Help needed.Seek for dutch ancestors/pilgrims in DETROIT

[delaume]

Good morning Detroit !
My name is christophe, I live in France. I herited from my dutch grandmother 2 postcards sent from detroit in 1920 and 1926 from dutch pilgrims ancestors. I have been trying for a while to find some information about them, but no success...
I would like to know if there are some descendants from my family in Michigan or US. Can anybody help me ?
It is very important for me...
First postcard sent in febr 1920: fromMr and Ms BAKER - 318 Connors avenue- Detroit Michigan to Mr H Rietberg in Amsterdam.
Second postcard sent in dec 9th 1926 from Halfway- Michigan
from Jacob [[I think BAKER) and Mina [[willemina, wilhelmina or
Hermina..?)[[born Rietberg ?) and childrens...to the same Mr H Rietberg in Amsterdam. One postcard for a Newyear, the other for a birthday, nothing else writen.
Maybe with the 318 connors avenue Detroit adress in 1920, is it possible to find some more information ?. Not easy for sure !
Thanks all for your help, Christophe.

[gnome]

Don't know if I can help, but I do know that Halfway is now called Eastpointe. It was called Halfway because it was half the distance between Detroit and Port Huron. [[which doesn't seem correct but that's what 'they' say)

[Brock7]

There's no J. or Jacob Baker on Connors in the online 1928 directory, and no Jacob Baker listed with any womans name but Ida and Florence. Nor is there a Wilhelmina or similar listed alone. There is no Baker listed as living on Connors between Essex and Freud either - I think the new number for 318 would be 200 or so.

[delaume]

Thank you Gnome and Brocke for your help and quick response.
Brock, could you check if there is maybe a "RIETBERG" name on Connors avenue or in Detroit? The first postcard was in 1920
so maybe in 1928 they had been moving.
The second postcard from 1926 was posted from Halfway [[was Halfway at this period similar to Detroit or a distinct town ?)
Was there a Jacob BAKER in Halfway in 1926 or 1928 ???
I am very impressed that you can find back information on the
20's ! Congratulations...I have trust and I am excited we can find some descendants of my family and come visit Detroit...

[Brock7]

I'll have a look for Rietberg in the 1928 Detroit City directory. The place called Halfway was and still is outside the Detroit city limits, I don't know of any directories that would include it.

[Wheels]

Do you mean Conner with an e or Connor? I don't see a Connor in Detroit.

[PaulGall]

Don't know if I can help, but I do know that Halfway is now called Eastpointe. It was called Halfway because it was half the distance between Detroit and Port Huron. [[which doesn't seem correct but that's what 'they' say)

I think it was named Halfway due to being half way between Downtown Detroit and Mt. Clemens.

[Brock7]

There's no Rietberg, Rietburg, Reitberg, or Reitburg listed in the 1928 directory.

[oladub]

Maybe Dutch Reformed or Catholic church records would have information. Streets to the east of Connor used to have some Flemish Belgians but there were never many Dutch immigrants in Detroit. They tended to settle on the west side of Michigan.

Wikipedia on Halfway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastpointe,_Michigan

There are only about 6 Rietbergs listed in Michigan if one is a descendent. There are up to 45 Jacob Bakers listed in Michigan. Sometimes families carry names forward into the next generation so there is an outside chance that one of them is a descendent. Baker is a common name.

You might try these links to locate present day Jacob Bakers

How to track down people online. Sometimes this works.
http://lifehacker.com/#!329033/how-t...-anyone-online


http://www.usa-people-search.com/ good starting place, allows age


http://pipl.com/ too much information sometimes


http://www.whitepages.com/person addresses and phone numbers by city . Useful for after someone has been located on another people search engine.


http://www.peoplesmart.com/psp.aspx?_act=wp This site is similar to USA people search except it often lists the recently deceased by date.

[Lowell]

Do you mean Conner with an e or Connor? I don't see a Connor in Detroit.

Additionally it is Connors with an s. Looking at my 1928-9 DCD there are 3 Jabob Baker's 1-15902 Normandy occupation: junk || 2700 Hogarth, machinist || 3-1572 Burlingame, neckties. All on are the 'westside'. Connors is on far over on the east side. There is no Bakker [Dutch for baker] in the directory. No Rietberg either.

