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.

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.