Dewey & Minnie - Members in Good Standing of the 50-Year Club

One of my favorite things, a cake plate from  Grandpa and Grandma's 50th wedding anniversary. Married in Friesland, Wis., March 17, 1917 - a bond that lasted through their lifetime together and begun nearly a century ago.

Simple things like a gilded cake plate take on an importance when they sponsor memories of people you love.

When I think of Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Dewey Braaksma together, I remember laughter. No doubt there were times when there wasn't laughter, but I wasn't a part of those moments. It's a theory of mine that unless there is laughter in your heart, no one sees or shares your happiness. Laughter is a barometer of the heart. So, all is well with me when I am in the midst of laughter.

However, Minnie carried laughter a bit further. There was a slight skip to her step and a tilt in her shoulders when she burst into laughter. It sprung from her soul.

Not every marriage hits the 50-year mark, but theirs did and our family is the richer for it.

This plate was gifted a second time when my aunts Ann and Jane gave it to me after Minnie's death. They presented me with the plate and a set of salt and pepper shakers saying simply they thought I might like to have them in remembrance of Grandpa and Grandma. Oh, yes. Thank you.

This morning I read a quote from the works of A.A. Milne, author of the beloved Winnie the Pooh. His words remind me of how my grandparents made me feel when I was a child.

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

~ A. A. Milne

A family treasure, hand-painted porcelain salt and pepper shakers from Minnie and Dewey's 50th wedding anniversary

Proud Dutch Heritage

Dutch girl in wooden shoes, made in Austria

When you have grandparents (Dewey and Minnie Braaksma) who came from the Netherlands as teenagers, it instills a reverence in you for all things Dutch, like this wonderful little dolly in her wooden shoes and hair wound in copper curlers beneath a lacy Babushka.

She is from our doll collection and has no family heritage other than to bring a smile. The sentimental items that I treasure are memories, photos, and family mementos from Dewey and Minnie's 50th Anniversary celebration, passed to me at Minnie's death.

Several years earlier, Grandma Minnie and my Aunts Jane and Ann drove from Randolph, Wis., to Aurora, Ill., for a visit. When I gave them a tour of our house, Grandma Minnie spotted a coffee and tea service I had collected, stamped with a windmill and  "Made in Holland."  She loved it so that I sent it home with her, pleased that I had something she found so delightful.

Later my uncle informed me that when Minnie arrived home with the trophy coffee and tea set, he was put in charge of polishing it, and he polished and polished the pots, tray, creamer and sugar bowl, making every attempt to bring out a shine. Unfortunately, it was Dutch pewter, and no matter how long he polished, it never would twinkle and shine like silver. I could have saved him some elbow grease had I thought for a minute that Minnie was thinking my coffee set was sterling.

Something happened on that trip from Randolph that remains one of my favorite memories of Grandma Minnie. When I opened the door to welcome her into our home, Jane, Ann and Minnie were laughing amongst themselves, jabbering, and in the middle of this great story with Minnie standing barefoot in her stockings on my doorstep.

Turns out, for the road trip, Ann baked sandwich rolls and Jane brought Wisconsin cheese, and they stopped midway at a rest stop to eat a cheese sandwich. And, no doubt, there were home-canned pickles, too.

Well, Minnie didn't wear her shoes in the car as they traveled but instead carried them in a brown paper sack. She would pull them out and stuff them back in the sack, depending on whether she was in or out of the car. Unfortunately, the cheese and the rolls were in similar paper sacks. When they threw out their lunch sacks, Minnie also threw out her shoe sack, unknowingly.

So, when they arrived to Aurora and Minnie couldn't find her shoe sack, the light bulb went on and she realized she had tossed her shoes along with the leftovers. It was a mishap, and she took it with the same resilient good humor she did everything, and that is why I loved her so. I will always remember her standing at my back door, barefooted, and tickled because she threw out her shoes at a rest stop.

Whenever Minnie entered a room, you knew something good was about to happen ....

 

Grandma Minnie, and How I Was Christened Patricia Ann

Grandma Minnie, Dad and me

Me at six months

As a child I let it be known to my mother that I thought my name was rather plain and I didn’t like it. I was always called “Pat” and not “Patricia” or "Trish" or "Trisha." Why wasn’t I one of those lucky girls with a pretty name?

Mom was always great at handling my complaints. She told me how lucky I was to have my name. As she explained it to me, Dad was overseas in the Army and Grandma Minnie was at her bedside when I was born. Mom described Minnie as very persuasive, which I knew to be true.

