A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Belle June Vanderhoof
The Wichita Eagle, 28 Nov 1947 (obtained from Newspapers.com):
CURTIS RITES FRIDAY
---------
Eighty-seven Year Old Woman Passed Away Here Wednesday
Funeral services will be held Friday at 4:30 p. m. in the Culbertson mortuary chapel for Mrs. Belle June Curtis, 87, of 105 South Martinson, who died Wednesday night in a local hospital. Services will be conducted by Rev. D. J. Williams, pastor of the Reorganized Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Mrs. Curtis was born in Indiana on July 3, 1860, and came to Wichita from Concordia, Kan., in 1938. She was a memner of the Reorganized Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and of the Women's Relief corps.
Survivors include five daughters, Mrs. John Kanouse, of Chickasha, Okla., Mrs. C. P. Curtis, of Proctor, Colo., Mrs. Harriet Andrews, of Denver, Colo., Mrs. Richard Thomas, of Omaha, Neb., and Mrs. Earl Ayres, of 408 North Meridian, and six sons, Frank, of Caney, Kan., Harvey, of Clyde, Kan., Rolland, of 105 South Martinson, Hatfield, of Springfield, Mo., John, of Clay Center, Kan., and Asa, of Sunflower, Kan.
An interment service will be held at Gaylord, Kan., at 1:30 p. m. Sunday. Culbertson mortuary is in charge.
There are many spellings of her last name. Gaylon Gathright listed her name as Belle Vandruff; Benjamin Marion Curtis's obituary listed her as Belle Vanderoof. The 1870 census has Belle Vanderhoff. Teresa Seina spells her last name Vanderhoef, which I like because it looks more like like a Dutch name. Most family trees seem to list her as Vandroof or Vanderoof. I have been using Vanderhoof, which is halfway between Vanderoof and Vanderhoff, but maybe I should go with the majority.
Censuses are all over the place about where her parents were born. The 1920 census says they were born in Holland; the 1900, 1910, and 1930 censuses say they were from Germany; and the 1880 census says they were from New York. (1870 and 1940 censuses did not have parents' bithplaces.) Weird. There was a Belle Vanderhoff in the 1870 census in Linn County, Missouri, of the right age and birth state, who was living with Mathew and Marinda Vanderhoff. They were both born in New York, which could fit with the 1880 census, but they were ages 67 and 68, so they couldn't be her parents (or, at least, Marinda couldn't be her mother). However, I think this is our Belle, and she was raised by the Vanderhoffs. More about this is in the notes for Sarah Hough, her possible mother. My idle speculation is that the census saying her parents were born in Holland was because of her Dutch name, Vanderhoof (or however it should be spelled), and the censuses saying her parents were from Germany maybe were because her mother's husband had a German name, Leininger.
The name on her death certificate is Belle June Curtis. Cause of death was cerebral thrombosis (I think). Place of death was Wichita Hospital. Her residence is listed as 105 S. Martinson, which is the same as the address of the informant, Rolland Curtis (her son). It says she had lived in Wichita for nine years. Her mother's name is unknown and father's name is shown as ---------- Huff.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
Page generated on 12 November 2025