This journey would not even be possible without the support of several people, who have also been intrigued by their family ties.  So, I would like to particularly thank the following for providing the inspiration to embrace this quest:

• First, and foremost, my mother, Mildred Reyst, for her stories, memories, and surprising stash of keepsakes
• My ancestory.com community, specifically, the King, Kraft, Sowers, and Van Houzen families for their own family tree contributions that gave me a jump-start in documenting my own family tree
• Hank Miller and his family for sharing their own genealogical research of the Elzerman family that revealed a tie with the Smouter family
• The Berghout-Edwards families for their documentation of the Reyst branch of their family tree, which I stumbled upon during online searches, starting from their ancestors in The Netherlands to those descendents in Detroit, Michigan
• Astrid van Meeuwen-Dijkgraaf, a recently discovered third cousin, for her extensive and well-documented genealogical research of the Smouter family, which she recently reposted publicly
• Lastly, the Vink-Mallan family for their extensive genealogical research in The Netherlands of the Vink, Mallan, and Smouter branches which they have documented in a book written in Dutch (which I am getting better at interpreting!)