There is no 318 Connors, only a 317 which would be across the street. There is an absence of even number addresses for that block.

Too bad he didn't have a more Dutch name. Of course western Michigan has a huge Dutch descendent population with Holland, MI as its 'spiritual' center.

[Brock7]

I don't see any Dutch born Jacob Baker in Wayne or nearby counties in the 1920 census. The Jacob Bakers there are, are all single borders unless they're married to Ida or Florence. No Rietberg in Wayne or nearby counties either. No Bakker in those counties as well.

[delaume]

Thank you again for your efforts and researches. I think
Jacob BAKER [[or BAKKER) or Jacob RIETBERG was born in Holland and emigrated with wife and children maybe during or just after the first world war. They were not born in Michigan
I found once a list of ellis island but difficult to find out...
I will contact the dutch authorities to find if possible his year of birth and more informations. I hope jacob is his real firstname, because sometime they used the second one or a nickname.
Apparently they were really leaving in the 318 Connors avenue in 1920, maybe in 1928 the numbers of this avenue had changed ?
I ll try to contact some RIETBERG in Michigan, who knows...

[gazhekwe]

Do we have a hit on who was at 318 Connors in 1920. There were lots of boarding houses at that time, my great grandmother ran one. The US Census shows who was at the address at that time, I think.

[Detroitgayhistoryguy]

All addresses in Detroit were re-numbered starting Jan 1, 1921

[Detroitgayhistoryguy]

Do you know approximately how old he would have been in 1920?

[MidTownMs]

I grew up on Conner betwen E. Jefferson and Freud. 300 Conner would be the last block before you get to the Detroit River. If you go online Google the 1920 Detroit City Directory. I know it's online because 1920 is when both sets of my grandparents moved to Detroit from South Carolina and Kentucky. This is how I found out what there first Detroit address was....Good Luck

[Mikeg]

318 Conners Ave was renumbered to 206 Conners Ave effective Jan. 1, 1921. It was located between Essex and Freud Streets.

In the 1919 Detroit City Directory, 318 Conners Ave was occupied by Ralph Baker [[machinist).

In the 1920 Directory, 206 [[318) Conners was occupied by Mrs. Emma Jerkins. Ralph C. Baker lived at 715 [[221) Beniteau [[no occupation given). Right across the street lived Leo I. Baker [[24 yrs old, autoworker) at 712 [[220) Beniteau with his mother, Mattie A. Baker. These addresses on Beniteau were south of Edlie Street. I cannot find this Ralph Baker in the 1920 US Census, so I do not know if he is related to Mattie and Leo.

[gazhekwe]

I checked the 1920 census and found no Ralph or Jacob Baker, no Rietburg, no Mina or Wilhelmina Baker or Rietburg [[or variant spellings) born in Holland or the Netherlands and living in Detroit in 1920. There were Jacob Bakers in other cities, but none married to Mina or Wilhelmina. Another spelling I found could be Bekker or Bakker.

[gazhekwe]

I found Connors in Detroit > Detroit Ward 21 > District 646and went through the addresses provided for the 1920 census, must not have been the right street because there was no 318, it started with 397 and went up to the 500s. No Bakers in the 300s.

[delaume]

Sorry I was in the wrong way, because I found a new letter from Mr VAN DYK [[could be also VAN DIJK or VAN DYKE) to
Mr H RIETBERG in Amsterdam.
Maybe "Mikeg" find the solution and Ralph Baker- 318 connors av
Detroit is a boarding hosting adress [[like an hotel ?)
Jacob VAN DYK would be the real name of my descendants,
married with a Mina [[Willemina, wilhelmina, harmina or hermina?).
Could anybody check if there is a jacob VAN DYK on the census
in 1920 - 1926 or 1928 around detroit. Sorry, it is so difficult because I have very few information...
If someone find the solution we will drink a champaign bottle
together...in Detroit ! I still have some hope
Thanks to all of you !

