Gerrit Arie Jongejan, Sweet is The Work

Gerrit Arie Jongejan Sweet is The Work

By M. CHAD RANDALL

Copyright 2011 by Gerrit Arie Jongejan Family

Forward From the time I was a young boy, I had always had the desire to serve the Lord as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and my secret desire was to serve that mission in Holland. I never knew my father’s mother, she having died when I was a baby, but I grew up knowing that she and her family had emigrated from the Netherlands, and this had always fascinated me.

I don’t know whether it was a result of not wanting to be disappointed or just a belief that I would be sent where the Lord wanted me to serve, but by the time my mission call came, I had completely put the possibility of serving in Holland out of my mind.

The day my mission call arrived in the mail, my entire family walked into my place of employment, smiling and waving the letter in their hands. We went into the back room and I slowly opened the letter.

My family crowded around me in anticipation as I read aloud, “You are assigned to labor in the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission.”

I couldn’t believe it and read the sentence again. My family was very excited, and with tears in his eyes, my father gave me a huge hug that I thought for certain would leave me with several broken ribs.

It was about this time that I learned that my Great Grandfather, Gerrit Arie Jongejan, had died as a missionary in Holland shortly after World War II. It was then that I decided that I wanted to learn more about this man. Many events would occur on my mission that would spur this interest on.

While in Holland, I served for nine months in the city of Dordrecht.

Under my Mission President, this was an unheard of amount of time for an Elder to serve in one location. While there, I learned that Gerrit

Jongejan had once served as a Branch President in this city and that there were still church members who remembered who he was.

We had never been able to trace our Jongejan family genealogy for more than three generations, and knowing that they had lived in Rotterdam, my father had always assumed that the records had been destroyed during the bombings of World War II. While serving in Dordrecht, a local member who enjoyed doing genealogy said he would be happy to see if he could find any more information on the family.

When I left my mission, I took with me the names and documentation for an additional three generations of Jongejans, and the door was now open to further research.

After serving for two years, I spent my last night in the Netherlands at the mission home in Hilversum. While there, the mission president’s wife pulled me aside and said that she had found some records in the mission files that I might like to have – the missionary files of my Great Grandfather, Gerrit Arie Jongejan.

My interest in Gerrit continued through the years. I started gathering whatever information and stories I could about the man. When my youngest son was born in 2001, my wife and I named him Gerrit Arie Randall. It would be nine years before we were surprised to realize that our son not only shared this man’s name, but also his birthday, July 27th.

For several years I began playing with the idea of making a documentary on Gerrit’s life. In September, 2009, I pulled my 15 year old son, Alex, aside and asked him if he would like to work on the project with me. Alex had been making amateur films for several years that starred all the neighborhood children, and he had become quite good at using the editing and mixing programs on our Macintosh computer. He excitedly agreed to participate, and we foolishly thought that we could have the entire thing done by Christmas. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves in to.

At first there only seemed to be enough historical material to put together a small fifteen or twenty minute film. Other events, however, had been developing that would enable us to make a more comprehensive story.

During the previous year, long lost descendants of Gerrit had begun to discover each other, and a small group began to meet together once every few months. Two of them, brothers, were descendants of Gerrit through his oldest son Pieter. John and Ike Jongejan had a thirty page, hand written memoir of Gerrit’s life that was written by Pieter. This proved invaluable in fleshing out more of the script.

The script wasn’t finished until the second week of December.

Actual production on the film commenced on New Year’s Day, 2010. It was then that the complications really began: Twice we had computer failures just as we were about to start voice recordings of the actors, three times we completely lost the first seventeen minutes of the film due to computer glitches and a complete hard drive meltdown amounting to over a hundred hours of lost labor, and the loss of another seven minutes of film while using a brand new computer purchased expressly for the project. We began to despair of ever finishing the project. It was as if some unseen hand was working against us. It was then that faith and an ample supply of Dutch stubbornness kicked in.

Finally, after spending every spare evening and weekend over a period of months, we completed the film on the July 5, 2010.

During production of the film, my parents decided that it should be premiered in front of as many of Gerrit’s descendants as possible. My father, Bill Randall, and his cousin, Jack DeMann, started contacting as many of the family as they could find.

On July 20, 2010, the completed film, “Gerrit Arie Jongejan, Sweet is The Work”, premiered to a gathering of nearly eighty of Gerrit’s posterity. This was the first time in more than fifty years that the entire family had come together. Some had even traveled from different states to attend. Ninety percent of those in attendance I had never met, nor even knew existed. It was an incredible evening.

This book is the written version of the documentary’s script and includes some documents that weren’t included in the film.

It would have been impossible to tell the story of Gerrit’s life without it also being a story of missionary work and of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is my belief that Gerrit has had a hand in this project. Although he has now been gone for over sixty-four years, those of his descendants who never had an opportunity to hear his testimony, have now been able to learn of it as evidenced by the story of his life and manner in which he lived.

In the process of working on this project, I have grown closer to Gerrit than I ever dreamed possible. He was an amazing, inspiring man, and I feel honored and blessed to be counted among his posterity.

Dedicated to my father and my children

Contents Death of a Missionary ………………………………..............

1

Origins of the Jongejan Family ………………………….......

5

Youth and A Search for Truth ……………………….............

11

Marriage and Conversion ………………………………........

17

Family and Church Service ………………………….............

23

Decisions of War …………………………………….............

27

The Jongejan Family Immigrates to America ……………….

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A New Life and First Mission ……………………….............

41

Preaching and Retirement ………………………………........

47

War in Europe …………………………………………..........

55

Second Mission and Potatoes ……………………………......

61

I Wish I Had Known Him ………..………………….............

71

Bibliography and Photo Credits ..………………………........

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Death of a Missionary Sunday, November 3, 1946, dawned overcast with a light rainfall over the still war-devastated landscape of Rotterdam. The rain would continue off and on throughout the day. Gerrit Arie Jongejan lay quietly in the home of his son, William, while his son’s family kept the deathwatch.

Gerrit had been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in his native Holland when he had passed out one evening from severe stomach problems. After his third operation, the doctors had said that there was little hope. They sent him home with his son, directing William to try and make his last hours as comfortable as possible.

The pain had been debilitating and over time had slowly sapped the strength of his once vigorous frame. It had been hours since he had last been conscience. Just before slipping into a coma, he weakly told William and his family how much he loved them.

And then, for the last time on this earth, he shared his testimony of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and about the restoration of Christ’s Church in the latter days.

The clock in the living room struck two in the afternoon. Fifteen minutes later, Gerrit quietly passed away.

FRONT AND BACK (OPPOSITE) OF THE MISSIONARY RECORD FOR GERRIT’S second mission to the Netherlands. The record was located in the files of the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission Office.

Late Sunday evening, Bishop Hinckley came to our apartment.

He said, “Brother Jongejan, I received a telegram from the Church office that your father passed away this afternoon about three-o-clock, Holland time. ”Of course we were shocked to 2

hear that. For some reason or another, I could not shed a tear, although I did a while later. “Bishop,” I said, “I know that my father is very happy. I know he is preaching the Gospel over there. We know that he is happy to preach the Gospel over there behind the vale.

Pieter Jongejan, son of Gerrit Arie Jongejan

It was decided that Gerrit’s body would be sent back to Salt lt Lake City, Utah for burial. Because of the expense associated with air travel, his body and coffin were sent across the Atlantic by ship. In preparation for the extended transit time, Gerrit’s body was embalmed, a practice that was unusual for the time.

His funeral service was held in the Salt Lake City 17th Ward and was attended by many friends and family.

Gerrit Arie Jongejan was laid to rest in the Salt Lake City Cemetery on December 3, 1946.

Six months later, an article appeared in “De Ster”, the Dutch version of the LDS Church’s monthly magazine, “The Ensign”.

“On On May third of this year, it will be half a year ago that the Netherlands Mission was surprised to hear that one of its most beloved missionaries, Elder G. A. Jongejan, had passed away. Even though Elder Jongejan had been seriously ill for some time, and undergone three difficult operations, the news of his passing still

GERRIT’S OBITUARY FROM. the Deseret News, 1946.

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came unexpectedly. Elder Jongejan was a born missionary, whose only wish was to share his strong testimony of the Gospel. He was one of the first missionaries to arrive back in the Netherlands after the war, and from the very first day, from hour to hour, he preached the Gospel.

Gospe The memory of Elder Jongejan will live on with the Netherland’s people as one of an exemplary missionary and a noble man, who died in the service of his Heavenly Father.”

