On the 9th Day of Christmas Past, a special ancestral story from Sherrie Spenst (MHA Tour Member):
Question: What was the most treasured gift any family could ever have in today’s story?
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A Christmas Never to Be Forgotten
Submitted by Sherrie Spenst, MHA tour member
The young mother sobbed and dropped the mirror she had been holding over her infant’s lips to check for signs of breathing. There was no mist. Her baby boy was dead.
A few days later this young mother heard a knock at the door. It was two Mormon missionaries, Elder Martin Dalebout and Elder LeGrand Richards. They had noticed the curtains drawn, which was the custom of the day when a love one died. A Mormon family across the street told the missionaries that they had just lost a sick child because their religion didn’t believe in doctors. Elder Daleabout expressed a desire to meet a family with such great faith. As a result on July 22, 1907 Grandpa and Grandma Sieverts, (Abraham and Tryntje) were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their daughter Neeltje was later baptized 0n September 7, 1907.
Nine years after their conversion Grandpa and Grandma’s desire was to migrate to Utah where they could be sealed together for eternity as a family. Finally, in September of 1915 Grandpa secured enough money for him and his son Jan to journey to America. Several months later he was able to bring his son Arnold. In December his daughter Neeltje came to America. With their help grandpa hoped they could earn enough money to bring the rest of the family to Utah.
The lights burned late as Grandpa Sieverts sat by the sickbed of his oldest daughter Neeltje. Things were not working well for him at all. Grandpa had been in Salt Lake City with two of his young sons and a daughter so ill he feared for her life. Meanwhile, Grandma Sieverts was a continent and an ocean away with their five little children. Grandpa was fearful of not getting enough money and that they would have to return to Holland. If they did he knew they would probably never be able to return back to America, so he decided to fast and pray. Being a man of great faith he fasted for three days while still working at two jobs. One night as he was walking home through Liberty Park he fell to his knees in exhaustion. When he finally arrived home he collapsed at the table putting his head on his arm and he began to weep.
Exhausted and forlorn, all of a sudden, he felt as though someone was touching his shoulder. He then heard a voice in the silence of the night, “Your wife and family will be here by Christmas.” Startled he looked up to see who was talking to him. But, no one was there. As he sat there in the silence of the night he heard this voice come to him three more times. He finally realized this had to be the voice of the Lord and with excitement and a renewed burst of energy he knew his family would be together soon.
Grandma, back in Holland, and concerned about her husband and three children, awoke in the middle of the night from a dream about a yellow envelope arriving in the mail with enough money for them to come to America. Excited and weary she ran to her daughter Anna’s room, lit the oil lamp and excitedly said, “Anna, I dreamed the postman brought me a big yellow envelope with enough money to take us to Zion, to be with our father.” Anna half asleep nodded then dozed off while her mother sat on the bed in the soft dim light figuring how much money they would need for their journey.
Grandpa, a small man in stature, continued to work harder than ever to earn enough money to send to his family, not knowing about the dream his dear wife had just had. His work ethic had not gone unnoticed. When one of his bosses called him into his office and asked him why he was working so hard. Grandpa explained to him how he was trying to earn enough money to bring his family to America. Then the most wonderful thing happened, he offered to advance Grandpa the rest of the money that he needed. What a gesture of love. Who would do such a thing, especially in those days? How excited was Grandpa to know that the voice he heard in his dimly lit kitchen that night would be the answer to his prayer.
Grandma, with her abundant faith, knew that she didn’t have much time to get things ready to leave Holland. The more she prayed the stronger the promptings came. She knew that this yellow envelope full of money would soon arrive in the mail. She even sought counseling with her branch president about her feelings. He told her to follow those promptings. So she began packing her things. She gave all her furniture to her sisters, sold what she could. Her brother-in-law built her some large wooden trunks so she could pack the feather beds and other essential items that they would need when they reached their new home in Salt Lake City and sent them off to America with faith that they would all soon be leaving.
It was early December of 1916. Grandma stood in her empty house with her five children wondering if she had acted too hastily. She panicked that the money she had dreamed about would never come. In her hustling about did she lose judgement? She sat on the floor and cried. After saying a small prayer she gathered up her small children and began the long walk from the suburbs of Amsterdam into the city to her sister’s house. Grandma with four of her children were staying at Aunt Dientje’s house. Knowing that Aunt Dientje had a small house, not all of them would fit. So Anna stayed with her grandmother Paanen. Each morning Anna would return to their empty home to see if any word had come from their father.
