There are so many ancestors I would like to meet. It’s difficult to choose just one. What would be my reasons to pick any one particular ancestor? My first thought is, I would choose a grandmother because they are mostly silent through time.

One 2nd great grandmother I would like to meet is Lucia Wouters. She faced many challenges in her relatively short life, adapting and making the best of the life that she was given.

Lucia Wouters, born in Holland about 1834, married William Vandeven in Eersel, Noord Brabant, Holland on May 27, 1865. Lucy and William had a son, John Anthony, my great grandfather, born in Holland on May 21, 1866.

The family immigrated to the United States when John was still a baby. They made it to Missouri where William is said to have died working on the railroad in Bollinger County soon after their arrival in Missouri.

Lucy had to make a decision. An immigrant widow with a young son had few options. She married a Jacob Vandoren, a man with four children, most likely a widower. Jacob was also an immigrant from Holland and probably lived in the same community of Dutch immigrants.

Lucy and Jacob had a daughter, Mary, and they lived in Cape Girardeau.

Jacob passed away and Lucy again found herself in need, now with two children of her own.

Husband #3 was Burghard Juengling, a German immigrant. Burghard died just months after his marriage to Lucy.

Lucy’s last husband was John Henry Sander, also a German immigrant. John had two children, Anna and Hermann. Mr. Sander was a merchant in Cape Girardeau. It seems likely that John A. Vandeven, Lucy’s son, started his education in business at the Sander’s store in Cape Girardeau. I like to think that Mr. Sander was kind to my great grandfather. John A. was able to attend business college probably thanks to Mr. Sander’s interest in his future. In fact, John A. went on to have his own business, the Vandeven Mercantile, which continued to operate for many years, closing in 1969.

22 December 1888 at the age of 54. She is buried in Old Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.