Dijkema – Sheetar.com

Sepia Saturday 344-a

By Sheetar 5 October 2016 5 October 2016 2

I know, I keep getting later and later on these, but I’m still here! It’s been a difficult week, so I think my lateness is acceptable under the circumstances. We have a new theme for Sepia Saturday for the month of October, “From Here to There.” Our prompt image features a bunch of ladies on bicycles, and with my husband’s Dutch ancestry, we have LOTS of photos of people on bicycles, so here’s my first submission! On the left is Ellechien Dijkema and on the right, her sister and my husband’s grandmother, Hilje Dijkema. This was probably taken in Holland, somewhere around Uithuizen in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The girls were born only 2 years apart in 1912 and 1914 respectively, so there are a lot of photos of these two girls together. Here, they’re posed on their bicycles, balanced together while being supported by a fence, wearing matching dresses.

This is a bit of an odd photo and I have the hardest time visually making sense of it – it almost looks like part of the photo is a negative, but the girls’ clothes and faces are positive. It doesn’t look like the photo has degraded, but it’s possible there might be a bit of a double exposure going on, juding by the line towards the right side of the image. Regardless, it’s a sweet photo of the two of them out on their bikes and I’m glad someone paused them to take this!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 337

By Sheetar 2 July 2016 28 June 2016 3

Another Sepia Saturday rolls on by! When I saw the prompt image this week, I was completely at a loss. I had no groups of “Merrymakers” as the photo featured, so as I sat down to go through my collection of photos, this one finally sprang to mind. This photo was in a set of photos taken while my husband’s grandmother, Hilje Dijkema, was at the Sanatorium Sonnevanck for Tuberculosis treatment in the late 1930s. I have to imagine this was taken at the Sanatorium since it shows many of the same unidentified faces that show up in other photos. Men and women, even when married, were housed separately, so that would explain why the individuals in the photo are all women. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here. They’re holding up a sign in the back row, but it’s partially obscured and I can’t quite read what it says. The last line looks like “Os Paar” which would translate to “Ox Pair” but that makes me even more confused! I have to imagine this was some kind of play or show as entertainment during the long days in the Sanatorium since there appears to be a bride and groom at center with mothers opposite and attendants at the very back and front. I don’t think Hilje is in this photo – none of the women look like her, so they were probably friends she made during her stay. It’s an incredibly amusing photo, and one that I’m glad survived the passage of time, even if I don’t exactly know who the women are, it’s a wonderful little glimpse into her time spent at Sonnevanck.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 336

By Sheetar 25 June 2016 25 June 2016 7

Another Sepia Saturday and another chance to use one of the MANY baby photos from the family photo collection. That giggly little baby is Elizabeth “Betsy” Dijkema, daughter of Albert Dijkema, brother to my husband’s grandmother, and Jantje Oosting. She’s sitting in a buggy, holding on to what looks like a teddy bear hanging over the side while laundry dries on a line behind her. This was likely taken in Holland in about the 1930s. Pretty short and sweet this week! I’ve actually been in contact with a daughter of Betsy’s, so it’s pretty neat to be able to connect this to a living relative in Holland.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 331

By Sheetar 21 May 2016 20 May 2016 3

Our Sepia Saturday prompt this week featured a photo of three babies with their mothers. I don’t quite have three, but two will do! In the above photo are siblings Hendrik and Nanne Huisman, children of Hilje (Dijkema) Jaarsma’s sister Ellechien and her husband Luitje Huisman. They’re on a barge or boat of some sort, and it’s a bit of a shame the background is more in focus than the children! I’ve suspected that this may be the barge of the children’s grandparents, but I can’t be sure based on a narrow view like this. Unlike the prompt image, both of these two babies appear to be pretty content.

Another one, this one with mom Ellechien on the left and a woman who the album identifies as Froukje, but I’m really not sure who that is. Same two babies as above, probably taken at basically the same time. I’ve been researching the barge that Hendrik Dijkema (the aformentioned grandfather) owned, and there was a Frouwke Huizinga mentioned as having given them a loan for the barge purchase. I’m not sure if this is her or not! There is a Frouke Rop who was a sister-in-law to Ellechien, and the age seems to fit, but all I have is a first name in the album.

Pretty short and sweet this week since the photos speak for themselves pretty much! Both were taken in Holland, probably in the mid to late 1930s given the ages of the babies. Already looking forward to next week!