Finding my living US relatives

Hi,

My name is Peter van den Berg and I'm browsing through the internet to find relatives who moved to Detroit in the early years of last century.

I tried the whitepages, ancestry gave me some clues upto the 1950's but I'm still unsure if there are people living today.

Could someone help me how to go about or maybe you know some one with the same familyname.

Just for your information:

During my search I found out that a sister of my great grandfather went to Wayne county Detroit Michigan, married and got 3 children.

The sister of my great grandfather:
Jeannette Evelina van den Berg [[born 1885 - Rotterdam)
married 1915 naturalized in 1917
Peter Huis [[born 1891- the Netherlands) [[toolmaker at ford motor company)
the got 3 children [[one of them died as an infant)

Peter [[jo) Huis [[Detroit, Wayne, Michigan) 1924

Jeannette Huis [[Detroit, Wayne, Michigan) 1918


So actually I'm looking for people with the "Huis" or "House" familyname.

many thanks.

Peter

Welcome to the DetroitYES forums Peter.

1929 Detroit City Directory lists him as follows:

Peter J Huis - wife Janet - toolmaker - 9717 Yellowstone

Street View shows the house as one of the few remaining and in nice condition in what is referred to here as an "urban prarie" area.

Familysearch turns up the 1930 census and a 1942 draft registration card, but nothing later than that.

The address on the draft card is the same as in the 1929 directory, the phone number was TY-71122. Employer is given as Cadillac Motor Car, 2860 Clark. Peter Huis Jr.'s address is given as 16551 Lauder.

Found a couple of ancestry links on Google:

1. Re: Huis[[ van den Berg) Family - Wayne - Family History ...
   
   
   boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa...michigan...1/mb.ashx
   Nov 2, 2010 – World War II [[1938-1946) Peter Huis [[believe this is son) of Wayne, Michigan enlisted 8 Apr 1944 in Illinois at Fort Sheridan Grade: private ...
   
   
   
2. the Huis Family - General - Family History & Genealogy Message ...
   
   
   boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=7505&p...
   Nov 7, 2010 – I'm a relative of Peter Huis'mother Jeanette Huis - van den Berg. ... Home in 1930: YELLOWSTONE AVENUE,Detroit, Wayne, Michigan WW2 ...
   

Thanks for the information!
I just hoped for more information on the whereabouts of Peter Huis jr. [[if he's still alive) or his children.

I went through part of the 1940 census looking for the address 16551 Lauder. A lot of nearby addresses were in this tract but I didn't find that address. There is a good deal of skipping around though, so I might have missed it.

ED84-1584 Image 1, Roll 1889, Frame 383

http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

If you can find him in there, it should list other family members, if any.

Thanks!
I hope that I'll be able to find someone considering 90% of my family didn't survive WWII it will mean a lot.

Just curious, would Cadillac have any information on Peter jr.?

In the 1940 census Peter Jr. is listed in his father's household as 16 years old, single and in the second year of high school[[grade 10). Mother and daughter are both named as Janet. The daughter is listed as 22 years old, single, having completed the fourth year of high school[[grade 12) and employed as a book keeper in a tractors plant. The information was taken on April 5, 1940.

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It's Peter Sr. who was working at Cadillac Motor Car in 1942.

Who was living on Lauder that I was looking for?

Peter Huis Jr.'s address is given as 16551 Lauder.

That was the address of the son, Peter Jr., on April 24, 1942, given as the name and address of the person who would always know the registrant's address on his father's draft registration card. He would have been 18 or 19 by then and out of school as the info from the military on one of the pages you linked to says he only had three years of high school.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3....-41?cc=1861144

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brock7

In the 1940 census Peter Jr. is listed in his father's household as 16 years old, single and in the second year of high school[[grade 10). Mother and daughter are both named as Janet. The daughter is listed as 22 years old, single, in the fourth year of high school[[grade 12) and employed as a book keeper in a tractors plant. The information was taken on April 5, 1940.

page one

page two

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Thank you,

On what role, frame and photo did you find this?