NOTICE APPEARING IN THE APRIL, 1947 ISSUE OF “DE STER”, recognizing Gerrit Arie Jongejan and his missionary service.

“An exemplary missionary and a noble man”. Gerrit Arie Jongejan has been described as “a servant of the living God”, “a Seventy through and through,” and “a missionary to the core”. There were those, however, who thought he was a nuisance, old fashioned, and a fool. This is the life story of a man who spent his youth searching for truth, and once he believed he had found it, spent the rest of his life sharing it with all who would listen to him.

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Origins rigins of the Jongejan Family The origins of the Jongejan family lay in the Netherlands province of South Holland, particularly in the area of Voorburg, a town that has its roots in the 2nd century, when a local civilian settlement gained city rights from the Romans, becoming known as Forum Hadriani. The city, now known as Leidschendam-Voorburg, Voorburg, is located a short distance north-east east of the Netherland’s capital city, The Hague, and is considered a suburb of the capital. The name Jonegejan, itself, is translated as “Young John”.

KERKSTRAAT RKSTRAAT IN VOORBURG DURING THE LATE 1800’S. VOORBURG WAS known in Roman times as Forum Hadriani.

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For several generations before Gerrit’s birth, the family had been migrating to different areas of the country. As a young man, Gerrit’s grandfather, Arie rie Jongejan, migrated into the country side, eventually settling in the small town of Veenendaal, near the provincial seat of Utrecht. A gardener by trade, he met and soon fell in love with a young seamstress, Elizabet Davids. Elizabet was the daughter of Renier Davids and Francisca van Riet.

They married the 21st of March, 1840, and had ten children.

Gerrit’s father, Pieter, was their oldest surviving son.

“OUDE KERK” (OLD CHURCH) IN VEENENDAAL, POSSIBLY THE CHURCH WHERE Arie Jongejan and Elizabet Davids were married.

Sometime before the 1870s, Pieter moved north to Leeuwarden, the capital of the Dutch province of Friesland. An active trade center dating from the 10th century, the city of 30,000 offered more financial opportunities for an enterprising, young man.

Pieter ter worked for a while as a prison guard, but this changed after August 16, 1873, when he married a seventeen year old Leewarden beauty named Antje de Jager. er. Antje was the daughter of Gerrit de Jager and Margje Groothuis.

Pieter’s new Father-in-Law Law was a tailor by trade, and probably with the desire to see his daughter better cared for, he began teaching his trade to his new son-in-law.

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Pieter and Antje were a happy couple, and their union was blessed with five children. Their oldest was born on July 27, 1876. He was a strong, healthy boy whom they named for both of their fathers, Gerrit Arie.

*** English Translation of Pieter and Antje’s Wedding License, City of Leeuwarden

No. 144 In the year ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE, the sixteenth day of the month of August, there did appear before the undersigned OFFICIAL of the City of LEEUWARDEN, one PIETER JONGEJAN, age thirty one years, guard in the prison, born at Veenendaal, living at Leeuwarden, adult son of Arie Jongejan, gardener, living in Voorburg, and of the late Elisabet Davids,.. ANTJE DE JAGER, age seventeen years, without employment, born and living at Leeuwarden, underage daughter of Gerrit de Jager, tailor, and of Margje Groothuis, without employment, married, living at Leeuwarden, whom do hereby, this day, give their permission for this wedding;…[illegible]…having requested that We perform this afore mentioned wedding, and which will be announced in this month of August before the main door of city hall on the first and second Sundays at twelve noon.With no knowledge being brought before us of any reasons why this wedding shouldn’t take place, their request being valid, each candidate being asked: if they take each other as husband and wife, and fulfill all the duties and responsibilities which are bound by the laws of matrimony, to which they both answered in the affirmative, We, in the name of the law, declare them truly married: PIETER JONGEJAN and ANTJE DE JAGER. Of which we have witnessed in the presence of: Wijhe van Nus, age fifty-two years, Bernardus van Woerman van Noord, age forty-seven years, Johannes Hendricus van Raamt, age forty-two years, Official Secretary Casper Habenotte, age forty-seven years, City Official, and all others present both citizen and alien. And having read this document, the bridegroom, the bride, her mother, and the witnesses of

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WEDDING LICENSE FOR THE MAIRRAGE OF PIETER AND ANTJE’S FROM THE

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GEMEENTE ARCHIVES OF THE CITY OF LEEUWARDEN, IN FRIESLAND.

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this action do herby sign below, after the father having declared that he has never learned to write.

P. Jongejan A. de Jager M. Groothuis W. van Nus Bv. W. van Noord J. H. v. Raamt, C. Babenottee E. Bloembergen

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Youth and A Search for Truth Gerrit was a happy child with a lot of boyhood friends. He was described as being very personable, pleasant, and someone who enjoyed a good joke or story. He was a good student and enjoyed his studies.

From the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, Holland had enjoyed a high level of basic education and comparatively high literacy rates. Gerrit attended either a public or church run primary school for six years, at which point he had to decide to go on to a secondary school that would prepare him for college, or learn a trade. It was decided that Gerrit would learn a trade and apprentice under his father to become a tailor.

*** The art of tailoring was a time honored craft with origins dating from the early Renaissance. During the Middle Ages clothing had been regarded as a means of concealing the body. But with the Renaissance came the accentuation of the human form. The loose robe, that standard uniform of the medieval period so easily constructed from a single piece or two of cloth, was shortened and tightened, and eventually cut, pieced, and sewn together in attempts to bring into prominence the contours of the human form. This was the birth of tailoring and, in fact, of fashion.

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These attempts at re-constructing the human body in fabric called for a growing expert skill and division of labor. Soon the cutter, the one who makes the pattern, and tailor, the one who does the sewing, joined other craftsmen as important members of the community.

Up until this time the cloth had been the distinguishing feature of garments, and the wearer took most of the responsibility for the design ~ and, in most cases, the actual production ~ of his own clothes. But little by little, the tailor took on equal importance with the weaver, and gradually came to overshadow him.

Master tailors in the growing towns eventually became responsible for the clothing needs of society, and the art and science of tailoring became a highly specialized, complex, and jealously guarded craft.

*** From a very young age, Gerrit began seeking for the truth concerning God and religion.

His father followed the venerable Dutch custom of daily reading aloud one or two chapters out of the Bible within his family circle.

Consequently, at the age of sixteen, it was said of Gerrit that he was versed in the Scriptures beyond many of his age.

Netherlands Mission President, Frank I. Kooyman

Gerrit’s church affiliation, however, had not been strongly insisted upon. His parents belonged to different denominations: his father being a Calvinist, and his mother a Roman Catholic. Neither one was particularly active in their faith, but nonetheless, this more than likely caused some friction in the home that mirrored what was happening throughout the entire country at the time.

*** The Dutch tradition of religious tolerance was as old as the country itself. This being said, the majority of Holland was Calvinist and the 12

Calvinistic tradition dominated the moral attitude. Men invariably preceded women up a staircase, for it was believed that tha a man may be led into temptation by the advantageous view of female legs and thighs.

Dutch religious tolerance had begun to be strained in the late 19th century, however, with the growth and increasing political power of the Catholic Church. Nearly all ll the Catholics tended to vote as a bloc; a fact that enabled them to collect what Protestants and freethinkers considered to be more than their political due.

leisure organization

union school newspaper political party Lutheran Dutch Reformed

Catholic

non church

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF DUTCH POLITICAL CARTOON DEMONSTRATING THE divisions verzuiling created in Dutch society.

he result of this political animosity between the two religious The groups was what became known as the “verzuiling” of Dutch society.

The word comes from the Dutch word “zuil”, or column, and can be translated as “columnization”.

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Verzuiling characterized a way of life that kept Catholics from reading any but Catholic newspapers and joining anything but Catholic clubs. It enjoined Protestants from reading any but Protestant newspapers and from joining any but Protestant clubs. Non-church members deplored the existence of verzuiling, but they also had their own newspapers and clubs. The result, of course, was that most sources of information tended to confirm preconceived views.

The staffing of hospitals and the design of municipal buildings were in many cases determined not by the skill of the doctors or architects, but by religious affiliation.

Verzuiling was often so rigid that Catholic housewives sought out Catholic butchers, bakers, shoemakers, and even cleaning women, while Protestant women tended to trade with Protestants only.

*** While having a split impact on the Jongejan family business, this religious schism throughout the country and within his own home created a lot of questions in Gerrit’s mind concerning what was true. As he studied and pondered the religious tenets of the day, he became disaffected with both of his parent’s faiths.

