Ven You See Von Feller Vinking

Thanks to Cora Huffsmith, I have more Dutch stereotype cards to post. I hopes you loves zem.

The sentiment on most of these is very sweet, but not so much on this one.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

Joy-Riding with the Huffsmiths

This is not a picture of the Huffsmiths, but the card was sent to Cora Huffsmith of Dushore, Pennsylvania (current population 663).

The message reads:

Hello cousin am home now your father ask me if i saw you to Dushore so I toll him i did and that you took me to church.

Cousin Leslie

Ans Soon

You may or may not recall a previous postcard to Cora Huffsmith, where I mentioned that I had discovered that Cora was the eighth great granddaughter of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven.  I became curious because on the genealogy website where I found this information, everybody is traced to Van Kouwenhoven in one way or another. So, who was he?

Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven was born in Holland in about 1584. In about 1624 he immigrated to New Amsterdam, New York, now known as new York City. He purchased 3,600 acres from the Indians.

In 2007, the original deed to the land was auctioned off. This text is quoted from the Conover Genealogy site:

A document described as the oldest surviving land deed for Long Island land was auctioned Wednesday for $156,000 in Manhattan.The deed, signed by Dutch Colonial Gov. Wouter von Twiller at "Eylandt Manhatans" on June 6, 1636, confirms the purchase of 3,600 acres from the Lenape Indians. The land is known as Keskachauge, and constitutes a large portion of present day Brooklyn."It is without question one of the oldest Dutch documents in private hands," said Jeremy Markowitz, head of Americana sales at Bloomsbury Auctions, a Manhattan auction house where the sale took place.

The 13-by-18-inch document, written in ink in Dutch, confirms the purchase of the land in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn from the Indians by Wolfert Gerritsz van Couwenhoven and Andries Hudde.On the reverse side, there is a reaffirmation of the original transaction in 1658 and signature of another more famous governor, Peter Stuyvesant, who amended it to say the sole owner of the property was Kouwenhoven.  

Here's another amusing bit about Cora Huffsmith and the Van Couwenhovens: In all likelihood I am related to them. At least I'd be willing to make a small wager on it.  There are just too many common surnames, including Facklers and Meyers from Kansas. What's really amazing (and amusing) about genealogy in general is that if you are thorough enough, you find that you are related to just about everybody. So, the chances are not at all bad that you are also related to Cora and the Van Couwenhovens. Take a look at the surname list.  Taking some of the Sepia Saturday participant surnames, I found 36 Burnetts, 16 Mortensens, 96 Paynes, 403 Reeds, and 14 Brubakers. Alas, not a single Zimnoch or Scotney.  It's too bad, really, because if we were all related, we could have just adopted the Van Couwenhoven family crest as part of Sepia Saturday.

Ayer's Sarsaparilla

Ayer's Sarsaparilla  claimed to cure all sorts of ailments and purify the blood. Sarsaparilla was made from a trailing vine called smilax regelii, which was also used to flavor root beer. If you look hard enough, you may still be able to find an old-fashioned root beer flavored with sarsaparilla. You can read all about the history of Ayer's Sarsaparilla at Cliff and Linda Hoyt's website, which includes great photos of old advertisements, bottles, and even a paper doll. These cards are from about 1880.

I looked up Nellie Hicks from Cincinnatus, New York and discovered that she is listed as the 8th great-great granddaughter of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven. Wait a minute, that sounds familiar. I have lots of cards sent to Cora Huffsmith, who was also the 8th great-great granddaughter of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven. I'll write a little more about him on an upcoming Huffsmith card.

Dutch Stereotype

Back in about 1910, cards that provided a humorous stereotypical view of Dutch (and sometimes Germans) were very popular. As far as I can tell, the humor was well intended. These cards were all sent to  Cora Huffsmith  of Dushore, Pennsylvania.  According to Conover Genealogy,  Cora Huffsmith, born in Pennsylvania in 1891, was the 8th great-granddaughter of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven, a baker from Utrecht, Netherlands.  Friends and family must have sent her these cards because of her Dutch heritage.

Here are ze backs of de cards in ze same order:

Hayride

You can hardly see it, but there's a stamp at the top of the card that says, "Greetings from Eldredsville, Pa." The card was cut from a panel of multiple views. This one has remnants of the other views on the left and on the bottom. The card was sent almost exactly 100 years ago, with the same question many of us are asking friends and co-workers today.

The message from 1910 says:

Dear Sister. How are you. I am fine and dandy. How did you spend the 4th. I stayed at home.

You write me a letter.

Hazel 

Recipe for Fireworks

The message L.M.B. sent to Cora Huffsmith in 1912 reads:

Pocahontas, Iowa

Dear Cora:-

I'm here at last, and like the place real well. I was very sorry you didn't get home before I left as I did sure want to see you. Hope you enjoyed your vacation Write me a real long letter to keep me from getting home-sick.

L.M.B.

Well, the front of the card does look like a potential recipe for fireworks, but here are the real recipes.   I guess you probably wanted these before yesterday, but you really wouldn't want to make them anyway. These are from a book called Lee's Priceless Recipes, published in 1895. They are for your amusement only, because you don't want to blow your hands off. But, just in case you want to peruse all of the other recipes, Lee's Priceless Recipes has been reprinted in recent years.

There are many pages of recipes for fireworks. I will just include a few: