I had always thought Grace (Sweere) Ridderink‘s birth name was Gerarda Maria. I’m not even sure now where I got that information. I found her birth record in the Civil Archives this morning. It turns out that her birth name is actually Gradina Maria. I’ve not seen this name before, in all the years I’ve been poking through the “Dutch” records. Gradina. It’s pretty, isn’t it?
I found Gradina’s younger brother Cornelis’ birth record as well. His middle name is recorded on it, so that info is new to our records. He was baptized “Cornelis Johannes“.
Now, of Theodore’s children, only John Henry remains in my database with an Americanized name. I’m still waiting for the record of his birth to appear and confirm my suspiscion that he was baptized with the Latin form of that name, “Johannes Hendrickus”.
ex animo ~J