Mary and Jozeph Van Schaick

Jozeph entered Canada through Pier 21 in Halifax, in May, 1953. He came on the Waterman. He began writing to Mary VanBysterveldt and went to Holland to marry her. They entered Canada through Pier 21 on Holy Saturday, April, 1956. The ship was the Ryndam.

As they tell their story:

We went to P. E. I. to work on our sponsor's farm in Clyde River. In August of 1956, we were offered a 100 acre farm in Riverdale for $2000. We lived on the farm while trying to raise the money to buy it. Besides working the farm our rent was to pay the school tax: two cords (4' x 4' x 8') of firewood cut and split. Eventually, Joe worked for Agriculture Canada, Meat Inspection Division, as an inspector at Canada Packers in Charlottetown and various places. We lived in Southport. Along the way we had 8 children: Sophia, Mary, Jozeph, Cornelius, Patricia, Vincent, Anna Marie (d. 1966) and Pieter. In 1972, we moved to Big Bras d'Or, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia where we bought and ran Mountain View by the Sea, a tourist business, and Bird Island Tours, a boat tour to see the Atlantic puffin. We retired in 1997. We now live in Heritage Village, Vineland, Ontario. We are enjoying retirement.