The Ancestors of My Grandchildren

     Afina de Haan was born on 31 Dec 1891 in Nieuwe Pekela. Hendrik de Haan was the witness.^1,2 She married Ulpen de Haan, son of Hendrik de Haan and Marchien Rave, on 4 Jul 1918 at Nieuwe Pekela^3,4 (banns 22 Jun 1918, Wittem.)⁵ She witnessed the engagement of Ds. Barend Gast and Geertje de Haan in Jun 1943.⁶ She died on 27 Aug 1975 in Zwolle.^1,7 There was a death announcement, in which her children were mentioned.⁷

Other information:
     Ulpen was in the army in WWI (1914-1918). On his way to the exam he saw a billboard in Amersfoort (where he had to change trains) "Come work for the tax department." You could take the course while in the Army. He was stationed near Vaals in Limburg, and there he passed the exam for the tax course. So after that he worked for the tax department, his first job was also in Limburg. He slowly advanced, and when he retired he was in Rotterdam, the most important border office in the Netherlands.
     In Limburg Oma helped by frisking the women, who tried to smuggle contraband across the border. There also were many German refugees, but the Netherlands were not welcoming; they already had many Belgian refugees.⁸
Afina de Haan received a letter from her parents Ulpen de Haan and Geertje Starke. They congratulate her and her husband Ulpen de Haan with her 27th birthday. Brother Hendrik is staying with them with his wife, who made an apron for sister Grietje. Brother Jan Tonke has a new hat, and Hendrik makes fun of father's complaints about peeling potatoes.⁶
For a short blogpost, see link.

Photos:

Restaurant A. Beckers-Hanssen. The rear two windows were their rooms.		The house in Drachten.