van Dongen

Our parents, Mary (Maria) Jacobs and Adrian (Adrianus) van Dongen were married in January 1951 in Rijen, Noord Brabant, Holland and came to Canada by boat (the Volendam) arriving at Pier 21, Halifax, on February 24th.

Dad wanted to farm. Like many others in Holland, his family didn’t have enough land to divide among all the children who wanted it and it was nearly impossible to find new farm land.

Attending an immigration course, Dad learned about opportunities in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil. They ruled out Brazil where you couldn’t own land privately and New Zealand and Australia because these would require a six-week journey by boat. They knew of others who had chosen Canada and they recognized Canadians as their liberators during the war so they had a great respect for them. Canada required only a ten-day boat trip. As it was, Dad was seasick for the entire ten days and spent the whole trip in bed.

From Halifax, they traveled to Cedar Springs, Ontario where they met their sponsor and started working on his fruit farm. Their first home was an apartment above a garage on that farm. In the mornings, they would hear the tractors starting below them and could smell the fumes. They knew very little English when they arrived but were grateful for a Japanese lady who was doing the same work as Mom and helped them learn the language.

Dad was earning seventy dollars a month, which paid for all their living expenses so every cent Mom earned went straight to savings. Dad was a good worker and the farmer knew it. Eventually his wage went up to ninety dollars a month but his work contract was ending the following spring. In December Mom was pregnant with their first baby and Dad asked for another raise. But when Christmas came, instead of a raise, they were given a turkey and a Christmas card telling them they had to move out of the apartment in March (the same month the baby was due.) Apparently, they had sponsored new immigrants to work on the farm.

Dad worked on a dairy and pig farm after that and, eventually, started working for various farmers. All the while they were saving as much money as they could. Within five years of arriving in Canada, they bought their own farm near Merlin, Ontario where they raised pigs and various cash crops. The first few years Dad also worked night shifts at a factory in Chatham. Talking about it later Mom recalled, “We didn’t have much money but we were happy.” The land on that farm was hard clay and a big disappointment for Dad. He loved farming but knew he needed better land and more acres to make a go of it.

Mom and Dad were devoted Catholics. In 1965, they saw a farm advertised in a Dutch magazine by a Dutch priest at the church in Kenilworth, Ontario, who wanted Dutch families to move to the area. Many other Dutch families found their farms through that same magazine. When Dad saw the farm, he wanted it right away.

We moved there in 1965, now with seven children in tow; eventually there would be eight. Here we became dairy farmers. Through dedication, hard work, and thanks in part to the establishment of the milk-quota system, our parents managed to finally create a nest egg for a comfortable retirement. It even allowed them to return several times to visit the family in Holland who they had left behind so many years ago, not knowing if they’d ever see each other again.

The farm near Kenilworth is still in the family today and, for us kids, will always be the place we call home. This year (2023) we’re all going to Pier 21 together to commemorate our parents, their voyage, and the brave decision they made 72 years ago.