Minnie was insisting that Mom name me in part for the Queen of Holland (Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1890-1948) and wanted me named “Wilhelmina Henrietta Braaksma.”

Mom said that “Patricia Ann” was the first name that popped into her mind and at that critical moment, she said to Minnie, “I’m calling her “Patricia Ann.” End of story.

“Now aren’t you glad,” Mom said to me, sure she had done the right thing. However, after hearing that story, I was always wistful of the name that might have been, “Wilhelmina Henrietta Braaksma."

Mom, Dad and me, Madison, Wis.

Grandpa Dewey, Dad (John Dewey) and me, Madison, Wis.

Dime Store photo of mom and dad, dad on furlough and mom pregnant with me.

Family Lore: I learned to walk in Minnie and Dewey’s tavern, thanks to the floor-level stainless coolers. I would walk, grabbing the handles as I pulled myself along, handle to handle, starstruck by my reflection in the stainless doors.

Minnie and Dewey were amazing grandparents, but they fell short in the eyes of the Dutch Anglican church when they bought a tavern and were excommunicated from the church.

I was Minnie's second granddaughter and the daughter of John Dewey Braaksma Sr., Minnie's oldest son. The first granddaughter was Alice Faye, daughter of Sam and Ann (Braaksma) Meekma. Alice Faye, according to Mom’s Family Lore, was named after movie legend Alice Faye.

Alice Faye Meekma

Alice Faye was a year older than me and of course, I loved being her playmate. Alice was the cousin I spent the most time with because when I visited Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann summers on their farm in Randolph, WI, Aunt Ann gave Alice watch over me. I tagged along on her many farm chores – calling the cows, feeding the chickens, slopping the hogs, playing in the barn, milking the cows, shucking corn – oh, those were the days.

I love this photo of Alice wearing her gold locket and bracelet. Mom noted on this photo that Alice Faye was wearing my blue jumper, but I remember all of the dresses Aunt Ann had sewn for Alice and how I got to wear those dresses when I went to church with the Meekma's.
It's apparent as you look into her eyes that Alice Faye's confident nature made her a great playmate. She was brave and adventurous. She had piano lessons, played trumpet in the high school band.
She went on to graduate from college, married a wonderful man, raised a beautiful, young family and then suddenly, she had an aneurysm and was gone.  She died on my birthday in 1984. Just thinking back on that dreadful day when we heard the news, I was at a loss then and am at a loss now, sure we were meant to grow old together and missing my friend.

Dutch Passage on the Rijndam

In 1906, at the age of 17, Dewey Braaksma came to America with his family on the SS Rijndam. I wish I had known that when I was a child because I would have loved to ask Grandpa what it was like on that freighter. Did he love it? Did he get sea sick? Was it stormy or was it amazing?

About the SS Rijndam
The first SS Rijndam, was built in 1901 in Ireland for a Holland-American Line that sailed from Rotterdam to New York. She flew the Dutch flag from 1901-1916.
In 1917, during WWI, the ship was seized by U.S. Customs and commissioned on May 1, 1918, in New York to serve as a troopship under commander John J. Hannigan, U.S. Navy. She was recommissioned the USS Rijndam and brought troops from Europe to the U.S. for nearly a year.
After WWI, she was re-deployed as a passenger ship for service from Rotterdam to New York. She carried over 3,000 passengers on her 26 trips across the Atlantic.

The SS Rijndam was scrapped in Holland in 1929.


Ship Information
Built by Harlan & Wolff Limited, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1901. Weight: 12,527 gross tons; 575 (bp) feet long; 62 feet wide.Steam, triple-expansion engines; twin screw. Service speed, 15 knots. Capacity: 2,282 passengers (286 First Class, 196 Second Class, 1,800 Third Class).
Ship History
1901: Exclusively built for Holland - American Line, Dutch flag, named Rijndam:  Rotterdam-New York Service. 
1917: Laid up due to World War I.
1918: Chratered by United States Navy, American flag. Used as a troopship for about a year.
1919-1928: Reinstated Rotterdam-New York service 1919-1928
1929: Scrapped in Holland

Credits
Source: www.ellisisland.org
Drawing: Duncan Haws

Manifest
Click to see the front side of the manifest listing the John and Anna Braaksma family
Click to see the back side of the manifest listing the John and Anna Braaksma family

Minnie and Dewey

Dewey Braaksma, 1917, wedding photo

Minerva Vander Wal Braaksma, 1917, wedding photo

Looking back, it seems like yesterday that I was a little girl visiting my grandparents, Dewey and Minnie Braaksma, in Randolph, Wisconsin. Now I have only cherished memories that bring a smile whenever I think back. Thus this Blog for my aunts and uncles, cousins, and family as we celebrate the fun we had growing up with amazing grandparents!


