My grandfather was Renze Hendriks Kamstra. His mother was Tettje Martens DeHaan born at Holwerd, Friesland. A few years ago I left a message about Tettle and received much help and especially from Piet DeHaan of Netherlands who sent me her family and even some ancestors. This showed that Tettje had brothers names Bokke Martens DeHaan who came to Borculo, Michigan about 1882 and Jan Martens DeHaan who came to Zeeland, Michigan about the same time. I discovered here that Bokke has descendants who have left his lineage on Ancestry and I have studied these. But I have found no messages or lineage about the brother, Jan Martens DeHaan of Zeeland. I am hoping someone here may have some information about his family to share.
Betty Brassington

I Googled the name De Haan and read your message regarding the De Haans of Zeeland Michigan. I don't know what success you have had and thought perhaps I had information that would be of interest. I am William H. De Haan and my grandfather was Martin De Haan of Zeeland Michigan. I was told that he arrived in America at the age of seventeen. He got into the shoe repair business at some point and had a cobblers shop in Zeeland that is now marked by a historical marker. He married a De Jong, (my spelling may not be correct,) who died when my father was six years old. I know little about her. He was just “Pa” to all of us. He had two sons, William and Jon. William was my father and an attorney in Ypsilanti. He married Kathleen Holden and had three children, Jon was a professor at Michigan State university. Pa had daughters Nella, Evaline, Josephine, Mary and I believe one more whose name escapes me, she married a Walterink I believe. Nella married an attorney in Chicago, John Mulder. Mary was married to a doctor by the name of Reus. Josephine married a Dr. Tenhave and lived in Grand Haven Michigan. All his children went to Hope college for part of their education. Pa was born in Frieslad although I don't remember any town being mentioned. He on occasion would talk about the “old country” and I was aware he had siblings and I sensed that some of them came to this country, but that contact was not maintained with them.
This data is from memory. I am 80 years old so these bits of information go back a long way. My email address is wdehaan2@comcast.net if there is any more information that I can provide.

I read you message on the Rootsweb message board and am wondering if this could be your grandfather's marriage:

Groom: Marten Dehaan, 25, b. abt 1869, NL
Parents: Jan Dehaan & Antje Dykstra
Bride: Jennie Dejonge, 24, b. abt 1870, Zeeland, MI
Parents: William Dejonge & Margje Staal
m. 10 Nov 1894, Zeeland, Ottawa Co, MI

The first 3 children:

1. Mary (Marrigtje), b. 25 Oct 1895, Holland, MI
m. Wm F Reus, 4 Jul 1918, Zeeland, MI

2. John, b. 28 Dec 1897, Holland, MI
m. Ella Van Patten, 15 Sep 1922, Holland, MI

3. Annie, b. 10 Aug 1900, Zeeland, MI

census reports:

Name: Maarten De Haan
Home in 1900: Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan
Age: 31
Birth Date: Apr 1869
Birthplace: Netherlands
Race: White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1881
Relationship to Head of House: Head
Father's Birthplace: Netherlands
Mother's Birthplace: Netherlands
Spouse's name: Jannetje
Marriage Year: 1895
Marital Status: Married
Years Married: 5
Residence : Zeeland Village, Ottawa, Michigan
Occupation: shoemaker
Household Members:
Maarten De Haan 31, b. Apr 1869, NL
Jannetje De Haan 29, b. Oct 1870, MI
Marrigtje De Haan 4, b. Oct 1895, MI
Jan De Haan 2, b. Dec 1897, MI

1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin J Haan
Age in 1910: 41
Estimated birth year: abt 1869
Birthplace: Holland
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Birth Place: Holland
Mother's Birth Place: Holland
Spouse's name: Jennie
Home in 1910: Holland Twp, Ottawa, Michigan
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
Year of Immigration: 1882
Occupation: store keeper
Household Members:
Martin J Haan 41
Jennie Haan 39
Mary Haan 14
John Haan 12
Anna Haan 9
William Haan 3
Jodephine Haan 6/12

1920 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin De Haan
Home in 1920: 46 N State St, Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan
Age: 50 years
Estimated birth year: abt 1870 [abt 1869]
Birthplace: Holland
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Birth Place: Holland
Mother's Birth Place: Holland
Marital Status: Widow
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Own
Year of Immigration: 1881; naturalized 1886
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Occupation: cobbler / own shop
Household Members:
Martin De Haan 50 [51]
John M De Haan 22
Anna De Haan 19
William De Haan 12
Josephine De Haan 10
Nella De Haan 6
Evelyn De Haan 3 8/12

1930 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin Dehaan
Home in 1930: N State St, Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan
Age: 60
Estimated birth year: abt 1870
Birthplace: Netherlands
Relation to Head of House: Head
Race: White
Immigration: 1883
Occupation: proprietor / shoe repairshop
Owns home / has radio set
Age at first marriage: 26
Household Members:
Martin Dehaan 60
Josephine Dehaan 20; furniture factory
Nella Dehaan 17
Evelyn Dehaan 13

Maybe you have all of this information already. Would you like me to learn more about Marten's and Jennie's parents?

