Grandma Amy's First Job

As a stay at home mom now, I've begun to wonder what other mothers do all day. My mother was a stay at home mom until all us kids were in school. She did daycare for a while when we were younger. My grandmothers were also stay at home moms until their kids were grown and in school as well. But what about my great-grandmothers? Often we hear about these women making bread, cleaning, doing laundry by hand, ext. but did they do anything else?

My great-grandmother Amy spend a lot of her time volunteering, though she didn't even consider it that. She did only what was natural to her; she helped whenever it was needed. The only job she had was after Grandpa Peter died, when she was 58, to young for social security and Grandpa Peter's railroad pension stopped after he died. She had no choice. It was probably the best thing that could happen. She lived way out in the country but the neighbor lady who was alone too and worked in Lake Mills at a little factory that manufactured an orange juice in containers used by the airlines. They would drive to work together. Grandma Amy worked there until she moved to town. I think Grandma Amy really enjoyed it actually, she told many storied about he young girls she worked with. When she moved to town she worked as san aide at the retirement home in Northwood. The job ended very suddenly, something happened. My grandma Bonny never knew what happened but her sister Rosemary seemed to.

After Arrival

Immigrant stories have always been a source in interest to be because of this. Why did they come? What was it like to leave one country arrive in another never to return to their homeland? What happened to them after their arrival? Some of these answers I'll never know about my great-grandfather Peter. What I do know follows.

Peter (Pieter) Van Sabben arrived in America in 1911 at the age of 20. After arriving in American, Peter lived in Patterson, New Jersey. There he worked for the Rock Island Railroad. He was a machinist and worked very hard all his life. That's how he came to be in Northwood, Iowa; he followed the work with the Rail Road from New Jersey. They had a big facility in Manly. It had a turntable to turn the engines around. Peter was an immigrant who never became a naturalized citizen. He worked on the first steam engine. At the end of the depression he was offered the position but it was in Minneapolis. He'd go the Manly and catch a ride in the engine to Minneapolis where he stayed in a rooming house for a week and then come home for the weekend. Worked to get everything done around the farm and then head back. He brought home biked for my grandma and her siblings one time. My grandma remembered a time when Grandpa Peter came home and told the kids "If a cow get on the tracks, let it go." Evidentially, the train on his way home had almost hit a young girl when she tried to get the cow off the tracks.

What's in a Name?

When asked about how she got her name, grandma Bonny said she "didn't know where it came from. It was spelled differently than any one else's; could have been a way the Norwegians spelled it. Sure can't shorten it much, so I wasn't saddled with a nickname. I was real skinny when I was young, so sometimes I'd be called "Bony". Mom used to tell us how her name "Amy Hove" was so short when she had to write it on the blackboard at school, she'd draw the lines out as long as she could so it would look longer."

My mother said she chose my name because she liked the sound of it and the meaning. She saw both beauty and strength in a name that means 'Fortified Meadow". We chose our sons name for the same reasons; we liked the sound and the meaning of the name.

As They Were

I've been reading in my grandma Bonny's "Reflections From A Mother's Heart" journal. My dad gave this to his mother for a Christmas gift, and she gave it back when she finished answering all the questions. There were two questions about how you most often remember your parents. Since the last two posts were about her parents I thought this would be an appropriate time to document Bonny's memories of her parents.

Describe your mother in her best dress.
My mother, Amy, was always very fond of navy blue dresses with a white dollar. I think she felt it made her feel smaller. I once heard her comment when one of her friends died that "wasn't it awful, her kids couldn't even buy her a new dress to be buried in." I bought her a new navy blue dress (beautiful but I couldn't find one with a white collar) so she was dressed in her best to meet God.

Describe your father in his work clothes.
Below is a picture of Dad as I saw him most every day he didn't wear a suit very often. It was always his felt hat, battered and stained, the crooked stem pipe which had worn his teeth down to fit always in his mouth but for special occasions he smoked a cigar, a chamberag blue work shirt, overalls, a size too big, with the legs spilling over his shoes. He was so short the legs were always too long. Worn, battered, stained, lace-up steel-toed work shoes. For dress-up he wore steel-toes black policemen shoes. He ordered these from someplace.

