Fokke, Homiena van der Veen Family

My parents, Fokke (Frank) and Homiena van der Veen, arrived in Canada on October 23, 1953 on the Groote Beer at Pier 21 from The Netherlands.

They came with their 5 children, Grietje (Margaret) 12, nearly 13, Jan 11, nearly 12, Hans 7 and the twins Arnold and Ina nearly 2 years of age. Unlike many immigrants my parents decide to come to Canada not from economic need, but because my father wanted to farm and as the owner of a grocery store in Laren, Gelderland, he would not have been able to fulfill his dream. Ever since the end of the war he had dreamed of emigration - he very much wanted to go to the United States as several of his relatives of an earlier generation had gone to the Denver area via Ellis Island, but he had no sponsors in the U.S. He considered New Zealand and Australia as well, but my mother was adamant that she would not move so far away, so Canada was a compromise. It took a long time to persuade her, as she was a 'town' person who had worked in stores all her life and who thought the idea of a farm repugnant. My father had a sister, who had immigrated a couple of years earlier to Southern Ontario, so St. Thomas was settled on as a destination.

Finally, my mother reluctantly agreed to move and the plans were put into motion. A passage was booked for August 1953 on the Queen Mary as my mother did not want to go on an 'immigrant boat', but as it turned out, my twin brother had a severe case of eczema and was denied permission to enter for 6 weeks, leaving as their only option to travel on the Groote Beer when the situation was resolved 6 weeks later. - hence the October passage on an 'immigrant boat' after all. As 'paying passengers' they received better rooms and food and mingled little with those below deck - not that the food helped much as all of us, except my 7 year old brother, Hans, were terribly seasick - so much so that my mother will never travel on a boat EVER again.

I can only imagine the horror of that passage for my mother - terribly upset to leave her family whom she thought she may never see again, to leave a life of comfort with work in a business that she loved to move to a new country where neither of them spoke the language, with 5 children. For my father it was an adventure and a new life, but for my mother it was a new life she did not want. Because the Dutch government only allowed a certain amount of money to go with emigrants (otherwise it would have been too much of a drain on the economy), my parents prepared very well for the future.

Two huge wooden containers accompanied them (each as big as a small garage - filled with new furniture, pots and pans, dishes and enough clothing for all the children for the next 2 years at least. That way, the prohibition against taking their money out of the country was less of a hardship. A small aside: even though my mother had planned so well with clothing, a problem arose once my elder brothers and sister enrolled in schools in St. Thomas, Ontario. Their 'Dutch' clothing was so obviously 'different' that they hated wearing it, so with great reluctance, my mother allowed my two elder brothers to have denim jeans to fit in with all the other boys at their school, even though she considered such clothing unfit for school wear.

Having survived the nightmare of a late fall sea crossing and arrival in Halifax at Pier 21, they immediately boarded the train to go to St. Thomas - cases were put on the floor between seats so that my brothers and sister could lie out and sleep with some comfort while my parents watched the countryside roll by. It was not an auspicious scene as it was October and everything outside looked 'dead', the land up to Montreal did not look very fertile and the farms were scraggly affairs of rock-strewn fields with the odd frame house. Still, they got to St. Thomas and after a few days with my father's sister moved to a rented house in St. Thomas. Almost immediately my father got a job in construction that lasted for a few months till he received permanent employment at the St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital as an attendant - the plan being that this would give a steady income to cope with the vagarities of owning a farm (an occupation about which my father knew almost nothing). A farm was purchased in New Sarum, Ontario, a hamlet between St. Thomas and Aylmer, Ontario in that first year. The Dutch government did allow money to be transferred if an emigrant bought property in their new country. There they stayed for 5 years and then purchased another farm where my father had a purebred Holstein Friesian dairy herd for a number of years, while my brothers were at home to assist him. He always remained working at the hospital until he retired at age 65 and therefore farming was a part time occupation, although a full time love.

My mother accepted Canada gradually but found it hard to adjust , although both learned the language expertly. They did find the 'immigrant' culture somewhat of a trial - many of those who left the Netherlands were poor and very conservative in their views, especially relating to religion - this persisted and still persists in some areas making these "Dutchmen" into a culture in isolation clinging to the social and religious mores of 50 plus years ago . My parents found these views difficult to accept and became members of the Presbyterian Church. My mother also joined more 'Canadian' groups such as The Womens Institute, that she enjoyed and felt comfortable in. All of the children feel Canadian by now - we were educated in Canada and several of uis have advanced degrees. I am the only one who lives, for the time being, in the United States although I expect my husband (a later emigrant from Scotland, who came to Canada after his Phd to work at McMaster University) and I will return to Canada once we retire. My father passed away last November (2002) and my mother still lives in St. Thomas