Baxter's 1891 History of Grand Rapids: In 1877 Henry Spink and Tjerk Veenstra started a wholesale feed and flour mill at 122 Ellsworth avenue, which has been in operation since.
8 July 1937 Fremont TimesIndicator:
Farewell Address Followed By Death
Tjerk Veenstra, 93, Succumbs After Talk To Group at Annual Family Fete.
While preparing to leave the speaker's platform after making an address that he considered would be his last to his relatives, Tjerk Veenstra, 93 dropped dead Monday afternoon during the Veenstra family reunion which was held at the Veenstra homestead in Greenwood township west of this city. His death was caused by a heart attack.
His relatives said that Mr. Veenstra thought the family reunion held Monday would be the last he would live to attend and desired to give a farewell message to the group. He had given the parting message on a speaker's rostrum improvised from a lunch table, and succumbed before he was able to descend to the ground. Mr. Veenstra had been in poor health during the past winter.
The aged man was born January 23, 1844, in the Netherlands. His mother died when he was three years old. His father, who was a clergyman, gave him a fine education. He was able to converse in four languages.
At the age of 13 he became a cabin-boy on an old sailing vessel and for many years sailed on the Atlantic ocean, and the Black, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas, and the Danube river. On his first voyage he was shipwrecked near the island of Heligoland but this experience did not deter him from continuing on the seas. Mr Veenstra had traveled much and often told of the foreign lands he had visited.
In 1872, Mr. Veenstra cam to America and on February 2 of that year arrived in Grand Rapids. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha Sprik and lived in Grand Rapids for 32 years. In 1908 he moved to the farm seven miles west of Fremont where he has since resided. Mrs. Veenstra died about 10 years ago.
He is survived by six children, y. J. Veenstra, with whom he has lately made his home; Henry of Detroit;; R. T. Veenstra; C. W. Veenstra and E. L. Veenstra, all of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Frank Palmer who lives west of Fremont.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from the home with Rev. Herman Goodyke of the Reeman Christian Reformed church officiating. Burial was made at Clark cemetery.
8 July 1937 Fremont TimesIndicator:
Farewell Address Followed By Death
Tjerk Veenstra, 93, Succumbs After Talk To Group at Annual Family Fete.
While preparing to leave the speaker's platform after making an address that he considered would be his last to his relatives, Tjerk Veenstra, 93 dropped dead Monday afternoon during the Veenstra family reunion which was held at the Veenstra homestead in Greenwood township west of this city. His death was caused by a heart attack.
His relatives said that Mr. Veenstra thought the family reunion held Monday would be the last he would live to attend and desired to give a farewell message to the group. He had given the parting message on a speaker's rostrum improvised from a lunch table, and succumbed before he was able to descend to the ground. Mr. Veenstra had been in poor health during the past winter.
The aged man was born January 23, 1844, in the Netherlands. His mother died when he was three years old. His father, who was a clergyman, gave him a fine education. He was able to converse in four languages.
At the age of 13 he became a cabin-boy on an old sailing vessel and for many years sailed on the Atlantic ocean, and the Black, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas, and the Danube river. On his first voyage he was shipwrecked near the island of Heligoland but this experience did not deter him from continuing on the seas. Mr Veenstra had traveled much and often told of the foreign lands he had visited.
In 1872, Mr. Veenstra cam to America and on February 2 of that year arrived in Grand Rapids. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha Sprik and lived in Grand Rapids for 32 years. In 1908 he moved to the farm seven miles west of Fremont where he has since resided. Mrs. Veenstra died about 10 years ago.
He is survived by six children, y. J. Veenstra, with whom he has lately made his home; Henry of Detroit;; R. T. Veenstra; C. W. Veenstra and E. L. Veenstra, all of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Frank Palmer who lives west of Fremont.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from the home with Rev. Herman Goodyke of the Reeman Christian Reformed church officiating. Burial was made at Clark cemetery.
