VanPeursem, Gerrit Dick, 1880-1979

VANPEURSEM, KARS, SPAETH, SPATH

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:32

From the Sioux County Capital, April 3, 1979:

Van Peursem Passes Away

Word was recently received of the death of Rev. Gt. Van Peursem, longtime missionary to Arabia. He was a native of Maurice. He was living in New Jersey at the time of his death, having reached the age of 99. His wife, Josephine, passed away several years ago.

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RESEARCH NOTES

No other obituaries for him were located.

Family tree information on Ancestry.com has him as Gerrit Dirk Van Peursem; born 7 March 1880 at Maurice, Sioux County, Iowa; died March 1979 at Spring Valley, Rockland County, New York; parents George D. Van Peursem (1842-1929) and Willemina Kars (1843-1930); wife Josephine E. Spath or Spaeth (1883-1976), married 31 August 1912 (no source citation given).

News notes in the Alton Democrat show him entering Princeton college in fall of 1907 (Aug. 31, 1907), graduating from Princeton Seminary in 1909 and being ordained to the ministry in July 1910 (July 30, 1910), and leaving Maurice in August 1910 for a five-year missionary posting to Muscat, Arabia (27 Aug 1910). Thereafter, he wrote occasionally to the Democrat describing missionary life and events in Arabia and India. His letter in the December 14, 1912 Democrat says “I have been married since I last wrote you,” implying that he and Josephine were married in Arabia or India.

FindaGrave.com has him as Gerrit Dick Van Peursem, born in Maurice on 7 March 1880, died in New York in March 1979, buried in North Branch Reformed Church Cemetery, Branchburg Park, Somerset County, New Jersey; parents same as in family trees; several siblings listed; wife Josephine Elise Spaeth Van Peursem (1883-1976, married 1912).

His 1914 passport application (as Gerrit Dick) on Ancestry.com describes him, at age 34, as 5 feet 8-1/2 inches tall, greyish brown eyes, brown hair, light complexion, long face. His 1918 passport application lists his wife and three children: Gertrude Pearl, born at Bahrein, Persian Gulf, 10 July 1913; Gerrit John, born at Bahrein 12 April 1915; and Cecile Wilhelmina, born at LeMars, Iowa 6 Nov. 1916. His 1922 passport application has Gerrit John born 13 April 1915, Cecile born at Maurice, Iowa, and adds a fourth child, Robert George, born at Kodiakanal, India, 8 July 1919. His 1915 consular registration certificate at Karachi, India says that he left his U.S. residence on 10 September 1910, arriving at Bahrein, Persian Gulf, on 24 Oct. 1910 for the purpose of mission work; and has his wife as Josephine Elizabeth Spaeth, born in Fribourg, Switzerland [no date].

His son Gerrit died at Kodiakanal in 1930 (obituary posted separately).