The bottom of page three in the Van Roekel pages [NB See the Family History below at Maatje Koster] says, "there were two Mulder children"
There were actually five. Gerrit, Jake, Mary, (Mrs. Andrew Van Kley, my Grandmother), Arthur, and Lena who died at eight months. There was only one Van Otterloo daughter from the second marriage. She was named Alice.
KOSTER, JACOB AND MATJE (DE MOTS)
One of the noted very first settler families to settle on the present site of
the town of Sioux Center was Jacob Koster, with his wife Matje De Mots, and
their eight children. Jakob "Jacob" Koster was born at Ermelo, Gelderland,
Netherlands, on September 9, 1825 to Jan Koster and Beerdje Vanden Brink.
On February 5, 1853 Jacob Koster married Matje De Mots at Putten, Netherlands.
She was born at Putten to Hendrick Gysberten De Mots and Jannetje Van
Wilgenburg. Jacob and Matje left the Netherlands in 1866 and settled first at
East Olive, Michigan. The reasons they left were assumed to be the same as was
the case with the majority of immigrants. The Netherlands was plagued with
religious problems, depressed economic conditions and in many cases a severe
shortage of the basics of life.
One year later, Matje's sister and a brother's family joined the Koster family in America. These were the Gysbert Van Beek family and the Gysbert De Mots family (See separate stories on these families.) Shortly after the arrival of the two related families at East Olive, all three families decided to venture further across the vast new country to acquire a more promising future for their offspring.
Jacob and Matje (De Mots) Koster
As the group approached the present site of Sioux Center, Jacob Koster halted the wagons and said to his family, "Here we are and here we stay. Here will make our future home, God willing," (The time of year, October, necessitated an end to the journey at any rate.)
The Koster family hastily built a dugout shanty where Jerry Reitsma lived years ago, about one block directly east of the Community Center. The Van Beeks built a shanty about one-fourth mile east of the Koster family. Others in that early wagon train were the families: Gysbert VanBeek, Rensinks, Lambertus Pietenpol, and Gerrit Kempers.
Accounts of the life and hardships this group of settlers endured are referred to in several publications; The Story of Sioux County, by Charles Dyke, The Pocket of Civility by Mike Vanden Bosch, and the July 31, 1941 Jubilee Edition of the Sioux Center News. The Jacob Koster family tragically lost a young seven year old daughter, Johanna. The father had burned a back fire around his buildings to avoid being burnt out by the ravages of a prairie fire and the young girl's dress brushed against a smoldering bush and caught on fire. She was burnt badly and died shortly thereafter in 1878. An emotional account of this event is described in the book, The Story of Sioux County, by Charles Dyke. She is believed to be the first person buried in the Sioux Center Cemetery.
The Koster family worked the next few years building a farm out of the prairie. A row of cottonwood trees were set out that were a part of the main street of Sioux Center for many years, the last huge specimen succumbed at the site of the Central Park in the 1970's. They endured the same trials as did their fellow settlers, fire, grasshoppers, weather and epidemics.
Identity believed to be as follows: Women in Jacob Koster
family. FrontL-R: Geesjen (Mrs. Herman
Kiel) and Gertie (Mrs. Peter
Niemantsverdiet). Middle L-R: Betsy (Mrs. Peter Mouw), Mrs. Matje
Koster
and Matje (Mrs. John Mulder - Gerrit Van Otterloo). Rear L-R: Jannetje
(Mrs. John Mouw)
and Hattie (Mrs. Henry Peerbolte)
As the settlement of farmers increased in the area a need was felt to organize
a church in the Sioux Center area. In 1877 a church was organized with the help
of a few such ardent Dutch settlement leaders as was the elder Jacob Koster.
Although the underlying reasons are unknown, it appeared that by 1882 the
strongly independent nature of Jacob Koster caused separation of ideas in the
direction of matters progressing in the growing church, and as a result, Jacob
Koster withdrew from the church.
As was recorded in Mrs. Jacob Koster's obituary in the Sioux Center News of April 6, 1924, shortly after this religious rift, in 1885 the family rented their farm out and moved to New Holland, South Dakota, where their son John Koster had a farm. Shortly after that they moved back to East Olive, Michigan and lived there until the death of Jacob Koster in 1890.
Some of the older children had married in and about the Sioux Center area and remained here when their parents left for South Dakota and Michigan. These were the John Mouw family, the Peter Mouw family, the Herman Keil family and the Peter Niemantsverdiet family.
In 1892, Mrs. Jacob Koster came back to Sioux Center after selling her farm in Michigan, and came to live with her daughter's family, Mrs. Herman Keil. She then joined the Keil family as members of the First Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Center. She died April, 1924 and was buried next to her young daughter, Johanna, who so many years before lost her life tragically in a fire that consumed her dress as she brushed against a burning bush.
Although it was hard to trace the descendants of this family who have scattered all over this country, the following is an account of the children of Jacob Kosters and those believed to be their grandchildren. The children are not in the order of birth.
Jan "John" Koster married Kate Siemans. Kate was born in Illinois and lived at Hastings, NE, then at New Holland SD, where she met John Koster who was farming there. After John and Kate were dried out in South Dakota for a few years they moved to Kanowa, Iowa, and there it was much too wet for a few years. They decided to come back to northwest Iowa and settled at Sanborn. Their children were: Jake Kosters, Will Koster, Marie (Mrs. Nick Donkersloot) and Maude (Mrs. Van Kley).
