“We are related to the Van Duynes?”

“Yes, son, …. and to the Hermes, the Shuttens, the Klovers, the Holmans, and many more here in Wilmington.”

 “No individual death among human beings is important. Someone who dies leaves his work behind and that does not entirely die. It never dies as long as humanity exists.”

Isaac Asimov

Moving from Joliet – where our five children were born – to Wilmington was a gradual but enlightening revelation to the kids. St. Rose church and the school were directly across the street from our house on Kankakee Street which meant that there was no escape from becoming friends and acquaintances with nearly all of the city’s population. Because the kids would attend St. Rose, they unknowingly were sitting next to their classmates who might be relatives. 

Having been born in Braidwood from parents, grandparents, and great grandparents who were from Wilmington, Symerton, and Elwood, I naturally had many links to the people now around us. Dolores was from Joliet and Crest Hill but her part-time job with Hunt’s/Doc’s pharmacy would enable her to learn many names and people rather quickly. My affiliation with neighbors, old friends, and relatives would be renewed and strengthened over time, especially through youth sports and as a park district commissioner.

But it would be a significant task to impress on the kids how these familial connections were established, a task that would ultimately portray a Kennedy/Ginter map. But before I could start the process, I had to upgrade my own education. Elma O. Barns, writer for the Advocate, berated me for not knowing much about my family history. That prompted me to spend hours with my mother at our kitchen table constructing family charts and telling stories about many characters. Thank goodness Mom had such a good memory. (Later, my job would be to gather genealogical documents for my wife’s Croatian and Slovenian ancestors.)

It took me years to gather even more information from many local historical sources, mostly from those who were relatives. As with most men, my father was not much help in this regard. Two issues with him: he didn’t volunteer much and I failed to ask him.

Rather than try to explore all family links in one attempt, I have chosen to take one at a time. This blog focuses on the Dutch Klaver/Klover side.

It is ironic that my last name would indicate that my Irish ancestry becomes, in most people’s minds, who I am. That label, as with other labels, categorizes me with certain traits that may be accurate or totally inaccurate. Yes, Kennedy is an old Irish surname with my roots in Ballingarry, Tipperary, a place that I frequently visit and meet with distant relatives. Our ancestral origins go back to 1853.  

Dad’s father, Dan Kennedy, married my grandmother, Margaret Klaver, of Dutch and probably Swedish parents. Margaret’s mother, Eva, never married and it is probable that the father was Swedish. (For a more complete story on this see my blog “Searching for a Missing Great Grandfather” https://braidwoodguy.com/2019/09/18/searching-for-a-missing-great-grandfather/ )

A Very Brief Historical Background

Great, great, great Grandfather Pieter Klaver emigrated from Heer Hugo Woard, Holland in 1886 at the age of 52 along with his wife, 47-year-old Katherine Hof. They had been married in Obdam, Holland. Accompanying them were 7 of their 10 children according to passenger lists. Their oldest child, Margaret, had married a Pieter Van Duin (Van Duyne) in 1881 and it wasn’t until 1892 that she and her family came to America. 

What was the motivation for a large family to take the risk to come to America? It was probably for the same reason that all immigrants choose to leave their homeland: new opportunities for their children, war, famine, freedom, religion, and economics. It is estimated that the Klaver family was among a population of 75,000 Dutch immigrants into the United States during a ten-year period. By 1880, the Netherlands was in an agricultural crisis while in the U.S. there was new land to be found and industries were booming.  

Pieter Klaver was a dairyman but went to work on the railroad (Illinois Central?) near the southern part of Chicago, probably in South Holland. Later he became a farmer near Lakewood Shores in Wilmington, Illinois before passing away in 1907.

As seen in the picture taken just prior to his death, he is seated with his wife Katherine Hof Klaver and daughter Eva and granddaughter Margaret standing behind. Margaret, my grandmother, is the daughter of Eva who was never married. 

Pieter and Katherine’s Klaver’s ten children started new branches of several Wilmington families including Van Duynes, Klovers, Hermes, Shuttens, Kennedys, etc. For example, daughter Margaret “Kate” Klaver married Peter Van Duin (Van Duyne) resulting in 17 children and 100s of descendants. It would be difficult to find many people in our fair city who would not be distantly related. 

In the Future

Future blogs will focus on the Wilmington Kennedy, the Elwood/Peotone Ginter, and the Joliet Sterle and Anzelc families. But in the meantime….

“This may be considered a primer, son, for a project that will never be completed, but might be more fully explained. There are files to be compiled, puzzle pieces to be fitted, pictures to be sorted, and relatives to be contacted. Might also be a good idea to compare DNA before your grandkids get married.”

*A special thanks and gratitude to the late Frannie Van Duyne for giving me a copy of the Van Duyne family tree and to the late Margaret Baskerville (Van Duyne) for the historical narrative. I also had the privilege to meet with Gayle Schutten, granddaughter of Nellie Klover, a sister of my great Grandmother, Eva. Gayle allowed me to copy many pictures. Meetings with and letters from Loretta Kennedy Tulley provided many stories. My hope is that the younger generations will continue the research and update the information whenever possible.

Albert Schutten, Peter Schutten, George Allen, Tony Bergera, Herman Schutten, Fay Miller, Harry “Fatty” Lancaster. (Information and picture from Gayle Schutten.)