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| vlnr Eltje Antonides (1859-onbekend), Lysbeth Antonides (1842-1928 en Grietje Antonides (1854-1933) |
Na hun huwelijk
zijn ze vertrokken naar Huins (tussen Bolsward en Franeker) waar hij
hoofd van de school was.
Ze besloten dat
als ze kinderen kregen, degenen die
na haar famile vernoemd werden zouden Doopsgezind worden en met haar naar de
kerk gaan en de kinderen die
naar Pieter zijn familie vernoemd werden zouden Hervormd worden dus met Heit
naar de kerk.
Uit dit huwelijk
4 kinderen
Sjoukje Hamstra
1863-1919
ongetrouwd
Jakob Hamstra
1865 –1928
Gertje Hamstra
1867 – 1934
getrouwd Sjoerd Wiersma
Fokke Hamstra
1871- 1874
Pieter Hamstra
schijnt nogal opvliegend van karakter te zijn geweest. Er is een verhaal
dat een van zijn leerlingen niet wilde luisteren en de klas uitliep. Pieter
heeft hem achternagezeten door de velden en sloten heen. Of hij hem gepakt
heeft weten we niet.
Pieter
Hamstra was an avid skater. During the winter of 1873 at the age of 34 he
fell through the ice. It seems that several friends got him out and brought
him home but he caught
pneumonia and died on
March 9th 1873.
Lysbeth
then moved to Damwoude where she bought a store and that is how she
supported her family. Fokke her youngest son died at a young age while they
were living in Damwoude. My uncle Adzer says that she 
was
a valued member of the Mennonite church in Damwoude. I visited her grave
last May. The stone is
still there in the cemetary of the Hervormde Kerk in Damwoude.
My
uncle tells me he remembers books by Hildebrand en Jacob van Lennep on the
shelves. He also remembers a huge picture of Menno Simmons on the wall and a
Frisian clock. There seems to have been an old atlas as well from the 17th
century.
In
his memories she always wore a ‘’oorijzer’ with a lace cap and diamond
pins.
She
seems to have loved music because Jakob had learned to play the accordion
and the zitar Her eldest
daughter Sjoukje had a school were she taught sewing and she also have a
nursery school (bewaarschool) for children
2 to 6 years of age. Tante
Akke remembers the toys, the dolls and the clothes that there were for these
dolls. All this really made an impression on her when she was a child.
Jacob
Hamstra had the opportunity to become a teacher but he declined. He wanted
to be a baker like his Uncle Sake Antonides.
This uncle seems to have had a great influence on Jacob Hamstra’s
life, especially his spiritual life. It was interesting to read that this
man Sake Antonides had the same
influence on his brother Johannes’ life.
Jakob
went to learn the Bakers trade
with his Uncle Gerrit de Vries and his Aunt Blijke Antonides in Akkerwoude.
This seems to have been a rather eccentric
family.
The
following are stories that have been passed down and that I am in the
process of putting to paper. Jacob Hamstra was 7
years old when his father Pieter Hamstra
died after that tragic
skating accident in 1873.
He had the opportunity of becoming a school teacher
like his father but Jakob
wanted to be a baker like his uncle Sake Antonides, Lysbert’s older
brother. This uncle seems to have
played an influential role in his life. At the age of 12 he left home to start his apprenticeship in Akkerwoude
with another uncle,
Gerrit, or Kei-om as he was called.
This man was married to Blijke Antonides, his mothers younger sister.
They had two sons, Wiebe the
eldest and Fokke, the youngest,
who was mentally disabled.
As an apprentice Jakob probably
got up very early to light the fires
with branches and turf for the brick
ovens. When the ovens reached the required temperature the
bread was baked. Most bakeries of that time had their regular
customers, so after the baking was done the bread was delivered on foot.
One morning, after completing the
chores necessary to start
that days work, Jakob entered the kitchen to his uncle making the
following demand, ’Jakob, get my socks and put them
on for me, will you ?’’ Jakob was insulted, he wasn’t a slave
here, he was here to learn the bakers trade not to dress his uncle. "No,
I won’t he replied , his eyes wide with indignation. What do you mean you
won’t ‘’ Gerrit couldn’t believe his ears. ‘’Get those socks on
my feet right now !’’ By now they were shouting at each other, Gerrit
insisting Jakob help him get his socks on and Jakob continually refusing. Blijke, nervously
thinking that this argument was
going to end in a physical fist fight, tried several times to reason with
them both but to no avail. She couldn’t make herself understood over all
the clamour so she ran next door for help. The neighbour, a
quiet man, was called on to intervene.
On occasion, the youngest son, Fokke had a hard time controlling his emotions. One day he was in a huge argument with his mother Blijke. Emotions running high once again, he grabbed the table and braced himself to throw it across the room. Without a seconds hesitation, his mother, a heavy woman, parked her backside right on the table, tea cups clattered, the cream jug emptied its contents onto the plush tablecloth. ‘’That will stop him’’ she thought. Fokke did stop right in his tracks. Suddenly realising it would now take supernatural strength to accomplish the feat of throwing the table across the room, he clasped the edge of the table with both hands, raised his eyes to heaven and pleaded: ’Lord, give me the strength to overcome Blijke’’
Jakob probably stayed with this eccentric family for 4 or 5 years as this was the time it took to learn
the trade. After leaving them he spent several years in Leeuwarden working
for another baker. When his uncle Sake fell ill Jakob returned to Veenwouden
to help his aunts with the Bakery and shop. In
1894, at the age of twenty-nine he inherited this Bakery when his uncle Sake
died.
It was at the time Jakob was living in Veenwouden that his uncle Gerrit walked the 8 km. from his home in Akkerwoude to Veenwouden to talk Jakob into giving him his accordion. Jakob had learned to play this instrument and the zitar when he was a boy. ‘’My son really wants the accordion Jakob, and now that you have the responsibility of this Bakery, you don’t have time for …….. , he reasoned. ‘’ Would you part with it’’ Of course his son Fokke didn’t know how to play and would probably never learn because of his limitations, but after haggling back and forth Gerrit triumphantly walked the 8 km home with the accordion in a bag slung over his shoulder. Several weeks later, Lysbeth and two of her sisters were visiting their younger sister Blijke and her family. The coffee flowed freely as did the conversation and they were having a great afternoon together as sisters can, until Fokke decided to get out the accordion and play. Well, he pulled and pushed that instrument basically torturing it and the ears of his audience. The sisters gave each other knowing glances, were patient for quite a while but eventually the noise and cacophony were unbearable and patience wore thin. Finally Blijke calmly suggested. ‘’Fokke, would you please stop for a while, we can’t even hear ourselves think let alone talk to each other.’’ He looked over at his mother and with a celestial expression on his face pleaded: Ah Mom…. Please… just let me play ‘’As the deer pants for streams of water’’ Ps. 42:1 one more time. (Nog één keer ‘t hijgend hert Mem)
The eldest son bought a bakery in Oenkerk. He met a girl
Trijntje Storm from Harkema, they fell in love and the wedding day
was set for May 7th
1910. Family and friends were invited. Blijke and Gerrit decided to drop in
on Jakob Hamstra on their way to their son’s wedding in Oenkerk. After
coffee and the latest family
news were shared they
left in plenty of time for the
ceremony. Jakop was very surprised to see them back again later on that
afternoon.
‘’Well…. How was the wedding? ‘’ he asked to which they
replied ‘’We arrived a day
late, they were married yesterday! ‘’
A few years later Gerrit inherited enough money from a relative to decide he wasn’t going to work anymore . He sold the Bakery and moved.