[oladub]

I found the following deaths. I assume your Jacob was born in about 1900.
http://www.peoplesmart.com/psp.aspx?_act=wp

Jacob Vandyk died 1977 age 88 at Kalamazoo, MI
Jacob VanDyke 1982, 87, Big Rapids
Jacob VanDyke 1977, 81. Grand Rapids
Jake VanDyke 1976,71, Grand Rapids
Jake VanDyke 1967, 80 Detroit

[Brock7]

Here's what I've found in the 1920 census. I'm including links to the page images in case I've misread them or someone else can make out some of the info I couldn't.

information taken on January 3, 1920
Roy Baker age 35, head of household, married, immigrated 1916, alien, reads&writes, birthplace Holland, Native tongue - Dutch, Father and Mother the same, speaks English, machinist at motor co. - receiving wages
Mary Baker age 32, wife, married, immigrated 1917, alien, reads&writes, birthplace Holland, Native tongue - Dutch, Father and Mother the same, speaks English
No children listed for their household
They appear to be renting the house at 318 Connors with the family of Earl and Eva Goff and their two daughters and a male lodger who hail from Kentucky and Ohio by way of Oklahoma
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/1774/roybaker.gif

information taken on January 2, 1920
Jacob VanDyke age 31, Lodger, widower?, immigrated 1908, alien, birthplace Holland, Native tongue - Dutch, Father and Mother the same, Speaks English, machinist at axle factory - salaried
Boards with Peter Wm. and Barbara DeClach? who are also Dutch, their three young U. S. born sons, and a roomer at 51 Benson St.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1384/jacobvandyke1.gif

information taken on January 13, 1920
Jacob Vandyke age 33, head of household, married, immigrated 1910, naturalized?, reads&writes, birthplace Holland, Native tongue - Dutch, Father and Mother the same, Speaks English, auto driver at coal yard - receiving wages
Clara age 43, wife, reads&writes, birthplace Michigan
Ruth age 8, daughter, birthplace Michigan
Renting at 2040 Florida ave.
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/4...obvandyke2.gif

[sumas]

You might try the Dutch reform church on Maryland in Grosse Pointe Park they existed in 1934 at the location and most likely before. My Mom attended there when she was 14. They also have/had a school there called Grosse Pointe Christian Day. Our son attended there from first to third grade.

[Mikeg]

Here's what I've found in the 1920 census. I'm including links to the page images in case I've misread them or someone else can make out some of the info I couldn't.......

Ralph/Roy Baker is listed in the 1919 Detroit Directory as living at 318 Conners Ave with E. A. Goff. The 1920 Directory gives two new addresses to that location, 204 and 206. Therefore, I would presume that the Goff family lived in the lower portion [[204) and that the Baker family lived in the upper apartment [[206).

Jacob Van Dyke [[age 31 in the 1920 US Census) is living at 51 [[2925 new) Benson St., between Joseph Campau and McDougall St. [map]. The 1919 Detroit Directory shows him as an autoworker who is boarding at that same address, but abbreviates his first name as "Jno" for Johannes or John.

[Mikeg]

In the 1923 Detroit Directory, Jacob Van Dyke [[the coal yard driver) is now living at 4251 Trenton [[not far from his previous residence on Florida). The 1930 US Census shows him still living with his wife Clara and daughter Ruth at the residence on Trenton. Jacob is still driving a coal truck.

The 1923 Detroit Directory also lists the following:

• Van Dyke, Jacob, autoworker, h 6314 May Ave [[just southwest of the intersection of Harper and Gratiot Avenues)
  
• Van Dyk, Jacob, carrier, h 8910 Vancourt Ave [[north of Tireman and east of Livernois Avenues)
  
• There is only one John listed under Van Dyke/Dyk and he is identified as [[c) for "colored".

The 1930 US Census lists the Jacob Van Dyke at 6314 May Ave as being 44 yrs old, married to wife Cornelia [[42 yrs) and with daughter Margaret R. [[15 yrs). Jacob was born in Michigan to parents who were both born in Holland. Cornelia was born in Holland. Jacob is now employed as an assembler in a furniture warehouse.

In 1930, Jacob Van Dyk is still a mail carrier, but he is living at 8910 Dailey Ct. one-half mile to the north of Vancourt Ave. He was born in Michigan to parents who were both born in Holland. His wife's name is Mabel and they have two children, Edgar and Phyliss.

Searching the 1930 US Census, I do not find anyone with the Van Dyke surname listed in Macomb County.