Adrianus and Martha Vanderkloot Family

**Adrianus and Martha Vanderkloot Family**

By Dave Jordan
July 27, 2001
Updated April 16, 2007
In August 1881, Adrianus van der Kloot and his brother Marinus van der Kloot along with his wife, and their son traveled to Amsterdam to purchase passage to the United States. They were on their way to Chicago to work in their Uncle Marinus' Vanderkloot and Son Iron Works that had begun in 1872 and was expanding rapidly, well beyond the labor his own sons could provide. So Marinus must have contacted his brother Matthijs van der Kloot back in Texel and asked if any of his sons wanted to come to Chicago and work with him. The ship that Adrianus and brother Marinus and family boarded was the Pollux and they arrived in New York on August 29, 1881 at Castle Garden, the destination on southern Manhattan where immigrants landed and were processed before Ellis Island opened. They then took a ferryboat to New Jersey and then boarded a train for Chicago. Adrianus must have liked Chicago and the job as a blacksmith, as within the year, it is said that he wrote Martha Tanis back in Texel that it was great in Chicago and that she should come and they would be married. Adrianus and Martha had met through Martha's first cousin, Bertha Dros, who lived in Texel. Later the circle was completed when in 1887 Peter, Adrianus' brother returned to Texel to marry Bertha Dros and bring her to Chicago. Martha and Bertha were thus doubly related, sister-in-laws and cousins and friends from long ago. Martha was the 2nd of 7 children before her father died. Her mother then remarried and had 9 more. Martha's father was Aart Tanis and he had lived on Texel, but left for Haarlemmermeer around 1855. This is where Martha was born there in 1857. In the late 1870s, perhaps to get away from her mother's ever increasing family in Haarlemmermeer, Martha went to stay with relatives in Texel including her cousin Bertha Dros. Bertha Dros and Martha Tanis are related on their Tanis side, as they had the same grandparents, Dirk Cornelis Tanis and Cornelia Nieman. Martha's father was Aart Tanis and Bertha's mother was Krijntje Tanis, thus their parents, Aart and Krijntje were brother and sister. Bertha, born in 1867, was 10 years younger than Martha, so Bertha must have only been about 10-13 when she introduced Adrianus to Martha in Texel. You can just imagine the younger girl scheming to fix up her cousin with the nice man she knew in Cocksdorp. Then later in Chicago Martha must have been the matchmaker, when she worked to get Peter together with her cousin in Texel. When Adrianus asked Martha to come to Chicago, there apparently was some indecision on how she should be accompanied. Betsy Strand wrote "her mother told her that Peter had gone to Holland to accompany Martha to the USA to wed Adrianus. It was not thought proper for Adrianus to do so." Thus it appears that Pieter van der Kloot had also arrived in either 1881 or earlier in 1882 to work with his brothers and cousins at the Vanderkloot Iron Works in Chicago and had then returned to Holland to accompany his brother's future spouse to Chicago. However, I have yet to find the evidence though that he came in 1881 or early 1882, so it is possible he was really on his way the first time and it was convenient for him to accompany Martha and to avoid any impropriety with Adrianus coming back for her. Martha Tanis and Pieter Vanderkloot arrived in New York on the Edam on 9 September 1882. There was some speculation that Martha had come over with cousins also and had stayed with them in New Jersey for a while before proceeding to Chicago. However, there are no recognizable names, at least to me near her name on the manifest. Thus it is likely she and Pieter, after arriving in New York at Castle Garden, boarded a ferry to New Jersey and then boarded a train for Chicago. What an experience it must have been for a young woman who grew up on a rural farm in Haarlemmermeer to see the bustle of New York harbor and then be part of the rebuilding and rapid expansion of Chicago in those early days. On December 26th 1882, Adrianus and Martha were married in Chicago by the Justice of the Peace; Martha was 25 and Adrianus 30. On both her Marriage License Application and her Marriage License Martha's surname is clearly recorded as Tanus, which has lead to confusion in finding the record in the Illinois Marriage Index Data Base. Adrianus and Martha had six children: Matthew (1883), Arthur (1885), Adrian (1889), Aletta (1891), Tryntje (1894), and Marie (1899). Tryntje, who was called Grace by 1900, possibly before, is my grandmother. A review of the children's names though shows a good match with the "Dutch Children Naming Custom" except that Aletta came from Dirkje Aletta Blaak's middle name. It is unknown how my grandmother became to be known as Grace. While the unusual name, Trijntje, was probably not the best name to send a small girl to an American public school with, it does seem unusual to choose a name that has an English religious flavor in a family with a non-religious orientation. It would have been more logical to call her Kathryn, which is the English equivalent of Trijntje or the Americanized Tryntje. Later in life, Matthew later married Elizabeth Heagan; Arthur married Anna Grass; Adrian married Delia Sullivan and Minet after she