The first Slingerland we know of is a certain Aart Slingerland who came to Berkenwoude and started farming in Westeinde 11, the farm where my mother was born. (Later another family history traced the line back to Teunis Slingerland, baptized November 16, 1653). We don’t know when he came but we know that he was born October 21, 1770. He was my great, great, great grandfather. After him his son took over the farm. This was Jacob Slingerland who lived from 1802 until 1881. After him his son, another Jacob Slingerland took over who lived from March 11, 1837 to June 29, 1919. He was my great grandfather. I never heard anything about him but mother must have known him very well as she was 20 years old when he died.

After him, the third Jacob Slingerland came to the farm. This was my grandfather, He was born on July 6, 1869. My great grandmother’s name was Judith. That is all I know about her. As far as I know Opa had one sister, tante Gerrigje. She married Willem den Boer in Stein. That is just on the other side of the river Issel across from Haastrecht. I guess she was younger than Opa. Uncle Willem I knew very vaguely, but I knew Aunt Gerrigje much better. She still lived on the farm where her two married sons were farming, Nie and Gerrit. I came there quite often for my work. I also know another son, Pauw. I don’t know if they had other children. Opa must have had some brothers. I have heard about an Uncle Teunis in Oudewater. Opa died July 9, 1963 at age of 94. I guess he farmed until 1940 or 41, when my uncle Jacob took over, who was born in 1909 and later lived across the road from the farm when his son Jacob took over. This is now the fifth Jacob Slingerland in the family and his oldest son is also Jacob Slingerland, born in 1960.

This is all I know about the Slingerland family. I could have known much more. In 1958 or 1960 I met a Mrs. Slingerland in St.Catharines. She was a widow and had emigrated from Driebergen. She was the mother of Jacob and Gijs Slingerland of St.Catharines, the grandmother of Ralph Slingerland who married Elsie Bruinekool (a niece/cousin on the Brouwer side). She told me a lot about the Slingerland background. We were related five generations back. Some of the Slingerlands went to Indonesia and some went to America, however I didn’t write it down and now I don’t remember.

The Slingerland resemblance is very strong. I know that there were Slingerlands living in Lekkerkerk but had never heard if we were related. However, some years ago I saw a family picture of one of these Slingerlands and was amazed how easily I could see the resemblance. In the 1950s when I worked in the General Hospital in St.Catharines I saw an older nurse and thought she looked exactly like my aunt Judith. I was very surprised to see her name tag which said Judith Slingerland. Later when I knew her better she told me that one of her forefathers had come from Holland in the 1700s, likely in the time of William Penn and later moved to Canada with the United Empire Loyalists. Still you could clearly notice the strong Slingerland resemblance. I also experienced this with my Uncle Maarten and Uncle Cornelis who lived in Alberta.

My grandmother’s name was Jannigje de Jong. She was born May 30, 1873 in Oudekerk aan de IJssel. Her father was Cornelis Maartenszn, de Jong, a farmer in Ouderkerk a/d IJssel, born December 11, 1849, and her mother’s name was Jannigje de Boer, born in 1849. She was the oldest in the family. I believe that she had 2 or 3 brothers and 7 sisters. Her youngest brother, Jan,didn’t have children. When his wife died around 1978 we were mentioned in their papers as part of the inheritance and from those papers I learned some of the family situation.

This picture was taken October 31, 1912 at the wedding of my grandmother’s youngest sister, Tante Adriana who married with Pieter Hoogendijk. I have known quite a few of their children and even was in college with the youngest son in the same class who was several years younger than me. He was a cousin of my mother.

In the front row sits my great grandfather Cornelis Maartenszn de Jong, born December 11, 1849 who was then almost 63 years old. Originally, they came from the same de Jong family as my father’s family from Kampen aan den Yssel.

The first 6 generations we knew were the same. The last common parents were Maarten de Jong and Childa Alberts who married April 26, 1776. From there the family split. They had a large farm in Oudenkerk aan den Yssel. This family were all large farmers, quite well to do.

Beside him sits his wife Jannegje den Boer. They were married April 26, 1872.

