Clinton News-Record, 1985-5-8, Page 50In Goderich Township
A place to call home
By Helen Dykstra
Canada is .a land of immigrants as
shown by its history and Goderich
Township was also settled this way.
One of the earliest Dutch immigrants
in this area, Colonel Anthony Van Eg-
mond emigrated to America from
Holland and arrived in Huron County
with a groups of Pennsylvania Dutch in
the 1820s. He cleared 100 acres of land
and the 50 acres sown in wheat was the
first field to ripen in the Huron Tract. So
the real beginning of agriculture in this
area occurred with the harvesting of this
crop of wheat, owned by a Dutch im-
migrant.
At "the corners," now Clinton's main
intersection, the Vanderburgh brothers,
Peter and Stephen, settled in 1831.
Stephen settled on the Goderich
Township corner and Peter built a log
house on the opposite Tuckersmith cor-
ner. Descendents of these Dutch natives
still live in the Clinton and Goderich
area.
Between 1900 and 1940, a total of 29,000
Dutch immigrants entered Canada. By
1921 there were 117,505 people of Dutch
origin in Canada. By 1951 there were
1,001 persons of Dutch origin in Huron
County.
Imrnigration slowed considerably by
1934 and the German occupation of the
Netherlands in May 1940 ended emigra-
tion.
The war ended in 1945 with the libera-
tion of Holland by Canadian soliders
under Allied command. However, for
many the future looked bleak in post-war
Holland. The country's economy lay in
shambles. Housing was in short supply
and land was scarce. Many people saw
no future for their families, especially in
farming. In talking to those who
emigrated during those post-war years,
those reasons were repeated time and
time again - no future for their children
and no employment.
The Dutch government looked to
various countries for immigration
agreements - Australia, Brazil, South
Africa - but found Canada very recep-
tive. Canada needed more people for
their vital agricultural sector and they
knew the Dutch were good farmers. The
Dutch were receptive to Canada as a new
home. They had been warmly treated by
the Canadian soldiers; some soldiers
married Dutch girls and brought their
"war brides" to Canada.
Towards the end of 1946 an immigra-
tion officer was sent to the Hague to
prepare the immigration program and to
cope with the resettling of the fiancees
and dependants of Canadian servicemen.
On January 30, 1947, Canada amended its
immigration regulations to provide for
the admission of sponsored
agriculturalists. This meant that each
immigratn family or single person had to
have a Canadian sponsor and agreed to
work for that sponsor for at least one
year. Wages were set at $75 a month for
married men and $45 for single men and
free housing was included.
Canadian farmers would apply for
labor from the Netherlands at the Im-
migration offices, the National Employ-
ment Service for the colonization,
departments of the Canadian Pacific and
Canadian National Railways. Applica-
tions were checked, then forwarded to
the Canadian Immigration offices in The
Hague. The Dutch were responsible for
the placements. Canadian medical of-
. Turn 61 paw• 26
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