Another Fortean bookseller—although not much of a Fortean, at that.
Rense A. “Robert” or “Bob” Kolvoord was born on 1 February 1907 in Battle Creek, Michigan. His father, Albert, born in Iowa to parents from Michigan, worked as a printer. His mother, Jennie (Hookstrah), born a Michiganer, had given birth to three children by 1910: Anna in 1906, Rense, and Dorothy in 1908. Both parents were about twenty one when they married at the very end of 1904. When the Great War broke out, the family was still in Michigan, Albert a painter (I’ve looked very hard at the 1910 census and his draft card, and although printer and painter look alike, I am sure that the records are different); he had lost the tips of the smallest two fingers on his left hand, which may have been one reason he didn’t serve. As captured by the 1920 census, the family had grown—a John H. Kolvoord had been born sometime around 1913—and Albert had changed jobs again, working as a carpenter. Nobody else at home was working. The family seemed well-off, at least comfortable, owning their home free and clear. Several neighbors, too, were carpenters, who owned their own homes, too, though these were usually mortgaged.
Rense A. “Robert” or “Bob” Kolvoord was born on 1 February 1907 in Battle Creek, Michigan. His father, Albert, born in Iowa to parents from Michigan, worked as a printer. His mother, Jennie (Hookstrah), born a Michiganer, had given birth to three children by 1910: Anna in 1906, Rense, and Dorothy in 1908. Both parents were about twenty one when they married at the very end of 1904. When the Great War broke out, the family was still in Michigan, Albert a painter (I’ve looked very hard at the 1910 census and his draft card, and although printer and painter look alike, I am sure that the records are different); he had lost the tips of the smallest two fingers on his left hand, which may have been one reason he didn’t serve. As captured by the 1920 census, the family had grown—a John H. Kolvoord had been born sometime around 1913—and Albert had changed jobs again, working as a carpenter. Nobody else at home was working. The family seemed well-off, at least comfortable, owning their home free and clear. Several neighbors, too, were carpenters, who owned their own homes, too, though these were usually mortgaged.