Category: Kinships

Trip to the Netherlands Spring 2010

Our immigrant ancestors had to be able to adapt to changes in their lives when they came to the US.  The same is true today.  A friend, Beverly Cambre, and I had a trip planned to the Netherlands, Venice, and a Tuscany tour in the spring of 2010.  Just a few days before we were scheduled to leave the United States, ash from a volcano in Iceland shut down the airports in Europe as well as in the US.  So, we regrouped and were able to leave a week later.  We had to change the order of our trip.  First we went to Venice, then did the Tuscany tour and ended up in Amsterdam on Saturday afternoon.  We spent the next few days doing the sights in Amsterdam.

Bicycle Parking Lot at Downtown Amsterdam Train Station

Bicycle Parking Lot at Downtown Amsterdam Train Station

Thursday, we walked to the train station, and bought tickets to Lelystad.    The parking  garage connected to the train station was not for cars but for bicycles. The folks at the hotel said we could take an express train to Lelystad – about 45 minutes to the north.  Not so.  We had to change trains along the way but that was not a big deal. That day was a National Holiday. The express trains did not run on holidays.  The person selling the tickets did not know what the holiday was; just that it was a national holiday.  Our fellow passengers did not know either.

Our train route from Lelystad to Aalten

Our train route from Lelystad to Aalten

My cousin’s husband, Freek Warger, met us at the train station in Lelystad and took us to their home.  Ina teKolstee Warger and I had been corresponding since the mid 1990’s.  My great-grandmother and Ina’s great-grandfather were brother and sister.  My great-grandmother was Janna Hendrika teKolstee who married William O. Walvoord in 1874 in Holland, Nebraska.  We had morning coffee, learned that the National Holiday was Ascension Day, visited, and had lunch.

William O. Walvoord c. 1894

William O. Walvoord, Holland, Nebraska c. 1894

Janna "Jane" Hendrika (teKolstee) Walvoord, Holland, Nebraska c. 1894

Janna “Jane” Hendrika (teKolstee) Walvoord, Holland, Nebraska c. 1894

A trip of a lifetime began  after lunch.  We saw families riding bicycles and spending time in the parks.  Ina said this was the custom on Ascension Day.  It was especially nice to have Ina and Freek describe the countryside and places of interest along the way.   Our  trip across Netherlands was delightful.   Our first stop was at a park with an eating establishment.

We sat around the original fireplace drinking hot tea or hot chocolate.   It was awesome.   Ina could remember the house before it was the eating establishment.  Henk B. Walvoort and his wife Aafke, and his 1st cousin with the same name Henk J. Walvoort were there also.  Henk and Aafke live on the farm next to Ina’s sister, Dini.  The following Spring of 2011, both Henk Walvoorts visited the U.S.   It was time to move on so we said our goodbyes to the Walvoorts and continued driving on closer to the German border.

Janna Hendrika teKolstee house

This was the house, in Aalten, Gelderland, where Janna Hendrika teKolstee was born in 1851. The date on the side of the building said 1885. It was originally a house long before that and had had major renovations in 1885 and had more renovations later as it became an eating establishment.

Playground

The playground in the front of the house. The children were running around, riding their bicycles and just having fun on their holiday from school.

We stopped first in Brevevoort where some of the teKolstee ancestors were born and walked around.  Our next stop was at the home of Dini and Henk Meerdink-teKolstee, Ina’s sister and her husband.  They farm land that has been in his family since the 1600’s.  WOW.  It was a wonderful visit with new found relatives, hot drinks and homemade goodies.

On the way back to Lelystad we stopped to eat at a restaurant that Ina and Freek recommended.   It was great.  It was getting dark and most of the bicyclists had gone home.  Our first day with Ina and Freek was memorable.

We would have 2 more days with them.  It was oh so nice to have our own guides for this part of our trip.  I’ll write about the other days for a later blog.

Below are some pictures of me with my Walvoort and teKolstee cousins.

Ann Walvoord Graff, July 2012

Ann Graff and Henk J. Walvoort

Ann Graff and Henk J. Walvoort sitting around the fireplace in the teKolstee home of long ago.

Ina teKolstee-Warger and Henk B. Walvoort

Ina teKolstee-Warger and Henk B. Walvoort

Aafke Walvoort wife of Henk B. Walvoort

Aafke Walvoort wife of Henk B. Walvoort

Walvoort, Walvoord-Graff and Walvoort

Walvoort, Walvoord-Graff and Walvoort

teKolste cousins: Ina, Ann and Dina

Freek and Ina teKolstee Warger, Ann Graff, Dina and Henk teKolstee Meerdink

 

Updated: May 25, 2014 — 10:09 PM

A Visit from Cousin Sandi Neal

Sandi Neal and Scott Walvoord

Sandi Neal and Scott Walvoord in Nashville, Tennessee May 2012

(Reposted from May 2012)

Earlier this month, I met my cousin Sandi Neal for the first time.  Sandi was born Sandra Kay Walvoord and is the daughter of  Frederick Lee Walvoord (1907-1962) and Reba Lenora (Stepp) Walvoord (1914-2003).  She is the granddaughter of Frederick Walvoord (1869-1925) and Jennie (Lammers) Walvoord (1874-1970).

