newspaper article
Catalog Number
2021.14.513Description
Article about Etta Kruisenga Fox titled, "Florida Resident Claims to Be Early Holland Settler". The article was published in the Saturday, August 16, 1947 Holland Evening Sentinel.History
Thought to have been born either in 1851 (from a faded entry in a family Bible), 1856 (1910 & 1920 US census) or the late 1840s (Etta's memory), Etta Kruizenga was born in Holland, MI to Everhardus and Catherina Kruizenga.Mr. and Mrs. Kruizenga arrived from the Netherlands in 1848. The 1850 US census shows that they were residents of Holland, MI.
On 3-28-1871 Etta, still living in Holland, married James Fox in Saugatuck, MI (wedding records list her as 18 at the time). By 1880 Etta and James were living on a farm in Nebraska. Within a few years they moved to Florida. Etta passed away in Panama City, FL in 1951.
In her lifetime, Etta claimed to have shaken hands with Abraham Lincoln and fed eggs to Frank James, brother of Jesse.