June 16, 1950 is a memorable day for me It was the day my family moved from 96th Ave. to 10007 Port Sheldon Dr. , it was the day I got mumps, and it was the day I celebrated my 10th birthday. The house into which we moved was a big step up because now we had an attached garage, an indoor toilet, AND a bathtub! We also had a new neighbor directly across the street, Dick and Kate Essenburg. To me as a 10-year-old, Kate was a bit frightening because of her size and gruffness, but Dick was a friendly guy who invited my brother and me to play marbles in his basement and watch television which we did not have. Dick had a hand which was deformed but which didn't seem to interfere with getting things done or with his inventiveness. One of the things he built fascinated me. He had transformed an old Model A Ford car into a tractor which we called a Doodlebug. The Wikipedia says about the Doodlebug, "Doodlebugs had many names — Friday Tractors, Scrambolas, Jitterbugs, Field Crawlers, Ruxells and many others, as well as the most common, The DoodleBug, which was a nickname for the aftermarket tractor kit made by David Bradley, "The old DB". Initially, the idea of the homemade tractor came from several catalog and implement companies in the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s, such as New Deal,[3] Peru Plow Co., Thrifty Farmer,[4] Sears Roebuck & Co., Montgomery Ward, Pull Ford, and Johnson Mfg. Co. The conversion kits were expensive, some as much as $300, and farmers, hit hard by the Great Depression were a resourceful lot. Magazines like Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated provided instructions for building a "Handy Henry" from that "old Ford sitting in your back yard, using simple tools anyone would have". The cost to build a "Handy Henry" made from an old Model T car or truck was about $20, according to the 1936 edition of the Handy Man's Home Manual, and this provided a serviceable vehicle with rubber tires, a big truck rear end and two transmissions to make up for the gear reduction with which the kits came." I don't know whether Dick's Doodlebug was made with the conversion kit or a "Handy Henry" model, but it did have a big truck rear end and two transmissions to reduce the speed and increase the power to the rear wheels. I was very impressed by Dick's accomplishment and each Spring for the ten years I lived there the Doodlebug dutifully started and tilled the soil in Dick's sizable garden. |
The house closest is Dick Essenburg's house, and the doodlebug was stored outside on the south side of the garage on the right where we couldn't see it. The picture was taken from the sun-porch window of 10007 Port Sheldon Dr. in Borculo. Way in the distance to the right is the farm of Ben Blauwkamp, and just to the left of Dick's house is a corner of John VanderWilk's house. VanderWilk got a television long before we did and we could see it through their window from the same window this picture was taken. I would try to watch their TV with some cheap telescope which turned images upside down! Ben Blauwkamp and Dick Essenburg did invite us to watch TV at their houses occasionally. The black vertical pipe in front of Dick's house held the TV antenna which he could aim from the inside of his house at particular TV station tower.
