Johanna Dienst (1894-1937)

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Johanna Dienst

Individual Facts

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Johanna's birthplace

Johanna's birth certificate

Story: "Biographical sketch of Jo and her family"

(By her stepdaughter, Anna)

Jo's father died about 1910 in the Netherlands.

In 1912, Jo's brother Johannes migrated to the U.S., settling in the Detroit area.

In 1913, Jo's mother Gertrude ("Geertje"), Jo, and Jo's other brother Jacob also migrated, sailing from Rotterdam on the SS Noordam (Holland America Line).

Gertrude ("Geertje"), Johanna, and Jacob Dienst listed on the SS Noordam ship's manifest, 1913

The family arrived in New York and also settled in Detroit, Michigan, probably near to where Johannes was then living.

Jo and John van Raaphorst must have met somewhere in the Detroit area, and they were married there in 1917.

Jo, Johannes, and Geertje all settled in the Detroit / Port Huron area, but Jacob returned to the Netherlands, married (in 1920), and had two daughters before his death in 1924.

Geertje outlived her husband and all three of her children. She was still living in the Port Huron area at the same time I was (late 1940s), and I remember visiting her, although I was too young at the time to realize exactly who she was (the adults referred to her simply as "Grandma Dienst").

Shared Facts

John and Jo van Raaphorst

Relationships

Jo, John, and Bill van Raaphorst, and Tante Bets

For more information

Additional resources from our knowledge base (books, papers, web posts, and records): For more information