So if i'm correct in the 1940 census:

Based on the photos that you found:
They we're all living on Lauder 16551 which was the address of Peter Jr?
I'm a bit dazed and confused if this is true...

From this information by which means could I find out if Peter Jr or his childeren are still alive? Does the municipality in Detroit have this information?

They likely are not still at that address and may well have moved away. On Google I found a Peter Huis in Holland, MI for instance, and then of course the mother lived in Clearwater, FL at the end of her life, so maybe Peter went down there as he got older too. It is slogging work to track family movement. The census can help but only so far. Google did not yield any Peter Huis in the Detroit metro area, but that does not mean he is not in Detroit.

Women are really difficult since they change their name when they marry. I have not looked for the daughter, Janet or Jeanette.

I also found a Janet Huis in Madison WI in 1947, and a Peter Huis in Milwaukee. Not that they are your relatives, but just to show how difficult it can be. One thought, since both mother and daughter were named Jeanette, and both father and son were named Peter, it could be those were important family names. If so, it might be worthwhile to contact a current Peter or Jeanette to see if they might be descendants. So far, we have no idea whether Peter Jr had children, and what he might have named them if he did.

The information for the Peter Huis family in the 1940 census is split over two pages of ED 84-810 [[20 images):
Image 6 [[Roll 1864 Frame 439) and Image7 [[Roll 1864 Frame 440)

In the 1940 census all of the family - Peter Sr., Janet Sr., Peter Jr. and Janet Jr. were living at 9717 Yellowstone.
In late April of 1942 Peter Sr. was still living at 9717 Yellowstone, but Peter Jr. was living at 16551 Lauder.

The main point of checking the 1940 census is just to see if Peter Jr. may have been married and had any children that were named by that time.

I can't think of any information the municipality would have that would help. I did search the Wayne County land records that are accessible on-line which only date back to 1960 and there were no deeds involving anyone with the last name of Huis.

I don't see anyone named Huis with an appropriate birth date for any of them on the listings I can find from the Social Security death index.

Is there no possibility to contact someone at the city of Detroit? I don't know how this works in the US, in the netherlands is definitely possible to mail any clerk because all the email addresses of the state, city and town clerks are online.

It could be possible to get the property information for the address on Lauder, but it would not give anything but the owner name. Could help if the owner at the time was Peter and his wife because then you would have her name. It would be in the Wayne County property records.

http://www.waynecountylandrecords.com/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brock7

The information for the Peter Huis family in the 1940 census is split over two pages of ED 84-810 [[20 images):
Image 6 [[Roll 1864 Frame 439) and Image7 [[Roll 1864 Frame 440)

In the 1940 census all of the family - Peter Sr., Janet Sr., Peter Jr. and Janet Jr. were living at 9717 Yellowstone.
In late April of 1942 Peter Sr. was still living at 9717 Yellowstone, but Peter Jr. was living at 16551 Lauder.

The main point of checking the 1940 census is just to see if Peter Jr. may have been married and had any children that were named by that time.

I can't think of any information the municipality would have that would help. I did search the Wayne County land records that are accessible on-line which only date back to 1960 and there were no deeds involving anyone with the last name of Huis.

I don't see anyone named Huis with an appropriate birth date for any of them on the listings I can find from the Social Security death index.

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Check out this entry on ZabaSearch.com for Peter J. HOUSE, age 88, living in Florida. Here's another Florida address for the same person. He's the same age as Peter Jr. would be and he has the correct middle initial and the anglicized HUIS surname. Click here and scroll down to find both addresses with his age next to his name.

What do you think - could this be him living the retired life in Florida?

His mother moved to Clearwater, FL, why not him? Makes good sense

I found a likely younger Peter House in Jacksonville on Linkedin. Resume starts in 1980 and he is currently an engineer at Centric Corp.

I don't know why he would change his name from the one he used in the military. Pete House is a fairly common name, but I guess it couldn't hurt to give him a call.

