P.J.H. Vercoulen - Thank you for looking into Katie. Yes, that is definitely her tomb stone and is where she was buried.

G. Karssenberg - I would never have been able to put these puzzle pieces together without everyone's support on this forum. Thank you so much!

Peter S - Thank you for the excellent and detailed explanation of the census.

I am thrilled that you were able to find the actual ship's manifest. I am feeling quite confident that this Jacob is my great-great grandfather. It also looks like the spelling of his name on the manifest is Keuper which was then transcribed as Kenper on the type written card. Thanks also for sharing the link where you finally found the scanned ship documents. I'd been looking for those records for what felt like ages.

The date that Jacob Keuper left the Netherlands from Liverpool matches closely the timing of when Jacob Kooper said he arrived in Boston, March of 1882 (one of his immigration papers, which he filed 35 years later say he arrived March 10, 1883 but another said 1882). Jacob's age on the manifest is about right as is the country of origin of the ship and the arrival port (Boston). Now that I know where to look, I'll look through the other manifests from ships from Liverpool arriving in Boston around that time, just to make sure I haven't missed someone else who could be my great great grandfather. But, it sure looks like you've found him!

I let my Uncle Gene know about this and he was pretty excited. Apparently the family had always thought that the name Kooper was a misspelling, but never learned the original spelling of the name.

Thanks again for your persistence and for sharing the link to the missing records.

update: I looked through several months of passenger lists for the spring of 1882 and 1883 and did not find any other Jacob from the Netherlands. Now going to broaden my search. So far, it looks like this Jacob Kenper/Keuper might be my ancestor.

Joannes Cuijpers (partner: Elisabeth Arons), zoon van Joannes Cuijpers en Maria Veugen, overleed in Neeritter op 31.7.1855 (69 jaar).

It's a pity that also on the list of people who left Roosteren (from 1870 onwards) I cannot find J.H.Cuijpers. The list starts here.

Maria Veugen, geboren en wonend in Neeritter (in de Dorpsstraat), dochter van Jacobus Veugen en Catharina Brenkers, 82 jaar, weduwe van Joannes Govers, van Matthijs Talen en van Wilm Kuijpers, overleed in Neeritter op 18.11.1830 (image 851).
Een van de getuigen is haar zoon Jacobus Kuijpers, 41 jaar, landbouwer.

G. Karssenberg - "Maria Veugen, geboren en wonend in Neeritter (in de Dorpsstraat), dochter van Jacobus Veugen en Catharina Brenkers, 82 jaar, weduwe van Joannes Govers, van Matthijs Talen en van Wilm Kuijpers, overleed in Neeritter op 18.11.1830 (image 851). Een van de getuigen is haar zoon Jacobus Kuijpers, 41 jaar, landbouwer."    I assume this would pretty much rule him out as the Jacob Kuijpers who immigrated to Minnesota since he would have been in his 20's when he immigrated and it would be unlikely that he went back and would have served as a witness (unless I misunderstood the meaning of the notation). Thank you for digging into this more deeply.

Maria Veugen is the grandmother of Jacobus Hubertus Cuijpers

Peter B - "Maria Veugen, geboren en wonend in Neeritter (in de Dorpsstraat), dochter van Jacobus Veugen en Catharina Brenkers, 82 jaar, weduwe van Joannes Govers, van Matthijs Talen en van Wilm Kuijpers, overleed in Neeritter op 18.11.1830 (image 851).
Een van de getuigen is haar zoon Jacobus Kuijpers, 41 jaar, landbouwer." I completely misunderstood the post and was somehow thinking that her grandson Jacobus H Kuijpers was the same person as the Jacobus Kuijpers, 41 years old, who was apparently a witness to her passing in 1830. Which of course makes no sense. Thank you for the clarification. Been pretty sick the last few weeks and haven't been able  to read through documents.

Peter S - My next goal is to dive more deeply into passenger lists between 1880 and 1882 to see if I can find any other Jacob Kuijpers/Kooper. It feels like we are on the right track though with the Jacob "Kenper" that you found.

Peter S, when you said, "It's a pity that also on the list of people who left Roosteren (from 1870 onwards) I cannot find J.H.Cuijpers. The list starts here"  - I wonder if he would have been on a list of people who left from Roosteren since he was from Neeriter?

Peter S, when you said, "It's a pity that also on the list of people who left Roosteren (from 1870 onwards) I cannot find J.H.Cuijpers. The list starts here"  - I wonder if he would have been on a list of people who left from Roosteren since he was from Neeriter?

No, he was living at Roosteren at the time and would have been expected to be on such a list of people who left Roosteren. I did double-check that list though and found it incomplete. For instance, the others mentioned at the same address as J.H.Cuijpers who also left Roosteren (the link that was found by @Peter B, here), for instance all those named Coenen who left in 1877, I couldn't find them on this list of people who left Roosteren either. Very disappointing that the essential paperwork is letting us down here.

Zie voor het voorgeslacht van de familie Veugen: "Google" via: "Jacobus Veugen" Breukers.

Voorvader Paulus Vluegen huwde in Thorn op 21.5.1693 .

Huwelijk in Neeritter op 2.2.1747: Jacobus Veugen en Catharina Breugers - getuigen: Andreas Breugers en Joanna Breugers.

Peter S - Is there any other place that we could look that might provide a record of him leaving? It surely is disappointing that the documentation is missing. It kind of leaves things in limbo. You are refreshingly thorough in your research! I can't tell you how often over here people just copy things without digging more deeply.

Someone had mentioned that the Catholic Church records for Jacobus would be in Latin. I am interested in looking into those original records for baptism dates, etc. Is there a good place to search those records? I was looking on FamilySearch and OpenArchive but didn't see anything (maybe I missed something as a beginning researcher here). I am fairly certain that Jacob Kooper was Catholic because when he married Katie Loomans, they were married in a Catholic church (St Joseph Catholic Parish, 23 Nov 1882 in Grant County, Minnesota). This would also match with the Jacobus located in Neeritter since the census indicated Roman Catholic as his religion.

I'm sorry for all of the questions. I feel like I'm in pre-kindergarten trying to learn Dutch and trying to understand the Dutch way of record keeping. It is very logical once I get used to it.

G. Karssenburg - I appreciate the broader search of the family and look forward to spending more time looking into the documentation you've directed me to.

I'm not sure if this link works or not (still trying to figure out how this site works), but I've attached a photograph of Jacob Kooper, his wife Catharina Loomans and their children: Elizabeth, William, Mary and Annie. Would there be any catalogued photographic records of the residents of Neeritter or Roosteren by any chance?