BIO: PART I

NETHERLANDS BIRTH RECORD
Name: Jan Hendrik Spitsbergen
Residence Age: 0
Birth Date: 1 Juli 1822
Birth Place: Zutphen
Residence Year: 1822
Father: Jan Spitsbergen
Mother: Johanna Cornelissen

RECORD OF 1ST REFORMED CHURCH, ZEELAND, MI
Name: Jan Henderik Spitsbergen
Record Type: Baptism
Birth Date: 1 Jul 1822
Baptism Place: Zeeland, Michigan, USA
Baptism Church: First Reformed Church

NAME OF PARENTS ON BIRTH RECORD OF THEIR SON JOHANNES
Father: Jan Hendrik Spitsbergen
Mother: Jentje Spitsbergen

Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015
Name: Jan Hendrick Spitsbergen
Gender: m (Male)
Birth Date: 1822
Death Date: 1906
Death Age: 84
Father: Jan Spitsbergen
Mother: Janna Cornelissen
1st Spouse: Hendrikien Essing
2nd Spouse: Jentje van den Berg

BIO: PART II*
Jan Hendrick Spitsbergen was a part of the "Great Migration" of Netherlanders who landed on the shores of Black Lake in Western Michigan in the year 1847 and established the villages of Holland and Zeeland, Michigan. He settled in Ottawa County, Holland Township, and lived out his life there. He died in 1907 (sic) in the city of Zeeland and is buried in the Zeeland city cemetery.

During his lifetime he had four sons and five daughters who survived childhood. Two of the sons, Evert Jan and Hendrick (Henry) were by his first wife, Hendrikien Essing, who died in 1858 at the age of 28.

Nicklaus (Klaas) and John were born to his second wife, Jentje van den Berg, along with five daughters: Elizabeth (m. John Loeks), Annie (m. Woldring), Jennie (unmarried), Grace (m. Peter Ossewaarde), and Delia (m. Vermeulen).

Evert Jan disappeared at the age of thirteen (there is a family rumor that he may have gone to Wisconsin, but no record of him has been located there). Henry moved to Moddersville, Missaukee County, Michigan, at the age of 20, married Margaret Modders, and raised a large family. Both Nicklaus and John died in the typhoid fever epidemic of 1897, along with their mother Jentje and a sister Katje. Neither Nicklaus nor John had married, so Henry was the only son of Jan Hendrick to produce children.

There is some evidence that all Spitsbergen's in the United States are the direct descendents of Hendrick (Henry) Spitsbergen of Moddersville.

~ Uw Stamboom Online/Us Passie Online

*BIO: PART II Information is by the original memorial manager, Twist (199519394)