I searched on the city property tax site and there were no current owners named Huis.
The current owner of record for 9717 Yellowstone is Margaret A Lowe.
The owners of 16551 Lauder are Kpoyor, Anthony and Angela Bailey.
There are many owners with the surname of House. One is named Jeanette at 13769 Sparling, but that seems like a long-shot.

Birth, death and marriage records are kept by the State of Michigan. Birth records are only available to the persons involved - parents and children. There are fees for obtaining records. I have never used them, so I can't say how thorough or reliable the searches are. The main problem with going this route is that none of the later marriages or deaths of the family members may have taken place in the State of Michigan.

There is a young Peter Huis with an English page on Facebook. I have no idea where he's located or any reason other than the name to believe he might be related.

I think he's in Philadelphia, like their teams anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikeg

Check out this entry on ZabaSearch.com for Peter J. HOUSE, age 88, living in Florida. Here's another Florida address for the same person. He's the same age as Peter Jr. would be and he has the correct middle initial and the anglicized HUIS surname. Click here and scroll down to find both addresses with his age next to his name.

What do you think - could this be him living the retired life in Florida?

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It certainly can be Peter Jr. I give it a try today and will contact him. If I remember the international number for the US is 001 as a prefix to the rest of the telephone number on Zaba?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peterberg

It certainly can be Peter Jr. I give it a try today and will contact him. If I remember the international number for the US is 001 as a prefix to the rest of the telephone number on Zaba?

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To call the USA from the Netherlands, dial 00 + 1 + City Area Code + Number.

It is not clear which of the two Florida addresses and phone numbers for Mr. House is the most recent.

For this address, dial 00 1 904 724 8316

For the other address, dial 00 1 904 725 1097

I just tried them both; The first is disconnected and the 2nd had an answering machine for which I left a message to call me back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazhekwe

They likely are not still at that address and may well have moved away. On Google I found a Peter Huis in Holland, MI for instance, and then of course the mother lived in Clearwater, FL at the end of her life, so maybe Peter went down there as he got older too. It is slogging work to track family movement. The census can help but only so far. Google did not yield any Peter Huis in the Detroit metro area, but that does not mean he is not in Detroit.

Women are really difficult since they change their name when they marry. I have not looked for the daughter, Janet or Jeanette.

I also found a Janet Huis in Madison WI in 1947, and a Peter Huis in Milwaukee. Not that they are your relatives, but just to show how difficult it can be. One thought, since both mother and daughter were named Jeanette, and both father and son were named Peter, it could be those were important family names. If so, it might be worthwhile to contact a current Peter or Jeanette to see if they might be descendants. So far, we have no idea whether Peter Jr had children, and what he might have named them if he did.

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Just checking; in the Netherlands if one is moving to another place you have to register at the town/city authorities who [[a family or just one person within a family) is moving from and also where this person is moving to. At the town/city this person moved to you have to register again with the proper address. We call this a personal file/house file and/or family file. So you can look up data for a certain person/house or even history of a family[[on request at the town authorities) Is this done in the USA aswell?

No, it is not done in the US. I am sure there are ways, such as, if you know the original address, for a time you can check at the Post office for forwarding information. They used to keep that longer but now it is only six months. It won't do much good historically.

I did a little poking around on ancestry.com and found the April 8 1944 enlistment of Peter J. Huis Jr. [[born 1923), as well as the 1930 and 1940 censuses.

Also found a Peter J. Huis [[wife Lilla L.) living at 750 S. Clearwater-Largo Rd in Clearwater Florida - in 1958 and 1960 City Directories. I found nothing later.

Find A Grave turned up 13 Huis graves, 8 of which are in Portage MI, but no Peter or Lilla.

CorporationWiki has a Peter A. Huis as Manager of Green Pipes & Insulation Trading LLC in Florida:
GREEN PIPES & INSULATION TRADING LLC
150 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE
SUITE 1150
CORAL GABLES, FL 33134
http://www.greenpipes-insulation.com/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jiminnm

I did a little poking around on ancestry.com and found the April 8 1944 enlistment of Peter J. Huis Jr. [[born 1923), as well as the 1930 and 1940 censuses.

