Stamboom van Rienk en Bettie van der Beek

Dear Rienk,

I’m so excited to have your response – THANK YOU !! so much for all the work you must have done to compile all that information on your web site – I suspect it must have taken years !

Not really sure where to begin…..but as I mentioned, I am Jan Arjen Van Der Beek from Hospers Iowa’s great grandson,…….. I’m 56 years old now, married 28 yrs and have two daughters. We live in Monticello MN – a town just West of Minneapolis / St. Paul in Minnesota.

Some things I know that could be of interest for you…….

When Arjen and Elizabeth started out in the US they were in Fair Oaks Indiana…….I suspect with family related to the DeKok’s … but not sure of that. They, and the children were made US citizens in 1907 at Rensselear ( county seat near Fair Oaks )
At some point after that they moved to Hospers….I suspect after communication with other emigrants there as Hospers / Sioux County IA is a very Dutch area and they likely knew others from Friesland that had moved there. My dad always said that Jan – (John) as he went by in the US, had worked for the rail road – but I have little to substantiate that – other than that one of his son’s – Daniel ( named after Elizabeth’s father ) was killed in an accident while working for the railroad. This happened when he was very young like 17 or 18 yrs old. If you google Hospers IA cemetery you can navigate to pictures of all their gravestones and I have found some obit info there and on “find a grave” another web site that can be helpful. John and Elizabeth also lost a daughter – Susie at around 20 – 22 yrs old. Other children they had included Frank – I met as a VERY young child – He had heart problems and died in Mexico after getting off a plane – his doctors had told him not to fly but he had won a trip selling seed corn ( his business ) and went anyway – his wife was named Francis. Gerrit … & Agnes who married Ben Ver Hoef …she was born in the NL and was one of the oldest… I met her at like 11 – 12 yrs old at a family reunion in Hospers at John Gossilga’s farm. She and Ben had come from Belleflower CA ( suburb of LA ) for a visit and we traveled there to see them – Ben and Ag also visited Arjen’s ( Ira as he was called here – more on that later ) wife Mabel once, & I saw them again then. John Gosslinga had married Sylvia ( another sister of Arjen’s who was born in Fair Oaks) he farmed in Hospers too. Sylvia is also buried in Hospers – her obit lead me to the Fair Oaks info. She died young – That happens to people in our family way to often! …and then he re-married a woman named Ann – I visited both of them several times growing up. My dad and his brothers were Paul bearers at Sylvia’s funeral and the local paper listed their names as Vander Beek 😊 My dad always used to say his dad would travel to Indianapolis to see the 500 mile race every year and stay with “family” in northern Indiana on the way – but I have not found any tombstone pics on line of Vander Beek’s there …maybe DeKoks ?

My dad also claimed that Jan Arjen had dropped the er from from Vander when they came to the States – but I don’t believe this – I think Arjen / Ira did this when they moved to Hollandale MN, the town I grew up in. Jan’s tomb stone says Vander too – interesting not Van Der… ? and the obit using that name for my dad & his brothers makes me think that was the case.

Ira / Arjen married Mable Jansma ( her family had been here longer but originally came from Gorredijk) in Hospers & had one child – Iris and then moved to Hollandale – ( very Southern MN – center of the state just north of Albert Lea ) and had four more children – Daryl – My dad David, Phillip and Thomas. Phil and Tom survive to this day…. Phil at like 83-84 yrs old and Tom @ 75. Hollandale is a small Dutch community planned and developed by a man named William Payne around 1915-1920. The whole town – churches – (5 of them – I grew up in the Reformed Church as well, but am now Catholic like my wife’s family) stores, schools, Bank, homes, everything all planned and developed at one time to attract Dutch farmers to move there from the NL and buy 20 acre farms …. Over the years much consolidation has happened – but it is still a farming community. Hollandale was about 300 people when I grew up and almost completely Dutch people. The surrounding land had all been a marsh and shallow lake / s which were tiled and drained for farming vegetables like onions celery asparagus potatoes carrots cabbage etc etc….. I can remember many green houses when I was a very young boy. My aunt Iris was married to a man named Veryl Reed who became one of the biggest farmers – prox 3000 acres – his 2 sons are now retired and I’m not sure who farms their land – it is likely rented out. The farming has changed much since I was a kid. The land was and still is incredible – deep peat land …. as I kid I worked for a tiling company some & we would dig down 15-20 ft for pumping stations and find nothing but more peat ……

My grandfather – Arjen / Ira died in 1962 of brain cancer – he had built and operated a Standard oil gas station – selling gas tires and working on cars – they were quite successful and had a nice home. He took vacations to go fishing in Ely MN at White Iron lake and my dad used to talk about how he would trade other station owners tires for gas on the way up or back when they were rationed during WW 2 . My dad and his brother Daryl took over his shop after they returned from the service – Daryl in Navy and my dad in the Army. They developed the shop more into a machine shop and built custom made equipment for the vegetable farmers as well as land tiling equipment. My dad had a good life – he LOVED Harley Davidson motorcycles – when he died in 1999 at 68 yrs he had a new one…..his 27th Harley. Both he and his dad were also Buick fans – a car brand here in the US.

Can I ask some ?’s

What town do you live in ?
Are you aware of family cemeteries / grave stones in Jislum ? as I would like to visit them at some point.
Do you farm as well ?
Do you know what my GG Jan did for a living in the NL ? or why he decided to come to US ?
Any Idea’s about why they changed the name ? the Vander / Van Der ? is it a language thing maybe ?
All the repeat names are wonderful are they not 😊…. the Arjen’s Daniel on the Jansma side – my aunt Iris after her dad and second name Maurien after multiple Mauranius’ in the Jansma family. I am Mike after Mike Veldman – close friend of my parents.
So sad about all the lost children / short lives…and yet some long ones too …….
I think of Jan Arjen’s mother – 3 children …one dies at 2 yrs – one leaves for the US – then the other also after she passed – my dad told me someone from that Brooten area came mysteriously to his dad’s funeral….we have not had any contact with that part of the family …but your site has me wondering – that town is less than couple hrs from my home – may have to go looking one day……. She must have been a tough woman to watch her children leave for good – I can’t imagine doing that……..

My wife and I were in NL in 1991 – Amsterdam, Utrecht and train ride from Amsterdam into Germany – so far that’s the closest we have got to Friesland – but hoping to get there and see all the towns I’ve been reading about on your site – we have been also to England and to Germany twice ( my wife has German heritage )

Please ask me anything you wish – I’m happy to share what I can remember – I’ll try to get my bother Doug to help you too – he has more genealogy he could possibly share with you……

Prayers and blessings for you and your family – Your new friend and relative 😊
Mike