Stamboom Verbeek » Henry Hesselink (1884-1950)

Persoonlijke gegevens Henry Hesselink 

Bronnen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Gezin van Henry Hesselink

Hij is getrouwd met Mary Monthaan.

Zij zijn getrouwd in het jaar 1909 te Grant, Newaygo Co, Michigan, hij was toen 24 jaar oud.Bron 3


Kind(eren):

  1. Howard Hesselink  1924-2014 
  2. John G HESSELINK  ± 1920-2006
  3. Walter Hesselink  1923-1993
  4. Andrew Hesselink  1913-1988
  5. Gertrude Hesselink  ± 1918-2008
  6. Geraldine Hesselink  1911-1996
  7. Genevieve Hesselink  ± 1916-1991
  8. (Niet openbaar)


Notities over Henry Hesselink


NameWilliam George DE WITT

Birth5 Apr 1913, Borculo, MI31,32

Death24 Dec 2006, Arizona12

BurialRusk Cemetery, Blendon Township, MI12

OccupationTurkey Farmer, Founder Of Bil-Mar Foods31

ReligionChristian Reformed31

MedicalStroke12

Church AttendedRusk Christian Reformed, Blendon Township, MI31

FatherGerrit Henry DE WITT (1881-1941)

MotherSusan VAN DEN BERGE (1883-1959)

Misc. Notes

The Life of William George DeWitt

William George DeWitt was born on April 5, l913. He was a large baby, weighing 13 pounds. However, the doctor put William Henry on his birth certificate. Years later Bill legally changed his middle name to George because all of his legal documents were signed with G. or George. He was the third child and first boy born to Gerrit and Susan VanDenBerge DeWitt. He was born on the family homestead, 80 acres given to Gerrit DeWitt by his father George DeWitt. The homestead was north of Borculo Michigan, which was the closest settlement to the DeWitt farm. Borculo is in Blendon township and was founded in 1867 by Jackus Klamderman, who named it after his native village of Borkulo in the Netherlands. Bill had two older sisters Georgianna and Angeline (Angie). Marie, Sena and Marvin were born later.

The family always belonged to a church. They had prayers before and after each meal and read a portion of the Bible at the table. On Sunday morning the family climbed into the buggy and went to church. They were members of Borculo Christian Reformed Church, where the services were conducted in Dutch. This is the church where Bill was baptized.

When Bill was about two years old, he had pneumonia and nearly died. His baby picture was taken shortly after he recovered. He had some trouble with his speech because he was ‘tongue tied’. Therefore, when he was about 6, a decision was made to fix the problem. They laid him on the kitchen table and Doc Boone cut the cord under his tongue. It really hurt and it is something he never forgot.

They always had a dog or two on the farm. When Bill was about 7 or 8, he had a rat terrier named Buster. Yes, Buster did catch a lot of rats! Bill got in ‘bad trouble’ because the dog followed too closely to the mower and cut his leg. It was a bad wound, but they did not take dogs to the vet in those days. Buster recovered but always limped after that experience.

Life on the farm was not easy. They did not have central heating or indoor plumbing in the farm house. There was a combination wood/coal stove in the kitchen and a hard coal stove in the living room. The rest of the two story house was not heated. The farm had no electricity until 1936. They used kerosene lamps and lanterns. There was no indoor plumbing, other than a cold-water pipe that ran into the kitchen from an elevated tank in the barn. The tank was filled by windmill power with water from a well. Going to the bathroom meant a walk outside to the outhouse or using an indoor chamber pot in the middle of the night.