died; Aletta married Henry Schodrof; Grace married James Filipek; and Marie married John Denker. Adrianus and Martha did not have a strong religious interest. However, there are some recollections of occasional church attendance by the children and it is possible that the children were baptized. The closest Dutch Church at the time was the Holland Christian Reformed Church at 14th Street near Throop, which would have been about two miles away. The First Reformed Holland Church was at the corner of Harrison and May Street which was 3-4 miles away. It is unknown whether these churches still exist or where their baptismal records are. Early on Adrianus decided to become a citizen. This was a multi-step process of which the first step was to declare intent to become a citizen. Adrian's Declaration of Intent was made on March 4th 1886, a little over four years after his arrival. In the intent, the duties of a citizen are reviewed with the applicant and he is given time to ponder the action about to be taken; he also needs to find a sponsor who will vouch for his character. Citizenship then also meant that a man's wife and children would also become citizens. On October 8th 1888 in the Circuit Court of Cook at the age of 36, Adrianus took his Oath for Citizenship. The following day he registered to vote in the 1888 November election. As a result of Adrianus' citizenship, Martha and all the children also became citizens. At this time, I only have a copy of the naturalization certificate (Harry Schodrof) has the original. Copies of the Intent and the Final Oath should be at the Regional Archives in Chicago. The earliest Chicago address I have for Adrianus and Martha is at 2623 South Emerald in 1888. A complete list of addresses can be found in the Address Section. Most of the addresses collected are from the Chicago City Directories that were published annually through 1917. For Adrianus, these addresses show that for almost 40 years between 1882 and 1920, Adrianus and Martha lived between 26th and 29th Streets, sometimes on 26th or 27th, sometimes on Emerald and would every few years move a few houses or a few blocks within the same neighborhood. All, these locations were within a few blocks of the *South Halsted Street Iron Works* at 2611 S. Halsted where Adrianus worked. By 1910 they owned via mortgage their home at 731 W. 26th, just a short block and a half from Halsted Street. Adrianus could literally walk out the front door; go down his front steps; turn left and walk about 200 feet down 26th Street to Emerald; cross Emerald; walk another 300 feet to Halsted; turn left, walk another hundred feet and open the front door of the South Halsted Street Iron Works. At most it was a quarter of a mile walk that would have taken about 5 minutes and probably he came home for lunch. Certainly a commute most of us can only dream of. In the Address Section, the listings for Adrianus show not only his addresses year-by-year but also his occupations. One can see the changes in his career from a carpenter in the Netherlands to a blacksmith and ironworker in his early years in Chicago to an ironworker foreman in 1900 to a patternmaker in 1913. His address listings also show some of the early jobs of his children such as stenographer for his daughters Aletta and Grace and engraver and patternmaker for his sons Matthew, Art, and Adrian. At age 68, in June 1920, after working almost 40 years at the South Halsted Street Iron Works, Adrianus retired. Martha died of uremia at her home at 811 West 27th on October 25, 1920. She was 63. She also had chronic interstitial nephritis and hypertension. Uremia is an excess of blood in the urine. Dr. Albert Vanderkloot, son of Peter and Bertha Vanderkloot, attended her at the end. Just before she died, her daughter Grace were married in the spring of the year; Adrianus had retired; her daughter Aletta had her second son, Harry, on May 26th; and her daughter, Marie, had just had her 2nd child, John Allan on September 13th. Certainly a happy time to see your children married and the grandchildren arriving. Through Betsy Denker, we are fortunate to have three letters Martha wrote to her daughter, Marie, just weeks before her death. These can be found in the Letters Section. A reading of the letters show Martha was energetic to the end, with a million things, lots of motherly advice to Marie, anxious to get letters and no idea of her impending fate except a troubling flu that wouldn't seem to go away. Adrianus lived another 13 years. In the later years, he made the rounds to live for a few months with each of his daughters, Aletta Schodrof at 7047 Ada in Chicago, Grace Filipek in Riverside, and Marie Denker. He died on December 23, 1933 in his home at 7047 S. Ada of a heart condition. He was 81. Both he and Martha are buried at the Oakwoods Cemetery. They have a very nice granite marker. Remembrances: As follows are a few remembrances of Adrianus and Martha. There are more in the Recollection Section, so be sure to check there. Martha and Dirk: One day Martha was visited by her younger brother Dirk in Chicago of whom she was very fond. The story goes he was on his way from the Netherlands to the gold fields of Alaska via Chicago. Before he left Chicago, Martha gave him a self-addressed stamped envelope to send her news of his whereabouts. She was always looking