Tag: family
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Aylmer, Canada, church, family, God, Jordan Station, London, music, organ, Sarnia, school, ship, Vennekerk
Occupations
Read More: OccupationsOpa Herman de Jong had the following occupations As you can see: a multi-checkered career. Of course, now these occupations were on a part-time basis, otherwise I would have had to live two lives. And now let’s start at the very beginning… Herman at work
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Retirement
Read More: RetirementFor My Descendants Living During The Year 2050 Moses had no computer. Yet the books of Moses have been written faultlessly, all the events within them seem to be in perfect chronological order, and Moses’ style of writing is to the point, succinct, and in places wonderfully poetic. Like Moses, I have no computer either.…
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Aylmer, Bach, blessed, Canada, church, college, family, London, marriage, music, politics, religion, school, ship, Toronto, university, Winschoten
Immigrants – The First Two Years
Read More: Immigrants – The First Two YearsThe train ride to Toronto was a two-day affair, at first interesting, then tedious, as we had little priority and were sidetracked for scheduled passenger- and freight trains many times. We did get a feeling for Canada’s extent and for the distance we were putting between us and Holland, between me and my girl. In…
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Aylmer to Granton
Read More: Aylmer to GrantonThat summer (1954) our parents had started to look for a farm of our own. Dad was itching to be his own man again, had occasional differences with boss Jerry and disputes with colleague Albert. By late summer several places were visited and then one became a serious candidate. It was in Middlesex County, north…
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boat, Canada, Christmas, church, emigration, family, God, organ, Rotterdam, school, ship, Vlagtwedde, Winschoten
The Emigration Leap
Read More: The Emigration LeapMom and Dad involved us older children in the deliberations about the future. We agreed that if we were to emigrate, it would not be Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or Brazil; the first two too far from Europe, the latter too different from us. The USA seemed too populous, too mighty and rich for…
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Bible, boat, Canada, Christmas, church, college, family, Groningen, organ, politics, religion, school, ship, Winschoten
Wedderveer
Read More: WedderveerThe farm in Wedderveer. Note the fruit trees close to the barn, the orchard of the neighbour Begeman on the right, the tractor shed at the back, the vegetable garden this side the clothesline and the rows of potatoes between clothesline and shed. On the left the small barn of our immediate neighbour Van der…
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Preface
Read More: PrefaceAutobiographies are a risky genre, they are about the authors as they perceive their life, partial, biased, subjective, egocentric, selective … All true, inevitable, so? This booklet is not the result of any research, of any consultation of others’ documents, not even of my own. It was written in about ten days spread over three…
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Marriage
Read More: MarriageWe were married on March 21st, 1934. All was ready, the beautiful new house for mother and the girls in the village. I had cleaned our house with Tiet’s help — put everything in place. It was a large house, the largest in the row of farms. The windows were very high and it took…
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Pa van der Laan’s Death
Read More: Pa van der Laan’s DeathOn a Wednesday in 1916, Pa van der Laan died suddenly. He had pneumonia and his heart failed. I came from school with Grietje [same age as Dina] — Jan had stayed home because his dad was sick. He met Grietje on her way back from school. Grietje cried so, and thus I came home…
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The van der Laan Family
Read More: The van der Laan FamilyI’ll write a little about Harm and his family. I was ten when the van der Laans moved from Zuidlaren to Vlagtwedde. Pa van der Laan was not healthy anymore. He often had pneumonia. They had a small vegetable farm in Zuidlaren and led busy lives. They grew all kinds of vegetables but especially beans…