Great-Grandma Van Sabben

My Great-Grandma Van Sabben was born Amy Hove on May 15, 1905 in Iowa. She was the fourth child of six born to Olavus and Ingaborg Hove (Doesn't that sound Norwegian). Grandma Amy grew up in the Northwood/Kensett area of Northern Iowa and graduated from Northwood High School 1924. She married Peter Van Sabben on March 23, 1925. He was 14 years her senior. They lived and raised their family of six children in the same area where Grandma Amy grew up. After Grandpa Peter's death in 1966, Amy got her first job outside the home. She was an active member of her church. Grandma Amy died March 4th, 1995 in Manley, Iowa and was interred next to her husband in the North Shell Rock Cemetary of Northwood, Iowa.

I remember Grandma Amy had an old Singer Swing Machine in her bedroom. The sewing machine was not longer attached to the peddle on the floor, so as a child I would lay on the floor and push the floor peddle with my hands and watch the large wheel on the side spin. I liked to see how fast I could get the wheel going.

Another favorite memory was when every Christmas Eve the family would drive up to Grandma Amy's home to visit with all the great-aunts and uncles and cousins. "Santa" (Cousin Caroline) would come in and hand out a little gift for each child. It was almost always a coloring book of some kind.

Great-grandma Amy Van Sabben around 1915

Great-grandma Amy around 1970

Christmas with Great-grandma Amy

Great-Grandfather Van Sabben

My great-grandfather Peter (Pieter) Van Sabben was born in 'S-Heer-Anrendskerke, Zeeland, Netherlands in 1891. Exactly 120 years later, my son was born. He came to America in 1911 and followed the railroad to Iowa were he married my great-grandma Amy. They had six children and lived in Kenset, Iowa. He died in 1966 from a massive heart attack.

While doing some digging on G-Grandpa Peter I was able to find his name on the passenger list on Ellis Island. You can learn a lot from those lists including height, occupation, literacy, and even how much money they came with. G-Grandpa Peter's passenger list says that he was 5'5", fair skinned with brown hair and brown eyes. He came to American with $25, could read and write, and was a farmer. My grandma said that G-Grandpa Peter came and worked to help bring over the rest of his family in 1914. I have been able to locate their records as well.

Around 1911, shortly before or after arriving in America. I love the belt and wish I know if it was still around and where it is.

How They Met and Married

My Grandparents met at a rather famous ballroom in Iowa. Hints: Buddy Holly played there before the fateful plane crash that claimed his life along with his traveling companions. The answer: SURF BALLROOM in Clear Lake, Iowa. Here's the story as it was written in my Grandma's journal.

Bonny was working as a waitress in Mason City, Iowa. On her nights off, Bonny would go to the famous Surf Ballroom. It was here that Boyd had a standing table on the ballroom floor with his brother Leroy “Slim”. Often times Boyd's cousin Irv and one of their girl cousins would join them. Nobody seems to remember which cousin this was. One night Boyd asked Bonny to dance and history was made.

Bonny wrote that about their engagement that they “had known each other for about 2 years and had “gone steady” for about a year. I should have seen the writing for my life when we went to buy an engagement ring. He told me he had a choice between buying a ring for $24 or buying one on installments. He asked me what he should do. I left it up to him.”

“We were married on the same day as Rosie and Ervin (Bonny’s younger sister and brother-in-law). I didn’t want to take away from her day. We didn’t want a big wedding like hers. We talked to the minister in Sheffeild and made arrangements for him to marry us late in the afternoon that day at his home. Phyllis and Bud (Boyd’s sister and brother-in-law)stood up with us. We didn’t tell anyone we were getting married until we were ready to leave Rosie’s wedding day. We told Phillip (Bonny’s older brother) just before we left.” Bonny wore a pink sharkskin suit which I have in a hope chest in my room, and Boyd were a brown suit. There as been some quandary if Bonny was pregnant when they married. Her first child was born 7-8 months later.