for a letter from him but never received one. One day her daughter, Aletta, was stuck doing the ironing and house work while her mother chatted most of the day with a neighbor friend. Not being happy with doing the work while her mother was chatting, Alette went over to try to get her mother to come home, but did not succeed. Always the practical jokester, Aletta later decided to go back over and tell her mother, that a letter from Dirk had just arrived. Martha was beside herself with joy and ran right home. Needless to say, she was very disappointed when she found out it was only a ploy to get her home. Adrianus and the Ballgames: Adrianus was a die-hard Chicago White Sox baseball fan. My mom says, though, he always felt sorry for the poor Chicago Cubs, the north side team. The White Sox' Comiskey Park was only about a mile away from where Adrianus lived in Chicago in the 1890s to 1920s and he likely attend afternoon games with friends lazing in the sun and taking in the game. With the availability of radio in the 1920s, he could follow his team from home, but unfortunately Adrianus was deaf and couldn't hear so he needed help from others. In the 1930s, my mother's father, James Filipek, made him a big black board with a baseball diamond and outfield on it. When he stayed with Jim and Grace, he would have his two granddaughters, Marge and Jeanne, listen to the games for him. He had them point to the board to keep him informed where the ball was hit; they also had to move the runners around the board. Harry Schodrof, a grandson, said Adrianus was very well informed on the game. He knew all the players and averages and would verbally disagree with managerial decisions. Sounds just like one of today's fans. At the end of the day, Marge would need to write down the scores of every game in the league including winning and losing pitches. Adrianus Standing Guard: Another cute story relates about how Adrianus used to stand guard to the entrance of his room. He would sit watchfully on his chair with his walking stick across his lap. The reason, to guard against his little grandson Artie from getting into his things. Adrianus Doling out the Dimes My mom remembers that when Grandpa Adrianus lived with them in Riverside that on Saturdays she and her sister Marge liked to hang around his chair. After making them wait for good while, he would reach into his pocket and give them one dime each. With money in hand the girls promptly ran off with to the Roxy Theater in Berwyn to see the latest film from Hollywood. Because mom was younger and smaller than Marge, Adrianus would protect her by holding Marge off with his cane. Adrianus and Eating Adrianus was a good eater. A typical breakfast would include postum, Dutch Rusk (a toasted bread), cheese and soft-boiled eggs. Every Sunday, Grandpa Adrianus would want to have roast chicken and he always had to have one of the legs. Another favorite food was wilted lettuce salad. Wilted lettuce salad consists of browned bacon pieces, vinegar, egg and bacon grease poured over lettuce. Adrianus also liked meat loaf, which he called "kahat". After Sunday dinner, he would reach into his leather pouch and pull out one of his favorite Dutch Masters cigars. He enjoyed cigars but couldn't stand cigarette smoke and although he wasn't against alcohol he did not drink too much. Appearance Adrianus is thought to have been about 5 ft. 10 inches, thin, and very strong. When he was 72 years old, Harry remember that he put a fence in the backyard, including digging the holes, putting in the poles, and stringing wires. Most pictures I've seen show him to be well-dressed and family members always remember him with a white shirt and vest. In the more recent pictures he wears a pair wire rim glasses. House on Ada Around 1912, Adrianus and his wife Martha bought the 7047 Ada Street house from a doctor for $3,500. It was a two-flat with a basement, flat roof, wooden front porch and a small backyard. Art Vanderkloot lived there for many years and Aletta lived there after her divorce from some time in the 1920s to the mid-1960s. Jim and Grace lived there in the early 1920s from just after their marriage until their move to Riverside in 1925. Jim and Grace moved back in the early 1950s and Jim died in the back bedroom of the first floor in 1961. Grace stayed until the spring of 1966. The house was sold on May 1, 1966. Adrianus and Martha never lived there together. However after Martha died in 1920 Adrianus would stay there occasionally as he made the rounds living for a few months with each of his three daughters (Aletta, Grace, and Marie). Personal Possessions Martha: Harry Schodrof has a copy of Martha's 1871 Bible including a personal inscription she wrote at age 13. Adrianus: Harry Schodrof has Adrianus' walking stick. Dick Denker has Adrianus' gold watch. The Sea Chest: I can still remember Adrianus' sea chest in the basement at 7047 Ada Street. It was black paneled wood about 4 ft. long, 2 1/2 feet wide and about 3 ft high with a rounded top. I always wondered why those tops are round. Adrianus being a carpenter, made it himself to bring his things to America in 1881. Over the years it had started falling apart and was left behind when Grace and Aletta moved from Ada Street in 1966. Initial Web Publication Date: 7/27/2001 Intermediate Additions: 5/8/2003, 4/16/2007

