Category: Memoirs
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Elizabeth Stuit Letters
Read More: Elizabeth Stuit Letters1908 – 1912 Elizabeth Stuit is my great-great-aunt — an aunt of my grandmother Dina van der Laan. Her untimely death at the age of 23, some 113 years ago, is in the distant past. That, and, being among so many in that generation of my ancestors, should relegate her to the fringes of who…
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Settling In
Read More: Settling InAnd so, our marriage started, very simple and peaceful. Harm was busy in the fields and in the stables. We had seven cows and two horses, a few hundred chickens and a stable full of pigs. First, I had many things to do in the house, like painting and wallpapering. The house had become somewhat…
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Harm van der Laan
Read More: Harm van der LaanThese detailed memoirs of Harm van der Laan served as the basis for a book about the family’s history till 1955.
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Sinking of the S.S.Friesland
Read More: Sinking of the S.S.FrieslandOn 27 October, squally weather, choppy sea, wind North 5, visibility 8 to 10 miles. At about 11 a.m. an aircraft was observed coming from an easterly direction at about 100 metres altitude.
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Adventures on the Gaasterland
Read More: Adventures on the GaasterlandIn 1922, I commanded the S.S. Gaasterland (S.S.M) . It was winter, but I don’t remember the exact date. We were on our way from New Castle to Amsterdam with a cargo of coal.
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Experiences of Pieter de Jong
Read More: Experiences of Pieter de JongFrom 1904 to 1907 I went on J. Roos’ barge. Then my career in merchant shipping began. On 28 April 1907, I embarked as messenger boy on the S.S. “Danae” of the KNSM.
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Dear Kees and Hittie
Read More: Dear Kees and HittieMy children said: Dad must still have something to do, and gave me a computer for my 60th birthday. You didn’t know that for quite a few years in the past, I wrote a Dutch page in a Dutch-Canadian weekly.
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Off the Island
Read More: Off the IslandI used to be a member of the singing society “Sursum Corda”. Now, in 1972, this society still exists. My brothers Jacob and Tjebbe, and sister Griet were also members. We met in “Ons Huis”. And how we could sing there.
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Mischief on the Street
Read More: Mischief on the StreetAs boys wandering the streets of West Terschelling, we also sometimes did things that were not allowed. Before the 1914-1918 war, there were supporters and opponents of the Germans.
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Fast Trot on the Dellewal
Read More: Fast Trot on the DellewalI haven’t told you yet that I once took part in the hard trotting on the Dellewal. On Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday, there was a party on Terschelling.