Although he was religious, father could not believe in his parent’s religions. Be a Catholic? – no! Be a Protestant? – no! For my father could not believe that some of God’s children were to be put into Hell, and there to burn for all eternity. Is that a loving God, a God that really loves His children?

Pieter Jongejan

Thus begun a search for truth that would eventually culminate in a momentous, life altering experience that would determine the road he would follow for the rest of his life.

Sometime before 1892, Gerrit’s father moved the family to Rotterdam, in the Dutch province of South Holland. Rotterdam was the largest shipping port in Europe at the time. Giant steam powered vessels would sail up the river Maas and dock at Rotterdam’s vast 14

quays. There, the ships would be loaded and unloaded. Goods of all kinds were sold, purchased, and stored in large riverside warehouses.

Gerrit enjoyed the stories he would hear of grand adventures and far off places. It wass an exciting place for a young man to live.

MAASHAVEN, ONE OF SEVERAL HARBORS T HAT MADE ROTTERDAM THE largest port in the world toward the end of the nineteenth century.

When Gerrit was 16 years of age, tragedy struck when his mother, Antje, became ill and died. It was a terrible blow to the young family, and much of the responsibility for the home and younger children fell to the two oldest, Gerrit and his sister, Margo. Gerrit would spend many a sleepless hourr wondering about his mother and in what state she now found herself. All attempts to find a complete answer in the scriptures left him feeling unsatisfied. Once again, he was forced to question all he had learned concerning God and God’s plan for His children.

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Marriage and Conversion Several more years passed by and the boy became a man. Gerrit is described as being 5’9” tall, and weighing approximately 140 lbs. He had brown eyes, light brown hair, and a ready smile.

He was extremely happy; it was pleasant to be with him. For the benefit of those who are Dutch, I would say that the term te was that he was a “grappen maker ker”, he was a jokester. He always had a funny story, he always had a little quip, he always had a come-back, back, and he was a pleasant man to be with.

Jack DeMann, De Grandson of Gerrit Arie

It was many of these traits that eventually drew the attention of a young woman named Alida Johanna Koldenhof.

Koldenhof Although she was five years his senior, the two soon fell in love, and were married on September 9, 1896. Alida was the daughter of Thomas Koldenhof and Maria Post.

Gerrit, along with his bride, was able to set up his own tailor shop, and on June 28,, 1897 they welcomed their first child into their home, naming him Pieter, after Gerrit’s father. They were blessed and 17

Gerrit’s business began to prosper, but questions concerning God’s truth still sat in the back of his mind waiting to be answered.

It happened one morning that while he was working in his tailor shop, he stopped his work for a minute to look out the window. He called my mother to him and pointed out two men. He said, “Mother, that looks like either Englishmen or Americans. I wonder what they are doing here on our street?”

Pieter Jongejan

He wouldn’t have to wonder long. About three o-clock that afternoon, the house bell rang. Gerrit answered the door to find the same two men standing on his doorstep. One introduced himself as Mr. John R. Meibos, from Salt Lake City, Utah. The other said his name was Brigham Thatcher, from Logan, Utah. The latter went on to say that they were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Father knew the names of lots of churches, but was surprised to hear the name “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”

Father put his work aside and listened to what they had to say.

Pieter Jongejan

Gerrit was very interested in their message and asked a lot of questions. The missionaries stayed from three in the afternoon until about two the next morning. Once they had left, he found that he couldn’t sleep, and come daybreak, he started back to work. Finally, finding that he couldn’t concentrate on his labor, he sought out his wife.

Father said to my Mother, “Wife, if this is not the true Gospel, then I do not want to join any other Church. Oh, I am so glad to have found that which I have been looking for, for so many years.

Everything those two men preached to us is the truth.

Pieter Jongejan

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The missionaries continued to visit and teach the Jongejan family, and finally the time came to be baptized.

On the evening of November 11, 1898, Gerrit and Alida bundled themselves up against the cold and walked down to the River Rotte.

Rotte This river flowed through the city and emptied into the Maas. There they met the missionaries and a group of others who like themselves, desired baptism into Christ’s restored church. This group included Alida’s youngest sister and brother.

MAP OF NINETEENTH CENTURY ROTTERDAM. THE RIVER ROTTE. ROTTE FLOWED south through the city to empty into the River Maas.

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It was a dark, overcast night. Elder Meibos began the gathering by earnestly entreating the Lord in prayer to part the dark clouds so there would be enough light to proceed.

His prayers were answered even as he prayed, and the river was soon bathed in moonlight.

After the prayer, Elder Thatcher took up an ax and made his way out onto the ice. At this time of year, the ice was ELDER BRIGHAM GUY THATCHER, THE. T missionary from Logan, Utah that. baptized the fourteen to sixteen Jongejan family. inches thick.

He chopped a hole large enough for the baptisms, and using a cane, removed the rocks and glass from the river bottom so no one would hurt their feet.

Elder Thatcher then entered the water.

It surely was a cold night. Elder Thatcher was standing for a long while in that ice-cold cold water as he baptized the converts, including my parents. As they stood waiting their turn, Father said to my Mother, “Mother, that is a man of God. The love he must have for the Gospel to stand in that ice-cold cold water, waiting for us to be baptized.

Pieter Jongejan

Within three weeks, first Alida’s mother, and then her Father followed them into the waters of baptism. Gerrit’s family was very bitter about his conversion and would never accept his new faith. The one exception to this was his sister er Margo who joined the Church nine years later.

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How interesting life had become! Faithfully, [Gerrit] attended the meetings held by the missionaries; first at the Linker Rottekade 73, and, after this hall could no longer accommodate the fast growing branch, in the Excelsior Building, located at the corner of St. Jan and Van Spaan streets. Faithfully, too, he served as a Deacon and a Priest – offices in the Priesthood to which only adult men were ordained in the Netherlands Mission in those days.

Frank I. Kooyman

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Family and Church Service On the 7th of November 1900, Alida gave birth to a daughter, Maria Anna Catherina. The little girl was a delight to her parents, but she was never very healthy. Less than a year after she entered their lives, the child became ill and passed away.

Gerrit and Alida were devastated. It was a terrible ordeal to lose a child. But eventually Gerrit found something that he never had when his mother had died – peace. This time he didn’t have to wonder about what happens when a loved one dies. Now he knew.

Gerrit was able to experience the peace that came from an understanding of God’s plan, and a knowledge that it’s possible in the next life to live with our loved ones once again.

This knowledge would be tried many times over the coming years, as an additional four of their eleven children would die as infants or toddlers.

Gerrit loved being a father and took great pleasure in being surrounded by his wife and children. In the evenings the children would delight to hear a story. From their mother they heard the classic fairy tales, from their father, the great stories of the Bible. He had his own way of telling them, something that his Grandson would discover many years later.

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Opa (OH-pah) pah) was fun to be with. I loved to sit on his lap and have him tell Bible stories. And he told them… it was animated. It wasn’t just something that he sat back and said the words. He had expression in his face. He would gesture.

He would, for example, if they spoke about them holding up Moses’ arms, he would ould hold his own arms up. He H lived the stories, and he made them live for me. And I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed that.

Jack DeMann

On December 8, 1907, The Presidency of the Rotterdam Branch was reorganized. Gerrit was ordained an Elder by Netherlands Mission President, Sylvester ester Q. Cannon, and appointed second councilor to President William J. DeBry. He served in this capacity until President DeBry’s release and return to Utah in April, 1911.

In those years, many church converts in countries around the world desired to gather with the main body of Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, the heart of the Church. Gerrit was no exception. He longed to immigrate with his family to America, but they just didn’t have the means to pay for such a journey.

During this time, many of the Holland Saints immigrated to Zion. How many times had Father offered prayers to his Heavenly Father, secretly and openly, pleading with 24

IN DECEMBER, 1907, NETHERLANDS Mission President, Sylvester Q. Cannon, ordained Gerrit an Elder.

the Lord that He would open the way for him and his family to immigrate to Zion? Father was quite an actor on the stage;very jolly and full of fun. He prepared a lot of nice musical programs for those who were leaving.

Pieter Jongejan

In September 1909, Gerrit was excited to hear about the return to Holland of the missionary that had baptized him into the Church. Elder Brigham G. Thatcher had been called as the President of the Netherlands Mission and would become an important role model m for Gerrit.