Beside my great grandmother sits her oldest daughter, Jannigje, born May 30, 1873. This is my grandmother. She married Jacob Slingerland March 15, 1895. My grandmother was 39 years old already at her sister’s wedding and had 11 children. Then Opa Slingerland is in the back row, 4^th from the left. Beside my grandmother sits her sister Gerrigje, 6^th from left front row. She was married with Frans Goudrian (sp?) 7^th from left back row. They also farmed in Oudenkerk a/d Yssel. I have known some of their younger children. The last one on the front row is Tante Janna, who married Ewond van den Heuvel. Standing behind her, the first on the front row was Oma’s sister Tante Cor. Here she was still single. Later she married Jacob Both and had one son, Jacob. He was half a year older than Adam and I even went to school with him for one year and I still have a school picture that we were both on. Later I have known him very well. When he went to school he had his 3^rd mother, so tante Cor as well as the 2^nd mother must have died very young.

The second from left is Tante Neeltje. She married Willem Graveland, 5^th from left on the back row. They had a very big farm in Stien by Haastrecht. The farm was named “Het Klooster” so likely it had been a monastery before. That area is still mainly Catholic. I have been there several times when their son Willem was the farmer and tante Neeltje lived in with them. There was a very large front room with a lot of very valuable antiques in it. I remember that they had a highchair which had been used by Erasmus who grew up there.

The 4^th in the middle row is Oma’s youngest sister, Tante Margje. She married with Dirk Hoogendijk, 6th from the left on the back row. The two Hoogendijk’s were not related. At least not closely. They were probably the wealthiest of the family. I have known several of their children.

Oma had three brothers. Oom Jan is 1^st left on the back row. His wife, Tante Beth, stands in front of him. She was his second wife. They had no children. I was there once. They were well to do. As they had no children and they had always been very active in charity organizations the family had expected that all their money would go there. They also didn’t expect it to be very much since Tante Beth lived in a Senior’s home for many years. When Tante Beth died in 1978, everybody was surprised that all of their inheritance went to all of the relatives. At that time 14 of the 70 nephews and nieces had died already. One half went to the De Jong family and the other half to Aunt Beth’s relatives, the Schouten family.

When everything was sold and the expenses deducted there was almost a million guiders. It could have been more. A cousin of mother had rented the farm for many years and had the first opportunity to buy it for the price they had asked when he died. Several relatives thought this price was way too low and make a court case out of it. I believe it was only slightly on the low side. I’m never in favour of court cases but I thought this was ridiculous, but nothing could be done till the court decided which took a couple of years. Land and farms were extremely scarce in Holland and that caused farm prices to be quite inflated, especially since the second world war. At just that time the bottom fell out of the market and farm prices fell by about 50% in two year’s time. Instead of gaining they lost a considerable amount, although the fact that there were no children or brothers and sisters and everything went to the first and second nephews and nieces, the successor rights were very high. The government took about half of it. Still there was 575,816,51 guilders left to divide between the relatives and the Slingerland family received much more than expected.

My name was in the testament also and I believe that I received a 1/1140 part which came to about 384 guilders. The will (testament) also said that everything had to be sold by auction. But only persons whose name were mentioned in the will were allowed to attend. As I happened to be in Holland for a trip I went to that auction and bought several items. One was a nice old painting. Later I gave it to Betty, and it still hangs in their living room. 

The second from left in the back row was Oom Maarten with his wife Tante Annigje in front. They also had a big farm in Oudenkerk but almost at the border of Berkenwoude. I have known Tange Annigje well and most of their children and went to school with the two youngest. They were a few years older than me. Oom Maarten died quite young. He fell from a load of hay and broke his neck leaving a widow and a large family behind. The 3rd on the back row is Oom Willem. In front of him is his wife, Tante Bartje. I know almost nothing about him, only that he was married three times. I believe that Tante Bartje was his first wife, but I am not sure of that.

