Clinton News-Record, 1985-5-8, Page 84.46
Family is happy to be in Canada
By Anne Narejko
At 51 years off age, John Greidanus Sr.
and his wife Wiepkja, packed their bags
and boarded a boat headed for Canada
with their eight children. The Dutch
family, with the youngest child only four -
years -old, found themselves on the water
for about 10 days before they reached
Canada. Upon docking in the new land,
the family was reunited with the two
oldest boys who had came over earlier in
search of jobs.
Mr. Greidanus had always dreamed of
coming to Canada, but as the youngest
child, his mother had told him it would be
"like putting a nail in her coffin" if he left
her. But years later, two of his sons left
Holland for Canada. Having no major
commitments in Holland, May of 1951
seemed like the perfect time to turn his
long time dream into a reality.
John Greidanus was born and raised in
Tzum, Freisland. In 1924 he married
Wiepkje VanSluis of Achlum, Friesland
and the couple settled down in Nysel-
mien. The Greidanus family soon began
to grow as 11 youngsters were born to
John and Wiepkje.
Since Freisland is the great dairy pro-
vince of Holland, it was only natural that
the couple set up a 40 acre dairy farm.
Unfortunately, the family was forced to
leave the farm six years later when the
children set the farm on fire while play-
ing with matches.
This accident made it necessary for
Mr. Greidanus to start over again. In an
attempt to continue working on a farm,
Mr. Greidanus rented a small farm, but
times were hard in the 1930s and he was
forced to move back to his home town
where he took on the job of a door-to-door
salesman.
Mr. Greidanus soon found that it was
not only the farmers who were going
through a difficult time, but the entire
population was suffering economically
and could not afford to buy any merchan-
dise that was not a necessity. The lack of
buyers left the salesman unemployed.
"In those days, if you got unemploy-
ment, you had to work digging holes or
cleaning ditches," explained Mrs. Cor-
nelia Haak, the fifth child in the
Greidanus family.
Eventually Mr. Greidanus secured a
job working for a dairy farmer in Tzum.
He did not keep this job long as his
father, Leo, soon died, leaving Mr.
Greidanus some money.
With the money from his father's
estate, Mr. Greidanus once again settled
his family on a 40 acre farm. It was on
this farm that the 11 childern were raised
and stayed until they left for Canada.
World War II
On May, 10, 1940 the Germans invaded
Holland, and although Mrs. Haak was on -
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ly eight -years -old when the war started,
she has some clear memories of the ef-
fect it had on her family.
"In 1943 dad was farming and my
oldest brother, Leo, went into hiding so
he wouldn't have to work in the German
factories. The next year John also' went
into hiding.
"One night the German came looking
for my brothers. They knockad on the
door, but of course dad wouldn't tell them
were the boys were so they searched the
house. At one point Alice ( Mrs. Haak's
younger sister) and I heard dad scream
because the Germans had kicked him.
"They searched the whole house and
came into our bedroom but we pretended
we were asleep," she explained.
Another memory she has of the war
concerns the German inspectors check-
ing the family milking procedures.
"The inspectors would stop by at milk-
ing time to see if the forms. (which told
how much milk Mr. Greidanus was get-
ting from his cows) were filled out pro-
perly.
"My dad had told my brother .John not
to finish milking so the cows wouldn't be
milked out. The inspector soon
discovered what was happening and my
father was given a fine."
On , a Sunday morning in 1944 the
Greidanus family had a frightening ex-
perience when two bombs were dropped
in a field just behind their home. None of
the Greidanus family members were
hurt and Mrs. Haak believes that the
bombs were dropped by accident and it
wasn't a planned attack.
"The one good thing that happened
during the war was that all the people
stayed home. They weren't allowed on
the streets so they would stay home and
play games with their family," com-
mented Mrs. Haak.
As a result of the war, the Greidanus
family lost their oldest son, Leo. It was
reported Leo was killed in action after
the -war ( April 1946) while he was in In-
donesia trying to free people from the
Japanese.
En route to Canada
In 1949 John Greidanus, the second
child, was the first in the family to leave
his home in Holland and venture to
Canada. The night before he left, Mr.
Greidanus called the entire family
together to pray.
"We were all tears," noted Mrs. Haak
because they wondered if they would
ever see John again.
John's first job in this country was with
a farmer, Jim Scott, in the Seaforth area.
Jim followed his brother's lead, boar-
ding a ship headed for Canada on Nov. 9,
1950 and arrived on Nov.. 20. He also
made his first home in the Seaforth area
where he worked on a beef and pork
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