MARENUS VANDER BOSCH – There is an obscurity in the fame of life that to the robust mind is always attractive. The important uncertainty of the final outcome, and its value to all, serve as incentives to great deeds, and to push forward and win in the battle is the one common impulse and ambition of humanity. Among those who have fought the battle of life bravely is Marenus Vander Bosch, who is now a retired merchant of Grand Haven, Mich. He is a native of Holland, having first seen the light of day on the 3^rd of January, 1849, a son of Rev. Koanne and Maria (Rooks) Vander Bosch, the father being a well-known minister of the Holland Christian Reformed Church. They were born, reared and married in Holland, but finally decided to bring up their children in America, and arrived in this country in May, 1857. After a short residence in the city of New York they came to Grand Haven, Mich., from which place they went to Chicago and there spent several years. The father is now a resident of Grand Haven and is in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His wife died in Grand Haven in 1887. Her four sons and one daughter are all honored and substantial residents of Grand Have.

In the public schools of his native land and in America Marenus Vander Bosch obtained a practical education, well suited to the life he has led, and his youthful days, when not in school, were spent in farming, or rather in learning the details of this calling. After attaining a suitable age he began working at the carpenter’s trade, but after following that business for eight years he gave it up to turn his attention to other pursuits. He then became a member of the firm G. Vander Bosch & Bro., dealers in general merchandise in Grand Have, which firm successfully continued to do business for thirteen years. They carried a large and exceptionally well-selected stock of goods at all times, and as it was well arranged and sold at the most reasonable figures, a large and lucrative patronage was the natural result, and the firm prospered. At the end of the above mentioned thirteen years Marenus Vander Bosch retired from the firm, or rather from its active management, but still retained an interest in the business.

Mr. Vander Bosch and his family are now living in the enjoyment of a competency, which is the result of continued and undeviating effort in the early part of his career. His marriage with Miss Heneberta Korbyn, a native of Germany, was celebrated on the 1^st of August, 1869, she being a daughter of Bastean Korbyn. She is an earnest and consistent member of the Holland Christian Reformed Church, in which Mr. Vander Bosch has been an Elder for the past eight years. He is a wide-awake man of business and has interested himself in other lines of business besides the mercantile, being a stockholder in the Grand Haven Furniture Company. He has a pretty and comfortable home in Grand Haven. In politics, he has always been a stanch supporter of the principles of Republicansim. He has in his possession a bible which belonged to his grandfather, Thomas Vander Bosch, and which was published in 1690, thus making it over two hundred years old. It is still in a good state of preservation and is highly valued by Mr. Vander Bosch.