The engagement picture of Opa and Oma Slingerland was taken in 1895 or before. We called her Opoe. Also for mother we usually said ‘poe” and for father, “pa”. Since photography was still very new these pictures are of quite good quality. There were several pictures of this time, most of which have gone to other family members. It surprises me that an orthodox family like ours took pictures as several people thought that taking pictures was a sin breaking the second commandment.

This is a picture of Opa and Oma Slingerland beside the barn with the whole family. This picture is probably taken in 1923. Opoe always wore that white hat. When she went to church or visiting she wore one that was more expensive with a small black one on top. Later she stopped wearing the black one as they went out of style, but I guess she wore the white one till the end of her life. She was one of the last ones in our area who still wore those white caps.

The oldest one was Tante Ju (Judith) born November 18, 1896. She was named after Opa’s mother Judith Hoogendoorn. She married Cornelis Suijker who was born May 4, 1895. First they farmed in Berkenwoude, later in Nieuwerkerk aan de Yssel (Hitland), beside where Tante Ju and Gerrit van de Klocht live. Oom Cornelis died suddenly on May 5, 1937. He underwent an operation to remove his appendix and didn’t survive the operation. They had seven children. One of the oldest died as a baby or toddler. The youngest was born almost 9 months after Oom Cornelis died. When he died, they didn’t know that Tante Ju was pregnant. The third child, Cor was about a year old and the fourth, Lies, almost a year younger than me. She was in my class for several years. Tante Ju is in the first row left, beside Opa.

Tante Ju died June 5, 1983 at 87 years of age. She was a widow for more than 46 years. Oom Cornelis died May 5, 1937, one day after his 42^nd birthday. Cornelis was usually pronounced Knelis, but some were called Cor. When Uncle Knelis died, Oom Maarten went there to farm. Later he married and took over the farm. Tante Ju was forced to leave the farm for financial reasons. It was in the 9^th year of the depression. She moved with her family to Berkenwoude and moved to the front apartment of Opa’s farm and tried to make a living with sewing and likely had some very hard years.

Oom Cornelis was the second, front row right, born February 27, 1898. He married Jannigje Suijker who was born July 8, 1904 so she was 6 ½ years younger. The oldest daughter Janny was half a year older than me and was in my class in school. They rented a large but very old farm almost beside Opa’s, just a little closer to the village. They had 10 children but two died as toddlers, one of them from leukemia. The buildings were very old but built quite strong as it had a flood ceiling. In case of a flood, should the dikes break, the cattle could be brought to the second storey and the family could live on the 2^nd storey as well. This is about the only farm in our area that was built that way. In the Alblasserwaard, on the other side of the Lek river, the dikes broke much more often and this practice was more common. If a dike broke the fields could sometimes be covered by up to 10 feet of water.

Tante Jannigje was a sister of Oom Cornelis Suijker who married Tante Ju. They rented that farm for about 25 years. However, in the early 1950s they could no longer rent it since a son of the owner wanted to farm there. As there were almost no farms for rent or for sale they decided to emigrate and went to Alberta in 1952 and started farming there. Their second daughter, Fijgje, had a boyfriend then and she wanted to stay behind, but Oom Cor made her go along. He promised that if she still wanted to go back after a year he would let her go and pay the travel cost for her. She went back after one year and married in Holland. They lived in Holland for several years but then they decided to emigrate. The other children all married in Alberta and most raised large families. Oom Cornelis died there on October 18, 1978 at 80 years of age of lung cancer. Tante Janningje died four years later on September 6, 1997 at the 93 years of age. We visited them in 1977.

Oom Cornelis was not very neat and when they lived on the big old farm in Holland, we found it was always quite messy. When we visited them in Alberta where they lived in a new bungalow I was surprised at how neat and tidy it was. Their children’s places were all very neat too with one exception. At one of their sons, it was neat to the extreme. Tante Jannigje became very forgetful and senile later in life. She was restless unless they let her knit stockings which settled her and made her happy. At first they tried to keep her from knitting on Sundays but later they had to give in. The last few years her knitting became so sloppy that the stockings were useless but it was the only thing that could keep her quiet and happy. When we were there in 1977 we went with Oom Maarten to the large cattle markets. Oom Cornelis was there too. Large herds of beef cattle were driven to the auction rings by a group of young cowboys on horses that went all on the run. At least two of those cowboys were female and when one of them raced past us, Oom Cornelis said that she was his granddaughter, a daughter of Fijgje. I understood that he was not so happy that she had become a cowgirl.