In August 1881, Adrianus van der Kloot and his brother Marinus van der Kloot along with his wife, and their son traveled to Amsterdam to purchase passage to the United States. They were on their way to Chicago to work in their Uncle Marinus' Vanderkloot and Son Iron Works that had begun in 1872 and was expanding rapidly, well beyond the labor his own sons could provide. So Marinus must have contacted his brother Matthijs van der Kloot back in Texel and asked if any of his sons wanted to come to Chicago and work with him. The ship that Adrianus and brother Marinus and family boarded was the Pollux and they arrived in New York on August 29, 1881 at Castle Garden, the destination on southern Manhattan where immigrants landed and were processed before Ellis Island opened. They then took a ferryboat to New Jersey and then boarded a train for Chicago.

Adrianus must have liked Chicago and the job as a blacksmith, as within the year, it is said that he wrote Martha Tanis back in Texel that it was great in Chicago and that she should come and they would be married. Adrianus and Martha had met through Martha's first cousin, Bertha Dros, who lived in Texel. Later the circle was completed when in 1887 Peter, Adrianus' brother returned to Texel to marry Bertha Dros and bring her to Chicago. Martha and Bertha were thus doubly related, sister-in-laws and cousins and friends from long ago.

Martha was the 2nd of 7 children before her father died. Her mother then remarried and had 9 more. Martha's father was Aart Tanis and he had lived on Texel, but left for Haarlemmermeer around 1855. This is where Martha was born there in 1857.

