David Dijkman
&
Ybeltje Talsma

Paterson, November 5, 1925.
 

Dear friend Poortinga and family

We are already in America for almost 5 months, that is already almost half a year, isn’t it. And now we already have experienced just about everything, already a schoolparty, already a wedding, already took someone to the cemetery and that was old aunt Sara Steen. The wedding, that was our Fred.
Things are going quite different here than in old Holland. Our Fred married on Oct. 28th but they did not need to go to the cityhall. No, marriage is up to the minister in church.
If someone has passed away he or she goes in a coffin, just like it is with you, but the coffin is much nicer because it is all upholstered, both on the inside as the outside. And how about the cemetery: there again is another coffin where the other one is put into and then they lower the coffin by means of electric equipment.

I work in a factory and my work is to dry things with a steam machine. I work in the night shift, go to work at 4.30 p.m. and then till 7 a.m. So that is 14 hours. But at midnight at 12 o’clock we sleep for some time. I work 5 nights a week. Then I have made 30 to 35 dollars. That is nice, isn’t it? And that for a man who is almost 60 years old, right Poortinga and family? With that kind of money we are better off in America than in Hallum because this is net. We don’t have to pay any taxes here like you have to in Hallum. And those smiths and wagonmakers who kept us short.

Piet is going to school for the first time because he has to learn the language well. We will never learn it but that is the least because we live right in the middle of Hollanders. At first Piet has been keeping an eye on the cows, 16 in total, on the mountain for D. Velzen. They are the parents-in-law of Fred. He made 15 dollars per week with that. Velzen also has a farmhand who earns 40 dollars a week. He starts in the morning from 4 till 8 o’clock and in the afternoon from 2.30 till 6 o’clock.

Yes Poortinga, things are much better here than in old Holland for a workman. You would also be surprised to see the cows here because there is only an odd one that still has horns on the head.
Tjip Huizinga, son of Dingelum Huizinga, he milks 22 cows here I think. And Grades Huizinga, I believe even 28 cows and Grietzen Huizinga milks 8. He lives less than 5 minutes from where we live. And their old mother, she lives close to us too. She drops by every week to drink a cup of tea in the afternoon. Yes, there are so many people here that we know. Too many to mention them all. Leendert Diederts rides a lot with the baker’s wagon pulled by a horse. Yes, a good horse which costed him 20 dollars and a wagon for 10 dollars. That is much different than in Holland.

Paterson is a factory city. The city has a population of 141,000 and we live right next to the city. That is called Prospect Park and it has a population of 6,000 mostly Hollanders. You don’t see such nice farms here like in Holland. There is also a laundry here doing 10,000 washes per week. It is owned by a man from St. Jakobie- parochie, a van der Mei. He has 40 of those truckcars which take and deliver the laundry.
Siebren Roorda, he lives about 10 minutes from our home, bought a new house. That costed him 12 to 13,000 dollars. We live in a house owned by Lammert Steen. We pay 15 dollars for rent per month.
The potatoes are pretty good here but they cannot compete with the Holland potatoes. No, we already miss the “dettjes”.

B. van der Meer and his wife visited us when they were seeing their brother-in-law and sister. Haven’t heard from him ever since. Jan de Jong and Arjen Fokkema stayed at our place for 2 days and 3 nights. And Klaas Damstra and wife, son and daughter were also at our home for a short while. They are all in Grand Rapids now.
Age Hogerhuis, he was a merchant in Hijum, lives in Midland Park. I’m sure you know him. He planned to go back to Holland again because he had a very tough job with the Italians. It was hard work for a man with a stiff foot. However, I think he will stay here because he now has a job as caretaker of a new school and that is well paid. We should go over to see them before long. We just take the car because our Leendert owns one. Just about everybody has a car here. Man, it is terrible here: to each six persons there is a car. The other day I was a bit early for my work so I was waiting for 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes no less than 57 cars drove passed me and one better be careful or you’ll be run over by one of them.

Now I would like to ask you a question. Do you folks know Paulus Vriesema? He lives about an hour from where we live. He has already his 4th wife and has 21 children. One of his daughters lives next door to us and is divorced. Now she’s thinking about getting married again with one from Leeuwarden. In the factory where I work is also a guy from Leeuwarden and he is a son of Rengnerie. Don’t know where he lives in Leeuwarden these days but I think near the new cowmarket place, right?

Well Poortinga, time to finish now. I would say, come over some day and see what the world is like over here. Write soon with news from your end.

Our address is: Mr. D. Dijkman
                         360 North 10 Street
                         Prospeckpark
                         Paterson, NJ, USA

Best wishes from all of us.

D. Dijkman
Y. Dijkman – Talsma
P. Dijkman

Letter courtesy of Minne Boelens and pictures courtesy of Len Dykman

Notes:

The Poortinga family addressed to in above letter were Jan Lieuwes Poortinga & Maartje Lieuwes de Vries, farmers at Hallumerhoek near Hallum.

David Tjisses Dijkman and Ybeltje Ydes Talsma married on September 27, 1906 in Ferwerderadeel. To both it was their second marriage. In 1925 they, and their 14 year old son Pieter, emigrated to New Jersey at the age of resp. 59 and 54 years. Reason for emigration was the fact that Ybeltje's sons from her first marriage,Freerk (Fred) and Leendert (Len) Dijkstra had settled in the Paterson area early 1920's and had them come over. Before they emigrated at which time David made a living as milkman.

David's first wife was Ymkje Douwes de Zwart. They had six children of which daughter Martsen and her husband Hendrik Hemkes also emigrated to NewJersey. The parents of Ymkje were Douwe Martens de Zwart & Martzen Siedses Jorritsma.

Ybeltje Ydes Talsma was a daughter of Yde Pieters Talsma & Saakje Tietes Fennema. Saakje was a sister of Jan Tietes Fennema whose letter (written by his wife) of March 21, 1900  to their emigrated brother Gerrit is also quoted on this site.

One of Ybeltje's siblings was Tjitte Ydes Talsma. A picture of him and his family is to be found here. Both Ybeltje as Tjitte are mentioned in the Fennema letter.