Mother was the third in the family, but more will come about her later. She is in the back row, second from left behind Opa.

Tante Gerrigje was fourth. We called her Tante Ger. She was born April 19, 1901. She is the 6^th  in the back row, behind Opa. She also married a Suijker, Oom Gijs, a brother of Oom Cornelis and Tante Jannigje. They had a much smaller farm in the same neighbourhood. It was very neat and he had very good purebred cattle. They first had a son and later 3 girls. The two oldest were older than me.  Oom Gijs died February 3, 1984 at age 84. Tante Ger died April 26, 1992 at 91 years of age. She was completely blind for the last 10 years of her life but was still able to do some tasks, particularly knitting. When she was by herself she became quite agitated.

Their son, Willem, was very active in the underground during the war. He didn’t like farming. He was once working in the field when an English plane was shot down not very far away. He ran to it and was able to hide the pilot before the German army arrived. Then he needed the help of the other underground group later to get this pilot back to England. He was quite sure that another uncle, Harry Markus, was involved in the underground. So he approached him and they got the pilot back to England and for this reason they accepted him as a member of the underground. They were very careful about who they accepted as it was extremely dangerous. They not only wanted people who were fearless and resourceful and could handle very stressful situations, but they also had to be sure that they had the strength to keep their mouth closed when they were captured and tortured. Berkenwoude had quite a strong underground group and many weapons were dropped there and militia trained. After the war, and after trying a few different jobs, he became a minister in the Netherlands Reformed Congregation and served churches in Canada and the USA. He was about 3 years older than me. He died about 10 years ago (1993). His widow and two children with their families still live in the Norwich area. The three girls are shown in picture L4 on page 3. They were visiting Opoe. They lived close by on that picture. Opoe is bareheaded in this picture.

Tante Co (Jacoba) is number 5, born November 9, 1902. She is the one standing left on the picture. She was the tallest, good looking, friendly and a real lady. She must have married young, probably hardly 20 years old. She married Wout van den Broek who was 8 years older than her, born on October 7, 1894. He was the oldest in the family, six weeks older than my father. He was a farmer’s son, but never farmed himself. He liked to invent things which were not always successful. He went broke a few times but always came back with something else and later was very successful and became quite wealthy. At first they lived in Nieuwerkerk but later moved to Driebergen and their house was quite a mansion. Since they lived quite a distance away we never had close contact with them. Their first child was a girl, then a boy, then 2 girls followed by 6 boys. Three or four of them were older than me. The oldest son Jaap, (Jacob), was three years older than me. Three years in a row he was able to get a year postponement for his military training to finish his studies. The fourth year he tried again but failed and then he had to join the army, the same time as me and in the same company. After five months of heavy training we were set to leave for the war in Indonesia. Shortly before leaving he received notice that he could stay in Holland. The whole family was very happy as a lot of soldiers had already died in Indonesia. I was in Indonesia about six weeks when I got a letter that told me that Jaap had died in a tractor accident. He had married about 2 or 3 weeks before. Oom Wout died November 15, 1966 at 72 years of age and Tante Co died on July 7, 1993, about 91 years of age.

Tante Nee (Neeltje) is number 6. She was born May 22, 1904. She is the fourth in the back row standing behind the little table. She married Tinus van der Spek, who was born October 31, 1900. They lived in Moor Capelle. Tante Nee had 11 children, two girls were twins. We could get there in little more than an hour on our bikes. They lived in the polder where the soil was heavy clay. They were cash croppers. Their main products were wheat, potatoes and sugar beets. The oldest son, Arie, was a few months younger than me and we were friends for many years. Every holiday we spent one or more weeks there. They were our favourite Uncle and Aunt. Arie also had to go for his military training the same time and in the same company, so we were there with 3 cousins. Arie and I left for Indonesia on February 11, 1949 on the same boat. Shortly after we arrived he was stationed in a different area and we lost contact. After this I never had much contact with this family. From Arie I know that they bought a farm in the province of Groningen. His wife died 10 or 15 years ago, and he later remarried with a woman who was about 30 years younger than he was. He had a son who is the principal of the Netherland Reformed School in Norwich. That principal visited us once a few years ago with his family. Tante Nee died February 6, 1985 at 80 years of age and Uncle Tinus died at the age of 87 on April 3, 1988.

