Unusual Source – A Letter
While in the Navy, I received orders to Spain. Before I left, my grandfather gave me an old letter from a cousin of his who lived in the Netherlands. My grandfather, or Pake, was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the United States in 1912 with his family at the age of 4. As an adult, Pake connected with family still living in the area of Friesland, Netherlands and had always wanted to return to visit his place of birth. This letter, he told me, had the address of a cousin of his whom I should look up while I am close to there (the Netherlands – being as I was going to be in the same continent!) As is usual for a young, single person – life, loves, marriage, children and moving came between me and that goal my Pake set for me. Later in my life when the idea of family history and then genealogy came into my focus, I found that letter and took a chance to write the person listed on the envelope. It had been almost 15 years since I was handed that letter!
Back then to write international letters, it was customary to purchase special Par Avion paper and envelopes, which were very fragile. I had kept this particular letter in the back of my Bible to keep it safe. I carefully took out the envelope from its safe place and copied down the address to Willem Dijkstra. I wrote explaining who I was and that I would like to learn more about my Dutch heritage and family. Then I waited. And I waited. Months had gone by and I had given up hope of hearing back from him. Then, one day, I received a letter from the Netherlands. I was so excited; it was from HIM! He explained that he and his wife had sold the house my letter was addressed to and had moved into an apartment in Veenendaal. Fortunately, the owners of the house knew of Willem but it took some time for them to track down his current address. Once they did, they sent my letter on to him.
That began a decades long series of correspondences, eventually moving on to email, discussing my Dutch roots. He shared with me the family tree of my Dykstra/Dijkstra ancestors that had been compiled by him and other family members back to my sixth great grandfather! From those correspondences I was able to discover a cousin and her husband that are also interested in genealogy in Workum, Netherlands (Peter and Cobi) and a cousin on my grandmothers’ Vierstra line (Sibble). I was able to meet with both of these cousins when my husband and I visited the Netherlands in 2003. Another small world event occurred when I was working out logistics of visiting with both of these families. It turned out that Peter and Sibble worked together in the same police unit at one time in their careers!
I made so many connections from that one simple act of my Pake handing me a letter he hoped I would use to connect to my Dutch roots. I can’t thank him enough for that.