Several years later, in the April, 1912 General Conference of the Church, President Thatcher would have this to say about the missionary missionar work among the Dutch people:

The Gospel in the Netherlands is progressing. There are many thousands of honest souls in that land; and while there is much prejudice among that people, because of the slanders traducing the character of this people, it is difficult to bring a knowledge of the Gospel to them. Yet they are generally charitable, and will listen unto you. I tell you, my brethren and sisters, that there is a great future for that mission. There are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands there who will yet receive the Gospel. Never have I found a people in any land or nation, or among any people, apparently so well prepared to receive the Gospel as Hollanders are, or so willing to listen to the message of repentance and salvation. salvation President Brigham G. Thatcher

Gerrit believed these words with all of his heart. This belief would become an underlying motivation for much of the work he would accomplish later in his life.

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Decisions of War It was during these same years that the Netherlands began to look with some trepidation upon the powder keg that was building throughout Europe.

During the last decades of the 19th century, the fragmented German states had been molded into a powerful, newly united Germany. This would produce a huge change in the balance of power throughout Europe.

In 1905 Germany made threatening statements toward France, regarding the latter's gains in Morocco, because Germany felt that it was being excluded from African colonization. While Germany probably did not intend to risk war in 1905, virtually every European government saw the event as a turning point.

Every country in Europe further modified its military and strategic plans, including the Netherlands. The Dutch modifications went beyond merely increasing the size of the military; qualitative improvements were made, fortifications were expanded, and major efforts were made to find out more about the intentions of the Germans.

Prior to the outbreak of what would become known as The Great War, and later as World War I, the young Dutch Queen, Wilhelmina, visited the powerful Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. During this state visit, the Kaiser couldn’t help boasting to this Queen of Germany’s 27

relatively small neighboring nation. "My guards,” he said, “are seven feet tall and yours come only shoulderhigh to them". Wilhelmina smiled politely and replied, "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall, but when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!". After World War I, the Kaiser would beg Wilhelmina for asylum in her tiny country.

Despite the bravery and quick wit of their Queen, the Dutch authorities were QUEEN WILHELMINA HELENA PAULINE convinced that they had to Maria 1880–1962, ruled the Netherlands take numerous steps to for 58 years, longer than any other Dutch overcome the vulnerability monarch. inherent in being a wealthy but militarily weak state situated at the strategic junction of three major powers - Germany, Britain, and France.

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, the Netherlands had shown itself capable and willing (although usually with great caution) to tangle with major powers and sometimes win. In the nineteenth century, however, the Dutch attitude underwent a subtle s transformation. This was due, in part, to three major realizations concerning warfare. First, it was now possible to wage war at a much greater pace, with large armies being capable of being mobilized and transported more quickly in the field. Second, Seco new weaponry and techniques made warfare much more devastating than had previously been experienced. And third, finding it’s naval power greatly reduced over the past century, the Dutch found themselves in a very vulnerable position due to their county’s ’s size and location. Their solution to this precarious situation was a studied commitment to neutrality.

This approach worked for nearly eighty years. By the early 1900s, the Dutch had a long tradition of anti-military military attitudes. As the nation

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THE DUTCH BEGAN TO BUILD UILD UP THEIR POORLY NEGLECTED ARMY. YOUNG MEN were now required to serve two years of military service.

slowly began to expand it’s poorly neglected military in an attempt to back up their neutrality, the people of Holland were very much opposed to the government’s stepped up draft calls and increased length of military service. All young men were now expected to serve two years of military service once they turned eighteen. This policy would have a large impact on the Jongejan family.

National tensions finally reached a head on the 28 June 1914, when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. Within days, most of the nations of Europe were at war.

By September, Germany was marching on France.

The Netherlands watched with mixed emotions of relief and dread as Germany bypassed the Netherlands and instead marched

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY DUTCH

political cartoon by Albert Hahn satirizing the vulnerability of being a small neutral nation surrounded by larger nations at war.

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through Belgium in a flanking motion against France. So far, the neutrality of the Netherlands was being honored, but no one knew for how long. After all, Belgium’s neutrality had not amounted to much.

As they watched in apprehension as the nations around them fell into turmoil, Gerrit and Alida became increasingly concerned about the welfare of their oldest son, Pieter. He would be turning eighteenin afew months and be required to enter the army. Pieter had a very gentle nature and abhorred militarism. They weren’t sure what effect the military would have on him.

After much discussion and prayer, it was decided that if possible, they would send Pieter away. Gerrit wrote to a former missionary in Salt Lake City, Utah, a Brother Eardley, and was able to borrow enough money to send Pieter to Utah.

What an experience for a young boy to come to a strange country all alone, especially when he had never been away from home. It was then that the desire became stronger for the rest of the family to go to that wonderful land. In every prayer; morning, night, and at meal times, this wish was expressed to our Heavenly Father.

But how could such a thing come true? A large family, six in all, and barely enough money to keep the family going.

Marie Jongejan DeMann, Daughter of Gerrit Arie

On the 26th of July 1914, Gerrit was once again called to serve in the Rotterdam Branch Presidency, this time as first councilor to President Petrus J. Klaphaak. He served but a short while in this capacity, however. Only two months later, on September 17th, he was called to be the President of the Dordrecht Branch.

With the advent of war, most of the missionaries from the United States had been released to return home. Local men filled their places as priesthood and branch leaders. Because the city of Dordrecht was located only fourteen miles away from Rotterdam, President Jongejan could attend to his duties as President of the Dordrecht Branch and still maintain his business and residence at Rotterdam.

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Three months later, President Klaphaak also immigrated to Utah.

On January 6, 1915, Gerrit was appointed to succeed him as President of the Rotterdam Branch. President Jongejan chose Jacob Dokter as his first, and Cornelis de Jong as his second councilors. councilo The branch was a large one, and working for its welfare kept these brethren busy every evening and all day long on Sunday. Faithfully, conscientiously, and untiring they labored. It was while Gerrit was in the very act of fulfilling these church duties d that the tireless prayers of the Jongejan Family would be answered.

MEMBERS OF THE ROTTERDAM RDAM BRANCH CHOIR 1915.

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In March 1916, a large church conference was held in Rotterdam.

Members of the Church from throughout Holland were present, many being housed in the homes of the Rotterdam Saints. During the conference, a local man sang a song entitled, “Where is My Wandering Boy Tonight?�

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Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight (First Verse) Where is my wand’ring boy tonight— — The boy of my tend’rest care, The boy that was once my joy and light, The child of my love and prayer?

Refrain.

Oh, where is my boy tonight?

Oh, where is my boy tonight?

My heart o’erflows, for I love him, he knows; Oh, where is my boy tonight? toni Written By Robert Lowry, 1877

The song touched my father’s heart. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. “Yes,” he thought, “where is my wandering boy tonight?”

Pieter Jongejan

The Jongejan Family had just recently received a very homesick letter from Pieter. He had a job and was living with a good family in Salt Lake City, but he didn’t speak the language very well and he missed his family terribly.

On the end of that letter, r, with my pen, I made a picture of two hands reaching across the water, meaning that I was shaking hands with my parents, brothers, and sisters across the waters. I was very downhearted. After receiving my homesick letter, and now listening to that song, no wonder he was shedding tears.

Pieter Jongejan

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That evening, Gerrit went as usual to visit families in the Branch.

On this particular evening he visited the family of Pieter’s childhood friend. They were naturally interested in any news from Pieter and had noticed Gerrit’s tears during the conference. Gerrit read them the letter he had recently received.

Staying with the family for conference was an older woman named Neeltje Havinga, who had belonged to the Church for many years. She came from a small island in Northern Holland and had recently sold all of her land in preparation to immigrate to Utah. Her husband had recently died and she wanted to do the temple work for her family. She was nearly deaf, and raising a tin horn to her ear, she asked Gerrit to read the letter again.

When Father got through reading and showed her the picture my brother had drawn of him in America and all of us in Europe shaking hands across the ocean, the tears were streaming down her cheeks. She then said, “Brother Jongejan, I don’t know you, as we have just met, but anyone with such a fine son would have to be good. I am going to take your family to Zion with me.”

Marie Jongejan DeMann

Is that not inspiration? Is that not the wondrous and mysterious ways of the Lord? I know that God lives, and that He will answer our prayers if we sincerely put our trust in Him. The Lord works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

Pieter Jongejan

Mother was very worried, as it was 2 a.m. when Father came home from visiting. He woke all of us up and told us that our prayers had been answered; that we were going to Zion.

Marie Jongejan DeMann

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The Jongejan Family Immigrates to America On May 8, 1916, the Jongejan Family boarded the SS Neiuw Amsterdam, sailing from Rotterdam to New York.

The SS Nieuw Amsterdam was built in 1906 for the Holland America Line, and even though they were never needed, she was the last Transit liner to carryy a full set of sails. She could carry 440 first class passengers, 246 second class passengers, and 2,200 third class passengers. With a full speed of 16 knots, she would cross the Atlantic in a total of 16 days.