Tante Heiltje is the seventh child. She was born July 21, 1905. In the picture she is on the right on the back row. She married Harry (Huig?) Markus who was born June 21, 1903. They lived in the same neighbourhood with four large farmer families who all were members of the Netherlands Reformed congregation. There was not much entertainment at that time. In the fall large amounts of winter supplies had to be prepared. Beans had to be cleaned and salted in barrels as well as a few barrels of sauerkraut. Apples and pears had to be peeled and prepared for drying and there was the fall butchering, etc. Usually two or three families did this together. Dates were set for these jobs ahead of time and it was a very welcome opportunity for the young people to visit for a whole evening and likely how many relationships and marriages started.

These families were 1 Slingerland, 2 Suijker, 3 Markus and 4, Bath. One of Oma’s brothers married a Suijker and two of her sisters (almost 3 of her sisters), 1 brother and 1 sister married a Markus and 1 sister a Bath. When Oom Harry had to go for his military training he joined the Huzaren, an elite corps who rode horses. He became a sergeant which was quite an accomplishment then for a farmer’s boy who had only grade school education. After leaving the army he didn’t want to farm but started a trucking business which was quite a new thing at that time. He bought a large truck and brought cattle and pigs to the market, transported straw, hay and whatever he could get his hands on from local businesses as well. The business is still there, run by his sons and some grandchildren.

After they were married they settled in the center of the village. The front room was rebuilt into a grocery store, much like a cornerstore, but much smaller and Tante Heiltje ran the store. It was halfway, a short distance from the bus stop to our school. Money was very scarce so it was seldom we could go there to spend a penny or a half penny on candy. Other children could do this more frequently. If we had a chance we took our time to look at every candy to make sure we had the best deal. Tante Heiltje must have had a lot of patience. She also had to take care of her own family, the household tasks, the meals, the children, etc., while continually being interrupted by the doorbell. They had six children. The oldest, Willem, was 1 ½ year younger than me and was 1 grade below me in school, but as our school only had 2 rooms then we were usually in the same classroom. We got along very well and he later became a school principal. The youngest died in a freak accident. A wall collapsed on top of him just when he passed by, killing him instantly. He had just finished his teacher’s training. Oom Huig was one of the leaders in the underground and was in hiding the last few years of the war. Running the underground from his hiding place, which was known to only 1 or 2 others. Oom Huig died September 12, 1982 at 79 years of age. Tante Heiltje died on March 28, 1990 at the 84 years of age. Later in life she was diabetic. I remember that one time when I was in Holland for a trip and visited, one of her legs had been amputated.

The other aunt and five uncles were all still single when I started school and I remember that they were still living at home. We visited them very often as the farm was not far from school and whenever mother was sick, or another baby was born we were sent to Opoe for a few weeks. We loved it there. It was a large farm. They milked more than 40 cows which was a lot for our area. But the most special was that no one else such nice cows as Opa. He had cows that were black, black and white, red, several shades of grey blue and some with very strange markings. Opa loved these strange colours. It was well known by the cattle dealers so when they saw an unusual, coloured cow that was good quality they bought it for Opa knowing that Slingerland was always willing to pay extra to have a colour that nobody else had. It is the only place where I have ever seen an albino cow. They also had a very large pig barn.

