Charles (Carl) Louis De Ruyter's missing years 1873-1888

[preciousdove]

Charles was born in Sint-Laureins, Oost-Vlaanderen, BEL 27 Dec 1857 to Anna Catherina De Ruyter a single woman. (Have civil and church birth records)

Anna married Petrus Gaelens 15 Feb 1865 in Sint-Laureins and they had a least one daughter Marie Louise Gaelens who married a Matthys. Some of her children emigrated to the US and Canada.

At age 16 Charles left Belgium alone and sailed to Philadelphia on 19 Apr 1873 probably to join his uncles Peter, Edward and John in Canandaigua, Ontario Co, NY who had immigrated about 1869. Family legend says that after age 18 Charles returned to Belgium and spent 2 years in military service, seeing some action possibly with Russia ca 1881. Belgium military archives was unable to find a record of service.

I have found no records for Charles De Ruyter/DeRyder/DeRidder/
DeRuiter/DeRuijter/or any variation of Ruiter/Rider from 1873 until he married my great-grandmother in Feb 1888 in Rock Valley Sioux Co, IA. She had a twin sister who had come to the same area of NY in 1882. I did find a Charles from Belgium of the same age with a vaguely similar sounding last name in Cook Co IL in 1880 where some of the DeRyder cousins had settled but Cook is a very, very big county. That person was was a laborer on someones farm.

It appears that any family records from before that marriage disappeared after a divorce in 1948. That is a long, long time for a young man not to be married.

Everytime a new version of census information comes out I try to search it. Does anyone have a fresh idea of how to find Charles during this time?