Feike Ales Vogel

Feike came to Workum on the Zuiderzee as a young painters helper, working for boss Weidenaar and it was at a time he was attracted to the daughter of baker Leenstra and in time married. and then settled in Berlikum, in the north part of Freisland.

    In the month of March, 1913, the Feike and Grietje Vogel family immigrated from Berlikum, Netherlands, to the United States, arriving in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  They had ten boys, the three oldest, Albert, Henry, and John, already made the trip one or two years before.  The year prior to the Vogel family came to the United States was when the famous Titanic had sunk.  As the ship that the Vogel's sailed on went over the spot where the Titanic sunk everyone on the ship took a moment to remember and sang "Near to My God to Thee".

    The following year, 1914, they moved as a family to Orange City, Iowa, and in 1916 they moved to a large farm near Bigalow, Minnesota.  In the Netherlands they were a family of painters and all the older boys followed this trade, except for John who was baker.

    The following is a piece of the expose from Andrew and Jennie Vogel, written, October 1978.

    At the age of 12, for any person, boy or girl, school was out, and it was going to work.  There was high school for especially gifted, and more especially for the well to do and upper class, but for the average person it was, GO TO WORK.

    Now Feike Vogel was not strong in body, and at 12 it was decided not to have him work in the heavy Frisian clay and dirt, but to have him learn a trade such as a painter.  Leaving home and all his sisters, being the only boy, he became the little helper with a painter-decorator in a nearby village.  They hardly earned the board and room.

    Tea and a piece of rye bread with a slice of pork were for breakfast; for the midday meal, potatoes, and cabbage or turnips; and for evening, more bread, cheese, and in season fruit.  But, nobody overate nor expired of starvation.

    His belongings went in a carpenter-made wooden box.  Everything was in there, and when the family crossed the ocean, the box came along. Today it is on display in the windmill museum in Orange City, Iowa.  The inside of the lid has the original graining in walnut by the hand of Grandpa Feike.  This box soon will have the age of a century.

    And for the ones who will not fly to Holland to visit the old place, we will try to give the picture more in detail.  When a person was 17 to 18 years old, they were informed and instructed in their occupation and in regard to social affairs, and especially in the matters of church and state.

    To look for and find a girl to be your wife was no trick, but to get married, that was different.  There was somewhat of a standard for age and some would "keep company" for a few years.  Then you had to be financially able to start a home.  It was also difficult to find a spot for operation.

    However, there was an opening in Belsum, with the paint shop and home all under one roof.  Originally it was a farm place, with milk cows, and the rest storage for the wagons and the hay.  This part was converted into the paint shop.  The evidence of milking and housing cows is still there.

    On the far left, two windows in steel frames and a high double door made the east wall of the paint shop.  This was for the paint shop and paint store, storing equipment such as ladders, and space for painting and finishing the fancy Sunday carriages for the rich farmers of that day.

    Feike Vogel was well known as one of the best for finishing buggies and carriages (horse drawn).  When finished, they had to shine like a mirror.  But, we boys had to sandpaper, rub with pumace and oil so much that we got a longing for America, where we were told there were no such things as sand papering and rubbing.  However when Andrew arrived in Grand Rapids and started in the furniture factory, it was again all sandpaper, and that between 4 brick walls.

    This being a free country, with open spaces to the west, Andrew soon settled in Northwest Iowa on the farm, with six horses on the plow, and the foreman in that factory in Michigan had to find another Dutch boy for his sand papering.

    But back to the house.  It was large, compared to other houses. Joining the paint shop was a bedroom, used for and office during collecting days.  The bulk of work and material were charged, and customers came in before the New Year to pay, and with a visit and a little treat, the affairs of the past season were settled.  This was a tradition.  A Narrow hallway, our playground in wintertime, was somewhat separated from the large living room, and the new addition.  There were three full beds downstairs, but the grownups found their way upstairs under the tile roof, unheated and poorly ventilated.  In most cases the mattress contained fresh straw, changed for fresh during house cleaning time.  There was no basement as we have them, but under the beds downstairs there was cool space for the vegetables, milk, butter, and cheese, etc.

    All the children were born in this house.

    For almost 100 years the village paint shop was there, but it seems it has come to the end.  Our cousins, the Strooitsma's took it over when we left.  Now due to illness, it was said that the "paint shop" had been closed.