Geertje De Haas
1844-1911
Born: Den Helder, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
<p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; background-color: #fef9e4;">According to grandson of Bert VanderZwaag, </span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; background-color: #fef9e4;"> </span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">I remember Gert and Jim Engel coming to the country to visit us </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">and get a couple of washtubs filled with cow manure (we lived on a farm) for </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">their garden , She always seemed such a jolly soul .Geertje was a daughter of </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Jacob de Haas . They came to Muskegon in about 1854 . A brother of her ,John , </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">had the de Haas hotel in Fremont and became a very wealthy man . </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">He and his wife took two year long around the world tours in the early days of the </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">1900s . Hendrik the husband of Geertje also came to Muskegon about that time . </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #656565; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">They married and moved to Olive Township before 1870 . </span></span></p>