In the late 1870s, perhaps to get away from her mother's ever increasing family in Haarlemmermeer, Martha went to stay with relatives in Texel including her cousin Bertha Dros. Bertha Dros and Martha Tanis are related on their Tanis side, as they had the same grandparents, Dirk Cornelis Tanis and Cornelia Nieman. Martha's father was Aart Tanis and Bertha's mother was Krijntje Tanis, thus their parents, Aart and Krijntje were brother and sister. Bertha, born in 1867, was 10 years younger than Martha, so Bertha must have only been about 10-13 when she introduced Adrianus to Martha in Texel. You can just imagine the younger girl scheming to fix up her cousin with the nice man she knew in Cocksdorp. Then later in Chicago Martha must have been the matchmaker, when she worked to get Peter together with her cousin in Texel.

When Adrianus asked Martha to come to Chicago, there apparently was some indecision on how she should be accompanied. Betsy Strand wrote "her mother told her that Peter had gone to Holland to accompany Martha to the USA to wed Adrianus. It was not thought proper for Adrianus to do so." Thus it appears that Pieter van der Kloot had also arrived in either 1881 or earlier in 1882 to work with his brothers and cousins at the Vanderkloot Iron Works in Chicago and had then returned to Holland to accompany his brother's future spouse to Chicago. However, I have yet to find the evidence though that he came in 1881 or early 1882, so it is possible he was really on his way the first time and it was convenient for him to accompany Martha and to avoid any impropriety with Adrianus coming back for her.

Martha Tanis and Pieter Vanderkloot arrived in New York on the Edam on 9 September 1882. There was some speculation that Martha had come over with cousins also and had stayed with them in New Jersey for a while before proceeding to Chicago. However, there are no recognizable names, at least to me near her name on the manifest. Thus it is likely she and Pieter, after arriving in New York at Castle Garden, boarded a ferry to New Jersey and then boarded a train for Chicago. What an experience it must have been for a young woman who grew up on a rural farm in Haarlemmermeer to see the bustle of New York harbor and then be part of the rebuilding and rapid expansion of Chicago in those early days.

On December 26th 1882, Adrianus and Martha were married in Chicago by the Justice of the Peace; Martha was 25 and Adrianus 30. On both her Marriage License Application and her Marriage License Martha's surname is clearly recorded as Tanus, which has lead to confusion in finding the record in the Illinois Marriage Index Data Base.

Adrianus and Martha had six children: Matthew (1883), Arthur (1885), Adrian (1889), Aletta (1891), Tryntje (1894), and Marie (1899). Tryntje, who was called Grace by 1900, possibly before, is my grandmother. A review of the children's names though shows a good match with the "Dutch Children Naming Custom" except that Aletta came from Dirkje Aletta Blaak's middle name.

It is unknown how my grandmother became to be known as Grace. While the unusual name, Trijntje, was probably not the best name to send a small girl to an American public school with, it does seem unusual to choose a name that has an English religious flavor in a family with a non-religious orientation. It would have been more logical to call her Kathryn, which is the English equivalent of Trijntje or the Americanized Tryntje.

Later in life, Matthew later married Elizabeth Heagan; Arthur married Anna Grass; Adrian married Delia Sullivan and Minet after she died; Aletta married Henry Schodrof; Grace married James Filipek; and Marie married John Denker.

Adrianus and Martha did not have a strong religious interest. However, there are some recollections of occasional church attendance by the children and it is possible that the children were baptized. The closest Dutch Church at the time was the Holland Christian Reformed Church at 14th Street near Throop, which would have been about two miles away. The First Reformed Holland Church was at the corner of Harrison and May Street which was 3-4 miles away. It is unknown whether these churches still exist or where their baptismal records are.

Early on Adrianus decided to become a citizen. This was a multi-step process of which the first step was to declare intent to become a citizen. Adrian's Declaration of Intent was made on March 4th 1886, a little over four years after his arrival. In the intent, the duties of a citizen are reviewed with the applicant and he is given time to ponder the action about to be taken; he also needs to find a sponsor who will vouch for his character. Citizenship then also meant that a man's wife and children would also become citizens. On October 8th 1888 in the Circuit Court of Cook at the age of 36, Adrianus took his Oath for Citizenship. The following day he registered to vote in the 1888 November election.