BUILT IN 1906, THE NEIUW EIUW AMSTERDAM COULD CO CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN sixteen days.

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Sister Havinga was originally planning on traveling first class, but now that she was joined by an additional six passengers, there wasn’t enough money. So, in the words of Gerrit’s daughter Marie, “we all came over third class – the old lady and all.”

The third class cabins were located on THE THIRD CLASS CL DINING ROOM. the lower decks and in the forward third of the ship, where the pitching was most noticeable.

The younger children tended to recover from the motion sickness quicker than the adults, usually gaining their sea legs by the second or third day. Some passengers would unfortunately remain sick for nearly the entire voyage. This of course added to the strong smells below deck. These could be intensified by the fact that as many as eight passengers could be crammed into each small cabin.

For many, this would also be a time of fear and apprehension; part from embarking onto the deep ocean and seeing their homeland disappear on the retreating horizon, and part from the th fears of a new, unknown life that would come with a new horizon that was still only a hope or a dream.

While the Jongejan Family experienced these fears as well, the apprehensions were tempered by their faith in God and their excitement of being reunited ted once again as a family.

Traveling third class meant that there were many places on the ship where they were not allowed to go. Space was limited and while tolerable, their food was nothing compared to the sumptuous dining of the first and second class. s. This didn’t mean that they didn’t make the best of their circumstances. Often there was music and dancing with voices being raised ed in a multitude of languages.

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Ann, who was only four years old at the time, was so darn cute that she stole everybody’ss heart away. She used to get up and do some little dance all of her own. I don’t know what it was, but she would get the applause of the first and second class passengers. They would throw down bananas and oranges, which were some things that we couldn’t couldn get being on the third class part of the ship.

They would drop down all this stuff, even chocolate bars, so we had everything imaginable on board.

Marie Jongejan DeMann

The last day of the voyage dawned with great anticipation.

Passengers lined the railings as they waited for the fateful moment.

Finally came the joy of that note which passes from lip to lip as it echoes and reechoes in thirty languages, yet with the one word of throbbing joy, - land - land - America.

The day we came into New York Harbor and caught our first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, Father was already 100% American. On the way over we had learned to sing the song America, and we were all linedd up at the front of the railing, saluting and singing this song America.

America You can imagine how this sounded; Dutch interpretations of the song, but it went over really well, and the people around us clapped and thought it was really nice what we did.

Marie Jongejan DeMann

Gerrit was very excited to be in America. Although the Netherlands and her people would always remain dear to him, the freedoms that America offered as the cradle for the Restored Gospel was something that he hungered for.

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Grandpa Jongejan was quite an individual.

He was well liked, he was well respected, he was well known; which means that he must have had quite the personality. He did move over here to the United States from Holland. I know that he wanted very much to become a part of the United States a part of the United States culture, to become a citizen of the United States, and he truly wanted to become engulfed with his newly adopted country.

William Randall, Grandson of Gerrit Arie

They hey were processed through Ellis Island on the 24th of May. Gerrit was the appointed leader of thirty people heading for Salt Lake City. He couldn’t speak a word of English with the exception of “Yes” and “No”. He had a note, however, that stated, “This man is head of a party of thirty. Please help him in any way to get to Salt Lake City.”

DURING ANY GIVEN YEAR, R, FROM EIGHT HUNDRED HUNDRE THOUSAND TO OVER ONE million immigrants would ould be processed through Ellis Island.

OPPOSITE PAGE: SHIP MANAFEST FROM THE NEIUW NE AMSTERDAM SHOWING THE Jongejan family as passengers.

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The train ride took them across the North American Continent and carried them into the Rocky Mountains to an elevation of well over 5,000 ft above sea level, higher than any of them had ever been before.

After a journey of twenty days and the culmination of years of prayer and effort, the Jongejan Family arrived in Salt Lake City on May 28, 1916.

Their reunion with Pieter was joyful beyond imagining. The family was finally together once again. Gerrit would always be grateful to the Lord for His unfailing mercies and for Sister Havinga, the instrument of his love.

[Several years later] the old lady, who was inspired by the Lord to help my parents to come to Zion, died. But before she passed away, a few months previous, my Father made the last immigration payment to her.

Pieter Jongejan

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A New Life and Missionary Labor Gerrit quickly learned the language of his adopted country and found ready opportunities and employment for a good tailor. With his sense of humor and amiable nature, he soon made many friends in the neighborhood.

He was also reunited with many of his Dutch friends and acquaintances that had preceded him to Zion. There were so many Netherlands saints that they had formed an organization known as the Hollanders Organization.

These first few years found Gerrit very active in both his ward, the Farmer’s Ward in Granite Stake, and in the Hollanders Organization.

Living at the center of the Church also made it possible for Gerrit and Alida to recognize another of their heartfelt dreams and desires; something that they weren’t able to do in their native Holland. On August 22, 1917, Gerrit and Alida knelt across the alter from one another in a sealing room of the Salt Lake Temple where their marriage was sealed for time and all eternity.

What a wonderful day. Gerrit knew that from that time forward, as long as they lived righteously, death could neither rob him nor his wife of the love they had for each other; that his bride of twenty one years could be his forever.

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1918 PHOTOGRAPH OF THE HE JONGEJAN FAMILY Front Row, L-R: Rieke,, Antje. Middle Row L-R: L Marie, Gerrit Arie, Alida, Aletta (Pieter’s Wife), Gerrit Arie (George, Pieter’s Son). Back Row L-R: L Willem, Joseph, Pieter.

The blessings of the day continued as their children, dressed all in white, joined them in kneeling around that sacred altar, friends standing in as proxy for the five children they had lost in infancy. The realization of all the truth that Gerrit had sought since boyhood came together in a suffusion of peace and joy he had never experienced before fore as he was surrounded by his family in that holy edifice and sealed together by the Holy Spirit of Promise.

Because of the Gospel, Gerrit’s life had become so full that all he really wanted to do was share it with others so that they too could enjoy the happiness he was experiencing.

All who met Gerrit immediately recognized his love for sharing the Gospel. Onn November 14, 1920, he was ordained a Seventy by Don C. Kimball, becoming a member of the 137th Quorum of Seventy.

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A Seventy! A special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ! Through the years since his baptism into the Church, [Gerrit] had learned to defendd the Restored Gospel and loved to testify of its divinity.

Frank I. Kooyman

To Gerrit, it did nott matter where he was, what he was doing, or what time of day it happened to be, he loved to share the hard won truth he had found with whoever would listen to him.

It happened lots of times when I was walking on the streets with him, and we were talking together, that I would turn my head in his direction, but my Father would be gone. Every time I turned myself around, I found him preaching to friends or strangers. My father, I was proud of him for he was a fine example.

Pieter Jongejan

More and more, Gerrit found that he longed to return to his native Holland and share this same message with them.

Perhaps he remembered the 1912 conference address of President Thatcher, the man who had baptized him, “There are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands there who will yet receive the Gospel.

Never have I found a people in any land or nation, or among any people, apparently so well prepared to receive the Gospel as Hollanders are.�

On May 4, 1929, his prayers were answered. Gerrit was set apart as a missionary to the Netherlands by Elder Stephen L. Richards of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.

Finally the time came that he was going to leave for his mission. The whole family, friends, and brothers and sisters [of the Church] were at

STEPHEN L. RICHARDS, OF THE quorum of the twelve apostles, set Gerrit apart for his first mission to the Netherlands.

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the Union Pacific depot [to see him off]. A few minutes before the train was leaving, I went inside, embraced him, and wished him God’s blessings on his mission.

Pieter Jongejan

On June 4, 1929, Gerrit arrived in his beloved Rotterdam as a missionary, an ambassador of his Lord and Savior.

FRANK I. KOOYMAN, NETHERLAND’S MISSION President during Gerrit’ss first mission to the Netherlands, 1928-1930.

From that day to the day of his honorable release, one could find him busy in all activities of the mission field: tracting, preaching, expounding, warning, testifying, baptizing, confirming, and ordaining.

Frank I. Kooyman

Being one of them, Gerrit found that he could reach these people in ways that many could not. The Dutch are recognized for stubbornness and a character trait known as “eigenwijs eigenwijs”, or know-it-all. It is applied to the superciliousness with which Dutch declare their views about the United States or the business ability of their next-door-neighbor. next But it rarely reaches arrogance, mostly because it is saved by a sense of humor and some humility; when a Dutchman says, “That is typically Dutch,” he is not bragging, but is usually talking about a shortcoming that he considers indigenous.

