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Immigration

Polar explorer Aarnout Castel an Alaska Pioneer

Connected Far North Coastal Villages With Freight Service


Tags: Dutch Exploration Immigration HistoryVlissingen's connection with Alaska! It is true, the history of the LowLands has an amazing global scope to it, be it by trading corporations such as the VOC and the WIC, by smaller trading partners, by explorers and adventurers, and immigrants. The ...

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Arrival of Dutch immigrants national news across Canada

Kota Inten and Tabinta delivered early waves in 1948


Tags: Immigration World War II HistoryCanadian troops had invaded the Netherlands just a few short years earlier, and now Dutch farmers and labourers were arriving by the thousands in Canada with their families after having crossed the Atlantic Ocean in hastily converted troop transport ...

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It is a Diamond Jubilee for post-WWII Dutch emigration to Canada

Massive coverage greeted new arrivals


Tags: Immigration World War II History

LANGLEY, BC - The faded memories of the New Beginnings of the post-WWII Dutch emigration to Canada in the late 1940s received renewed attention recently, when the glossy bi-monthly magazine Dutch in its September/October 2022 issue devoted ...

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Details of 1927 BC train robbery and murder of Dutch immigrant revisited

Victim Otto Bosch died in Vancouver hospital


Tags: Immigration Features History

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Back in 1992, almost 65 years after the July 23, 1927 murder of his then young bachelor uncle Otto Bosch, nephew Julius Bosch and his wife Beatrix (Ensel), stood at the Mountain View Cemetery graveside where the remains of his father Jan’s older brother had been buried. Puzzled why there was no sign of the headstone the family had paid for so long ago, he asked the attending cemetery employee where the grave marker could have gone. The man then poked around for it in the soil, and eventually hit something solid underneath. Soon, an overgrown vertical grave marker was uncovered from underneath a foot of dirt.

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Windmill Archives launches Facebook group

Focus on Dutch immigration and settlement


Tags: Dutch Exploration Immigration Features World War II Genealogy History

The story of Dutch immigration to Canada and the United States and the settlement of these pioneers in both countries is wide-ranging and extremely fascinating. Since its start in 1970, The Windmill Archives has collected much material on these subjects.

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At 50th Company Anniversary Focus now on Books

Langley, BC, Book Shop a Resource Centre


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration Genealogy History

The printed word remains the focus of the company's activities, but now it is mainly books instead that of a newspaper. The final issue of The Windmill Herald was published back in August 2012 but shipments of books continue to come and go a...

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Volume contains more than genealogical data

Overijssel-clan of Goutbeck etc produces interesting history book


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration History

When 81-year-old John Goutbeck visited his native country the Netherlands, he made a short trip across the North Sea to England in search for a sister he had not seen for 62 years. Up until that time, the retired Dutch-Canadian potato farmer had assumed her to be dead for some years. She, as well, thought her elder brother had died. Via the Dutch embassy in London, Goutbeck received an address in the town of Thorne where he presented himself to an elderly woman who opened the door. 'Do you recognise me,' he asked her. No, she did not remember 'the stranger.'

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New owners re-open Dutch specialty store to the sounds of rare street organ

Dutch treats popular with visitors


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration Features History Dutch import groceries, delicatessen and household articles have been readily available in Chilliwack since the late 1950s. With the re-opening by new owners of an existing store as Holland Shopping Centre, the variety and product range increases s...

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Chilliwack's topography honours pioneer farmer Volkert Vedder

Attracted from California by Cariboo goldrush


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration Features HistoryThe most-widely known Dutch-descended people in Chilliwack were its earliest pioneers Volkert Vedder and his son Adam Swart Vedder who lent their surname to several geographical points: Vedder Mountain, Vedder Peak, Vedder Crossing, Vedder River and ...

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Chilliwack, BC Dutch Count replaced by numerous immigrating countrymen

Gentleman farmer Van Rechteren returned 'home' in 1947


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration Features World War II History

The fertile Upper Fraser Valley with Chilliwack as its hub, for many decades has been a destination for Dutch immigrants. It only was in the late 1940s that their numbers had grown into a small nucleus ready to receive and help settle a steady stream of newcomers. Its most prominent member, ‘the Count,' however just had retired to the Netherlands. The area attracted the biggest group during the first half of the 1950s when emigration from the Netherlands was at its strongest. Unlike most other areas in Canada, locally new Dutch arrivals kept coming in noticeable numbers into the 1990s (and beyond). By the late 1950s, the migration of Dutch immigrants from other areas in B.C., Alberta and beyond also helped swell the community's numbers.