Joan carlsonjm@hotmail.com

I wanted to clarify this post. The other daughter's name was Anna and she married Dr. TenHave, not Josephine. Anna was my great-grandmother. Anna was born in 1901 (died in 1960). I'd be happy to help with this part of the family line if I can.

I believe De Jong is actually spelled with an "e" on the end, but I'm not 100% sure. I have a picture of the headstone somewhere and will see if I can locate it.

I am William H. De Haan. My father William was Anna's brother. A couple of years ago I was fortunate to be contacted by Joan Carlson who provided me with a lot of information about the De Haan geneology. Some of the data went back to the time of Napoleon, who wanted to know about all the citizens in his new empire, probably so he could tax them. I have been interested in photography for many years and have family pictures that go back many years. If you would like I'll get a package together for you. My email is wdehaan2@comcast.net. My address is 1834 Woodbine ct, Marco Island FL, 34145

I have a lot of information on the geneology of the De Haan line even going back to the time of Napoleon, who probably just wanted to be sure everybody paid taxes. This courtesy of Joan Carlson of Zeeland that did a lot of research and gathered about 130 pages of the history. I also have some photographs of family members that date from the late 30s. Joan provided some that date back to the old country. I believe I have early pictures of the whole Ten Have family. If there is anything you would like to have just let me know.
My email address is wdehaan2@comcast.net
William H. De Haan

I was pleased to find these good messages to my inquiry of 2009. Unfortuntely I had not checked this site in these last two years!
In March 2009 I made a research trip to Zeeland and Holland, Michigan to try to find more about two brothers of my great-grandmother, Tettje DeHaan Kamstra. I had remarkable luck in my searches.
Then I put my efforts into digging into the TRESOAR.nl database of Friesland and found our ancestors back to nearly the 1500s.
I also had wonderful help from Piet DeHaan of the Netherlands who is a descendant of "the other DeHaan family" of Holwerd, Friesland. It seems that when surnames were made a law in 1811 two different and unrelated DeHaan families took the same surnames. Descendants of this "other DeHaan family" live in Kalamazoo, Michigan but are no relation.
I can see it was a major oversight not to come back here to this site and see if there were any replies to my 2009 query. Since then, it appears that Ancestry sends an automatic alert that you have replies to your query.
I too have put together quite a good record of my DeHaan ancestors and relatives and would be happy to find if perhaps we can share new information on our family. I will be especially pleased to hear from you, William, since you have such a complete family history compiled through the good work of Joan Carlson.
Betty Brassington

Since 2006 I have been gathering info on my DeHaan ancestors. My great-grandmother was Tettje Martens DeHaan who married Hendrik Renzes Kamstra/Kampstra. Their son, Renze Kemstra was my grandfather.
I was glad to see another descendant of the DeHaan family of Zeeland, Michigan checking in. When I visited Zeeland in 2009 I was sure there were many descendants of Bokke and Jan DeHaan still in the area but had not yet put together any families from the information I gathered.
I visited the Zeeland cemetery and located where Jan and wife are buried and took pictures of the plot. That cemetery has many, many DeHaan descendants buried there and it has a complete map of all burials and a person could spend many hours searching and finding them all quite easily.
I also visited the Borculo cemetery where Bokke and descendants are buried and took dozens of tombstone pictures there, since that cemetery is much smaller and can be leisurely searched without so much effort.
I look forward to hearing from you and from William.
Betty Brassington

This post was deleted by the author on 11 Feb 2012 9:47PM GMT

Sorry to be so slow to answer your message -- I don't check this website often enough and missed your query until now.
I looked in all my deHaan family notes and unfortunately couldn't find your grandfather listed there, but with his name being JON BENJAMIN DEHAAN I made a guess he may be a descendant of BOKKE DEHAAN of Borculo, Mich. It seems that the dutch name "Bokke" translated to the American name "Benjamin".
If your grandfather was in the Vietnam war I guessed he must have been about 20 years old then and perhaps born about in the 1940s or early 1950s. Am I anywhere near right?
Bokke deHaan was baptised 18 March 1837 at Holwerd, Friesland, Netherlands and came to America about 1881/1882. He settled near Borculo, Ottawa Co, Mich and is buried in the cemetery there.
Bokke was a brother of my great grandmother, Tettje deHaan Kemstra -- that is why I have dug out so much info about the family.
I found a lineage for Bokke here on Ancestry but could find no info about your grandfather there. So . . . I will be very interested to hear from you again even though it may be too late for any help with your school paper . . . Sorry! Have you found or heard any more info about your grandfather at all . . . maybe I can help you find who his parents were with a few more bits of info. You know, it is always good to get another genealogist going in the family!
Betty Brassington