In the little town of Moddergat, near the North Sea, in the
province of Friesland, Wiltje Hoekstra worked for a farmer plowing fields. It was a crowded country, wet and cold most
of the year. William (Wiltje) and
Johanna had borne 12 children, including 3 sets of twins. Four of the children had died, Katie's twin,
John's twin and a small baby six months old, also 14 year old Eelkje
(Ida). It was a hard life, hard to find
enough food to go around the big table.
The women sold fish when the fishermen came home from the sea to help
out, but it was never enough..
So, Wiltje and Beppe (Johanna) decided it was time to go to
America where the land was cheap and there was lots of it..
They would go where some friends had already settled, the
Fishers and Woltjers in Clara City, Minnesota.
(The Fishers could be related to Johanna's maternal grand parent, Jeltje
Visser). It was decided that Pakka would
take the three older children and find a place to live, and mother would follow
later with the rest of the family. So he
left with Hendrik (Henry), Fobbe and Hielkje.
Henry's twin brother Klaas would stay behind and look after mother and
the younger children. Also, of course,
Klaas's sweetheart was there and he wanted to get married..
Wiltje and his children went to Clara City near their
friends and worked until they could buy some land. The children also found work wherever they
could, farming and keeping house..
One year later, Beppe came with Jeltje, Trijntje (Katie),
Detje (Deddie) and Jan (John). Klaas
couldn't persuade his bride to leave, so they stayed there..(At that time) in a
big sailboat, it took two weeks to get across the water. They were all sick except Jeltje, who managed
to get tea from the boat captain for the family..
They landed on Halifax Island and were taken to a high
building where they could look down at
all the little people and houses. It was
like Fairyland to little Deddie, age 4 and little John. Soon they were placed on a train headed for
Minnesota. They didn't have any food and
hardly any money, and couldn't speak English - What an experience! At one place, Beppe spotted an outdoor
fruitstand near the train tracks and sent Jeltje to buy some oranges to
eat. Beppe stood with one foot in the
train and one foot on the ground to be sure the train wouldn't go until Jeltje
was safely back onboard..
Deddie had taken her little doll all the way from Holland to
America, the one rememberance of her home across the big sea. It rode all the way across America on the
train too - but when they got off the train at Clara City, in all the
confusion, it was left behind. That sad
little girl still remembers it, although she is now 95 years old. She had ten children to take it's place but
there is still an empty spot in her heart..
So they came to this wild country with the big men dressed
in bear skins, who frightened little Dutch girls. But it is remembered as a good time too, when
everyone helped each other, building a church together, spending whole days in
church on Sunday, including picnic food, and having coffee served by the
Eufrou. They learned to play
instruments, and sing and have fun together.
Although, Wiltje and Beppe's family must have not had a lot of
togetherness, with each trying to make a living as best they could..
When Pakka was 68 years old, he died suddenly in
February. They had lived here for 18
years and had aquired several farms.
They had moved to Bill and Eleanor's farm - a farm with a big slough, as
it is remembered. Beppe felt bad that
her oldest twin son, Klaas, was still in Holland and hadn't seen his father
since they had left Holland and before he died.
She asked Jeltje to go back to the old country to try to persuade him to
come to America. Jeltje had married by
then and three children, George, Bill and Frieda. Aunt Deddie stayed with them until Jeltje
returned. She finally had their consent
to travel with her to America if the relatives would send the money. It was sent and they all came to be united
that fall. (Sept 1911).
Uncle Klaas settled on the Clarence Brower farm, Nick and
Julia Douma on the (now) Bill Douma farm, Henry on Harvey's farm and John on
the home farm where Beppe continued to live with them for 5 years. Fobbie was on the Wn. F. farm. Deddie went to Crookston and Katie to Pease
with their husbands. Later, Hielkje and
Wietze De Vries, and Nick and Jeltje Douma built the store in Roseland and
Deddie and Harry Plowman lived on their farm..
*This history was created from notes taken during a conversation
with Deddie, age 95 - the last living Hoekstra child of Wiltje and Johanna
Hoekstra - in the year 1984.
