January 1912. from Jan Stuit to H. Beekhuis.

[writing from Kalamazoo, Michigan at age 17, less than a year after emigrating]

Beloved brother and sister,

We received the sad tiding of the death of your dear little daughter and our niece, Tietje Beekhuis. I was very shocked by this tiding, because I remembered the wonderful days that I spent at your home [shortly before he left for America]. I also have not forgotten the saying: “Gather roses on earth, but meanwhile, remember us”. Much has changed since that time with you; indeed, a beloved little daughter is no more.

Oh, dear brother and sister, you are probably overwhelmed with grief, bowed down with sadness. But you do not grieve as those who have no hope, because you have the hope of eternal life. That is worth more than everything else. You will see her again. In the splendour above.

How are our other nieces? Are they in good health? And how is Jan? Is he still in school? How did it go with the harvest last year? Did you get good potatoes? You know, from the ones that I planted? Do you still have those wild horses, Hendrik? That crazy mare I mean!

I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. First of all, I am in good health. I work here in a paper factory — it is steady work, and I make 9 dollars a week for 10 hours a day. Every other week I work at night. Then I work 12 hours a night, 5 nights a week.

So, that’s about the same: 6 x 10 = 60 and 5 x 12 = 60.

What kind of work is it? Och, it is real easy and not too unhealthy. I don’t mind the work, and I don’t mind being here, but I don’t like living in a city. I pay 4 dollars a week here for room and board, that leaves me 5 dollars. Then I have to spend 50 cents on tram tickets, because I take the electric tram every morning to get back and forth to work. They have nice wooden houses here, with 5 or 6, or sometimes 8 rooms, but no barns. The houses are all raised about 2 feet from the ground, that far they are made of bricks. The houses are not built as close together as in Groningen. Most of them are 4, 5 or 6 meters apart from each other, and in every house there is only one family. But I don’t believe that you would like to live here, because it’s all factory work here, and I don’t think that you would want to do that. When Pieter walked into the house, I did not recognize him: he is a short, fat guy.

For many, however, it’s better here than in the Netherlands. But they first have to get used to the situation here. But most people that come here are farm labourers, and they don’t want to work in a factory and also don’t want to live in a city. Yet it is much better here than in the Netherlands.

The women don’t have to go out to work. For our other brothers and sisters, it would have been much better if they had come here too. Kalamazoo has about 45,000 people, and 15,000 of them are Hollanders.

Now I wrote you all the little details. We eat with Dutch forks and spoons. There are a lot of Dutch stores here. Our landlady is a widow, with 2 children. A boy of 21 and a girl 26 years old. They have been here 5 years.

I must finish, because if I write any longer you won’t be able to read any of it. I greet all of you, big and small.

Your brother, Jan Stuit.