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I understand that he was a wonderful missionary. Grandpa could talk to anybody. He could talk to young kids. He could talk to teenagers. He could talk to older people. He could uld get on their own level; a level of understanding. And I understand he had a sense of humor. With a sense of humor, there are a lott of things that you can teach or communicate with people that possibly wouldn’t be accepted quite as readily if you didn’t have a sense of humor.

William Randall

Twice, in addition to his missionary labors, he presided over a branch, first over his old time flock in Rotterdam, and second over the Amsterdam Branch.

In both positions he was assisted by local councilors, training them for the full responsibility of presidency at a later day, when war would once again leave the mission without Elders from fro Zion.

Gerrit was released from his mission on April 21, 1931, but this didn’t mean he stopped preaching the Gospel. Once home, he served eight years as a home missionary, tangible result, twenty-eight twenty persons baptized.

Besides these conversions, he and his missionary companion, Elder Hendrik Mellegers, also taught the young children in the region.

At one time, in February, 1932, thirty boys and girls over the age of eight, who had neglected to become members in due time, were baptized and confirmed members of the Church. The happy missionaries [Elder Jongejan and Elder Mellegers] participated in thee performance of these ordinances. This occurred in the McKinley Ward, formerly Farmer’s Ward, of the Granite Stake.

Frank I. Kooyman

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Preaching and Retirement Gerrit’s life was not always one without challenges, however. As with many families, the Jongejan family had experienced their share of trials.

Through the years, Gerrit and Alida had watched with concern and sadness as one son, although quickly reconciled with the Church, was forced to marry because of an unplanned pregnancy, as several daughters grew up and married good men, but out of the Church, and as another daughter would reject ject all their teachings and grow up to make destructive life choices that would send her on a downward spiral that would eventually end in a premature death.

Things were made more difficult by the fact that although she continued to have a strong testimony, ony, Alida had all but stopped attending church.

She had never learned to speak English having come here with a large family. And for the reason that she didn’t speak English, she seldom went to church. She didn’t understand what was going on.

Early on, my understanding was, when they had the Dutch meetings – all the ethnic groups had church meetings usually 47

during the week: the Germans, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Mexican, what-have-you – my understanding was that Opoe (OHpoo) went too some of those early on. But in terms of activity in the church, Opoe was not.

[She] always said prayers, always made sure that if she were taking care of me or Opa (OH-pah), pah), that I had my prayers night and morning, and we always had a blessing on the food. .

Jack DeMann

Despite family challenges, Gerrit and Alida faced them together as they always had.

In terms of their relationship – I’m going to say close, respect – mutual. I’ve seen them hug one another, and I’ve seen him give Grandma a kiss.

The relationship at home was very sociable. I don’t recall ever hearing them argue. I don’t recall any bickering .

The relationship was harmonious, for the most part. Although I do believe, after listening to Grandma afterwards, that she was not wholly supportive of his missionary service because of conflict with family needs.

Jack DeMann

Never having made a lot of money, Gerrit’s mission to Holland had been a financial strain on the family. There T were some in the family, both immediate and new members, that whether out of anger or frustration, or a simple lack of understanding of the depths of his convictions, ons, felt that Gerrit’s missionary desires were obsessive and foolish.

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PHOTOGRAPH OF GERRIT AND ALIDA JONGEJAN, TAKEN DURING THE EARLY 1930’s.

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During this same time period, the country had been experiencing the shock waves of the Great Depression, the result of the Stock Market Crash in 1929. Times were difficult. Many found themselves out of work and new jobs were few and far between.

It wass during this time period that several of his children and their families moved to Long Beach, California, where employment opportunities were more readily available. Gerrit and Alida would make several extended visits to their children through the years.

While visiting, Gerrit was soon drawn to the open forum of the beach, were preachers of all creeds and persuasions were allowed to air their views to a never-lacking lacking crowd of hearers. It wasn’t the preachers that attracted him, however, it was the opportunity, oppo open to everyone, to voice his convictions.

I remember when he visited us when we lived in Long Beach, at the Lavell Apartments. We were only about a mile from the beach area, the Rainbow Pier.

On the West end of the Rainbow Pier, which was the exit to the pier, there was a large open section; a wide board walk, probably 30, 40, 50 feet wide, or square. As I’ve grown older, der, I’ve come to liken it to what I envision Hyde Park to be in London. Where you could go and take your turn and talk about any subject that you wanted: politics, economics, [and] religion. Grandpa used to go down and preach the Gospel at what was called calle “The University by the Sea”.

Jack DeMann

It didn’t take Gerrit long, with his earnest testimony, his fearless attitude and ready wit, to make both friends and opponents there.

Many would heckle and challenge him, but undaunted, he’d persevere.

Thee next time my father came to us for a visit, again he went to preach on the pier. People saw him coming from a distance and 50

THE MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM RIUM AND RAINBOW PIER PIE IN LONG BEACH, CA.

[recognizing him] hollered, “Here comes Brother Jongejan, the Mormon missionary from Salt Lake City, Utah”. Before my father started to talk, he said, “My good people, friends, I will ask you one favor, and that is please do not heckle and talk while I am speaking to you.” They promised, and from that time on, whenever my father came down there, everybody was quite. Surely the Spirit of the Lord was with my father, and he was surely magnifying his Priesthood.

Pieter Jongejan

Known as the “Spit and Argue Club”, the motley beach crowd may not have been a fruitful field for converts, but – as Gerrit often expressed it, “Every soul must hear the message and testimony of the Restored Gospel.”

GERRIT ARIE JONGEJAN PREACHING TO A CROWD ON RAINBOW PIER.

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Back in Salt Lake City, Gerrit loved to take walks through the city.

His young grandson, Jack, would often accompany him.

When I went downtown with him, he knew so many people. They always addressed him… if they were Dutch, it was Broeder Jongejan, and if it was an English speaking person, it was Brother Jongejan.

They always greeted him warmly, with smiles. Those who knew him well would embrace him and give him a hug, [and] shake his hand warmly.

We would talk, and I would feel very adult adul standing there listening and talking because he never would exclude me from the conversation. He would be talking to whomever it was, looking them in the eye, and then he would look down at me, including me in the conversation and stroke me on the head, or put his hand on my shoulder, and I was part of that conversation.

Jack DeMann

As a tailor, Gerrit appreciated good clothing, and he took great interest in his personal appearance; often looking like he stepped out of a fashion magazine.

It’s been described escribed that he always wore a dress hat, suit, white shirt, and a tie. His shoes were always shined, and he wore a

GERRIT’S SCISSORS THAT HE USED AS A TAILOR. OR.

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handkerchief in his coat pocket. He felt that he needed to look the part of a gentlemen and the part of a missionary in the event he had the chance to teach and talk about the gospel to anyone.

Gerrit also loved going to the movies. There were several movie houses down town that would ld run films other than first-run pictures.

We would go to the movies. It cost him a dime to get in, and he could get me in for a nickel. We would always go to a double feature. It was generally either a comedy or a musical, or if there happened to be a religious picture.

Jack DeMann

One of his favorite actresses was Claudette Colbert (pronounced Coal-bear), the French-born born American stage and film actress, whom he thought of as a lady and quite talented.

PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE EARLY 1940’S SHOWING L-R: MARIE JONGEJAN DeMann, Jack DeMann, Antje (Ann) Jongejan Randall, and Gerrit Arie.

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War in Europe In May 1940, Gerrit and his wife were shocked to hear that Nazi Germany had bombed the city of Rotterdam.

For some time, the western world had been watching with great concern as Hitler’s Germany increased in power and aggression. This concern grew into alarm when, on September 1, 1939, German armies marched into Poland. Two days later, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Just as in the First World War, the Netherlands was quick to declare their neutrality, hoping that the gathering storm would somehow bypass their small nation. But against all hopes, on May 10, 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands.

The purposes of the German invasion of the Netherlands was several fold; first, to draw attention away from operations in the Ardennes and to lure British and French forces deeper into Belgium, second, to pre-empt a possible British invasion in North Holland, and third, the Luftwaffe had insisted on seizing Dutch soil because of the necessity of controlling available airfields near the North Sea coast for the planned invasion of Britain.

The Dutch army provided stiff resistance, but they were no match for the overwhelming air and ground armaments the Germans had arrayed against them.

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On May 14th, the Germans threatened to bomb Rotterdam if the city refused to surrender. With the goal of saving as many civilian lives as possible, the city reached a surrender der agreement. Due to a German communication error, however, the Luftwaffe units assigned to carry out the bombing never received the news.

Large bombs were dropped on the center of the city, making Rotterdam the first city in history to ever experience the massive destruction of an aerial bombardment.