Jannetje "Jane" Koster married John Mouw. They resided in the Orange City area
for a few years being recorded there as members of the First Reformed Church.
They were recorded as living in Los Angeles, CA in 1924. Their children are
believed to be: Anna, Leona (Mrs. De Kraai) Johanna, Jake, and Neil.
Beertje "Betsy" Koster married Peter Mouw. They farmed near Orange City. They
had one daughter, Johanna" Anna" (Mrs. Stephen De Jong). She is the grandmother
of one of the authors of this story, Liz Den Herder.
Gerritje "Gertie" Koster married Peter Niemantsverdiet. They were from Maurice,
Iowa as recorded in 1924. They had one daughter, Annie (Mrs. Henry Kooi) and a
son, Henry, single.
Maatje Koster married John Mulder; when he died she married Gerrit Van Otterloo.
They were from Rock Valley, Iowa, in 1924. There were two Mulder children: Jake
and Gerrit Mulder. There were two Van Otterloo daughters: Mary (Mrs. Andrew Van
Kley) and Alice (Mrs. Will H. Vugteveen).
[NB See email of Arnie Van Kley]
Hendrika "Hattie" married Henry Peerbolte. She had a millinery shop in Sioux Center for a while in the 1890's and later they lived in Mushegan Michigan. They had a daughter, Hattie (Mrs. Bert Poppen). Mr. Peerbolte had come from Kansas, in the Sioux Center area he built barns and windmills as a specialty.
Geesjen "Lizzie" Koster married Herman Kiel of Sioux Center. They were the parents of one son Dr. Lee H. Riel who was a medical doctor in Tucson, AZ.
The authors of this story have gathered bits and pieces of information from many sources and have put it together as accurately as they felt possible.
by Liz Den Herder and Wilma J. Vande Berg
WAS PIONEER HOG BREEDER
Breeders of Poland China Hogs Are Indebted to Peter Mouw
When Peter Mouw was accidentally killed on his farm at Orange City, Iowa, May 15th, the Poland China breed lost one of its pioneer and foremost constructive breeders. His death was the result of being trampled by a team of horses which he was leading to water. He was the pioneer breeder of the big type Poland China and did more to popularize it than any other man.
He was a native of Holland, being born there in 1852, and came to the United States in 1865. In 1868 he went to Iowa and with his father built the first house on the site of Orange City. It was not long thereafter until he acquired an 80-acre tract adjoining the village and it was there that he made his home, and where Poland China devotees from all over the United States went to attend his sales. As his hog business expanded he bought more land and at the time of his death Mr. Mouw owned 1400 acres of land and his estate is valued at $140,000 which was all made by his "Big Black" hogs.
In 1886 Mr. Mouw laid the foundation for a herd of pure bred Herefords. This herd he maintained for many years, breeding the cattle for extreme size, as he did his hogs. Later, however, he gave more attention to his herd of Poland China hogs. He began breeding Poland Chinas in 1889, buying three animals: Orange King, Illinois Maid and Illinois Maid 2nd for foundation stock. He was a capable judge of swine and carefully selected animals which showed extreme size and growthiness, qualities which later made his herd celebrated.
An incident is related of his exhibiting hogs at the Illinois State Fair about 15 years ago when the judge was awarding all premiums to the medium or "hot blood" types and was paying no attention to Peter Mouw's hogs. Mr. Mouw said to the judge, "I guess you do not like my hogs," but pulling a big roll of money from his pocket, he said, "but the farmers do,'! An important purchase for the herd in 1890 was a boar, Jumbo 3rd, which Mr. Mouw later credited with doing more than any other sire to establish the great size in his herd. The names of the boars that succeeded Jumbo 3rd are now found in almost every Poland China pedigree. Included were such sires as Grand Chief, Grand Chief 3rd, Longfellow and Young Jones. In 1901, the boar, Chief Price, bred and sold in dam by Mr. Mouw, was bought back to head the herd. This board transmitted his extreme size and excellent finish and influenced the Mouw herd and big types in general to such an extent that he is commonly referred to as the "Father of the Big Types." During the years from 1900 to 1920, Mr. Mouw used many other good boars, including Surprise Wonder 4th, Long Wonder, Chief Price 2nd, Longfellow 119997 and Gerstdale Jones.
From the very start Mr. Mouw clung to the idea that the practical type of hog was that which would attain large size and good finish at an early age. For many years he was almost alone in his preference for extreme size. Breeders of Polands then favored the "hot bloods" or smooth, fine-boned type. For nearly twenty years the Mouw hogs were ridiculed by breeders and received little consideration in the show ring. Often the only buyers at Mr. Mouw's sales were his farmer neighbors. A time or two the herd was nearly wiped out by cholera attacks. In spite of all discouragement and opposition, Mr. Mouw clung to his ideal, and he lived to see his type revolutionize the breed, thus achieving one of the greatest triumphs ever attained by a breeder of animals. Peter Mouw's great contribution to the breed is recognized wherever Poland Chinas are bred. Breeders of Poland Chinas will forever be indebted to the man who bred Chief Price and the history-making sons and daughters of Jumbo 3rd and Longfellow.
Hawarden Independent 1922-06-01.