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John Ball and Borculo When you first hear the name John Ball you immediately think of John Ball Park or John Ball Zoo, both located in Grand Rapids, MI. At the entrance to John Ball Zoo is placed a large sculpture of John Ball and two of his descendents. Over the years generations of children have climbed up on this sculpture when they visited the zoo. What many people do not know is that at one time John Ball and the Blendon Lumber Co. he represented owned most of the land in the northern half of the township all the way west to the town of Borculo. John Ball arrived in Grand Rapids in October 1836 as a visitor. He came to this area on a mission to purchase land in Michigan for investors back in New England. He had heard of valuable forest of white pine in Ottawa County and wanted to check them out. John Ball and a companion left Grand Rapids on Novemeber 4, 1836 to explore for those large stands of pine. They traveled on foot and passed through Grandville and Jenison and into Ottawa County. They carried along a bedroll and some provisions for a few days travel. The first night they camped out, they were a little off course and landed in the Beaverdam area. It was too far south for the pines. They did not sleep too well that night due to trampling deer and howling wolves who were attracted to their fire. The next day they headed north and soon entered the pine forests of Blendon. That night they laid their bedrolls under a large pine tree on the southwest corner of Tyler Street and 64th Avenue. After exploring the area, they went back to Grand Rapids on foot. The next day they went to the land office in Ionia. After consulting with the land office, they went back to Blendon and chose 2500 acres of good pine for their first purchase. The Blendon Lumber Company did not start logging this area until 1854, eighteen years later. The pine logs were moved to the Grand River at Blendon Landing, 7 miles to the north. In 1857 they built a narrow gauge track to carry to logs to the river with a small steam locomotive. Bob Essenburg John J. Hiemenga immigrated from the Netherlands with his family when he was 11 years old. His father purchased a 40 acre farm on-half mile west of Borculo that was later owned by the father of Don VandenBosch (the originator of this Borculo website). He became an ordained minister in 1905. In 1919 he became the first President of Calvin College and served in this position until 1925. Dick Walters was born in Borculo and became a minister in 1933. He later served as President of the Reformed Bible Institute, later called Reformed Bible College and then Kuyper College. He also served as a professor there. Anthony Diekema was born in Borculo on the farm where the Albert De Roo family lived. His family later moved to Zeeland. Anthony Diekema also became a President of Calvin College. Dr. John J. Pruis, born in Borculo, Michigan on December 13, 1923, the son of Ties J. and Trienje (Koop) Pruis was President of Ball State University. John received his B.S. from Western Michigan University and his M.A. and Ph.D from Northwestern University. During his career he also received honorary degrees from five other universities. Dr. Pruis started his career in education as a grade school teacher in Jamestown, Michigan and a few years later became a faculty member at Western Michigan University. After completion of post-graduate work at Northwestern, he became a faculty member at Northern Iowa University and Southern Illinois University respectively. From 1955 until 1968 he served as a faculty member and Vice President of Administration at Western Michigan University. There have been many from Borculo who have entered the ministry of the Gospel.
Rev. John J. Hiemenga in 1905 Rev. Herman Goodyk in 1918 Rev. Joseph Steigenga in 1920 Rev. Jacob Boerman in 1925 Rev. Dick Walters in 1933 Rev. Dale Bussis in 1950 Rev. Tom Vanden Heuvel in 1961 Rev. Henry Vanden Heuvel in 1962 Rev. Al Machiela in 1969 Rev. Nelson Gebben in 1969 Rev. Gerald Essenburg in 1970 Rev. Allen Petroelje in 1970 Rev. Raymond Steigenga in 1979 Rev. Sam Keyzer in 1980 Rev. Joel Alan Vander Kooi 1986 Also serving as Evangelists were: Alvern Boetsma Gordon Geurink Elsie Koop If someone has been omitted, please let us know by commenting on this blog article. Bob Essenburg The Borculo Cemetery The Borculo cemetery came into existence around 1876. The cemetery was owned by the Borculo Christian Reformed Church from its beginning. The land was purchased in small parcels at a time. The Borculo Cemetery is plotted out like many early cemeteries in America. The grave lots are laid out in an east-west direction. When the deceased are lowered into the ground, they are buried facing the East. This is a symbolic Christian tradition based on the expected return of Christ in the Eastern sky. (Matthew 24:27) When Don VandenBosch stated earlier on this blog that whenever he walked through the Borculo cemetery and looked at all the markers of people he knew, the memories begin to flow. The same can be said for myself. My parents, grandparents, and