Family Reunion in Friesland
L.J. & Tjitske DeJong, our common ancestors, are my maternal great-grandparents, Lieuwe Jorrits "L.J." and Tjitske Memerda DeJong. Their oldest son (and my grandfather), Jorrits "George" DeJong emigrated to the United States in 1894 and made his way to the Dutch community of New Holland, South Dakota. Within a year his parents and all his siblings, except his older sister Baaye who was already married with children, would join him there. Baaye and her husband remained in Winsum, Friesland, for the rest of their lives. They lived on a farm (called "The Bosk") and had nine children between 1891 and 1909. Baaye treasured and saved the letters she received over the years from her family in America. One of Baaye's grandsons would later translate and publish the letters in a book titled Sister, Please Come Over. Despite decades of correspondence which repeated that plea, Baaye never crossed the Atlantic and never saw her parents (or six of her seven siblings) again.
Several of Baaye's children and grandchildren made the trip to the U.S. years later, prompting American relatives to return to the Netherlands to visit "the fatherland" and maintain relationships with their Dutch relatives. Grandfather George and his Dutch wife Hendricka raised a family of four sons and four daughters to adulthood in South Dakota. In the meantime, some of the other children of L.J. and Tjitske left South Dakota for opportunities in Dutch communities in Michigan, California, and Washington. Brothers and sisters and cousins spread to the wind. Nonetheless, communication continued and a bond remained between the branches of DeJong descendants. The descendants of L.J. and Tjitske DeJong have held prior reunions -- in Platte (SD) in 1999 and Lynden (WA) in 2009. And now some of us will converge on "The Bosk" in Winsum, to celebrate our shared heritage and 120 years of connection.
