Cornelis Vreeken

Martin Pieter Vreeken

Jacob Vreeken

Dirk and Piet Vreeken (Twins)

Harm Cornelis Marienus Frans Vreeken

Willem Jacobus Vreeken

Dirk Abram Johannes Vreeken

Johannes (Jan) Vreeken

Jacob (Jimmie) Vreeken

Cornelis Johannes Vreeken

Willem Jacobus Vreeken

THEIR DAUGHTERS

Margaretha Cornelia Johanna Vreeken

Cornelia Johanna Vreeken

To The Sons and Daughters

We were born of good and humble parents who raised us under the most difficult, and hardest way, for they were poor and hard working people, self-sacrificing, and honest. They loved their children dearly; we are indeed fortunate to be born of such good parents. They came to America from Holland on December 19, 1919 as member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And because of this membership we do enjoy living in this great land of ours:

America!

Thanks to our good parents.

FORWARD

The following contents of this booklet are written by Martin Vreeken, and bare witness and testimony that this is true and explained to the best of his ability and knowledge on this day of our Lord, the 13th yearly Family Reunion, September 8, 1968.

Carl Vreeken, age 19
Martin Vreeken, age 17
Salt Lake City, Utah, December 19, 1914
The day of their arrival from Holland

"As we walked down the sidewalk toward our Uncle and Aunt's house, our cousin Carl Vreeken, who, by the way, has the same name as Carl Vreeken on this picture, snapped our picture. It was very cold that day, we had a long journey and we were tired. We stayed with them until we got work at the L.D.S. hospital at one dollar a day and board and room. We worked there until we paid back the immigration money our uncle and aunt had sent for us to come to America. Uncle Abram and Aunt Marie have long since passed on. But we are grateful to them, as we love this great country of ours, AMERICA." -- Martin Vreeken, 1968

• CHAPTER I
  
  It was on a cold winter morning, Dec. 2, 1914, that Carl, 19 years old, and Martin, 17 years old, said good-bye to the rest of the family. We were to board a train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam for we were bound for New York City aboard the Holland America liner, Potsdam. Our father brought us to Rotterdam and said good-bye at the boat and at 10:00 p.m. on December 2nd, 1914, the Potsdam sailed and her destination was New. York. On August 2, 1914, the first world war broke out and that made our journey to New York kind of dangerous. The Potsdam was an old ship; that is why they risked her to make the trip over the Atlantic. The ship went way out of her way to avoid the submarines, and we went north around Iceland, over the northern Atlantic to New, York. It took the old ship ten days to cross the Atlantic and I may add the weather was terrifically cold and rough, but it was a real thrill to see the Statue of Liberty. We were told that the ship was to return to England and there it would be scrapped.
  
  We went through a lot of examinations; finely ended up at Ellis Island. There we had some more examinations and it was by a hair that Carl was finally to go on as they found something wrong with him. Anyway it was late that night that we were put on the train bound for Chicago.
  
  As we entered the train we were worried we were on the wrong train. It was so nice and luxurious inside with plush seats, heat, double windows, and electric lights; the porter was a negro (the first negro we had ever seen). He was real nice and assured us that everything was OK. Of course we could not speak a word of English and it was about 9:00 p.m. when the train pulled out of the station.
  
  It was a wonderful sight to see, all the streets and the lights, people, but soon we were out of the city and we could not see a thing outside and the train was going fast. The porter helped us to recline the seat so we could rest real comfortably and soon we fell asleep. It was in the morning that the porter awakened us and brought us some popcorn; something we had never seen before. We ate it and it tasted-pretty good.
  
