The Life of Mamie Kuite ~ Stories of the Mysterious Photo Album
- Nov 15, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 12
A Note to Readers: This article contains discussions of suicide, which may be triggering for some individuals. My goal is to share this information/story safely, but please step away if you feel overwhelmed. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress, please reach out for professional help:
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Dial 988 (English and Spanish)
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ Youth): Call 866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678
*The disclaimer above was written by Google Gemni. All other content below was written without any AI.
*Original researched and written in 2021. Revised in March 2026 to include new information and general proofreading.
In June 2021, I was on a family vacation in Montague, Michigan. Montague, Michigan is a very small town on the north-end of White Lake with a population of approx. 2,300 residents. On the south-end of White Lake is another small town - Whitehall - with a population of approx. 2,700. Both of those towns are approx. 50 minutes north from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Of course, during the vacation, I had to visit a few antique stores. The very first store I went into was in Montague. In the back of the store, tucked away on top of a table, was this antique photo album. To my surprise, there were about 3o original photos within the album and the best surprise - there were names and dates on the back of all the photos! (This was my first antique album I've purchased...since then I may have added to my collection!)
I have no idea where this album came from - if it was a personal album from a family or if it was from a professional photography studio. I immediately felt a connection to it. Even the antique store employee was surprised to find the album with photos intact and said to me I was lucky to find this and she also wondered where it came from!
When I got home from vacation, I started exploring the photos and looking at the back of each photo to try to make a connection between them. On the very first page of the album was this photo of a young woman. On the back of the photo someone wrote:
"Committed suicide September 4, 1894. Mamie Kuite - Mrs Geo Huntley - 1886."
Everyone deserves their story to be told...here is the story of Mamie Kuite.
Maria 'Mamie' Kuite
Born: November 18, 1872; Holland, Ottawa Co, Michigan
Died: September 4, 1894; Holland, Ottawa Co, Michigan
Father: Jakob C Kuijte (1838; Herkingen, Netherlands - 1916; Holland, Ottawa, Co, Michigan)
Mother: Adriana Slooter (1837; Dordrecht, Netherlands - 1921; Holland, Ottawa Co, Michigan)
Siblings:
Adrian (1859-1926)
Cornelius (1863-1944)
Jacob (1866-1936)
Frank (1868-1923)
Adriaana (1871-1930)
Fred (1879-1922)
Spouse: George James Huntley (1870-1949)
Mamie's father, Jacob, was born in Herkingen, Netherlands. Herkingen is a small coastal village on the island of Goree-Overflakkee - 80 miles southwest of Amsterdam. He immigrated to the United States sometime between 1847-1950 when he was a teenager. He married Adriana Slooter in 1857 in Holland, Michigan.
Mamie's mother, Adriana, was born in Goudswaard, Netherlands. Goudswaard is a small coastal village in the Hoeksche Waard - 70 miles southwest from Amsterdam. She immigrated in 1855 when she was 18 years old.
According to Jacob Kuite's obituary, shortly after arriving in Holland, Michigan, he sailed the lakes for 8 years. He settled down and owned a butcher shop with his brother, and also served as an Alderman for two terms for the city of Holland.
Jacob and Adriana had 9 children but only 7 survived passed infancy. The Kuite family were members of the First Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan.
Mamie was born in 1872 and was the second to the youngest of her six siblings - the eldest sibling was 12 years older. The Kuite family owned two meat markets in the city and lived on a farm one mile west of downtown Holland.
Since there are no records of the 1890 census, there isn't much known about Mamie Kuite. There were just one other newspaper article that listed her name along with 20+ other names for a class recital. No other records or known information online.
On August 16, 1894, Mamie Kuite married George J. Huntley - Mamie was 22 years old and George was 24. The wedding took place at the First Reformed Church.
Who was George James Huntley?
George James Huntley was born on February 13, 1870 in Tonbridge Wells, England. He immigrated when he was two years old with his parents - James and Julia Huntley, and his younger sister.
According to the obituaries of his parents, George's father, James Huntley, was a "leading citizen of Holland" and owned and operated the "first furniture enterprises" in Holland, Michigan... "Mr. Huntley became a prominent business man of Holland. He was a contractor, the building of many well known buildings here such as Winants Chapel, Graves Library and other buildings. James was the first president and one of the founders of The Ottawa Furniture Company."
