Gerrit Vanden Beldt Portrait and Biographical Record, Pgs. 428, 429 GERRIT VANDEN BELDT, an able general agriculturist, and for many yearsAssessor of the school district of Holland Township, Ottawa County, Mich., ownsa fine farm desirably located on section 33, and is numbered among thesubstantial citizens of this locality. He was born in the province of Gelderland,in the Netherlands, October 31, 1833, and was the son of Klaas and Jennie (Bove)Vanden Beldt, natives of the Netherlands, their forefathers having dwelt withinthe boundaries of the kingdom from time immemorial. The grandfather, JamesVanden Beldt, rented land and was by occupation a farmer. He reared threechildren, Klaas, the father of our subject, and two daughters, neither of whomever left their native land. Klaas Vanden Beldt remained with his parents untilhe attained manhood and received a good common-school education. He ambitiouslybecame master of three trades, being a carpenter, mason and "decker"or straw-roofer. He was likewise a wood-worker, and could turn by hand, and inthese various lines of labor accumulated a small capital, which he invested intwenty-acre farms, and finally gathered together sufficient money to enable himto emigrate with his wife and seven sons to America, to him the land of promise. It was in the month of November, 1846, that, embarking upon a sailing-vessel,the family bade adieu to their native land, and slowly making their way acrossthe broad Atlantic, were on the water forty-seven days. The boat, an Americanvessel, the "Platobustor," arrived safely at the port of New Orleans,from which city the family proceeded up the Mississippi River to St. Louis,where they remained until April, 1847. They then removed to Ottawa County,Mich., where, with only $5 left after helping a neighbor, the father boughtforty acres at $2.50 per acre on section 33, Holland Township, and here enteredwith zeal into the tilling of the soil. While erecting their log house, thefamily were for two weeks quartered with an Indian in the old Indian village.The new house when finished was about 12x20 feet, one room, and covered with elmbark. The first year they went twelve miles north and planted some potatoes andbeans, and later the father and two neighbors journeyed by boat on the KalamazooRiver and bought provisions for the Dutch settlement. In the fall Klaas VandenBeldt began cutting the trees upon his forty acres, and made shingles enough topay for his land. In the succeeding year, during the fall of 1848, the fatherdied. A sincere Christian man, a member of the Reformed Church, he was also akind friend and neighbor, a loving husband and father, and his death was mournedby all as a public loss. The seven sons were in the order of their birth as follows: James, Derk,Gerrit, Frederikus, Gradus, Reinder and Henry. The sixth son died on the oceanvoyage. The fifth son died of smallpox the second year after he came toMichigan. The second and fourth sons died after having families of their own.The mother, surviving the death of the father until 1862, again married, thesecond husband being Walter Niessan. Until this second marriage, Gerritdutifully remained to aid his mother in the heavy burden of caring for theyounger children, but as soon as the step-father came, our subject, thenfourteen years of age, went to Allegan and worked on a farm one year. He laterworked upon a farm in Cooper three years, and then located in Kalamazoo. Forfive years he received employment in a warehouse, and for a twelvemonth boughtwheat upon the street. He next engaged upon his own account in the manufactureof brick, and, continuing in the business for eight years, was at the last quitesuccessful. In the mean time Mr. Vanden Beldt had married Miss Susanna Marcelia,the daughter of Herbert and Margaret (De Purt) Marcelia. The union of our subject and his estimable wife was blessed by the birth oftwelve children, eleven of whom are yet surviving, one dying young. They are inorder of their birth: Nicholas, Margaret, Rika, Jennie, Lizzie, Herbert, Isaac,Fred, Mary, Gertie and Gradus. Jamie is deceased. While in the brick business inKalamazoo, Mr. Vanden Beldt purchased forty acres where he now lives, andremoving to the land began to manufacture brick here upon his farm, andcontinued so to do for twelve years, but since has given his time and attentionstrictly to farming duties. Financially prospered, our subject owns sixty-fiveacres of finely cultivated land, improved with a handsome residence, good barnsand outbuildings. Some fifteen years ago, Mr. Vanden Beldt made a visit to hisnative land, and being absent three months much enjoyed the trip. His sonNicholas, a graduate of Hope College, having finished a course as chemist at AnnArbor, is now located in Detroit as a druggist. A member of the ChristianReformed Church, our subject is likewise a Deacon and a teacher in theSunday-school. Politically a Republican, he has for many years efficientlydischarged the duties of Assessor, and is known to all his fellow-townsmen as aman of sterling integrity of character.

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical PublishingCompany Pg. 288, 291

Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 13 January 2003
URL: Biographies