International border bridges spanning the mouth of the beautiful St. Clair River
between Port Huron, Michigan, USA, and Sarnia,Ontario, Canada. The river connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair, on the Sea-way to the Atlantic. A picture of the new bridge was not yet available in 1997. In these pages we will deal with the following items:
In October 1997 I sent an email to two volunteers working for the MICHIGAN STATE LOOKUP to help with genealogical research. One of them did not answer immediately my many questions in relation with the Boekema's of Sanilac. The other volunteer in Macomb however promised me right away to check things out in the municipal library, and as a matter of fact, on October 17, I received from her the following email:
The surname BEAUJEAN is vere uncommon in Montreal: only two names listed in the phonebook. But research on the Internet gave 14 Beaujean's for Michigan. The family is maybe of Acadian descent? Many Acadians were deported to the Louisiana area by the English army from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the 18th century. It is not impossible that we find descendants of those Acadians in other States.
From the paperclipping we could also infer that Hedwig Boekema was not listed by her maiden name but by the name of her husband. Having the same address as Antoon Boekema, Antoon seems to be her husband and most certainly the parents of Ludwig.
This branch has also a catholic affiliation and we figured that it belonged to the branch of Warga (Wijtgaard). However at the end of 2002 it became clear that the ancestor of the Michigan Boekemas who settled down in Noord-Brabant became a catholic there.
On May 5 1998 I got an email from the other volunteer I had contacted. She wrote me this:
Hedwig BOEKEMA wife of Antoon was also born in the Netherlands. She was born Jan. 7, 1894. She died July 28, 1987. She is buried in New St.Mary's Cemtery in Washington Twp. Her parents were Ludwig Uberfeldt and Hecker. The informant was Felix Boekema 18771 Woodside Harper Woods, MI 48225. probably a son. The Carman Funeral Home in Carsonville handled the arrangements. There is also a Ludwig BOEKEMA listed in the New St.Mary's Cemetery 1924-1970. Notation says "son".
Sorry it took me so long to get this information.
Ella
With this information we now manage to make up the following family tree:
Ella found no information at all concerning Albert Boekema, but we may presume that he too was a son of Felix and Hendricka. As a matter of fact, Gerda Boekema sent me in the spring of 1999 data which she had found on the website of the Family Center of the Latter Day Saints, and which mentio that a son of ALBERT JANS BOEKEMA , JISK "migrated" in the early 1800 from Friesland to Noord-Brabant. It were his descendants who later on emigrated from Holland to Michigan. A conversation by phone with Robert J. Boekema, in St. Claire Shores, MI, had me already informed that Robert was a cousin from Felix (Jr), and that his father, Joseph, was born in Breda, Noord-Brabant, in 1918.
The picture is yet not completely clear as far as the Boekemas in Noord-Brabant are concerned, but whe have now a family tree who contains many immigrants, coming from Friesland to Noord-Brabant and from there to the States. Which brings us to the next chapter.
Cyndi Wainowski-Boekema and Eileen Barnes-Boekema got me quite well filled in on the Boekemas from Michigan and Florida. I got also in touch with Carel from California. He is a descendant of Claas Durks.
In the summer of 1999 I received an email from LISA BOEKEMA, who is a grandchild of Jean Beaujean-Boekema. She promised me to send more data later on. Hein Boekema found other data related to the Boekemas of the Breda area in Holland where the Boekema's from Michigan come from. You will find this family tree if you go back to the table of contents
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