Jerry DeVries Portrait and Biographical Record, Pages 558, 559 JERRY DE VRIES, a prosperous general agriculturist of Ottawa County, conducts a finely cultivated farm on section 36, Holland Township, and is likewise a skillful veterinary surgeon and authority on the diseases of the horse. A native of the Netherlands, he was born in 1843. He is the son of Bernard and Alice (Mulder) DeVries, and the descendant of a long line of highly respected and sturdy fore-fathers, who through persistent effort won their way upward to positions of influence. The paternal grandparents, John and Helen DeVries, were in humble circumstances, the former supporting the family of two children, Bernard, the father of Jerry, and Ann, who passed her entire life in her native land. The father, who was born in 1805, in the near vicinity of the birthplace of our subject, received a fair education in the free schools of the Netherlands and remained with his parents, assisting his father, until he had attained to manhood. At the age of twenty-five years, Bernard De Vries was married in the Netherlands to Miss Alice, the daughter of Jerry and Gertie Mulder. He had a small piece of land, comprising about thirty acres, and upon this farm he and his excellent wife settled and toiled industriously. Eight children blessed the home, all born in the Netherlands, but five of them died in early infancy and childhood. The three living sons are John, Jerry and Paul. In 1847 the father with his family emigrated to the United States and journeyed to Michigan, settling in Ottawa County. He had exhausted his savings on the journey, and at once after his arrival went to work in the woods making staves and logs. He soon purchased forty acres of timber-land near the present home of our subject, on section 25, Holland Township. This land he cleared, cultivated and improved with the help of his sons. He and his wife are living near the city of Holland. They are valued members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and possess the high regard of a wide circle of friends. Politically, he is a Republican and, a man of broad intelligence, is deeply interested in the vital questions of the day and is a close observer of local and National government. The youthful days of our subject were passed in the parental home. At the age of twenty-three he married Alice, daughter of Bernard and Dena Snitzler. The pleasant home of our subject and his estimable wife was brightened by the birth of ten children, four of whom are now deceased. Alice was married to Garrit Ratering, and died October 14, 1889, leaving a daughter, Fannie Harriet. The survivors are Gertie, Bertha, Jennie, Julia, Berney and Dena. After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. De Vries they continued for three years to reside with the father of our subject, who at the expiration of that time gave them forty acres of land, which Mr. De Vries sold and soon afterward emigrated to Kansas. A few months in the far West satisfied him that Michigan suited him best, and returning to the Wolverine State he purchased fifty-one acres where he now resides. He gives the most of his time and attention to veterinary work, making a close study of that profession. In both political and religious affiliations, like his father, our subject is a stanch Republican and a valued member of the Reformed Church of Zeeland. He commands the high regard of a large acquaintance in Ottawa County.

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company 

Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 13 May 2003
URL: Return to Bios Index