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Children March 1953 - Groote Beer At the age of nine I emigrated with my family (parents and 2 older brothers) from the Netherlands to PEI, Canada in March of 1953. The decision to immigrate was made by my parents in order to provide the opportunity for a better future for their children. It must …
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Families September 30, 1952 - Groote Beer After returning from a five-year stay in Indonesia, Toon Maas courted Trees Holdrinet for a short period before proposing a marriage and immigration abroad. Toon and Trees (the common Dutch form of their names) were married in a civil ceremony in Oosterhout …
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Families September 21, 1952 – Groote Beer In 1952 my husband Johannes C. Kreeft and I left Holland with our three small children, Jacomina Susanna, Gerard Jan and Willem ages 5,4 and 3. We travelled aboard the Groote Beer, leaving September 21, 1952, arriving in Halifax 9 days later on September …
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Families April 1, 1953 - Waterman Times were hard in Holland then and although Pete worked hard to make a living for us, it was hard to provide us with a comfortable existence. In the years between 1945 to the early 1960’s a lot of people emigrated to other countries and stories started to go …
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Families August 11, 1953 – Sibajak My name is Anton Rouss. I arrived with my wife Paula (nee Van Den Berg, married on July 15th 1953) on the M.S. Sibajack on August 11th 1953 after leaving Rotterdam on August 3rd at 17.00 hours. I wrote a diary of the nine days on this ship: Monday August 3rd. – …
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Families October 28, 1953 – Groote Beer The immigration for me, siblings and parents started shortly after the Second World War when the word immigration was used for the first time at the J.D.Kloet family in Zierikzee. In the year 1947 the first immigrants left Holland under the motto of "we need …
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Families June 1953 – Groote Beer It was in the early fifties. There were a lot of people in Holland talking about "going to Canada." Many people were looking for a new start in life, a new adventure. My oldest sister Liz’s fiancé wanted to get married and immigrate to Canada to buy a farm. It was …
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Families Dutch Coalminer becomes National Parole Officer In 1946, at age 14, I was eager to get away from it all. Living in an industrial area in the south of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, we had come through the war with little or no harm. My parents had done their utmost to shield us from the …
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I was born in a small city of Sora (Province) Frosinone, Italy in 1940. I have one brother and two sisters. My parents were the most honest, lovable and hardworking people ever. It was their love for us that our values for life were taught. We were brought up as a very close lovable family. My …
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April 22, 1957 I landed in Halifax on April 22, 1957 at 9:15 in the morning. I remember it was Easter Monday; we were all there on deck watching the boat "Olympia" being docked by hand; gangs of men pulling huge ropes just like a tug-of-war game. Nobody spoke a word, each one deep in their own …