Clinton News-Record, 1984-05-09, Page 80Page $4
Dykstras—an immigrant Family's story
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On a bright sunny day, April 14 in
1955, a large family arrived in a small
town, with big hopes.
The Dykstras, like hundreds of their
fellow countrymen . from the
Netherlands, were part of the mass im-
migration into this area. 'The im-
migrants came in the late 1940s and
early 1950s with a brief, beautiful image
of Canada. They sold their homes, left
behind friends, relatives and ties in
Holland and bravely set forth into the
unknown.
Seen in an oil painting which hangs on
a wall in Anna Dykstra's Clinton home,
is a beautiful house that once belonged
to Anna and her now deceased husband,
Uilke. The white house was located in.
Anjum in the northern part of Holland,
and was surrounded by water and cur-
rant bushes. Two large barns were at-
tached t� the house where Uilke and his
sons ran a dairy operation of registered
Holstein cattle.
Selling those cattle to come to Canada
was probably the hardest thing for
Uilke to do. Mike Dykstra, the oldest
son remembers that his father 'had se-
cond thoughts about moving to Canada
at that time.
Like many other Dutch families, the.
The Dykstra's white sided home in Anjum, Holland.
Dykstras moved because of economic
reasons. After World War II, immigra-
tion was stressed in Holland. Shown to
the people were films of places like
Canada, South Africa and Australia,
and of the opportunities these countries
had to give.
The first sighting the Dykstras had of
Canada was a short stop in Gander,
Newfoundland on a cold snowy night.
Later they landed in Montreal and
cadght a train to Clinton.
Mike Dykstra remembered walking
through Clinton with his brothers and
sistersand looking in amazement at the
wide streets.
After being fed a bowl of soup at the
Christian Reformed Church the family
of 11 went totheir new hpme and work.
Mr. Dykstra worked on a farm north of
Clinton owned by Murray Roy and two
of the boys worked at McKinley's
chicken farm in Zurich.
",We worked hard," Anna.
remembered, `"and we built our life on
the. children.
Mike added, "We were determined to
work for a farmer and not in a factory."
However a compromise had to be
made. In order to make money the boys
had to work at the hosiery factory in
Clinton where some other 20 Dutch peo-
ple also worked. •
Within a year, the Dykstras had
enough money to make a down pay-
ment on a farm and bought their own
home and land in Goderich Township,
just west of Clinton. Uilke and Anna
eventually retired from the farm but
one of their younger sons, Bert,
operates it now.
In explaining why they chose the
Goderich Township farm Anna said,
"We wanted to stay close to Clinton.
That's where we landed and it was a bit
of our home."
Uilke started with two dairy cows and
when he retired from farming in 1969,
he had a herd of over 100 cattle.
Along with making a new home and
finding work, Uilke and Anna also had
to think about educating their children
and learning a new language.. Anna and
her husband decided to take English
lessons at the Clinton high school. They
were taught the language by reading a
list of words.
Breaking the language gap for the
five youngest children was the easiest.
They communicated with their new
Canadian friends by playing together
and attending school in Clinton and in
Goderich Township.
But the transition in lifestyles also
had its hardships. Anna remembered
not being ,able. to look at the painting of
their home in Holland. For nearly a
year, the large painting lay face down
in a drawer.
Mike siad he remembered missing
his friends when he came to Canada
and the distances were so great in this
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