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. 
   

I am fascinated - completely overwhelmed - by the third wife of Jacob Derks Kruizenga (1830-1906) named Jentje Wittink.  And thanks to Kate Folkertsma I may now have a picture of her.  She stands in the attire of the 1860s-70s, dressed in black, and knowing that she was a seamstress, she may have made the dress herself.  Very likely. 

Jentje came from a family of 6.  She was born in Staphorst, Overijssel Province, Netherlands, on 2 Dec 1836.  Her father was a baker and probably taught his daughter's how to cook.  Being from Staphorst, Jentje was probably very religious in the Reformed faith as this city is renowned for its faith.  In fact, many in Staphorst today oppose the libertarian loose morals Dutch law has dissipated into. 

Jentje married at the young age of 22 to a farmer named Jan Witte.  Jan too was from Staphorst.  Together they had three children: Harm (1860), Hendrik (1862), and Jan (1866).  Jentje, called Jennie in America, emigrated with Jan and her three children in 1868.  I believe they came through Canada.

Jan Witte was a laborer and died from fever 12 Oct 1868 not too long after having arrived in America.  Harm, the eldest son, died from consumption (TB) in 1879.  And the youngest son Jan died in 1887.

Jentje joined the Second Reformed Church and this is likely where she met her 2nd husband Peter Bylsma (born 1820).  Peter was 16 years Jennie's senior.  It was probably a matter of convenience… Peter being a respective member of the Dutch community, recently widowed, and having land.  The two were married on 9 Aug 1870.  This relationship was short-lived however, as Peter's heart gave out.  He died on 14 Oct 1875.  The couple did not share any children.

A little over a year later, Jennie married her 3rd and final husband - Jacob Derks Kruizenga, also a member of the Second Reformed Church.  Jennie was Jacob's 3rd wife (after Janna and Gezina).  They were married on 15 Nov 1876 within the Second Reformed Church building (deconstructed - stood where the GR Community College Student Center now stands - close to the GR Library).  Jennie was 39.  Jacob was 46.

The couple shared one child whom they spoiled - Derk Jacobs Kruizenga (born 1879).  They had a farm in Plainfield, Michigan off Grand River Drive.  I am not certain how the farm was worked, because Jacob lived on the west side of Grand Rapids near American Seating.  He worked at L.M. Cutcheon, a lumber company.

It may be that Jennie spent most of her time up at the farm.  And perhaps Jacob would go home on the weekends?  Derk grew up at the farm - and the farm became his after Jacob and Jennie's passing.  He in turn would pass the farm on to his eldest son Jacob Derk at his own passing.

Jennie seemed to have a quiet life.  I wish I knew a lot more about her.  Perhaps in time I will.  Having died in 1905, there is no-one left alive who would remember her.  And I can only guess that the picture I have is of her. 

I have recently posted the following records pertaining to Jennie:

• Marriage Record to Jan Witte - features signatures of Jan Witte, Jennie Wittink, Geertje Bos (Jan's mother), Hendrik Wittink (Jennie's father), and Hendrikje Plasjes (Jennie's mother).  Jan's father passed away in April of 1857.
• Birth record of Harm Witte.
• Birth record of Jan Witte.
• Birth record of Hendrik Witte.

I have yet to post the accompanying documents (proof texts) to Jan and Jennie's marriage.  These include: Jan's Nationale Militie Certificaat, Jan's birth record, Jennie's birth record, and Harm Witte's death record.

Records posted from this page.

I have sent the photo that I believe is Jennie, Jacob Derks Kruizenga's 3rd wife, to a professional photo analyst.  This individual has written a book on the subject and provides analysis for Family Tree Magazine.  From her book I believe that the photo dates late 1860s - early 1870s.  Will wait on what she has to tell me. 

Today I am writing to the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Jean Meindersma.  Jean passed away in 2005.  She was an older sister of Gerritt Henry Kruizenga - and the first born child of Derk Jacob and Katherine (Klooster) Kruizenga.

I am hoping that family photos were passed on in the Meindersma family. 

I have yet to find living relatives of Mrs. Henry (Minnie) Adema.  I will be writing them too - once located.