Sandi was in Nashville, Tennessee for two months to stay with a family friend who needed help.

Sandi and I had corresponded for several years about Walvoord family history and I felt like I had known her a long time.

When Sandi called to set up a time to meet, for some reason, I thought I might have met her in person before and had just forgotten.

When we finally met, Sandi showed up on our doorstep I was amazed at the family resemblance.  She looks just like a — Walvoord!  My cousin Cindy Horton saw pictures on Facebook and thought she looked a lot like my dad.  Her smile reminded me of my grandfather’s smile, my great-uncle John’s smile and my cousin Mark’s smile all rolled into one.  The Walvoords have a certain trademark smile that transcends generations.  Sandi has that same wonderful SMILE!

I have admired Sandi’s work for many years.  In the late 1970s, she published a family news bulletin on the Walvoord family.

Walvoord - Walvoort Family News Bulletin

The Walvoord – Walvoort Family News Bulletin was published by Sandi Neal from the Summer 1978 until the final issue Winter of 1979

Walvoord Family would write in with news stories of their particular branch of the family.  Some articles were as simple as a wedding announcement or an obituary.  Others sent  detailed stories of trips to Europe and The Netherlands.  And of course, many pages had Family Group Sheets that are the basic building blocks of the hobby of genealogy.

The artwork for the cover was done by Shirley Garrett (daughter of Evelyn [Walvoord] Beyer).

Unbelievable to me, this newsletter, only had three issues!  I had to double check, because it seems like so much more.  It has such a treasure trove of information.  Years ago, I took my copies to Kinkos and had them copy and spiral bind it.  It is about ½ an inch thick.

Sandi and I were able to talk about her side of the family and what is was like to be the descendant of a Homesteader in Montana.

As Sandi and my family visited that first day together.  It seemed as though we had known each other all our lives.  It was really an amazing experience to grow up thousands of miles apart from each others’ families and yet have the same heritage that binds us together as a family.  My daughter just seemed to instinctively know that Sandi was family and went to give a hug as she came through our front door for the first time.

Sandi corresponded to Walvoord descendants for years and years from her remote location in the west (Montana, Wyoming and California) far removed from the Walvoord heartland in Wisconsin and Nebraska.  She has known many Walvoords through the years but when we met, she said, “Scott, you’re the first Walvoord I’ve ever met outside my immediate family.”  That really surprised me.

WalvoordHistory.com World-wide Headquarters!

Sandi and Scott discuss the website at WalvoordHistory.com World-wide Headquarters!

I was also able to briefly show Sandi the ins-and-outs of how WalvoordHistory.com works and about my idea to expand the number of authors and contributors to the site.  Sandi has graciously agreed to help write articles on the newly renamed “Walv-Blog.”

I am hoping to get a guild of Walvoord family descendants from each of the different founding groups to become regular contributors or authors writing about their unique stories of Walvoord/Walvoort  Family History.

Even if one writes an article every other month or so, think of how many wonderful posts we will have archiving these stories for future generations just like Sandi’s Newsletter did all those years ago.

 

 

 

Updated: November 7, 2017 — 6:44 PM

My Dutch Cousin Henk and My Other Dutch Cousin Henk

My Dutch cousins visiting Nashville, Tennessee from the Netherlands. From left to right: Henk B. Walvoort, Scott Walvoord, and Henk J. Walvoort.

My Dutch cousins visiting Nashville, Tennessee in May of 2011 from the Netherlands. From left to right: Henk B. Walvoort, Scott Walvoord, and Henk J. Walvoort.

(This post is a repeat post from October 3, 2011)

When I visited The Netherlands in 1997, I met a distant cousin from Zelhem, Gelderland near where the Walvoort family originated.  His name is Henk J. Walvoort.  You may recall reading about him on my Kinships Page.

Henk J. Walvoort and Henk B. Walvoort are first cousins.  Henk is a nickname for Hendrik.  Hendrik is a very popular name within the Walvoort/Walvoord family and has been in use for many generations.

Their grandparents were Hendrik Jan Walvoort (1872-1948) and Hendrika Willemina (Rutgers) Walvoort (1877-1951).