As a result of Adrianus' citizenship, Martha and all the children also became citizens. At this time, I only have a copy of the naturalization certificate (Harry Schodrof) has the original. Copies of the Intent and the Final Oath should be at the Regional Archives in Chicago.

The earliest Chicago address I have for Adrianus and Martha is at 2623 South Emerald in 1888. A complete list of addresses can be found in the Address Section. Most of the addresses collected are from the Chicago City Directories that were published annually through 1917. For Adrianus, these addresses show that for almost 40 years between 1882 and 1920, Adrianus and Martha lived between 26th and 29th Streets, sometimes on 26th or 27th, sometimes on Emerald and would every few years move a few houses or a few blocks within the same neighborhood. All, these locations were within a few blocks of the South Halsted Street Iron Works at 2611 S. Halsted where Adrianus worked. By 1910 they owned via mortgage their home at 731 W. 26th, just a short block and a half from Halsted Street. Adrianus could literally walk out the front door; go down his front steps; turn left and walk about 200 feet down 26th Street to Emerald; cross Emerald; walk another 300 feet to Halsted; turn left, walk another hundred feet and open the front door of the South Halsted Street Iron Works. At most it was a quarter of a mile walk that would have taken about 5 minutes and probably he came home for lunch. Certainly a commute most of us can only dream of.

In the Address Section, the listings for Adrianus show not only his addresses year-by-year but also his occupations. One can see the changes in his career from a carpenter in the Netherlands to a blacksmith and ironworker in his early years in Chicago to an ironworker foreman in 1900 to a patternmaker in 1913. His address listings also show some of the early jobs of his children such as stenographer for his daughters Aletta and Grace and engraver and patternmaker for his sons Matthew, Art, and Adrian. At age 68, in June 1920, after working almost 40 years at the South Halsted Street Iron Works, Adrianus retired.

Martha died of uremia at her home at 811 West 27th on October 25, 1920. She was 63. She also had chronic interstitial nephritis and hypertension. Uremia is an excess of blood in the urine. Dr. Albert Vanderkloot, son of Peter and Bertha Vanderkloot, attended her at the end. Just before she died, her daughter Grace were married in the spring of the year; Adrianus had retired; her daughter Aletta had her second son, Harry, on May 26th; and her daughter, Marie, had just had her 2nd child, John Allan on September 13th. Certainly a happy time to see your children married and the grandchildren arriving. Through Betsy Denker, we are fortunate to have three letters Martha wrote to her daughter, Marie, just weeks before her death. These can be found in the Letters Section. A reading of the letters show Martha was energetic to the end, with a million things, lots of motherly advice to Marie, anxious to get letters and no idea of her impending fate except a troubling flu that wouldn't seem to go away.

Adrianus lived another 13 years. In the later years, he made the rounds to live for a few months with each of his daughters, Aletta Schodrof at 7047 Ada in Chicago, Grace Filipek in Riverside, and Marie Denker. He died on December 23, 1933 in his home at 7047 S. Ada of a heart condition. He was 81. Both he and Martha are buried at the Oakwoods Cemetery. They have a very nice granite marker.

Remembrances:
As follows are a few remembrances of Adrianus and Martha. There are more in the Recollection Section, so be sure to check there.

Martha and Dirk:
One day Martha was visited by her younger brother Dirk in Chicago of whom she was very fond. The story goes he was on his way from the Netherlands to the gold fields of Alaska via Chicago. Before he left Chicago, Martha gave him a self-addressed stamped envelope to send her news of his whereabouts. She was always looking for a letter from him but never received one. One day her daughter, Aletta, was stuck doing the ironing and house work while her mother chatted most of the day with a neighbor friend. Not being happy with doing the work while her mother was chatting, Alette went over to try to get her mother to come home, but did not succeed. Always the practical jokester, Aletta later decided to go back over and tell her mother, that a letter from Dirk had just arrived. Martha was beside herself with joy and ran right home. Needless to say, she was very disappointed when she found out it was only a ploy to get her home.

