Afina de Haan (1891-1975)

Afina de Haan (dutch link) was born 31 Dec 1891 in Nieuwe Pekela, Groningen, 136 yrs ago. She must have been born close to midnight, because if she had been a boy, she would have been registered as born on 1 January, because of the military draft, at least that is the story. She is my grandmother, my mother’s mother, and I have written about her before.⁽¹⁾

She was the daughter of Ulpen de Haan en Geertje Starke, the second of six children, of whom two died as infants. In July 1918 she married her cousin Ulpen, son of Hendrik de Haan en Marchien Rave. Soon after their marriage, they left Nieuwe Pekela for Nijswiller in Limburg, about as far from Pekela as you can get, and still be in the Netherlands. From there they moved eight more times!

They moved because my grandfather was a tax inspector, and was frequently reassigned to different offices. The longest they stayed in one place was 10 years in Drachten. When they retired to Ommen, they only had three years together, Ulpen died in 1964. Afina lived by herself for another 11 years. It is hard to know whether she was happy. Did she have regrets about living such a nomadic life? Or was it simply “life”? We will never know. But on her birthday I remember her fondly.

(1) See: Oma, Expats, The Goggomobile