Hendrik Jan Walvoort (1872-1948) and Hendrika Willemina (Rutgers) Walvoort (1877-1951) Photo circa 1906

Hendrik Jan Walvoort (1872-1948) and Hendrika Willemina (Rutgers) Walvoort (1877-1951) Photo circa 1906

Last May, Henk J. Walvoort and  Henk B. Walvoort visited the United States.  This was Henk J. Walvoort’s first visit to America.  Henk B. Walvoort had been in the USA three times since 1990.

After arriving in Chicago from The Netherlands, Henk and Henk experienced two days of torrential downpours of rain.  They began their travels south and stopped in Nashville and stayed with my family one night.  I took them to the The Hermitage; the home of our 7th President, Andrew Jackson.

Henk J. Walvoort, Scott Walvoord, and Henk B. Walvoort at the Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee

Henk J. Walvoort, Scott Walvoord, and Henk B. Walvoort at the Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee

They then traveled southwest to West Monroe, Louisiana to visit Ann Walvoord Graff, another cousin who had met them in The Netherlands in May of 2010.

Henk J. Walvoort, Ann (Walvoord) Graff, and Henk B. Walvoort at the Coca-Cola Museum in Monroe, Louisiana

Henk J. Walvoort, Ann (Walvoord) Graff, and Henk B. Walvoort at the Coca-Cola Museum in Monroe, Louisiana

After leaving Louisiana, they went to Kilgore, Texas to visit the East Texas Oil Museum.  Henk B. Walvoort had visited this before and was so impressed he wanted to visit it again.

Next, the plan was to visit my Uncle Gary Walvoord in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, however, a traffic tie up caused them to make a detour to a small town west of there.

 

Henk B. Walvoort is a pig farmer near Aalten, Gelderland and also grows corn, potatoes and grain.  They know fellow Dutch farmers who farm near the towns of Dimmitt and Hart in the Texas Panhandle and visited them and then traveled to Amarillo, Texas and stayed with my parents.

They had dinner at the home of David and Peggy Walvoord (my parents).  Also at dinner was my brother Kit Walvoord, my nephew Kirk Walvoord, my Uncle Randy Walvoord, and family friends Bruce and Rosie Das.    Bruce and Rosie also have Dutch ancestry and lived in Groningen, which is the capital city of The Netherlands province of the same name.  Bruce and Rosie were in ministry with the Navigators in Groningen for many years and were able to practice their Dutch language skills with Henk and Henk.

 

Tombstone of Gerrit and Berendena Walvoord in Holland, Nebraska

Tombstone of Gerrit and Berendena Walvoord in Holland, Nebraska

After visiting Amarillo and the surrounding area they traveled to the northeast through Kansas to Holland, Nebraska (20 miles south from Lincoln).  First they visited the cemetery of the small village Holland (population 140).  They saw a lot of graves of Walvoords, Kolstees and other names of their area in The Netherlands. A neighbor of the cemetery gave them the address of Mr. Huenink who is the administrator of the church and the cemetery. He showed them the church with the little windmill and phoned a family called Walvoord, but they were not at home.

Then they traveled through Iowa to Des Moines to visit the World Pork Expo which was held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines  June 8th-10th.

Later they went to Pella, Iowa which is a very ‘Dutch’ small city.

Going east they visited John Deere Factory and Historic Site in Davenport and Moline.

Walvoord Cemetery, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

Walvoord Cemetery, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

Their last three days were spent in the area of Cedar Grove and Oostburg, Wisconsin.  First they met Randy Walvoord, the strawberry farmer from Smies/Walvoord Road.  He showed them the Walvoord cemetery near the bank in Cedar Grove.

Then they visited Mr. and  Mrs. Van Sluys on the Smies Road.  Carol makes beautiful paintings of landscapes.

Henk and Henk visited George and Carol (Walvoord) Van Sluys. They live on the Smies Road.

Henk and Henk visited George and Carol (Walvoord) Van Sluys. They live on the Smies Road.

After that they went to visit David and Janet Walvoord on de Witt Road in Oostburg.   David and Janet had visited the Netherlands a few times.
Henk and Henk also visited David and Janet Walvoord in Oostburg

Henk and Henk also visited David and Janet Walvoord in Oostburg

All-in-all, they visited 13 States in 21 days and traveled a distance of 4328 miles!
Henk and Henk visited Walvoord Road locates between Ooostburg and Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

Henk and Henk visited Walvoord Road located between Ooostburg and Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

 

Henk and Henk also visited the Landmark Christiaan Walvoord Home while in Wisconsin

Henk and Henk also visited the Historic Landmark Christiaan Walvoord Home while in Wisconsin

Updated: November 7, 2017 — 6:45 PM