Adrianus and the Ballgames:
Adrianus was a die-hard Chicago White Sox baseball fan. My mom says, though, he always felt sorry for the poor Chicago Cubs, the north side team. The White Sox' Comiskey Park was only about a mile away from where Adrianus lived in Chicago in the 1890s to 1920s and he likely attend afternoon games with friends lazing in the sun and taking in the game. With the availability of radio in the 1920s, he could follow his team from home, but unfortunately Adrianus was deaf and couldn't hear so he needed help from others. In the 1930s, my mother's father, James Filipek, made him a big black board with a baseball diamond and outfield on it. When he stayed with Jim and Grace, he would have his two granddaughters, Marge and Jeanne, listen to the games for him. He had them point to the board to keep him informed where the ball was hit; they also had to move the runners around the board. Harry Schodrof, a grandson, said Adrianus was very well informed on the game. He knew all the players and averages and would verbally disagree with managerial decisions. Sounds just like one of today's fans. At the end of the day, Marge would need to write down the scores of every game in the league including winning and losing pitches.

Adrianus Standing Guard:
Another cute story relates about how Adrianus used to stand guard to the entrance of his room. He would sit watchfully on his chair with his walking stick across his lap. The reason, to guard against his little grandson Artie from getting into his things.

Adrianus Doling out the Dimes
My mom remembers that when Grandpa Adrianus lived with them in Riverside that on Saturdays she and her sister Marge liked to hang around his chair. After making them wait for good while, he would reach into his pocket and give them one dime each. With money in hand the girls promptly ran off with to the Roxy Theater in Berwyn to see the latest film from Hollywood. Because mom was younger and smaller than Marge, Adrianus would protect her by holding Marge off with his cane.

Adrianus and Eating
Adrianus was a good eater. A typical breakfast would include postum, Dutch Rusk (a toasted bread), cheese and soft-boiled eggs. Every Sunday, Grandpa Adrianus would want to have roast chicken and he always had to have one of the legs. Another favorite food was wilted lettuce salad. Wilted lettuce salad consists of browned bacon pieces, vinegar, egg and bacon grease poured over lettuce. Adrianus also liked meat loaf, which he called "kahat". After Sunday dinner, he would reach into his leather pouch and pull out one of his favorite Dutch Masters cigars. He enjoyed cigars but couldn't stand cigarette smoke and although he wasn't against alcohol he did not drink too much.

Appearance
Adrianus is thought to have been about 5 ft. 10 inches, thin, and very strong. When he was 72 years old, Harry remember that he put a fence in the backyard, including digging the holes, putting in the poles, and stringing wires. Most pictures I've seen show him to be well-dressed and family members always remember him with a white shirt and vest. In the more recent pictures he wears a pair wire rim glasses.

House on Ada
Around 1912, Adrianus and his wife Martha bought the 7047 Ada Street house from a doctor for $3,500. It was a two-flat with a basement, flat roof, wooden front porch and a small backyard. Art Vanderkloot lived there for many years and Aletta lived there after her divorce from some time in the 1920s to the mid-1960s. Jim and Grace lived there in the early 1920s from just after their marriage until their move to Riverside in 1925. Jim and Grace moved back in the early 1950s and Jim died in the back bedroom of the first floor in 1961. Grace stayed until the spring of 1966. The house was sold on May 1, 1966. Adrianus and Martha never lived there together. However after Martha died in 1920 Adrianus would stay there occasionally as he made the rounds living for a few months with each of his three daughters (Aletta, Grace, and Marie).

Initial Web Publication Date: 7/27/2001
Intermediate Additions: 5/8/2003, 4/16/2007