There were all kinds of animals. Besides a few tame doves in a cage in the house they had several cats and two dogs. They usually had two horses as well, many pigeons, ducks and at least 30 pair of swans who were all over the polder. In the fall they had to be caught before they started to fly. Sometimes they were flying already and then it was tricky to catch them. We tried to get them in a narrow ditch (sloot) with a trap at the end and that had to be ahead of the wind and we had to be very close behind them so they didn’t have a chance to turn around and fly away. Ducks and especially swans can only lift off against the wind otherwise they don’t get enough wind under their wings. After catching them they were locked up for a while and grain fed. Some of them were sold and the others banded and a small piece of one wing clipped so they couldn’t fly anymore. Then they were kept inside for a while to tame them and after releasing them they were still grain fed to keep them close to the house. Two of Opa’s neighbours also kept ducks but all three had different breeds. Opa’s ducks were the largest and black or dark brown. One neighbour had Mallards and the other had a small white breed. They also had goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. It was a real Eldorado for us school boys.

Oom Jacob was number 8, born February 17, 1909. He was the last one to get married. Most of the Slingerlands married young. Mother was 21 and at least Tante Co and Oom Maarten were younger when they got married. There were two exceptions, Oom Cornelis and Oom Jaap, who were both 29 years old when they married. I still remember that I thought that when Oom Jaap married at age 29 there wasn’t much use anymore, but I myself also married at age 29. It was in 1936 or 37 so I was likely 9 or 10 years old then. Oom Jaap was not very strong. He had a slight bump on his back and at first was not planning to go into farming but worked for several years as an orderly in a Christian mental institution. He later suddenly changed his mind and took over Opa’s farm. He was the fourth Jacob Slingerland who owned that farm. Later his son Jacob took over and now my cousin’s son, the 6^th Jacob Slingerland, owns the farm. Oom Jaap married Maria van der Spek who was born May 3, 1920. They had 13 children. Tante Marie died August 16, 1978 at 68 years of age and Oom Jaap died July 10, 1995 at the age of 86 years. He was a widower for more than 17 years. He almost married a second time with a woman about 20 years younger who I went to school with. She was a few years younger than me. Shortly before the wedding some of the children told her they were very upset about this second marriage and then she changed her mind. Oom Jaap is the fifth in the back row behind Opa.

Oom Teunis is the 9^th, born November 8, 1910. He married Marrigje Anker, another local farmer’s daughter. She was born on March 10, 1911. I remember the wedding and must have been in grade 1 or 2. He is the 3^rd in the back row beside Oma de Jong. He was one of my favourite uncles and I spent a lot of time there. They rented a farm in Zuidbroek, part of Bergambacht, close to Berkenwoude. Later he bought some extra fields close by in the beginning of the war. The second son, Arie, played with matches and the whole farm burned down. Likely in November because just the day before all the cattle were brought inside. A German soldier was stationed there. He was a farmer’s son and had given them a hand with bringing the cattle into the stable and tying them up. With his help they were able to get all the cattle out on time. The rental contract ended the next spring, but he was not able to renew it again because the owner was very angry about the fire. He then bought a small farm from another neighbour, built an extra barn and with the fields he owned he still had a fairly nicely farm. The farm owner made quite a hassle, trying to void the new farm and even tried to get the fields that were not his. Luckily he was not successful. They had seven children. Oom Teunis died of stomach cancer at the age of 56 on October 10, 1967. Tante Marrigje died in 2001 or 2002. She was 90 years old and a widow for 34 years. She was quite heavy and was in a wheelchair for years.

Tante Cor and Oom Marinus The twins were next, born on July 11, 1912. Tante Cor was born first. I believe she married in 1936 with Leendert Bath who was born September 15, 1909. He was a local farmer’s son but became a policeman in Schierdam till his retirement. About 5 years ago they moved to a senior’s apartment in Gouda to be closer to the children. Soon after moving Oom Leendert developed Alzheimer’s and became quite belligerent and had to go live in an institution quite close by. For more than 3 years Tante Cor walked over every day from about 11 am to 6 p so she could feed him twice each day. After 1 ½ years he fell and broke his leg badly and was never able to walk again and had to be tied into his chair. He could not accept his handicap and was not an easy patient. I was planning to visit him just before I went to Norway (June 2003) but that day he had a stroke and he died while I was in Scandinavia. He was almost 93 years old. I visited Tante Cor when I was back in Holland. She is still in good health managing to take care of herself and keep her house neat. She is 90 years old now. She is the 3^rd in the front row sitting partly on Opa’s chair. They had 4 children. Tante Cor died on December 18, 2010.