The center of the city was left in ruins with 25,000 houses and many historically important ROTTERDAM BURNING DURING THE buildings completely leveled.

German bombardment on May 14, 1940.

40,000 civilians lost their lives, with an additional 78,000 men, women, and children rendered homeless.

The devastation was incredible, leaving the nation numbed with shock. The Dutch Army surrendered a few hours later, just four days after the initial invasion.

WITHIN A FEW SHORT HOURS, OURS, 40,000 CIVILIANS CIVILIA LOST THEIR LIVES, WITH AN additional 78,000 men, women, and children rendered homeless.

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At the news, Gerrit and Alida were in a state of shock and fear.

How many of those killed or homeless were their friends? How many were members of the Branch? How many were their family?

To add to theirr concern, William, their third eldest son, had moved back to Holland with his family several years earlier and was currently living in Rotterdam. There was no way to know if they had survived the bombing.

The United States entered the war in December of the following year. By this time the situation looked bleak. With the exception excep of Spain and Portugal, all of Continental Europe was now occupied by the Germans or their Axis allies.

Britain was struggling to survive and had experienced almost sustained bombing from September 1940 through May 1941.

Thousands had lost their lives.

Still there had been no word about William and his family. Gerrit and Alida had no idea whether they were dead or alive. All communication out of the Netherlands had ceased on the day they had surrendered to the Germans.

The uncertainty of not knowing the fate of friends and family hung like a oppressive weight in the air. Gerrit began to formulate a plan on how he might be able to get back to Holland when and if the war ended favorably.

The Allied invasion of Normandy commenced on Tuesday, June J 6, 1944. D-Day, Day, as this date has become known in history, was a turning point in the war in Europe; the beginning of hope.

This was what Gerrit had been waiting for. He had decided that the only way he could get back to Holland was as a missionary. As the Allied Forces continued to gain ground, Gerrit put his plans into action.

How he got the call. I don’t know. My guess is that because he wanted to go so badly he either spoke to a member of the Bishopric, or a member of the Stake Presidency. Knowing that he was also 57

acquainted with several of the General Authorities, including LeGrand Richards, it’s possible. ble. It’s simply supposition on my part. I can’t tell you how the call came. If he instigated it, that would not surprise me.

Jack DeMann

This was not to say that his motives for serving this mission were strictly personal. He still had an abiding desire to see his extended family and his countrymen come to the knowledge of the true Gospel.

He felt that despite all of the pain and misery, there was a possibility that the war could be turned to some good.

He really, truly, loved to preach the Gospel. He wanted to be a missionary, and he felt that the war probably would have done a lot to prepare people spiritually; that it would have provided pro a greater recognition of reliance, a need to be dependent on the Lord, recognizing the Lord’s hand in their difficulties after being a captive nation for five years, plus, the fact that there were family members there he hoped might have been changed. And so he really wanted to go back.

Jack DeMann

After a long, bloody struggle, Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 4, 1945. When the news became public on May 8th, much of the world broke into spontaneous celebration with a mixture of laughter and tears.

There was still no information concerning William and his family.

All continued to hope that word of their safety would soon arrive through the Red Cross.

Within ithin the year, Gerrit was called to serve as one of the first L.D.S. missionaries to return to Europe.

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In April 1946, Elder Jongejan said goodbye to his friends and family and boarded the train on the first leg of his journey to the Netherlands. His son, Pieter, later mentioned that he felt a sense of foreboding as he watched his father step onto the train.

This time before leaving, [for] some reason or other, I could not enter the train to embrace and kiss him [farewell as I had previously done]. Why not, I do not know.

Pieter Jongejan

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Second Mission and Potatoes Gerrit arrived in the Netherlands on May 25, 1946. With the Mission President’s blessing, he spent 14 days locating family.

At some point he and Alida had received the wonderful tidings that William and his family had survived the war. Gerrit’s reunion with his son was a joyful experience. They had survived the bombing, but the occupation had exacted a heavy toll on most of the Dutch people, particularly those who lived in the cities.

At one point during the occupation, William had been sent to a Nazi labor camp. The details of the story have not survived, but somehow, William was eventually able to talk the Germans into letting him return to his family.

By 1944, the Allies had been able to liberate the southern half of Holland, but as depicted in the film ‘A Bridge Too Far’, they had been unable to cross the Lower Rijn River, which further west empties into the River Maas. Thus, Rotterdam was on the wrong side, and therefore still under occupation. Remembered as the “Honger Winter” (Hunger Winter), that winter in Northern Holland would be remembered as one of deprivation and misery.

There was no food, no coal, and no electricity. “Germany, reeling under the Allies’ military impact and running out of supplies,

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systematically robbed Holland’s foodstuffs, fuel, and clothing. This left the Dutch civilians destitute during the biting winter of 1944–45.”

1944 Without fuel, many people froze. William would wou later relate how he and his family had burned every piece of wood in their house just to survive. This included all the wooden doors throughout their home, excepting the outer ones needed to at least partially keep out the cold, and the door to the restroom troom for a last vestige of privacy.

There were many who also starved to death. “One survivor recalls how schoolchildren were lucky at one point to get a carrot for breakfast and potato peel soup for lunch. Another survivor who had several children made the family walk 150 miles in severe weather from Rotterdam to Groningen, where there was more food. In Amsterdam the daily ration was reduced to one-tenth of normal requirements.”

The physical damage was also immense. Gerrit was THE WINTER OF 1944-45 IS REMEMBERED shocked when he saw his as the Honger Winter (Hunger Winter), beloved Rotterdam. On top of where many starved to death; especially all the damage incurred from the very young and the very old. the bombing, the Nazis had blown up more than a third of the city’s docks and destroyed nearly half of the port’s machinery and equipment when they were forced to abandon the city. When Rotterdam was liberated in 1945, some 700 acres had been leveled, 30,000 homes and other buildings had been wiped out and the population had been decimated by death or deportation to the Nazi labor camps.

Although extreme xtreme in the amount of destruction and wanton suffering, Rotterdam was but a mirror of the conditions the rest of the country was suffering. As a direct result of the war, “about 400,000 homes were damaged or destroyed; 8,000 farms ruined, 700 square 62

ROTTERDAM BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR. 700 ACRES A AND OVER 30,000 homes and other buildings had been leveled.

miles of land inundated when the Nazis wrecked dikes holding back the sea, half of the forests were destroyed, and 40 percent of the livestock wiped out. Railroad equipment, bicycles, motor vehicles, and in some cases entire factories were confiscated. More than tha 200,000 Dutch people died because of the war. Such destruction and casualties were not as great as those in some countries; still, bitterness ran deep and the Saints were not immune.�

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The Mission President, Cornelius Zappey had arrived in Holland just two months previous to Gerrit’s arrival. The task he found waiting for him quickly drove him to his knees in fervent prayer and tears. “Many of the 3,200 members needed food and clothes. Branches needed to be fully staffed, administered, and adequately housed. The bombdamaged mission home in The Hague needed windows, doors, repairs, and furniture. Full-time proselyte was to be instituted. And the hatred and bitterness many members felt toward their former enemies somehow had to be dissolved.”

PRESIDENT CORNELIUS ZAPPEY, first Netherlands Mission President after World War II.

Even when President Zappey arrived, almost a year after the war ended, “hunger hunger still stalked Holland, despite the fact that relief goods from America and elsewhere were pouring in, including tons of LDS welfare supplies. From a Church welfare storehouse in The Hague, mission leaders, volunteers, and dilapidated trucks distributed needed items to two dozen branches.

Welfare goods clothed and nourished the body. But what would help the scarred souls? What could dissolve the bitter feelings toward Germans and collaborators about the loss of loved ones?”

President Zappey set out to convince the Saints of the importance of love and forgiveness. “He He chose as a mission theme “Love One Another,” which he preached constantly in the branches br and at mission meetings.

Elder Ezra Taft Benson, in Europe directing the Church’s relief effort, instructed President Zappey to have the Dutch members be welfare producers as well as recipients. President Zappey saw how it could help the Saints learn to work together again and forget their differences.

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He moved on the instructions at once. Since potatoes were one of Holland’s best crops, President Zappey proposed to local priesthood p leaders that they start branch or quorum potato projects where they had land. Where they didn’t, they were to start sewing projects.” projects.

Later, after a summer of hard work and care, the Saints were asked to do something that would truly try their faith. f By this time, the Saints in Germany were suffering just as much, if not more so then those in Holland. The Dutch Saints were asked by President Zappey to donate the crops for which they had worked so hard and give it “to the people who had caused them hem such suffering and depredation—the depredation people who had ruthlessly confiscated the last bit of their food and exposed their little children to starvation”.. At a special mission conference convened for the purpose of putting the request before the local Church leaders.