great grandmother are buried there. And then there are the 16 uncles and aunts on my father’s side. I remember helping my dad dig many of the graves of people who lived in this community while he was the sexton for 41 years. I learned a lot about grief in those days. I believe the saddest days in the life of the Borculo community was during the year 1944, three young men from Borculo church were killed in action in World War II. During that year, the first casualty of the war was Simon Blauwkamp. He died on February 24, 1944. His body was buried in the Borculo cemetery on August 14, 1948. The next young man to die was Peter Gebben. He died on August 7, 1944, and his body was buried in the Borculo cemetery on October 1, 1948. Harold Gruppen died on October 13, 1944 and was buried on November 14, 1947. All three soldiers were buried in the soldier’s memorial plot. Memorial services were held shortly after they were killed in action. Funeral services were held in the Borculo Christian Reformed Church on the day they were buried. Arlyn Blauwkamp was killed in action during the Vietnam conflict on January 12, 1968 and is also buried in the soldier’s plot of the cemetery. The soldier’s plot is part of the Batema addition to the cemetery. Bob Essenburg I often wondered as a boy where did the name of our town Borculo come from. In later years my father told me he purchased our farm property from the family of the first settler in Borculo whose name was Jacobus Klanderman. After the Klandermans arrived in the area in 1868, the town was first called Klanderstad, after the first family's name. Later the town was called Borculo after the town in the Netherlands where they emigrated from. When the town received a Post Office in March 29, 1882, it was named the Borculo Post Office. The present Borculo Christian Reformed Church was also known in its early days as the Holland Christian Reformed Church of Olive because its first building was located on the south west corner of the intersection of 96th St. and Port Sheldon Dr. in Olive township. When Borculo became the official name of the town, it joined many other towns in the “Dutch Kolonie” of West Michigan which were named after the towns or provinces in the Netherlands where the immigrants came from. The list would include towns named Vriesland, Drenthe, Overisel, Nordeloos, Zutphen, Zeeland, Holland, and New Gronigen. Each town or village would usually consist of a school, a cemetery, a church, and a general store.
The family of Jacobus Klanderman consisted of his wife and two sons and two daughters. The oldest son, Gerrit, was married at this time and in the year 1869 he bought 40 acres at the northwest corner of the intersection, and soon open the first grocery store in Borculo. Gerrit Klanderman died of pneumonia June 30, 1876 at the age of 37. He is one of the first settlers buried in the Borculo cemetery. Gerrit Bos was a grandson of Gerrit Klanderman as was Gerrit Meppelink. Gerrit Bos has written about the Klanderman family and the history of Borculo under “Memories of Gerrit Bos” on this website. Don VandenBosch has also already gathered a lot of Borculo history of the church, school, and the village of Borculo on this website. Bob Essenburg Grandfather’s First Auto In our granary on our farm was an interesting looking old auto license plate. It was green and white in color. It was nailed over a rat hole in the wheat bin. It was a heavy plate made of porcelain and was dated 1913. I asked my dad one day where that plate came from and he told me it was the license plate off his dad’s first auto, a 1913 Model T Ford touring sedan. In the Summer of 1913, Roelof Essenburg and two of his cousins from Borculo, Enne Kraai and John Bouwman Sr. took a train and went to the Ford plant in Detroit to each purchase a new Model T Ford. They were priced at $600 F.O.B. Detroit, which meant you had to pick up the car there and drive it home yourself. You could choose any color you wanted as long as the color was black. They had to drive slowly at first, 15 miles per hour as the engine needed to be broke in. The 1913 Model T was the last year it was made before Henry Ford began the first auto producing assembly line starting in 1914. The assembly line helped lower the price of Model T to $300 in the following years. Ford produced 15 million Model T cars from 1908 to 1928. The Model Ts were started with a hand crank. You had to retard or set the spark located on the steering column before attempting to crank it. If you failed to do this, the crank would sometimes kick back so hard you could break your arm. The doctors called this arm fracture a “Ford Fracture”. The Model T could go up to 45 miles per hour at top speed. The car was equipped with side curtains to protect from the elements. I often wonder if the three new Model T’s were driven to church the first Sunday after they were purchased. If they were, I’m sure there were some kids who couldn’t wait to go to church that morning. I still have the 1913 license plate. It is now 101 years old. /s/ Bob Essenburg |
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