The other twin was Oom Marinus (Rien). He married about the same time and was a farmer all his life, renting three different farms. Oom Jaap worked for him for years. The second place they lived was in Beyerse close to Van Bommel and that is where Oom Jaap met Tante Riek. Oom Rien is the second from the right in the back row. Between Tante Ger and Tante Heilgje. He married Cornelia Markus, a sister of Oom Huig. She was born November 16, 1912. They had 7 children. Oom Rien died July 29, 1980 of stomach cancer at 68 years of age. He was the fourth of the family who died of stomach cancer. Tante Cornelia died July 20, 1998 at the age of 85 years.

Oom Wim (Willem) was the 12^th of the family. He was a very friendly and humourous man. He married Marie Visser, a farmer’s daughter from Moordrecht about an hour’s distance by bike from Berkenwoude. She was born on May 30, 1916. Oom Wim was born November 27, 1914. When they married they moved to a nearby house and kept working on the farm with the plans to take over the farm later. When Oom Jaap suddenly decided he wanted to farm they decided to let Oom Jaap and Oom Wim share the farm. Opa retired and moved to another home with Tante Ju and her family as they were still at home and lived with him. Oom Jaap married and moved into the farmhouse. The brothers were very different in character. Oom Wim, the jolly one, and Oom Jaap, the most solemn of the Slingerlands. I don’t know the details of how things went but after 3 or 4 years Oom Wim stepped out of it. He moved to Moordrecht and bought a milk business, selling milk and milk products door to door. He also had a small field with a couple of cows. That was a nice business for a friendly man who loved to meet people.

In his spare time he caught moles. In our area which was all peat, moles were a real problem and they multiplied fast. If they were not kept under control they could really ruin the pastures and hay field. When we were young it was not too big a problem. There were always enough people willing to trap moles as during that time the skins were worth enough for people to make some extra money. Now it is not worthwhile to prepare the skins and farmers pay somebody to keep the mole population under control. Oom Wim has been retired for years now but still likes to catch moles. He loved to go through the field and is a real outdoor man. Now he only prepares the skins of the ones who are of a different colour. He showed me an albino, a brown one and a beige one and several others. I visited him this summer (2003).  He is now 88 years old, still in good health and still a happy man. They had nine children. I have known only a few of the oldest. Tante Marie died August 19, 1996 at 80 years of age. For years she suffered from poor eyesight and at the end she was completely blind. Oom Willem died September 7, 2011.

Oom Maarten was the youngest, born May 10, 1917. He usually helped Oom Cornelis Suijker. After Oom Cor’s death he ran the farm and later took it over. There he met Gonda Vordugen, the oldest daughter of Dad’s oldest sister. They farmed in Nieuwerkerk at that time. They married very young, so from a cousin she became an aunt. Both were related to us but not to one another. They had 15 children, one of whom died very young. They farmed there till shortly after the war but had to move for a few years to Berkenwoude during the war as their polder, close to Rotterdam, was under water for a few years. After the war they moved back as the buildings which were on higher ground were not damaged. It was not easy to bring those fields back into production. After a few years they stopped farming and moved to Ermelo in Gelderland where they had bought a chicken hatchery. This was not too successful and as Oom Cornelis was doing quite well in Alberta, they decided to emigrate also and moved to Canada in 1956. All their children are married now. Most still live in Alberta. A few have moved to British Columbia and the second oldest, Janny, moved back to Holland later and married a widower. Oom Maarten and Tante Gonda are both 85 years old now and in fairly good health. [Oom Maarten died on April 7, 2012 and I believe Tante Gonda is still alive.]

This completes the section on Oma’s brothers and sisters.

Cor de Jong included more photos (of aunts, uncles and cousins) with this section. They can be found in the PDF version of his memoirs