While poking around on Ancestry.com, I found a page from the 100th Anniversary book of the First Reformed Church of South Holland, which included this picture of Roel van Vuuren (born in 1793; died in 1856) and Grietje Bardwijk (born in 1800; died in 1864).
These two and their children set out from Uihuistermeede, Netherlands in 1848 and arrived in Low Prairie (now South Holland) Illinois six weeks later. This was the year before Jacob de Jong and Geertje Eingenburg, who settled nearby in High Prairie (now Roseland).
Roel and Grietje’s son Dirk van Vuuren married Jacob and Geertje de Jong’s daughter, Maartje de Jong. Dirk was 13 when his family arrived in the United States. Maartje was 15. They made their home in High Prairie now Roseland, Chicago, Illinois.
Roel van Vuuren purchased one square mile (640 acres) of land, north of the Calumet river, direct from the United States Government. A log cabin served as the family’s first dwelling in Low Prairie.
According to the church book, Roel and Grietje are buried in the Holland section of the Oak Lawn Cemetery at Thornton Illinois. The graves are marked by two horizontal slabs. [Find A Grave lists them at Homewood Memorial Gardens]
Here’s a more detailed (but cropped) version of the photo, which I also found on Ancestry.com.