  It was in Chicago that the porter took us to a Cafe in the station and bought us a cup of coffee and a doughnut. It was real nice and kind of him. The porter then explained that we were to go to another station for another train. Soon a horse-drawn bus took us through Chicago to another railroad station and there we boarded another train. The train was full of people; it was just as nice as the train we had left and after an hour the train left the station. The conductor came several times-to inspect our tickets and everything was in order. They had made out our railroad tickets at Ellis Island. We rode and rode; it was a long ride but the conductor assured us that he would let us know when we got to Salt Lake City, Utah. We were getting pretty hungry; our food was gone. We had bought a few sandwiches at Ellis Island and a piece of liverwurst and we had made good use of it. The train stopped at Cheyenne, and we could see a restaurant across all the railroad tracks. My brother, Carl, said here is a dollar; you go to that restaurant and you say Bread! Bread! and I will stay on the step of the train. If the train starts to leave I'll whistle and you come back. So here I went; I jumped over about thirty tracks and I opened the door of the restaurant and at the top of my voice I hollered, "Bread! Bread!" and all the people jumped up from the counter; they did not know what was going on. They began to laugh and I pointed to the loaves of bread that were lying behind on the counter. The waitress handed me a loaf and I put the dollar an the counter and ran as fast as I could back to the train. I never waited for my change from-the dollar and I could see the people looking at us through-the door and windows of the restaurant. To our surprise the train stopped for another hour in Cheyenne. Yes, it was quite an experience and we had to laugh about it ourselves. -We ate the loaf of bread just as it was. We finally came to Ogden, Utah, and there the train stopped again for an hour, but we didn't get off this time..
  
  It was about 11:00 a.m. Sunday, December 14, 1914, that we arrived in Salt lake City, our destination. We got off the train; there was a lot of snow on the ground. We walked through the depot, but we saw no one to meet us. We waited and waited until I said to Carl, "See that boy over there! Well, that looks like a Vreeken. Sure enough it was a boy about twelve years old and it was Abram Vreeken, our cousin. We started to walk with him home to our Uncle and Aunt Abram Vreeken, the people who had sent for us to come to America. We had a wonderful welcome; the cake and good eats were plenty. Our Aunt was sick in bed; she had blood poisoning in her hand and it was painful.
  
  Well, now we were in America and we must adjust ourselves. The first thing to do was find a job and pay back the money our Uncle and Aunt had sent for us to come here. It was hard to-find work in the winter, and believe me it was cold. !After several weeks we found work; we got a job at the. IDS laundry in the hospital. We were paid a dollar a day with board and room, and we worked from sunup to sundown. It was hard work but that did not bother us. We paid our $60 per month to our Uncle and Aunt. We had nothing left, but we solved that problem. We asked all the orderlies if we could wash their shirts for ten cents a piece; We worked after hours washing and ironing shirts and made a little extra money for street car fare, to go to a show, and buy postal stamps to write home. As soon as we had paid all the money back to our Uncle and Aunt we saved enough to get our sister, Margareth, and Diena Griep, Carl's girlfriend, over to , America. The government wad not let Diena in unless Carl married her. So it went and for a time. We all lived together to save more money, to get Father and Mother and the rest of the family over here. Carl and Diena were married and now sister Margareth got married to Jim McKay and they went to live in Ogden. Now that Carl and Margareth both were married it left me the only single one.
  

• CHAPTER II
  
  In the meantime the first world war was in full swing and we could not send any money to Holland to help the folks as they were in dire need. The government would not allow us to send money to Europe and a letter took months to reach its destination. I met my wife, Martha, and we also got married. I started to work on the Salt Lake City streetcars; it was a good job and a regular income. A year later our first boy was born and a year and a half later the second boy was born.
  
  Martha and I saved 365 dollars an d the war was over now. We could now send for the rest of the family but it would take a lot more money. We went to every bank in Salt Lake City trying to borrow 900 dollars more for that was what it took. You must know there was Father and Mother and nine more kids. We had no success; we were turned down by all of them until the last one, it was called "The Copper Bank", and the president of the bank looked us ever and he said, "Can I see your bank book?", and he saw that we had 365 dollars in it. He said, "Well, you folks look pretty good to me and if you agree to pay it all back and get two co-signers then I will let you have the money." Well, that was the best news we had had yet. So now to find the two co-signers. We had made a lot .of friends on the streetcars where we worked and in a few days we had the co-signers and the bank let us have the money. Carl and I sent word to Mr.. Denkers who lived in Ogden; he was the agent for the Holland-America Lines. He came to Salt Lake City at our Uncle and Aunt's home and there he made out the tickets for Father and Mother and the kids to come to our beloved America.  Everything was fixed up in good order and it was sent to Holland. It was not until June 17 that we received word that the Holland-America Lines had notified Father and Mother they could get ready to leave Holland on the steamship, Maasdam. It would sail on December 1, 1919, from Rotterdam. Well, we are all glad that the time has finely come when the whole family would once more be united.
  