Then one day when Anna returned to their home she saw her neighbor standing out in her yard waving something. As she got closer she could see it was a large yellow envelope just like the one her mother had described in her dream. Full of joy and excitement Anna ran with the Special Delivery Letter through the city as fast as her legs could carry her. Out of breath Anna presented the envelope to her mother, she confirmed with deep emotion and thankfulness that the envelope contained the exact amount of money she had dreamed of. Their journey to American would soon begin.
With World War I in progress between England and Germany, crossing the English Channel would be difficult to maneuver through since England had placed explosives into the North Seas toward Germany. Every ship leaving Holland would need a guide as it navigated through the dangerous mine fields. Grandma didn’t have much time, she needed to contact the shipping companies to see if a ship was available. She learned that the passenger ship “The S.S. Noordam” was on an infrequent voyage and was scheduled to leave the very next night at midnight.Grandma had less than two days to have everything in order, including passports, pictures, health certificates, and train tickets from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. Frantically, Grandma gathered what she needed together knowing that if she missed this ship that her and her small family would have to wait indefinitely before they could leave Holland. With faith and determination Grandma managed to get everything taken care of and they were at the dock the next night at 10:00 PM. Tired and jubilant and not knowing what laid ahead of them the small family was on board and heading to America.
This ship had to cross the Atlantic carefully and in a longer route steering past the mines placed randomly throughout the ocean. Delays were caused by their ship having two German officers onboard. Poor Anna was so seasick she spent most of her time in the small cabin on the lower deck in her bunk. While Grandma attended to her young toddler Kate still a babe in arms. The ship finally arrived in New York City after a week on the ocean. But they were still well behind their schedule. Grandma was still concerned, “Will we make it to Salt Lake in time for Christmas?”
At Ellis Island Grandma and her five young ones were finally standing on American Soil. It was an exhausting day having to be processed and to show the authorities all their documentation. Luckily a Dutch Baptist minister was there to help with communication and brought them their only food for that day, a bag of rolls. The children were disappointed to find that the rolls were so hard that they couldn’t even bite into them.
After leaving Ellis Island Grandma needed to go buy train tickets to Utah. You can imagine how she felt when she learned she didn’t have enough money to pay for all of the tickets. The ticket agent, in Salt Lake, who helped grandpa figure out how much money he needed, failed to account for his precious little Kate. Not knowing English, Grandma was heartsick, luckily the Baptist Minister was still in the area and help them send off a telegram to Grandpa who quickly cabled the money needed to purchase the last ticket. With renewed hope, they boarded the train hoping to be in Salt Lake soon.
The train was crowded as it left New York towards Chicago. The passengers thought the Sieverts children were cute and entertaining. They loved to hear them chatter and sing in Dutch. As the children sang and performed the passengers would give them oranges and other treats. Grandma delighted with these gifts as she had little money left for food. She dared not take them to the dining car as she feared the money would be all used up. With sign language she communicated to the porter to bring hot chocolate and rolls for them to eat.
Back in Utah Grandpa would go to the train station in Salt Lake City to check on his family’s progress. The answer was always the same, “They have been delayed.” Thinking back to that night in his home so many months before he thought about that voice so strong and clear that told him his family would be here by Christmas. Was this to be? Did he really hear this voice? Will they be together for Christmas? Not losing faith Grandpa continued to rely upon the Lord knowing that this promise would be fulfilled.
They were awakened the next morning and were quickly brought to their feet by a blast from a train whistle. Gathering up their luggage the family was out on the platform in record time and overjoyed that a train had finally arrived to take them to their new home in Utah. Without any further delays they arrived in their beloved Salt Lake City. How long they had waited to be here. To be together again as a family and not being separated by so many miles of land and water. As they looked out of the window on the train to their surprise they saw their father standing there waiting for them. The train couldn’t stop fast enough. They all ran towards the door into the arms of their father. Never did such a greeting mean so much. It was a moment never to be forgotten in the minds of this young family.
As the car pulled up to the curb they could see their sister Neeltje walking along the sidewalk. She had gone to get some groceries. When she saw her mother getting out of the taxi she dropped the bag on the sidewalk and ran into her mother’s arm. Arnold and Jan were excited as well. They were finally together again, all the pain and suffering of coming to American had finally paid off.
Of course this would be a Christmas they would never forget. There were no presents, there was no Christmas tree, on that Christmas day. You see they didn’t need any. Because they already had the most treasured gifts any family could ever have and that was each other and to all be together once again as a family.
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