My family heritage has shaped who I am in both my work ethic, and my personality. Both sides of my family has shown me the importance of hard work.
Fun fact #1: My last name, De Brouwer, is dutch for the brew master; this mean the beer maker. There is still a dutch beer company today, in Lieshout, manufacturing this beer.
On my father’s side of my family we are dutch, and German. My great-grandfather (my grandfather’s father) died in first world war. I am German from my great-grandmother (my grandmother’s mother) who moved to Tilburg, Netherlands. My Grandfather on my dad’s side came over to Canada, in 1950 from Rotterdam, Holland; after the second world war. During the process of immigrating, he was writing his good friend, my Grandmother; and was telling her how good life in Canada was; then she came over, and they got married. They came over for the opportunities, and work. They settled in Lucan, Ontario, which had a growing Dutch community; they worked hard farming, and raising a family. When my dad was growing up, a tradition they had was a family member from Holland would spend a couple of months with them in Canada twice a year; Canada was like a second home to them. Although we do not have many transitions linked to my Dutch heritage, it has been passed on to me how to be a hard worker, and to value family. Both my grandparents, and parents are very hard workers; because of this I am too.
Fun fact #2: my Nana’s uncle was killed by a bull.
On my mother’s side of the family we are very Canadian, going back till 1857; that makes me 6th generation Canadian. My Nana’s dad has a connection to Germany: his last name was Schroeder; her mother spoke french, but has no definitive connection to France. My Poppi on the other hand is from Newfoundland; his family can be traced back there until the 1800s; but Newfoundland was not part of confederation until 1949. When interviewing my Poppi, he gave me many interesting stories, but some of them are a little embellished. For example he told me he left Newfoundland because they push the old people on the ice for the polar bears to eat; or that he had a blind horse that they put in the mines; he had one leg; three wheels, and they called him Wheely. To clarify in Newfoundland they used horses in the mines, and they became blind; the rest is questionable. From these types of stories I have gained a bit of his sense of humour, and learned some true facts about my heritage.
From both sides of my family I have very hard working people to aspire to be like: all of my grandparents had to work very hard to provide for their families, and give them opportunities they could not have. My parents are doing that for me; I hope to do that for my kids.
Works Cited
Butler, Barbara. E-mail interview. 14 Nov. 2017.
Butler, Richard. Telephone interview. 13 Nov. 2017.
De Brouwer, Cindy. Interview. 4 Dec. 2017.
De Brouwer, Richard. Interview. 4 Dec. 2017.