Also found a Peter J. Huis [[wife Lilla L.) living at 750 S. Clearwater-Largo Rd in Clearwater Florida - in 1958 and 1960 City Directories. I found nothing later.

Find A Grave turned up 13 Huis graves, 8 of which are in Portage MI, but no Peter or Lilla.

CorporationWiki has a Peter A. Huis as Manager of Green Pipes & Insulation Trading LLC in Florida:
GREEN PIPES & INSULATION TRADING LLC
150 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE
SUITE 1150
CORAL GABLES, FL 33134
http://www.greenpipes-insulation.com/

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Peter House or Peter Huis is/was married
to Jeannette or Janet House [[born van den Berg)
I guess Lilla is perhaps his sister?

No. I think you may be confusing Peter Huis the father and Peter Huis the son.

Peter J. Huis the father, I'll call him Senior, was born in Holland October 3 1890. He showed up in Detroit City Directories in 1918 and 1919 and in US censuses in 1930 and 1940. His wife and daughter were both named Janet or Jeannette [[poor census taker or language problems between the two). Wife was born in Holland about 1886, daughter was born in the US about 1918. His son was also Peter J. Huis, I'll call him Junior, born April 9 1923.

Senior, wife [[name given as Jeanette) and Junior are also all shown as arriving in NY from Southampton July 17 1936 on the Europa. Perhaps they went back to Holland for a visit and were returning before Hitler's onslaught. They gave their address as 9717 Yellowstone in Detroit.

Senior filled out a WW1 draft registration July 5 1917 [[living at 238 Vancourt in Detroit, working as a Machinist for Ford). Junior enlisted in the Army on April 8 1944 [[residence shown as Wayne county, occupation as tool and die maker, and Junior stated he was married).

As I see it, that leaves two possibilities for the Huis I found in Clearwater Florida in 1958 and 1960, because Lilla was definitely indicated as wife. Given the rarity of the name, I'm assuming a relationship to the ones you seek. First, Senior's wife Jeannette died some time after 1940 and prior to 1958, and he remarried to Lilla. Second, Junior had moved to Florida and that listing is he and his wife Lilla.

I think the first possibility is most likely, because I found a Lilla Huis who was born in Michigan Nov 23 1889 and died in Clearwater in January 1982. Those dates would fit as the wife of a remarried Senior.

I was unable to find any other Peter Huis or any additional information on the ones discussed here.

Whether the Peter A. Huis in Coral Gables Florida is related to the ones you seek I'll leave up to you to discover.

Applause ^^^^^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikeg

To call the USA from the Netherlands, dial 00 + 1 + City Area Code + Number.

It is not clear which of the two Florida addresses and phone numbers for Mr. House is the most recent.

For this address, dial 00 1 904 724 8316

For the other address, dial 00 1 904 725 1097

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I called again twice today and I got a result from the 2nd number.

There is a Peter house living there and his father was also a Peter House. However his grandfather was a Gordon House. So no luck. But anyway
thanks for the info!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jiminnm

I did a little poking around on ancestry.com and found the April 8 1944 enlistment of Peter J. Huis Jr. [[born 1923), as well as the 1930 and 1940 censuses.

Also found a Peter J. Huis [[wife Lilla L.) living at 750 S. Clearwater-Largo Rd in Clearwater Florida - in 1958 and 1960 City Directories. I found nothing later.

Find A Grave turned up 13 Huis graves, 8 of which are in Portage MI, but no Peter or Lilla.

CorporationWiki has a Peter A. Huis as Manager of Green Pipes & Insulation Trading LLC in Florida:
GREEN PIPES & INSULATION TRADING LLC
150 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE
SUITE 1150
CORAL GABLES, FL 33134
http://www.greenpipes-insulation.com/

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Did you find a telephone number for the Clearwater-largo road address?

I found no phone numbers. You could also try all the people finder sites.

Try whitepages.com

This is amazing....