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Book lifts veil on (Kleine) Deters clan

History of Veldhausen family highlights cross-border ties


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration Genealogy HistoryThe road from Veldhausen in Germany's Bentheim to Noordbarge, near Emmen in Drenthe, the Netherlands, is as the crow flies rather close but Frederik Kleine Deters made a huge detour to get there. He first crossed the Atlantic Ocean to check out life ...

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Gaaikema’s whirlwind tour of Canada a success

Excerpts from the June 1969 issue of Goed Nieuws / The Windmill Herald


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration History

NEW YORK – Dutch entertainer Seth Gaaikema ended his whirlwind tour across Canada with a stopover in New York where he also gave several appearances of his show “Kom-kom, tut-tut, ho-ho.”

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Printing firm played key role in huge wartime counterfeit scheme

Translated excerpts of the May 1969 issue of Goed Nieuws / the Windmill Herald


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration History

AMSTERDAM - The wartime German occupation was very much on the mind of the printer Wil C.L. Keet (80) when his former employer Amsterdam commercial printer C.A. Spin en Zoon celebrated its 150th anniversary.

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Dutch-American conference set

Dutch immigration to Wisconsin predate Michigan settlements


Tags: Excerpts from the Windmill Immigration

SHEBOYGAN, Wisconsin — The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center will be hosting a conference titled "The Dutch-American Experience in Wisconsin: 1840-Present" on September 25 through 27. The Dutch immigrant experience in the state originates with those from in and around the province of Gelderland, near the border with Germany. Dutch passengers on the ill-fated ship Phoenix, of whom the majority perished in the 1847 disastrous fire near the vessel’s destination, had emigrated from that region as well. The state also attracted many immigrants from North Brabant who mostly joined the Roman Catholic settlement of Little Chute.

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Dutch emigrants boarded a flotilla of North America bound ships for new future

Trio Groote Beer, Waterman and Zuiderkruis tip of iceberg


Tags: Immigration

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The great majority of the tens of thousands of post-WWII Dutch immigrants readily can identify the ship they or their family arrived on in North America, a sampling of Windmill Archives’ material reveals. Many are not as certain where their ship first docked or on what date however. More confusion exists over the correct spelling of the ships. There is, for eample, no unanimity on the spelling of the name of the ship which carried the largest number of immigrants, the Groote Beer often is cheated out of its second o, a reminder of earlier spelling rules. Hardly anyone today is aware of the actual fare charged by the liners. Over 250,000 people trekked to North America in the period of 1946-1956.

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Post-war-built ship nearly a belated war casualty in the 1960s

HAL’s S.S. Maasdam hit shipwrecks in German river


Tags: Immigration

Of the all passenger ships that took immigrants from the Netherlands to Canada and the U.S.A., the ss Maasdam is one of the very few that still sailed the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger ship in the late 1970s. The Polish Ocean Lines operated the ship as a cruise ship then known as the Stafan Batory until approximately 1980.

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Three converted Victory class troop ships closely tied to mass transportation of Dutch immigrants

Ships symbols of successful resettlement


Tags: Immigration

A great number of Dutch immigrants have fond memories of one of the three Victory ships which were home to them for ten days in the late 1940s and the 1950s while crossing the Atlantic Ocean to a new future in North America. The ships - named after stars and constellations - Groote Beer, Waterman and Zuiderkruis are three of the better-known post- WWII Dutch immigrant ships. Particularly the Groote Beer took numerous Dutch immigrants to Canada and the U.S.A.

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Volendam temporary ‘home’ to numerous Dutch North Americans

Ship survived WWII torpedo attack


Tags: Immigration

Dutch ocean liner Volendam II which gave North America-destined passage to numerous Dutch immigrants in her thirty years of service, survived storms, experienced both peace and war. She survived a torpedo hit and managed to stay afloat long enough to make the ship into a safe harbour during World War II.

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Third Dutch-American sesquicentennial remembers newly arriving emigrants who became victims of Phoenix tragedy

Two lists of names tell sad story


Tags: Immigration

This Fall, The Dutch-American communities of Holland (Michigan) and Pella (Iowa) are planning to celebrate their Sesquicentennial on a happy note, and with many activities. A highlight at the 150th anniversary is the visit by Dutch Princess Margriet, one of Queen Beatrix' younger sisters. A community across the lake from Holland has a distinctly different commemoration. Sheboygan, Wisconsin, will remember one of the Great Lakes' most tragic shipping disasters which caused the death of at least 132 Dutch immigrants. Indeed, a stark reminder that the process of emigration then was fraught with danger.  

