert. 

Marge Evert is now Marge Potter and resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  She wrote me back concerning family photos and said that she has many which are split between her and her brother Tom.  She also recalls visiting the Slooter plot at Greenwood as a young girl with her mother and being told of family across the way (the Kruizenga plot) who lost several children in infancy. 

I am looking forward to talking with Marge this coming Saturday, the 14th of January.  I am like a young kid waiting for Christmas to arrive.  Can't wait to see what photo treasures lie with the Slooter/Evert family.

The woman's hair.  That's what first caught my eye when I examined this 1880s photo for the very first time.   You can't help but be drawn to it.  It is what makes this photo unique... or does it? 

According to Maureen Taylor, an expert on photo identification and master-genealogist, many women chose to pose with their long hair during the 1880s time period.  And they did this because of a prominent act hosted by the Barnum Circus.  The Sutherland Sisters were a captivating must-see attraction.  They would come on to stage singing several songs - but it wasn't there singing that brought the crowds.  At the end of the performance - they would let down their hair, which, like our photo of "Frances" was seductive and bewitching.  Crowds just had to see these women.

So it stands to reason why young women like Frances would want to pose like their idols.  If they had the hair... why not?   As a footnote, this also helps date the picture.  The Sutherlands Sisters did not sign with Barnum & Bailey until 1882.

Read more about the Sutherland Sisters here.  These sisters were not unlike many of the young stars of our time - plagued with immoral behavior.

Today I received a response from Maureen A. Taylor, the photo detective from Family Tree Magazine.  She analyzed the following photo and offered her advice/analysis... that follows.

Maureen dates the picture from the 1880s because:

1. of the studio arrangement of rug, chair and drapery.
2. of the long pleats in her skirt accessorized by what appears to be a very full overskirt in the same fabric as the rest of the dress.  Her outfit also has the high collar and large buttons of the 1880s.
3. she is much younger than Jennie would be in the mid-1880s.  Jennie was born in 1836, so she would be 50 by 1886.

Maureen estimates this young woman is in her teens or twenties due to her young face.  She says it is rare to see an older woman posing with hair down.

So the questions Maureen poses are:

1. Who's the right age to be the young woman in this picture?
2. If she's 20 when this photo was taken - then she would have to be born in the 1860s.
3. Could she be one of Jacob Derk's children?  Or a friend of the family?

So who could be in this photo that fits the following criteria?

1. Born around 1860.
2. that Jacob Derk would have held on to and passed on to his son Derk.

The photo could fit any of these daughters of Jacob Derk.

1. Jane (Jennie) VanBraak Treen.  Born 1857.  Jane was inherited by marriage to Gezina (Jacob's 2nd wife).
2. Minnie (Mena) VanBraak Verkerke.  Born 1860.  Minnie also was inherited by marriage to Gezina.
3. Fanny VanBraak Vos.  Born 1864.  Fanny was inherited by marriage to Gezina.
4. Jessie Kruizenga.  Born 1858.  Jacob's first living child with 1st wife Janna.
5. Carrie Kruizenga.  Born 1860.  Jacob's second daughter with 1st wife Janna.
6. Nettie Kruizenga.  Born 1861.  Jacob's third daughter with 1st wife Janna.
7. Frances Kruizenga.  Born 1866.  Jacob's daughter with 2nd wife Gezina.

Based on what Maureen has told me and the possibilities from Jacob's daughters above, I now feel the photo best fits Frances Kruizenga.  Here is why.

1. Frances was born in 1866.  This would make her about 20 at the time of the photo.
2. Frances was still living at home with Jacob and Jennie from 1880 up until her marriage in Aug. 1885. 
   
3. Frances half-brother Derk also had a photo taken around the same time period (mid-1880s).
4. This may have served as a pre-marriage photo of/for Frances.
5. Her well-to-do husband Jacob Slooter may also have paid for the photo: he definitely had the finances to do so.  Jacob Slooter is the one who paid for the Kruizenga gravestones found at the Greenwood cemetery Kruizenga plot. 
   

Two years ago when I decided to investigate my paternal family roots I never imagined how much I would learn.  There is so much information about the family "out there"... it is just a matter of uncovering and discovering it. 

A perfect example is a series of newspapers from the Grand Rapids Press (early 1900s) detailing the life of Frances Kruizenga Slooter and her husband Jacob, owner of the Slooter Broom Company and later the Richards Manufacturing Company.  I had the usual birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates.  But that was about it.  No photos.  Nothing that took me into their lives.  Until now.

This series of newspapers brought me a bit closer to Frances and her husband because they detail a particular organization that they were both a part of.  If you remember, Frances was a daughter of Jacob Derks Kruizenga and his 2nd wife Gezina Rotmans.  Come to find out that Frances was a member of the Independent Michigan Order of Foresters.  This Order supported the community of which they were a part.  A PDF download of the history of this order is linked below.

Frances worked her way in the order - which reached a membership of 250,000 in 1906 - and became PRESIDENT of the Michigan branch!  She gave speeches and worked hard to make the Grand Rapids community a better place.  This little tidbit of information colors Frances and her family.  It lets us take a peek into their lives.  It also speaks loudly on the kind of family Jacob Derks and Gezina had - the morals and training that they passed on to Frances and the rest of their children. 

I will soon be posting these news articles on the appropriate page relating to Frances and the Slooter family.