Shane and Jan Weening - December 2018
From Shane: I just barely got back from visiting Groningen (Northern Holland, where most of the de Haan lines are from). Jan Weening, a Family History Consultant in Groningen has written a book about the early church there, and knows a lot about Ate Obes Westra (my great-grandfather). I took the 3-hour train ride to Groningen, rented a bike, and Jan took me all around to see where Ate Obes lived, worked, and served as a missionary. It was so cool to see!
Here are the pictures he took on his trip ...
The photo on the left and upper right are two locations Ate Westra lived while serving as a missionary in the Netherlands (1919-1922). The bottom right is where church services were held during those years ...
... more locations where church services were held in Groningen are pictured below,
although these were after Ate's time.
The one on the left was where Jan Weening was baptized.
If you read Ate's History, you know that he met his wife Geeske in Groningen and they ran a laundry before they immigrated to America. Below, the top-right photo shows this laundry and their residence from 1902-1907. The building on the left is where Ate lived 1899-1900, and the bottom right is another possible residence.
Check out A History of Homes for where Ate lived in Utah after they came to the United States.
Mom/Margie wrote to Shane: Dad just showed me your letter just now, with all the pictures! That's amazing that you took the 3 hour train ride to Groningen, rented a bike, and went all those places where your great-grandfather lived! So nice of Jan to take you all those places and that he knew a lot about Ate Westra! So wonderful that you took advantage of that great opportunity! Thanks for all the photos!
... and to the other siblings: We had a nice video chat with Shane last night from his hotel in Boston. He mentioned the time with the FH consultant Jan in the Netherlands was delightful, after several train changes and bus ride---and the people in the smaller towns didn't speak English nearly as much as in Amsterdam, so it was a little harder to know what trains to take, etc. Shane would like to do something for Jan for taking so much time with him (though Jan seemed to enjoy it just as much as Shane).
One final photo from Shane's Netherland's trip ...
Shane eating raw herring ... mandatory Dutch street experience. Ewwwww.
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