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Dutch passenger ship during WWII home to U-boat crews in Hamburg

Strafed and bombed in two harbours


Tags: Immigration

Every ship has its own unique characteristics and history. The Veendam II is no exception. The Holland America Line ship, named after a town in the northern Dutch province of Groningen, served for about 30 years, six of which under German flag. The ship had been launched on November 18, 1922, a few months after her sister ship, the ‘Volendam’. She was built in the shipyards (dockyard 650) of Harland and Wolff in England.

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Rotterdamse Lloyd ship Sibajak venue for repatriates and immigrants

Very little is known about WWII troop transport era


Tags: Immigration

The M.S. Sibajak may well have the most varied service of all the post-WWII Dutch immigrant ships. She had ties with the Dutch East Indies before and after the declaration of independence; she served the Allies as a troop transport ship while under the management of the widely-known British shipping company P. & O. As an immigrant ship plying the Atlantic, the Sibajak had as docking points Rotterdam, Quebec and New York. She rounded out her service back in Indonesia before being scrapped in Hong Kong.

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Atlantic Ocean blaze signalled end of reliable service record

M.S. Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt sank at age 33


Tags: Immigration

The M.S. Johan van Oldenbarnevelt - named after a 17th century Dutch statesman who, having been accused of treason died on the scaffold - died an unnatural death as well. The ship - just months earlier it had been renamed 'Lakonia' - was destroyed by fire at sea about 200 miles off Madeira, Spain on December 22, 1963. She had over 1,000 people on board of whom 128 perished in the quick-spreading blaze. The survivors all took to the life boats. Affectionately referred to by many as (just) "the Oldenbarnevelt", the ship sank a week later while it was towed to Gibraltar by the Norwegian salvage tug Herkulus.

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Reis met de “Groote Beer” niet te vergeten

Letter to the Editor


Tags: Immigration

Betreft de reportage over de “Groote Beer” van 23 juni j.l. (pagina B1) en onze reis van 17 tot 26 september 1962 van Rotterdam naar New York.

Helaas hebben wij niet zulke goede herinneringen aan die reis, want we hadden binnen een week drie stormen te verduren, één op 20 sept, de volgens op 22 sept, en de laatste op 24 sept. Deze laatste was een storm van windkracht 10 en is mij bijgebleven als werkelijk angstwek-kend. Die angst werd niet veroorzaakt door onervarenheid: ik had voor die tijd al verschillende zeereizen gemaakt tussen Nederland en het voormalig N.O. Indië. Wij hadden een hut in het voorschip en het leek wel of het schip doormidden zou breken bij elke klap, waarmee ze in een golfdal belandde. Ik was er zeker van dat we New York niet zouden halen. Gelukkig had ik ongelijk!

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Three converted Victory class troop ships closely tied to mass transportation of Dutch immigrants

Ships symbols of successful resettlement


Tags: Immigration

A great number of Dutch immigrants have fond memories of one of the three Victory ships which were home to them for ten days in the late 1940s and the 1950s while crossing the Atlantic Ocean to a new future in North America. The ships - named after stars and constellations - Groote Beer, Waterman and Zuiderkruis are three of the better-known post- WWII Dutch immigrant ships. Particularly the Groote Beer took numerous Dutch immigrants to Canada and the U.S.A.

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Arrival of 200,000th postwar Dutch immigrant merited no publicity

Dutch-speaking people large part of early Canadian history


Tags: Immigration

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - Dutch people have been coming to Canada for centuries. Later this month, it will be the first time for many 1950s immigrants that they return to their point of entry at Pier 21 in Halifax. The Canadian version of New York’s Ellis Island in its opening year 1928, processed over 2,000 Dutch people entering the country. A Dutch 50th anniversary has been attached to the facility’s official 75th ‘birthday’, to ensure that memories of the arrival will be engraved in the community’s collective history a few decades longer. Dutch immigrants at Pier 21 were a significant factor, they were the fourth-largest group of civilians. The facility also handled returning Canadian soldiers after 1945.

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Waterman passenger of 1947 traveled at their own risk

Vanguard of 200,000 Dutch immigrants arrived 50 years ago


Tags: Immigration

For a ten year-old boy moving to Canada in 1947 was a very welcome adventure. As oldest of the Koos and Nell VanHemert family, I could not wait for June 17 to arrive. When the Waterman would depart from Rotterdam, my mother and her brothers, Gerrit and Arie VanderKooi and their families were also to leave for the 'promised land'; 23 people in all. The story has been well-documented in the book To All Our Children by popular Dutch immigration writer Albert VanderMey (Paideia, 1983).

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