“The he leaders, touched by the Spirit, voted for the project.” project.

What was unique about the Dutch project was the magnitude of the effort by so few Saints — of a people who had suffered so much.

PRESIDENT CORNELIUS ZAPPEY AND VOLUNTEERS FROM VARIOUS VARI DUTCH Branches prepare to ship off more than 200 2 tons of badly needed potatoes to starving Saints in Germany.

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“Members Members of fewer than two dozen branches willingly worked countless hours as volunteer teer farmers to t produce 200 tons of fresh vegetables badly needed by German Saints, and volunteered to donate enough money to purchase eighty barrels of herring—all herring within eighteen months.

The food was important, but what was equally as important was the healing of souls; the outpouring off love and forgiveness that was a direct result of serving their fellow man.

Their results would later be described by President David O. McKay as, “one of the greatest acts of true Christian conduct ever brought to my attention.”

*** This was the work that Gerrit was asked to assist with as a missionary. He was assigned to labor in Groningen, a northern city located near the city of his birth.

There, as was his nature, he went to work with a zeal, bringing the comfort and peace of the Gospel to those who had suffered so much.

Frank I. Kooyman

This labor was cut short, however, when in August of the same year, he passed out one night and was taken to the hospital. Alida and the family had feared that something like this might happen.

My mother and Opoe (OH-poo), I know were deeply concerned about his health.

He was not in good health. He was a diabetic. He loved to eat, and he loved to drink, and he loved goodies. He liked his cherry Coke. He liked good candy.

He liked cookies. He liked ked pie. He would always say, “Well, I’ll cheat a little bit, and take a little bit more insulin”. He injected himself with that.

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[They were worried] because ecause of his own eating habits, to begin with, plus their concern that proper diet might be difficult for him to find in post-war war Holland, particularly within a year after the war ended, plus perhaps availability of medical treatment if he needed it.

Jack DeMann On August 27th he was transferred to the hospital in Rotterdam, where he was a patient through the months of September and most of October.

Even on his sickbed, he was preaching the Gospel to the other [patients].

Pieter Jongejan

ROTTERDAM ZIEKENHUIS (HOSPITAL) WHERE GERRIT GER WAS A PATIENT FOR THE months of September and October, 1946.

He also continued to think of his family back home. One grandson had turned a year old just weeks before Gerrit had left on his mission.

As an early Christmas present, Gerrit had a small Dutch doll purchased and mailed off to Utah.

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My Grandfather sent sen me a Christmas present. Of course, course I was only a little over a year old, maybe, maybe a year and a half old. It was a small little doll. It was just a very plain, little doll. doll It looked like a little green elf with a little green hood. It has a knob along the top. It smiles at you; it’s a painted, wooden face with a smile on it. But if you turn the knob the other direction, direction then that face disappears into the little hood the doll has, has and [a crying face appears].

My mother kept that doll all of her life, and when I was old enough to appreciate it, she gave it to me, and she told me the story behind it; who sent it and everything. So from that time on it’s meant a lot to me. This doll, because of my Grandfather, and him m sending it to me as a Christmas gift, and of course my never seeing my Grandfather after that, it’s always meant a lot to me.

And I’ve got it to this day.

William Randall

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Without the proper attention and constant monitoring needed to keep the disease in check, the diabetes had taken an awful toll. His age, in combination with the unavailability of good food and quality insulin was too much for his weakened body.

After three major surgeries, there was nothing more that could be done, and on October 25th he was discharged into his son’s care. Nine days later, on November 3rd, he slipped into a coma and quietly passed away.

Much of the information and quotes in this chapter that refer to the Dutch members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Potato Project was taken from William G. Hartley’s, “War and Peace and Dutch Potatoes,” published in the Ensign, Jul 1978.

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I Wish I Had Known Him I wish I had would have known my Grandfather a little better. I wish that he would have lived longer; that he would have come home from his mission.. I wish that I could have associated with my Grandfather a little bit more than I did di because, like at said at the beginning, I really didn’t know him that well. But I know enough of him to appreciate the kind of man he was.

I realize that it is through the missionary system that converted my Grandpa and my Grandma, dma, my Opa and my Opoe - they came to the United States, and the importance of the Gospel in my mother’s life, and even though she didn’t marry a member of the Church in the beginning, my dad was converted. I remember how he went through the steps of the priesthood. I remember a year after they were married in the temple that my sister and I were able to go to the temple and be sealed to them. - And so I owe a lot to my Grandpa Jongejan for the Gospel in my life. life .

So even though I didn’t know him, there’s a bond of love that I have in my mind and in my heart of my Grandfather. I look forward to seeing him on the other side, meeting him, knowing him, getting better acquainted, and having some interesting long talks with him.

William Randall 71

1946 PHOTO OF ELDER GERRIT ARIE JONGEJAN, JONGEJAN TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER HIS arrival in the Netherlands for his second mission.

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How many lives can one life touch? How is it that that the lives of some men and women can have such an impact on the world around them, that even though they spend their lives in the shadow of great world events, their quite actions continue to echo down the corridors of time? How many lives have been changed or affected by one man’s search for truth?

It’s not known how many converts found the Gospel through the constant labor of this one man. Within the confines of his own posterity, many now enjoy the blessings of the Church and the legacy of joy and peace associated with the truths he never tired of sharing.

Many of his children’s children have continued his life’s labor and have gone on to serve missions themselves, including a grandson and four great grandsons who were called to serve in Holland.

The Dutch Saints called him “An exemplary missionary and a noble man”. Gerrit Arie Jongejan was a man who spent his youth searching for truth, and once he believed he had found it, spent the rest of his life sharing it with all would listen to him.

His Mission President never tired of referring to his ability to start a Gospel conversation with others. He said that, “in the train, on the boat, in streetcar or bus, in stores or museums, in public parks or busy streets, Bro. Jongejan found his opportunity – or made one. While the Elders, tracting from door-to-door, often found it very hard or quite impossible to engage people in a discussion of Gospel principles, Elder Jongejan seldom failed. He was a ready conversationalist, a Seventy through and through, a missionary to the core!”

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Bibliography Adriaan J. Barnouw, The Pageant of Netherlands History, Longmans, Green and Co., 1952 G. Bruce Boyer, The History of Tailoring: An Overview, The Culture Café, 1996 Jack DeMann, Video Recording, Chad Randall, 2009 Marie Jongejan DeMann, Audio Recording, Bill Randall, 1980’s William G. Hartley, “War and Peace and Dutch Potatoes,” Ensign, Jul 1978 Pieter Jongejan, “Writings on Gerrit Arie and Alida Jongejan”, John and Ike Jongejan, Jun 1955 Frank I. Kooyman, “Life Sketch of Gerrit Jongejan”, Chad Randall Eugene Rachlis, The Low Countries, Time Life Books, 1963 William Randall, Video Recording, Chad Randall, 2009 Hubert P. van Tuyll, “On the Edge of the Gunpowder Barrel: The Netherlands and the Coming of World War I, 1870-1914”, Augusta College, 1995

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Photo Credits Title – 2,3 34568,9 13 15 19 20 24 25 28 29 29 -

31 35 36 37 38 42 43 44 49 51 51 52 53 56 56 62 63 -

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Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of KeesvanderLeer.nl.

Courtesy of Oude Kerk te Veenendaal.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Artist Unknown, Trend van Vroeger: Verzuiling, 1cca.blogspot.com/2009/11/verzuiling.

Courtesy of Gemeentearchief Roterdam.

Courtesy of Gemeentearchief Roterdam.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy of Queen Wilhelmina Lodge, Arkansas.

Courtesy of Misti Farang – Prmero UniCo de l”Escala!

Nutenkraker, 1917, Albert Hahn, “In De Verdrukking”, Holland: De heeren oorlogvoerenden laten me niet ruimte om mijn boodschappen te doen (Holland: The waring gentlemen do not leave me much room for my shopping). www.nothingwavering.org, Latter-day Saint Images, 1915.

Courtesy of Holland America Lines.

Courtesy of Holland America Lines.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of Ellis Island Foundation.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of University of Southern California Photo Archives.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of Gemeentearchief Roterdam.

Courtesy of Gemeentearchief Roterdam.

Courtesy of Anne Frank Werkstukwijzer.

Courtesy of Arendmilde.

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Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Courtesy of Gemeentearchief Roterdam.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

Courtesy of M. Chad Randall Archive.

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