Needless to say, the Huntley's were very wealthy and a well known family in the small town of Holland. They owned a very large house just a few blocks from downtown Holland.
George was the eldest of his six siblings, all of whom were born in Holland, Michigan except for him and the second eldest, Mary.
Now, there is a strange connection with one of George's siblings. The fourth eldest - Nellie Huntley, also committed suicide the exact same way as Mamie, only three months prior, in 1894.
Nellie Huntley was born in 1874 in Holland, Michigan and died in 1894 at 21 years old.
Notice how in Nellie's obituary it was stated that she left a note to her lover with who she had been quarreling with and blamed the lover for the suicide. Keep in mind, the Huntley's were very prominent and influential residents of the city...so who was this lover? What happened? Did the family about this lover?
Fast forward three months...even more life changing events happened for the Kuite and Huntley families:
May 19, 1894: George Huntley's sister, Nellie, committed suicide.
August 13, 1894: Mamie gave birth to a daughter - Marguerite - George Huntley is listed as the father.
August 16, 1894: Mamie Kuite and George Huntley are married.
September 1, 1894: George Huntley lost a finger and damaged his hand at work place incident.
September 4, 1894: Mamie Kuite committed suicide.
Yes, you did read that correctly. Mamie and George had a daughter - Marguerite.
Mamie's pregnancy must have been one of the most surprising announcements for the Kuite and Huntley families as Mamie and George were not married. The Kuite family were part of a very conservative Dutch church so I can only imagine what Mamie must have felt during this time. Having a "shotgun" wedding was a very common thing to do in this situation during that time, but Mamie and George were married three days after their daughter was born.
Three weeks later, Mamie committed suicide on September 4, 1894. Details are described in the following newspaper articles:
This last article has the most interesting details - "Three weeks ago his 22 year old son George married suddenly the girl he had cruelly wronged and who bore him a child within a few days"
"A week ago George lost two fingers and half his right hand in a bandsaw..."
I can only imagine all the emotions Mamie must have felt those last three weeks...just even the last 9 months.
According to the 1900 US Census, Mamie and George's daughter, Marguerite, lived with George's mother, Julia, and George's brothers and sisters - but George did not live in that same house.
George Huntley remarried in 1897 and lived one mile north from the house of his mother and where his daughter, Marguerite lived. (Keep in mind, the population of Holland, Michigan in 1900 was 7,700).
In 1910 and 1920, Marguerite still lived with her grandmother, Julia Huntley, and uncle, Harry Huntley.
In 1930, she lived with her aunt Adeline (Huntley) Van Raalte and worked as a stenographer for a piano company. In 1931, she married James Van Blois and lived in Fennville, Allegan Co, Michigan.
Marguerite passed away in May 1970 in Florida.
Obviously, I don't know the reason why George didn't care for his daughter. Did he not want to care for her because it reminded him of Mamie? Was he too prideful? Did his new wife not want to care for some other woman's child? Since Marguerite lived with his family, I'd assume George and her had some type of relationship and saw each other on holidays? Like I said, Holland was a very small town and both families lived only one mile from each other. Or maybe George no longer had a relationship with his family after Mamie's death? Did Marguerite know the Kuite family? Did they have a relationship?
As previously stated, George Huntley remarried to Helen Astra on June 24, 1897.
George continued to work at his father's furniture factory and him and Helen lived at 195 W. 14th St., in Holland, Michigan. The home was built in 1896 - pictured below.
George and and his second wife, Helen, never had their own children. George died in 1949 and Helen died in 1960 and both lived in Holland their entire lives.
Tragically, no one will ever really know the events leading up to the untimely death of Mamie Kuite. It's so painful to know a young woman was in so much pain, and she thought there was no way to get through it. This was 1894. I could only imagine the struggle Mamie had to deal with pretty much alone in a small, conservative town. I hope this short story of her life does some honors her in just the smallest way possible.
I went into that antique store that day in Whitehall, found her picture, and I never knew I would find as much I did about her. You never know what someone else went/going through.
So, who owned this photo? Who owned this photo album? Who wrote that information on the back of the photo? Stay tuned for more stories from this photo album...
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress, please reach out for professional help:
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Dial 988 (English and Spanish)
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ Youth): Call 866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678
Here are other articles from the Kuite and Huntley families from the Holland City Newspaper:
Comments