  It was a busy time for Father and Mother; they had to sell the houseboat they had lived in; passports had to be made out and a lot of other proceedings that had to be made in order. Now that the war was over we could get a letter about every-three weeks or a month, so we were informed how Father got along with getting ready for the voyage. He sold his houseboat three weeks before departure and the people that bought it wanted it right now as there was a big housing shortage. Father arranged with a nearby farmer who had just built a new barn to live in the barn until time to leave. All the household furniture (the beds, too) went with the sale of the houseboat, so that was another problem. This farmer was a wheat grower and had thousands of gunnysacks that were brand new and they served as beds for the family. Cooking was done outside over a bonfire; washing was done at the nearby canal. Finally the time came to make the trip from Aalsmeer to Rotterdam, a distance of thirty miles; they had never traveled that far and especially on a train. The steamship, Maasdam, sailed on time. The sea was still not safe from the mines and the ship had to go around Iceland to cross the Atlantic. After ten days of rough weather the Statue of Liberty came in sight and that was on December 11, 1919. That same night they boarded the train and all the people looked in amazement at such a large family. They could sea they were immigrants, but all the people were friendly. They gave the kids candy, popcorn, pie, and fruit. The family changed trains in Chicago and it was on December 14, 1919, that Father and Mother and the kids arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah. What a glorious day it was! We were all to go to Uncle Abram's and Aunt Marie's for a welcome party. We boarded the streetcar and soon we were at Aunt Marie's home; it was only 12 o'clock and a big dinner was ready. We all had a wonderful time until it was time to take Father and Mother to their future home that we had provided for them. It was now 4 o'clock in the afternoon., Father counted noses and to our great amazement the six year old boy was missing (and in a strange land too). The first thing to do was to go to the police house and sure enough there was Jan eating an ice cream cone and he had a pocket full of pennies. The police could not understand him so the only thing for them to do was wait until someone would come for him. How did it happen? Jan had gone to sleep on the streetcar on the way from the depot to Aunt Marie's home and in all the excitement he was not noticed and stayed on the streetcar when the others got off. At the end of the line the conductor could not understand him so he turned him over to the policeman up-town. So Jan had dealings with the police early in life. We were all glad the family was complete again and so we all went to Father and Mother's new home. Believe me Father counted noses coming and going this time.
  
  The house we provided was a nice little house with three bedrooms at 18 dollars per month rent. We had it all nice and clean, and we furnished it the best we could. Deina, Carl's wife, had a nice turkey dinner ready and it smelled so good in the house. Martha, my wife, had made up 200 jars of fruit and what have you; they were all standing on the shelves in the pantry. There hundred pound sacks of sugar flour, rice, potatoes and all kinds of groceries. Father and Mother saw this and the tears were flowing freely because for five during the war they had never had enough to eat. This was, heaven on earth for them. Yes it was a great day for all of us. It was a lot of sacrifice for Carl Diena, Martin and Martha.
  

• CHAPTER III
  
  As you know, Carl, Martin and Margareth were all married; we had our own households and wages were not as high as they are now. Now that Father and Mother were settled we had to worry about the big loan from the bank which was 50 dollars per month and had to be paid back to the bank. Margareth and Jim McKay could not help us on this for Jim was out of work half the time. So it was up to Carl and Martin to meet the obligation (25 dollars for each of us). As time went on Father, Dick and Pete, the twins, started working, and soon Hiram also had a job. So Father and Mother had a fairly good income; for it was the custom among the Dutch that the boys bring all their money home (that was what we always did when we lived at home). So one day I asked Father if it was possible for him to help make the payments to the bank, but to my surprise he admonished me and reminded me that that was my duty toward my parents. So we struggled along and made all the payments until the loan was paid in full.
  
