Martin P. Louwerse Page 516 - Martin P. Louwerse, of the S. A. Morman & Company, coal and builders supplies, is another native son of Grand Rapids, born in this city July 16, 1871, and has grown and prospered with the expansion of his native city. He is the son of Lawrence Louwerse, a native of Holland who came to Grand Rapids when four years old with his parents Martin and Mary Louwerse. Martin Louwerse, grandfather of the subject of this narrative, was a shoemaker by trade. He and his wife died in Grand Rapids. The father of our subject was a harness maker by trade and spent his last days in Grand Rapids where he died in June, 1922. The mother of the subject of this record was Tona (Pleune) Louwerse, born in Holland, and brought to Grand Rapids by her mother, Christine Pleune. Mr. Louwerse’s mother is still living at the age of seventy-one years. Martin P. Louwerse was educated in the public schools and business college of Grand Rapids and when sixteen years old began work for S. A. Morman, and continued in that work until 1917 when he became a member of the firm. On May 19, 1898, he was married to Miss Nellie Murphy of Grand Rapids and they have one daughter, Louise, who is a graduate of the Sacred Heart Academy and Simons College of Boston, Massachusetts. She is now the wife of W. P. Eisenbrown of Reading, Pennsylvania, where they now reside. Mr. Louwerse is a member of the B. P. O. E., and an active member of the Schubert Club and Exchange Club.

Transcriber:  Nancy Myers
Created: 5 November 2002