Klaas Pieter Plantinga (June 2, 1846 - July 17, 1922) was a Dutch distiller and the founder of the Plantinga Distillery in Bolsward. Plantinga's great-grandfather was Jan Aukes, his great-grandmother was Baukje Annes (birth and death dates both unknown). Plantinga's grandfather was Klaas Jans (1747 - April 16, 1809), who married Binke Hessels (November 26, 1747 - January 8, 1821) on May 15, 1774. They had at least three children - Hessel Klazes (1787), Auke Klazes and Pieter Klazes (1793 - March 2, 1862).
On August 18, 1811, when Napoleon Bonaparte decreed the civil registry, the three brothers adopted the 'Plantinga' surname on account of their background as gardeners ("Planters"). The Huizum region, where they lived, was an area traditionally rich in gardeners and planters.
Pieter Klazes married Gertje Cornelis Prosé (February 12, 1823 - December 18, 1891) from Bergum in Tietjerkstradeel on October 19, 1845. They had six sons: Aukje (1848 - 1848), Aukje (1849 - ?), Attje (1851 - ?), Cornelia Johanna (1854 - ?), Jan (1856 - ?) and, of course, Klaas Pieter.
Klaas was set to be what today would be called a pharmacist's assistant. After he graduated he started working in the Syperda winery at Dijkstraat 7 in Bolsward. It was run by two elderly ladies, and it was for sale. There, according to a popular 1970s advertisement legend, he met shop girl Ytje Keizer, who worked in the Hommes bakery next door, at Dijkstraat 5. Ytje Keizer had been born in Groningen on August 18, 1851. Her father was a tailor, Gerrit Hermanus Keizer (1815 - 1882) from Wolvega, her mother was Margot Henriette van Duinen (1813 - 1903), a midwife from Loppersum.
The (likely apocryphal) story is that Klaas and Ytje learned to know each other better, however Klaas had high ambitions and wanted to work on them by moving to the United States. Ytje did not want to follow him to that faraway country. Nonetheless, Klaas left for the US. Once he found himself there, he stayed in touch with Ytje. He missed her so much that he eventually moved back to the Netherlands. Apparently, Ytje was quite a character. She had been dissatisfied by the slightly burned taste of some distilled beverages made by other manufacturers that she absolutely insisted on her husband making better-tasting stuff. This anecdote might be true, or might be imaginative 1970s advertising.
Less romantic (and less apocryphal) objective data shows the following (sometimes confusing) facts (diligently researched and compiled by Bastiaan Plantinga):
2 March 1862: Klaas' father, Pieter Klazes, dies
29 May 1863: Klaas, with his mother (remarried after Pieter Klazes' death), brothers and sisters move from Huizum to Leeuwarden
3 September 1863: Klaas moves to Sneek
1865 (exact date unknown): One "Klass Plantinga" (sic) born in 1846 and "from Sneek" emigrates to the US
17 March 1869: Klaas obtains municipal permission to refurbish the house at Dijkstraat 7 (he seems to be back from the US, but where he lives is not specified)
5 August 1869: Klaas moves to Leeuwarden, "from Sneek"
17 February 1870: Klaas Pieters (sic) Plantinga (no profession) buys the Dijkstraat 7 location from seller Rintje Baukes Sijpderda for 5000 Dutch guilders
14 July 1870: Klaas founds the Plantinga company
27 July 1870: Klaas (and his sister Aukje) move to Bolsward
15 January 1871: Klaas Plantinga & Ytje Keizer get married
12 May 1871: Dijkstraat 5 owner, baker Jan Reinders Wigersma, sells his place to Jan Hommes. Ytje Keizer was a cousin of Wigersma's wife, Trijntje Hermanus Keizer.
It does not even seem all that likely that Klaas came back from the US because of Ytje. But it sure makes for a nice yarn.
Klaas and Ytje had six children: Pieter (December 21, 1871 - January 17, 1928, he emigrated to the US), Gerard Herman (October 7, 1873 - November 19, 1874), Gerrit Herman (January 9, 1876 - November 30, 1962), Jan Auke (January 21, 1878 - August 4, 1896), Sicco Jacobus Tönnis (April 18, 1881 - July 22, 1934) and Koenraad (September 18, 1885 - November 21, 1959, he became a pharmacist in Utrecht).