  As time went on Father did not like America and was thinking of going back to Holland for he could not learn the English language. We all talked him out of it, and we started him on a little farm that he could work himself. Carl had a little farm of about two acres with a good house on it. Carl gave it to Father with the understanding that Father keep up the payments. Things were pretty good; Father soon had two cows, horse and buggy, rabbits, chickens, and he grew his own corn and potatoes. He had pasture for the cows and sold the milk; the boys still brought home all their money. Then as time went on Father did not like the long cold winters and was thinking again of going back to Holland until we talked him into going to California. He moved to California and liked it. It was not long until the family moved to California also. They landed in Watts and built their home at 10415 Grape Street. The boys got work and once more they prospered. Then Dick and Pete got married and Hiram went on a trip to Holland. Abram and Yan were then through school and went to work and took over the support of the family. Hiram got real sick in Holland and we had a hard time getting him back home. He had met a girl in Holland, married her and came home a married man. As time went on our sister Cora got marred; so the household got smaller and smaller. Martin still lived in Salt Lake City and Carl lived in San Francisco.
  
  Mother and Father had been married thirty years and gave a party. Martin and Martha and the four boys went on a vacation trip in their 1917 Dodge to California for the party. That was some trip. In the old four-cylinder car; the roads were dusty and washboard like and the desert, and plenty hot (no pavement whatsoever). Las Vegas was then a real small town about a block square and what is now the Strip had signs all over "Land for Sale". We made fun of it saying; "Even a rat can't live on it", but had we bought some of that land we would be wealthy today. We had a good vacation and a good time at the party; in a week we started back home.
  
  It was in 1934 that Mother Vreeken made a trip to Holland to see her sisters. She had a good time. In the meantime we lived through that terrible depression, and as a result Martin lost his job and his home. We had a hard time of it. I could not find a job in Salt Lake City so I decided to hop a freight train to San Francisco. They were building the San Francisco bridge and I tried to get work on it. I stayed in line all day and when it came my turn, the man at the desk said, "Your-name and address'', and as I gave him my Salt Lake address he said., "You are out! This is only for native Californians. So that was that. I hopped another freight train to Los Angeles and landed at Father and Mother's place. They were not too glad to see me as even they had felt the state of the depression and I was just one more mouth to feed. I went all over and I was lucky to land a job at one of the Vernon slaughter houses to hit cows in the head with a big hammer for 10 dollars a week. That was a' terrible' job and I did it for a few-weeks and sent 8 dollars home to Salt lake City and lived on 2 dollars. I quit that job, but landed a job washing cars at 12-1/2 cents-a car; I could make 10 to 12 dollars per week, but even that job ran out. I then landed a job at the walnut factory at 19 dollars per week and I was rich. I sent for Martha and the boys to come to Los Angeles and rented a home a 420 60th Street at $12.50 rent per month. Father sold his house in Watts as it got too much black, and they moved to 220 60th Street only 2 blocks away. Then Father and Mother moved to Palms and I rented their house at $18 per-month and we had more room.
  

• CHAPTER IV
  
  I made application at the May Company department store and finely got the job at $18 per week. While working there I made application at the Los Angeles School Board and made it. In 1940 I started to work as a custodian, there was opportunity for promotions and by studying boilers, air conditioning and many other things I was eligible to take the Civil Service examination and made Head custodian. As time went on I made Supervising Head Custodian and served in that capacity for 13 years at Virgil Junior High School. In l962 I was 65 years old and retired with a nice pension as I had served 22 years with the school board. During that time Martha and I worked hard and we accumulated some property. We had built a nice four unit apartment in Montebello. We prospered and in 1953 Martha and I made a trip to Holland. It was so nice to see all our relatives, the school we used to go to and the places we used to roam when we were kids. Then in 1955 we made a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska in our 1953 Chevrolet to see our son, Robert. In 1963 Martha and I once more went to Europe and this time we took our 1959 Ford Galaxy and what a wonderful time we had. We were in Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Italy. We were gone 4-1/2 months. Now in 1968 we are getting a little older and we cannot travel as much anymore. We are contented in our nice but humble home. We have a good income; we eat, drink whatever we want, we have a nice car and we go for nice rides all the time. We travel at least once a year to visit in Salt Lake City.
  
