My father was the son of Adriaan Vanden Bout, the immigrant ancestor of our branch of the Vanden Bout family.  In the spring of 1889, at the age of 29, he, his wife Wilhelmina Boslooper, and their 3 children, settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  His father and mother remained living in Scharendyke as well as his only sister, Keetje, who had married Adrianus Bezuijen. He never saw them again. He corresponded regularly with his sister, until no letters went through due to the occupation of the German army in 1940.  Jannekee van Klooster, the daughter of a niece of Adrianus (Ploontje Bezuijen), took care of them until their deaths. Jannekee still lives in Renesse today. Keetje had no children and passed away in 1942 during WWII. Her husband passed away in 1948.
 
 

Boslooper Family History

Genealogy of Maarten Bosloper
(abt. 1640)
South Holland, Netherlands

My paternal grandmother was Wilhelmina Boslooper, daughter of Jacob Boslooper and Pieternella Vander Weele.  As her grandson Thomas related, her brothers John and Thomas came to Grand Rapids as bachelors during 1887. They boarded with people in the east end of the city and worked in the furniture shops. They liked it in Grand Rapids, and wrote to their parents to emigrate to America also. At first Jacob Boslooper was opposed to this. Working in a furniture plant did not appeal to him, and although they would undoubtedly improve themselves economically, they were not poor and had no urgency to leave the Netherlands. However, the two brothers kept on urging them to come to Grand Rapids, and in 1889 Jacob and Pieternella Boslooper finally agreed. They had five girls and one boy still at home.  Wilhelmina was their oldest daughter.  She was married to Adrian Vanden Bout and had three children. The Bosloopers offered to pay all the travelling expenses for Adrian and Wilhelmina's family if they would emigrate with them to Grand Rapids. It was agreed, and so at age 56 Jacob Boslooper left Scharendyke with his family. (Wilhelmina was 24.) After a stormy voyage and a lot of sea-sickness, they arrived in Grand Rapids.
 

Browsing the Tree

Included here are links to the genealogy of FRANS TONISSE van den BOUT and that of MAARTEN BOSLOPER as I've posted them on Rootsweb's WorldConnect project.  You may view any family page by browsing the tree itself, or by selecting individuals from the index of Surnames.  I have also provided separate family pages for some my direct  ancestors, if I happened to have photographs of them.

Dates for all living persons included here are stipulated as private.
 
 

Acknowledgements

A special word of thanks to Adrian Faasse for his assistance in obtaining the genealogy of great-grandpa Cornelis van den Bout through the research of J. Kempeneers, Mosselkreekstraat 12, 4675 BP Sint-Philipsland, and to Lorraine VandenBout Warlick for making available the extensive research done by the late Rev. Thomas Boslooper into the history of the Boslooper family

This is, and always will be, a work in progress. Your corrections, additions, and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as well as copies of any family photographs which you might have access to. Please do contact me at my email address below.

Lenore Tolsma Bruinsma Folkertsma Miedema Peterson VandenBout Brashler
Lenorevdb at yahoo.com
March 2009

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