Joseph Noorthoek came from his native Netherlands to the United States
as an ambitious young man of twenty-two years of age, and through his own
ability and well directed efforts he has gained place among the substantial
and representative live business men of Grand Rapids, where he established his
residence in 1888 and where he is now president of the Riverside Lumber
Company, with headquarters at 1201-15 Monroe avenue. On the small island known
as Saint Philipsland, in the Netherlands, a small island that was reclaimed
from the sea and provided with its system of dikes in 1487, under the reign of
King Philip, Joseph Noorthoek was born February 20, 1866, and in his native
land he received his early education and sturdy training of practical
industry. One of his boyhood ambitions had been to come to the United States,
and he cherished this ambition after he had attained to adult years. He
finally gained from his parents their consent to his coming to this country,
and gave them his promise that if he were not satisfied in the land of his
adoption he would return to that of his birth. After he had been here a year
he tried to induce his parents to join him but as they could not reconcile
themselves, in their advancing years, to leave their old and loved home, with
its gracious associations, memories and friends, and he had to content himself
with occasional visits to the old home land, where his parents remained until
the close of their earnest and worthy lives. Upon his arrival in Grand Rapids,
Mr. Noorthoek applied himself to any work that he could obtain and that would
insure him living expenses. In the spring of 1889 he found employment with S.
P. Swartz, who was here engaged in the lumber business. To gain requisite
knowledge of the English language and to further his knowledge of American
business methods, Mr. Noorthoek attended night school during this period. On
the nights that he thus attended school he did not have time to eat his
evening meal until late at night, after he had finished his school work. This
condition came to the notice of his employer, who arranged to have him quit
work an hour earlier on the school nights, as he felt that his youthful
employe should be encouraged in his ambitions to obtain further education. For
the loss of these extra hours Mr. Swartz made no reduction in the pay of his
young employe. In 1893 Mr. Noorthoek entered the employ of the Fuller &
Rice Lumber Company, and he has been continuously identified with the lumber
business during the intervening period of more than thirty years. He remained
sixteen years with the Fuller & Rice company, and in 1909 he organized the
Verhey-Noorthoek Lumber Company, which established well equipped yards on the
west side of the city. In 1921 Mr. Noorthoek sold to his partner, Mr. Verhey,
his interest in this prosperous enterprise, and then organized the Riverside
Lumber Company, a closed corporation in which his sons are his associates. He
purchased at that time the land on which the present large and well stocked
lumber yards of the company are established, and the business, conducted
efficiently and on fair and honorable policies, is now one of substantial and
important order. Mr. Noorthoek esteems himself fortunate in having his sons as
his able coadjutors, and knows that in their later control of the same they
will always uphold the honors of the family name. He is loyal, appreciative
and liberal as a citizen of the land and city of his youthful adoption, has
here gained substantial prosperity, is here the executive head of a prosperous
wholesale and retail lumber business, and here he is found aligned in the
ranks of the Republican party, his religious faith and affiliation being
indicated in his membership in the Reformed church, in the teachings of which
he was reared in his native land. In his native Holland one of the most
devoted and valued friends of Mr. Noorthoek in his youth was Miss Elizabeth
DeBlaay, and after he had made a start for himself in Grand Rapids he
prevailed upon Miss DeBlaay to join him, their marriage having been solemnized
November 21, 1889, and their companionship having been one of ideal relations.
Of their fine family of five sons and four daughters one son died in
childhood, and Martin died in 1922. Adrian is secretary of the Riverside
Lumber Company; Elizabeth is the wife of Cornelius Schriver; Lina is the wife
of Rine Keegstra, of Grand Rapids; Sue is bookkeeper for the Riverside Lumber
Company; Joseph, Jr., is vice-president of the company; Nellie is the wife of
Peter Reminga, of Grand Rapids, and Roger is actively associated with the
business of the Riverside Lumber Company.