Dike Construction 101 at Lake Charlevoix

Young Van Dykes and TerMaats get a lesson in dike contruction from Robert at Lake Charlevoix in 1964. Some Little Hathaways also present. Click here to browse the set or click here for a slideshow.

Four Seasons

These are all mystery photos. Presumably they feature Dutch immigrants, perhaps some of them are TerMaat-Dykstra cousins and the locations are either in Central Wisconsin or they were mailed to relatives there by friends and family elsewhere.

The fade-to-white of this photograph probably makes it seem even chillier!

Spring is for baseball. I like their "uniforms."

Barefeet and wildflowers says summer to me.

Harvest time. Remember you can click on the pictures to see an enlarged version.

Dykstra Children

Here are the little Dykstras, Winnie, Ralph, Bertha and John probably around 1905-6.

Back to the Old Country

I understand that Great Grandpa Dykstra (far right) went back to the Netherlands once and I assume this photo was taken shipboard.

Immigration Day

My great grandparents Kornelis Jan and Grietje Dijkstra.

These photos were taken in Gronigen, perhaps for their passports? They departed for New York on April 1, 1899 from Rotterdam and arrived on April 19. Maybe the ship looked like this. And check out these photos of life on board ship.

Grandma Grietje was not just looking after 4 year old Betje and 2 year old Jan but was pregnant with Ralph, born that August. I think about Joan and Pete herding three little ones on a plane to Florida. Imagine a two week boat trip followed by a train trip to Chicago!