This is a picture of them on their wedding day.

Grandma Bonny

My Grandma Bonny was born on January 30th, 1930 in Northern Iowa. She grew up on a farm near Kensett, Iowa. She was the third child out of 6 born to Peter and Amy Van Sabben. Bonny wrote down many of her memories of growing up on the farm. I will write these down in the future. Bonny graduated from Kenset High School in 1948. After high school, she worked as a teacher for a short while before becoming engaged to Mr. John Evonoff. Shortly before the wedding John died in a plane crash. It was then that Bonny married Boyd in 1950. They had four children, one of whom died shortly after birth. More on that later as well. Bonny worked for the Iowa Veterans Hospital for 35 years before retiring. After retirement, Bonny remained busy traveling and volunteering her time and energy. In May of 2007, Bonny was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was in stage four by the time they found it. She passed away on July 6th, 2007.

One of my favorite memories of Grandma Bonny was went she came to visit us. There was a snow storm shortly after she came. When the storm passed she took us outside and played "Goose and Fox" in the snow. I remember her falling on her face as one of us tried to tag her the fox. Another favorite memory is Christmas. We almost always spent Christmas Eve at her house. There was a puzzle we did every year, along with sleeping on the floor by the Christmas tree. In the mornings the kids would run around the tiny house waking everybody up to open presents and go through the stockings.

Bonny and Rosemary

Philip and Ruth Ann
Bonny, Rosemary, Adrianne

Enjoying the beach

Jon, Great-grandma Amy, Rosemary, Philip, Bonny, and Adrianne

Grandma Bonny in December 2006 and grandson

Grandpa Boyd

Since it was this side of the family that peaked my interest in Genealogy and Family History I think it is only right to start with my Grandparents on the S side. The first information I received about genealogy came after my Grandpa Boyd's death in 1998. Among his things was a notebook of names, dates, and some stories that all came from his family.

Grandpa Boyd Aaron S was born on March 23rd, 1923 in Iowa Falls, Iowa, USA. He was the last child of 7 or 8 children born to Frank and Gertie. I only know of 7 total children, but there may have been a stillborn daughter. I'm still checking on that. He grew up on a farm in Iowa and only completed the 8th grade (according to my dad.) He joined the armed forces during WWII by deceiving the Navy about his age by using his brother Leroy's birth date. Needless to say this has lead to come confusion to other genealogist. He married Bonny Sue on June 3rd 1950. He worked as an autobody repair man for many years, even starting his own business for a while. He and Bonny divorced in 1979. Having been an alcoholic for many year, Boyd finally got help and became sober in 1980 or 1981 and stayed sober until his death in 1998 from complications for alcoholism.

One of my memories of my Grandpa Boyd was that he always had Planter's Cheese Balls at this house. I never ate these anywhere but at his house. I also remember his girlfriend Elsie at the nursing home. When ever we visited Grandpa Boyd, us kids would also go over and visit Elsie.

Grandpa Boyd on his Indian motorcycle.

Navy Uniform!

Grandpa Boyd with Becky and Bob.

Grandpa Boyd with my brother and I.

Getting Started

I became interested in my family history after seeing some black and white photographs in my Grandmothers guest bedroom. They had hung in the same place for as long as I can remember, but I had no idea who these people were. They were obviously important to my grandmother or she would not have hung them on the wall. These people are part of who my Grandmother was and in extension, they are part of who I am.

My Grandmother also had a journal that was given to her for Christmas. In it were questions about her life from childhood to present. Each day my Grandmother answered the questions and then gave it my father after she finished it. It is one of the best things we have, in my opinion. I learned a lot about my Grandmother after reading the journal. These were stories that no one would have know had she not written them down.

I began to think about others who had similar stories that were lost because of this. While I don't know most of my ancestors, their stories should not be forgotten. Many of them were pioneers, moving to a new country and then continuing to move inward to the midwest. I admire the grit it took to do this and now I want to know their names and anything else I can find out.