  Now our story has been told and I would like to tell now how the Vreeken Family Reunion came about.
  
  It was in 1953 while Martha and I were in Europe that Father died. We never knew of It until we arrived in Salt Lake City on our way home. We met a lady we knew well and she said, "Oh!, that's too bad that your Father died while you were in Holland". That was a shock to us. When we arrived home we were confronted with the fact that there were some bills to be paid for the funeral. So we straightened them out and paid our share. You must know that in 1937 Father and Mother both went on a trip to Holland, and in order to do that they sold their furniture and cashed in all their life insurance policies so as they would have enough money for the trip. When Father passed away there was not much money to go on, and it was up to the sons and daughters pay the bills. It was a year and a half later that Mother passed away and it was the same although Mother had saved a little. So we kids paid for the funeral and Carl had the graves for both Father and Mother. Martin paid for the headstones, so Father and Mother were both nicely laid away. Then we decided now that Father and Mother were both gone and in order to keep the family together as much as possible we would have a family reunion once a year on Labor Day and every year we would choose a new president. So it was organized and Carl was the first president , Martin, vice-president and the first reunion was held in Vista at the Vista Hotel, which Carl owned. It was only six weeks after Mother died that our sister, Margareth, died and Jim, her husband was pretty lonesome at the first reunion. Well we have had the family reunion every year how for thirteen years and every-year it has been a success.
  
  Just think Father and Mother started out by themselves and today there are ninety, or more offspring.
  
  Our sister, Margareth, died on July 11 1956
  Our brother, Hiram died on July 11, 1965
  Our brother, Casey, died in June 1966
  Our brother, Carl, died on August 31, 1966
  

• CHAPTER V
  
  It was during our trips to Holland that we searched for our ancestors and a Crest. We were unable to find it until one day someone in Holland told us to seek it in New York. We laughed about it but when we investigated in the library in New York I was amazed when the at the downstairs desk told me to wait. She made a telephone call to somewhere in the building and a man came and told us to follow him. He asked what nation we wanted information on and I told him Holland, the Netherlands; he closed the door to the room and then opened a big safe in the wall. He brought out a very large book and told us that if we didn't find it in this one he had more books under the letter "V". It was a big book about twenty inches long, twelve inches wide and four inches thick. To my amazement I found the names, Vreeken, Vreaken, and Vreehan, (the last names were spelled in the early days as they were pronounced). It gave the history of the Vreekens. In 1761 Holland and Belgium was one country, Holland. When Belgium wanted to split from the Netherlands, the people living at the border of the two countries had to declare with which country they wanted to go They must do so by a Crest or Shield and so our ancestors that lived there at that time adopted the Crest you know about. It represents the trade marks of our ancestors who were merchants, seafarers, and agriculturists and so to this day the Vreekens are the same. Then as you know it was the Dutch that founded New York and our ancestors participated in that. When they left Holland they took the Crest with them. Therefore, it was in the New York library and not in Holland. Of course, the original Crest was not there but a picture of it as it was in that big book. It was little bigger than a large postage stamp. I asked the man for the page of that book but he told me no that the book was only to be read while a librarian was present and not to be removed from the room under any circumstances. He told me that I could come back the next day and take a picture of it so I did. I have since made a duplicate of this Crest on hardwood and brass; it is now to be seen at my son, Robert's, home in Oxnard.
  
  Just before Mother died she wrote this poem to her daughter, Margareth:
  
  If you remember
  After I am dead and laid away
  In the, dust from when I came;
  My spirit will be wondering
  If you will speak my name.
  
  I will place my I kiss upon the wind
  So you can feel its touch,
  In the hope that you will answer me
  With the lips I miss so much.
  
  I come to you in every star
  That you gaze upon in the sky,
  And I will be a part
  Of all the things that beautify.
  
  I'll be in all the things
  You say or do;
  To occupy a corner
  Of your tender loving heart.
  
  After I am in my grave
  And life has ceased to be-
  I'll be resurrected...
  If you will remember me.

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