Baxter's 1891 History of Grand Rapids: In 1877 Henry Spink and Tjerk Veenstra started a wholesale feed and flour mill at 122 Ellsworth avenue, which has been in operation since.
8 July 1937 Fremont TimesIndicator:
Farewell Address Followed By Death
Tjerk Veenstra, 93, Succumbs After Talk To Group at Annual Family Fete.
While preparing to leave the speaker's platform after making an address that he considered would be his last to his relatives, Tjerk Veenstra, 93 dropped dead Monday afternoon during the Veenstra family reunion which was held at the Veenstra homestead in Greenwood township west of this city. His death was caused by a heart attack.
His relatives said that Mr. Veenstra thought the family reunion held Monday would be the last he would live to attend and desired to give a farewell message to the group. He had given the parting message on a speaker's rostrum improvised from a lunch table, and succumbed before he was able to descend to the ground. Mr. Veenstra had been in poor health during the past winter.
The aged man was born January 23, 1844, in the Netherlands. His mother died when he was three years old. His father, who was a clergyman, gave him a fine education. He was able to converse in four languages.
At the age of 13 he became a cabin-boy on an old sailing vessel and for many years sailed on the Atlantic ocean, and the Black, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas, and the Danube river. On his first voyage he was shipwrecked near the island of Heligoland but this experience did not deter him from continuing on the seas. Mr Veenstra had traveled much and often told of the foreign lands he had visited.
In 1872, Mr. Veenstra cam to America and on February 2 of that year arrived in Grand Rapids. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha Sprik and lived in Grand Rapids for 32 years. In 1908 he moved to the farm seven miles west of Fremont where he has since resided. Mrs. Veenstra died about 10 years ago.
He is survived by six children, y. J. Veenstra, with whom he has lately made his home; Henry of Detroit;; R. T. Veenstra; C. W. Veenstra and E. L. Veenstra, all of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Frank Palmer who lives west of Fremont.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from the home with Rev. Herman Goodyke of the Reeman Christian Reformed church officiating. Burial was made at Clark cemetery.
8 July 1937 Fremont TimesIndicator:
Farewell Address Followed By Death
Tjerk Veenstra, 93, Succumbs After Talk To Group at Annual Family Fete.
While preparing to leave the speaker's platform after making an address that he considered would be his last to his relatives, Tjerk Veenstra, 93 dropped dead Monday afternoon during the Veenstra family reunion which was held at the Veenstra homestead in Greenwood township west of this city. His death was caused by a heart attack.
His relatives said that Mr. Veenstra thought the family reunion held Monday would be the last he would live to attend and desired to give a farewell message to the group. He had given the parting message on a speaker's rostrum improvised from a lunch table, and succumbed before he was able to descend to the ground. Mr. Veenstra had been in poor health during the past winter.
The aged man was born January 23, 1844, in the Netherlands. His mother died when he was three years old. His father, who was a clergyman, gave him a fine education. He was able to converse in four languages.
At the age of 13 he became a cabin-boy on an old sailing vessel and for many years sailed on the Atlantic ocean, and the Black, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas, and the Danube river. On his first voyage he was shipwrecked near the island of Heligoland but this experience did not deter him from continuing on the seas. Mr Veenstra had traveled much and often told of the foreign lands he had visited.
In 1872, Mr. Veenstra cam to America and on February 2 of that year arrived in Grand Rapids. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha Sprik and lived in Grand Rapids for 32 years. In 1908 he moved to the farm seven miles west of Fremont where he has since resided. Mrs. Veenstra died about 10 years ago.
He is survived by six children, y. J. Veenstra, with whom he has lately made his home; Henry of Detroit;; R. T. Veenstra; C. W. Veenstra and E. L. Veenstra, all of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Frank Palmer who lives west of Fremont.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from the home with Rev. Herman Goodyke of the Reeman Christian Reformed church officiating. Burial was made at Clark cemetery.
Gravesite Details
Married To: Martha Sprik 1876
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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