It's week 5 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks. The prompt for the week is 'Branching Out'. This is the perfect prompt for me this week, as I've made the decision to 'branch out' from my Kolk line.
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In one of these posts I mention that there was a Kolk family in Whiteside County, Illinois. About 20 years ago, before everything went online, I was in the Illinois State Archives library searching death certificates. Since I was just getting started, and Kolk is a relatively rare name, I assumed all Kolks were somehow related and copied every Kolk death certificate, including those in Whiteside County. But I never did anything with them. They've just been waiting in my binder.
I also mention in that post that a Jan Jans Colk came over on the same ship as Jacob Jans Colk. But I've been unable confirm that Jacob Jans Colk is my Jacob Kolk. The age on the passenger list correlates with a Sept 1822 birth, but is that enough? And how is Jan Jans Colk related?
I've also seen a birth record for a Jacob Colk born Sept 25, 1822 in Usquert, Netherlands. I don't read Dutch, but even if I did, I don't know if it is enough to state unequivocably that this is MY Jacob Kolk.
Clearly I have work to do if I want to prove my line beyond Jacob Kolk of Madison County, Illinois! This past week I've decided it is time to 'branch out'. I dug out my old Whiteside County death certificates. I spent some time researching what Whiteside County resources are easily available to me, including libraries and newspapers online. I started a new database to work on the Whiteside County Kolk line. Hopefully at some point I'll find some evidence that requires me to learn how to merge it into my main database! I'm ready to go. I'm BRANCHING OUT!
Wishing you best of luck as you're branching out to try to solve this mystery!
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