Hendrik Brevoord, his wife Geesien (Jansen) and their little girl Ann came to Alliston as immigrants from the city of Zwolle in The Netherlands after the Second World War.

Like so many fine Dutch newcomers to our area, they had experienced terrible times during the war at the hands of the Germans. When the Canadian military rolled into their land they were a welcome sight indeed and many families made up their minds at that time to come to Canada. As new Canadians, they would prove to be an asset to the country and very fine citizens.

Hendrik (Hendrikus Josephus) Brevoord was born in Zwolle in the Netherlands on May 15, 1911. Their home was very humble - a one-room little house in a dead-end alley. He had an older brother Jacob (Jaap) and a younger brother Jan. As the family economy improved, they moved to No. 18 Banka St. in a new development on the city outskirts, near the river.

Young Hendrik loved the fields and forest along the river where he became a great student of nature, collecting various kinds of small birds and animals as pets. Even as an adult new Canadian, he would build his home and business on the south bank of the Boyne River, on Boyne Street in Alliston, where he loved to walk and enjoy nature.

Young Hendrik did not enjoy school. In fact, he hated it and he often made trouble for the teacher until she finally said, "Either that boy leaves this school or I will leave."

Of course, the boy left school and went to work helping his Opa (grandfather) to deliver peat which was used to heat homes in winter. He was 13 years old. In summer, he found a job delivering packages for Mr. Van Eelen's exclusive ladies store.

Hendrik's father was a painter and wanted his son to do the same but he wanted to be a carpenter. His life, however, was to go down a different road because Mr. Van Eelen decided to train him to be a businessman in the clothing business and soon sent him to take night classes at school.

Everything went well for a few years until the store owner died so the young man struck out on his own using his acquired business skills. He took advantage of opportunities to buy merchandise cheaply from closing sales at factories. He then resold the products for a considerable profit and life was going pretty well for the young entrepreneur, so he decided to purchase his own residence.

His unemployed brother Jaap was a carpenter so he built Hendrik a nice floating houseboat on a river barge and using letters from his first and last names, he named it the "He-Bre."

By chance, the beautiful house boat was close to Sumatra Street where the family of Mr. and Mrs. Harm Jansen lived. Their oldest daughter Geesien (Ge) was an attractive, petite little 18-year-old. The gent from the houseboat knew the family well and after her school graduation when she was working in a shoe store, he began to court her. They were married on March 19, 1940. In those days, marriage vows made before the Lord, were taken seriously and the couple would enjoy a good life together. The happy couple rode off to the houseboat on their bicycles.

That summer, the couple noticed very frequently, that German men were making maps and sketches of every little path and road and they assumed correctly that an invasion was imminent. They thought it unwise to stay out in the country so soon they rented a vacant store with living quarters in the back in a town called Dedemsvaart. Purchasing products from wholesalers in Zwolle, the young couple soon had the old store showing a healthy profit.

Always in the back of Hendrick's mind was a worry for their future if the invasion came, so he began to accumulate a supply of emergency food. He bought mostly rice which he stored in barrels in the attic.

In 1941, there would be two things which really occupied the couple's attention. The first event in December was the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour which shocked the world.

The second came seven days later when their little baby Ann was born. The terrible war soon became worse and Hedrik's brother Jan was in the army and his brother Jaap was captured.

The cruel atrocities are too many to relate in this short story except to say that the people of the Netherlands suffered terribly, not only from starvation but also from the vicious cruelty of Adolf Hitler's evil gang.

When starving folk came from the big cities Mrs. Brevoord was able to give them a bowl of rice or some food that Hendrik had received from his farm friends. Their daughter Ann wrote, "One time on a Sunday afternoon, they placed me in a baby carriage and went for a walk and were able to buy a large bag of flour. It was placed in the carriage, a blanket covering it and I was placed on top and they went back home."

Finally the Canadian army came to town and the Germans left and Hendrik, ever a merchant, began trading with them for chocolate and cigarettes in exchange for the wonderful Dutch bread made from tulip bulbs.

Eventually the family had a new houseboat built and enjoyed life on an inlet of the river Vecht but they really wanted to come to North America. One day that opportunity arrived from an unexpected source.

The close friends, the Dekker family decided to go to Canada and Jerry Dekker promised to sponsor them if possible but it never happened. He had become a painter in Alliston and happened to paint the home of the mayor, Bill Hunter. Mr. Hunter wanted to help them so they sent their photo and a letter to the Burgemeester (mayor) and soon they were ready to emigrate so they wrote to Harm Dekker.

He had been sponsored by the Loblaw family on the Camp Borden road and soon they were boarding the ship "De Groot Beer" in Rotterdam. After a rough Atlantic crossing, landing in Montreal and traveling by train to Toronto, Mr. Dekker took them to Alliston where they were going to launch a brand new life as manufacturers.

Eventually the little family was introduced to Mayor Bill Hunter and they rented an apartment above the old "Tot Shop" on Victoria Street which was owned By Mrs. Royce. She sold baby clothes and she encouraged Mrs. Brevoord to go into the business of sewing.

They persevered until they finally won some big contracts for their line of baby and children's clothing and expanded until these good Canadian citizens became employers of Alliston's townsfolk in their little cottage industry on the south bank of the Boyne.

When my sister Annabell was 12 years old, she had her first summer job there and my sister-in-law Dorothy Braden brought material to her home to do custom flocking of their baby clothes. Our neighbour, Dora Nicol, was their first employee. Others were Mrs. Brayman, Mrs. MacDonald, Mrs. Bertha Irwin and various others. They also sponsored Hendrik's brother Jan (John), his wife Berta and their children, Jos. and Mary. Jan eventually became known as "the Dutch Barber" in Alliston.

Hendrik and his wife and daughter made a lot of good friends in the area. Theirs was an excellent attitude as new Canadians. They wanted to mix into the population. They loved the country and the people. They had been raised as great Christians and joined the Pentecostal Church in town and all could see that they lived out their faith every day. As one old friend said, "Their faith was obvious but it was never pushed in your face."

The Good Lord blessed them all the days of their lives. They finally retired to enjoy life and Hendrik passed away on April 23, 1985 and his dear wife on Feb. 29, 2002. Their daughter Ann writes that they were wonderful parents and that life in Alliston was great. She married Mr. Graham Reeder in Florida on July 13, 1970. They have enjoyed a good life there and raised their family.

In the days of yesteryear, that's the way they were then.

Written from information provided by Mrs. Ann Reeder of Florida, U.S.A. I was grateful to receive six pages of well written family information and 13 fine old photos. It would have been a pleasure to have printed more of the family story if space permitted.

For more stories about the yesteryears of local folk see next Tuesday's edition of The Alliston Herald. Book I containing 65 of these stories, entitled The Way We Where Then, is now being printed and will soon be available in local bookstores.