Obituary--John Rynberg

These residents who were born in the Netherlands are just way too easy to find in our older books.  As may be surmised by the number of survivors, there are still many in this area who have that name. 


From the 9 November 1916 Fremont TimesIndicator:

JOHN RYNBERG
John Rynberg was born in Berta, in the Province of Gronigien, Netherlands, on June 21 1842.
He was a member of a family of 13 children.  He remained in Holland until he was 19 years of age, when he came to America and was located at Drenthe, Michigan.  Here he was engaged in farming and carpenter work.  In 1868 he was married to Clara Mast.  To them were born 10 children, all of whom are living.
In 1892 he moved to the present farm home, four miles north of Holton.  Here he died on October 29, 1916, at the age of 74 years, four months and eight days.  He leaves a widow, six sons and four daughters who are: John Rynberg, of Grand Rapids, Bert Rynberg, of Reeman, Mrs Thayer Hill of Hesperia, and Jacob Rynberg, Joseph Rynberg, Peter Rynberg, Matthew Rynberg, Mrs Claude Markley, Mrs Will Nichols and Grace Rynberg, all of whom live near Holton, Mich.
The funeral services were held from the Holton Baptist church Thursday, Rev. Wm. Kuipers, of the Second Christian Reformed church, Fremont, officiating.

And from a gossip column in the same issue is this issue is this listing of some of the friends and  next of kin, who attended the funeral.

John Rynberg and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Wynhoff, Mrs. G. Toppe and daughter, Kate, of Grand Rapids, were here last week to attend the funeral of John Rynberg, Sr.  Others here were, Mrs. Fred Heistje , of Holland; Mrs Herbert, of Dublin; Henry Dorncot, of Detroit; Peter Kok and wife, of Zeeland; Mrs Hilbert Kok, Garret and Albert Kok and K Mast, of Drenth, and Bert Hazekamp of Muskegon.

You gotta love those old community gossip columns in the old papers.  Where else can you get such information as this?  Sometimes they report who came to dinner, and other times, they talk about weddings and births and such that are not mentioned elsewhere.  A great source of information.