It all began with great-grandparents John and Anna Braaksma who sailed from Holland on the "Rijndam" the morning of April 10, 1909. The ship's manifest lists John (age 43) and Anna (38) as man and wife and able to read and write. With them were their eight children, Dewey (17), John (15), twins Jesse and Ray (11), Jennie (9), Peter (6), Frank (2), and baby Albert (1). 
The ship's manifest documented the family's final destination, Cambria, Wis., a farming community. A family friend, Jesse Wiersma of Cambria, Wis., paid $244 for the family's passage from Holland.

Grandpa Dewey (Doeke) was the oldest of the children. As a teenager, he was already working as a farmer in Holland and was listed with the occupation "farmer" on the manifest. He was described with brown hair and gray eyes, the same as his father. His mother, Anna, was described with brown hair and blue eyes.

Dewey was born, March 3, 1892, in Morra, Oostdongeradeel, Netherlands.

"Minnie," Minerva Vander Wal, was born May 6, 1899, in Hilversem, in South Holland, the Netherlands. She immigrated to the United States in 1906. Her father was Henry Vander Wal (1864-1946) and her mother was Dena Reise (1867-1910).

Minnie had a sister, Anna, who came to America as well, who was married to Alvin, a farmer. I don't know Anna's married name. We just always referred to them as "Aunt Anna" and "Uncle Alvin." I remember outings with Grandma Minnie to their farm. Anna kept the cleanest house in all of Wisconsin, and watching Aunt Anna and Minnie sit around the kitchen table and jabber away was a delight for me, even as a child.


Minnie and Dewey were married, March 7, 1917, in Friesland, Wis., which is when the adventure began. I wish I knew how it started - how they met. How they fell in love. And what it was like for these two immigrants from Holland, who raised a family of ten children, John Dewey, Walter, Ann, Harold, Dena, Raymond, Betty Jane, Peter Gene, Marvin,and Donald Wayne.

Minnie died on September 29, 1982, at 83 in Randolph, Wisconsin.Both Minnie and Dewey are buried in Randolph, along with their eldest son, John Dewey Braaksma Sr.

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Thanks to family historian and second cousin Doug Braaksma we have the Dewey Braaksma family heritage of Great Grandparents John and Anna Braaksma. Doug, a grandson of Ray Braaksma, compiled the family genealogy in 2002 after extensive research, a genealogy program, and two trips to the Netherlands.
Information on the Minnie-Dewey genealogy was provided by Mrs. Sam (Ann Braaksma) Meekma and Mrs. Mervin (Dena Braaksma) Olson, the two eldest daughters of Minnie and Dewey.
Contributions from Sandie Wilhelm, daughter of Ann and Sam Meekma and granddaughter to Minnie and Dewey.
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Click to see the front side of the manifest listing the John and Anna Braaksma family
Click to see the back side of the manifest listing the John and Anna Braaksma family

Welcome to Wisconsin, the Dairy State

July 2010: I headed to Wisconsin for the Minnie-Dewey family reunion after having moved away in the 50's, the hay-day of the Milwaukee Braves and the time before Cheese Head hats.
I was set to see cherished things from my childhood, farms, corn, silos, pigs, farmers in overalls, cheese and cows everywhere.
Well, I didn't see a single pair of overalls. My next disappointment was the absence of cows and the never ending cornfields. It was July, prime growing season for corn in Wisconsin.
And I don’t know where Wisconsin is hiding its cows. It is the Dairy State.
The state is so famous for its dairy industry that when I was a teen, Walt Disney packed up his Mouseketeers and brought them all the way from California to Wisconsin to film Adventures in Dairyland. What a show that was!
Those were the good old days. Milk and butter were sacred. I remember the family scandal when Mom started buying oleo, a predecessor of margarine. It was an underground movement in Wisconsin, especially since we lived in a farming community. The neighbors smuggled bags of oleo in from Illinois, and we kept it in the basement.

The white, gooey oleo came in a plastic bag that had a big blob of red in the middle. My job was to knead the bag until it magically turned to yellow as the dye from the blob in the middle permeated the white oleo.
It was quite an adventure. When it arrived, in a hushed voice Mom would lead me downstairs to the basement to knead the bags. No one was to know we had oleo in the house.
Suddenly, Mom was my hero. She seemed so entrepreneurial to buck the establishment so that she could economize for the family.
___
Today, energy farms and windmills dot the Wisconsin landscape, but I was hoping to see the dairy farms and cows from my yesteryear's.