Missaukee County, just east of Cadillac, is the homeland of the Jagers. And if you wander through the farmland east of McBain, you come across the small settlement of Falmouth. Just south of there is Clam Union Cemetery. And here you can find the remarkable tombstone of Lambertus Jager.

Lambertus was the father of Frank.

Frank was the father of Lambert (Bert).

Lambert and Sarah were the parents of Retha, Freda, Richard, Ruth, Robert, Leonard, Lambert, Jane, Donald, and Katharine Susan.

So Lambertus is my great-great-grandfather. He came to America in 1886, just after his son Geert (1882), Tammo (1883), and Frank (1885). His daughter Anna followed in 1887.

As you can see on the tombstone, he was born (geboren, geb.) June 18, 1823, so he was 63 when he came to America. His wife, Anna Strijker Jager, had died in 1876, so it seems likely that his children convinced him to join them in Michigan.

This is a picture of Lambertus Jager. I did not see any pictures of him in the Google Drive of pictures from Aunt Ruth, but this is from findagrave.com. He died on April 18, 1899, at the age of 75. (Ovl. is the abbreviation for the Dutch word “overleden,” meaning passed away.) Vader is of course the Dutch word for father, and the inscription on the bottom is “Openbaring 14:13
“Zalig zijn de doden, die in den Heere sterven.” This is from the Bible (Revelations 14:13) which roughly translated means “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”