They cooked the meals and heated water for washing themselves and their clothes on a kerosene cook stove equipped with wicks. Using a small wash tub and a cloth, family members mostly took stand-up sponge baths but only infrequently in colder weather. Clothes washing was such a chore that they were urged to wear their clothes until they were stiff from dirt and sweat. Bill’s mother washed with a scrub board and tubs until she got a washing machine with a hand-cranked ringer. Wash day was a little easier when they were able to buy a square-tub cast aluminum Maytag washing machine powered by a gasoline engine. Just-washed clothes were hung on an outside line to dry in the summer and a line inside during the winter. Most of the family’s clothes were handmade by Bill’s mother using her treadle Singer sewing machine. The meals were simple--a lot of fried potatoes and eggs. For breakfast they liked ‘bread and syrup’. Pork was fried, a piece of bread was dipped into the grease and covered with syrup. If they had a piece of brown (graham) bread, they would put this on top of the syrup and eat it along with the fried pork pieces. They also ate a lot of cooked cereal. The other meals consisted of vegetables, potatoes, gravy and meat. Much of the food, including meat, was canned to get through the winter. They fried pork and put it into big 10 gallon crocks which were kept in the basement. The lard covered the pork and they would dig into the crock to get to the pork.

You can almost see little Bill going off to school carrying his lunch in an old syrup pail (similar to a 3 pound Crisco pail with a wire handle.) These lunches were mostly lard and sugar on bread. They also included butter and jam, homemade cookies and Bill's coffee. His mother would put the coffee in an old liniment bottle and the coffee tasted just awful because of the strong liniment that had been in the bottle. Because he did not like that taste, he would throw his coffee out behind the school wood shed. Bill attended Ovens school until 1923, a one room country school about two miles from home, which was also attended by all four of his children.

This was the Depression and little work was available. Also Bill’s father suffered from periodic stomach flare-ups and farm work was too strenuous. Therefore, in 1923 he had an auction and sold all of the farm animals and equipment, rented the homestead property and loaded their possessions and family on a horse-pulled wagon and moved to Zeeland. Work was available and he got a job as a carpenter.

The family attended Third Christian Reformed in Zeeland. They rented two homes in Zeeland before buying a house on Lincoln Street. The whole family worked hard to keep themselves fed. Bill attended school in Zeeland, but after repeating several grades, he quit school at the age of 16. They wanted him to play football because he had been playing for the team while in the eighth grade. He was the only boy at this time to do so. The coaches came to his house to recruit him to continue playing because he was big, he was good, and he loved football, but he was not very interested in school. Bill said that he went through High School very fast, he walked in the front door and out the back door. He always had excellent math skills, but reading was a difficult task. Since he had a job building roads for 55 cents an hour, he decided working was more important than school.

During the summers when Bill was 12, 13 and 14, he lived with his Uncle Augustine on his farm in Fillmore, which was about 10 miles south of Holland. He helped with the farm chores. Some of his other jobs included working at Franks Confectionery store in Zeeland where he was the janitor. He cleaned up--mopped the wooden floors, etc. This was his night job. He would go in after 10 p.m. two or three nights a week. He also made handles for wire brushes at Bennett Lumber Company. (His daughter Shirley worked in this lumber company's office when she was in college.) He drove a team of mules for a construction crew building roads in the Holland- Zeeland area. In 1929 he helped lay the first pavement for 96th Avenue from Zeeland to Borculo. However, the day before Thanksgiving 1929, his supervisor at the lumber company gave him his check and said they did not have any more work for him. Since he was out of a job his cousin Raymond DeWitt said, “Bill, you don't have anything to do here. Why don't you come up to Rudyard with me?” In February 1930, at age 16, Bill hitch-hiked with Raymond to Michigan’s upper peninsula. The people in Rudyard (located between St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie) were so poor that they did not know that the Depression was going on. He lived with his Uncle Will DeWitt and worked on Jake Van Slooten's farm for room and board. Cora Van Slooten really worked hard. Bill does not know how she managed to feed five or six kids of her own, her Dad (Uncle Will), her brother Raymond, Harold Irwin, Bill and a few others. They ate a lot of pancakes and honey. They had to buy the flour, but the eggs were provided by the family chickens. The honey came as payment from a farmer who had no money, so he would pay his debts with gallons of honey. During the winter, Bill harvested trees with a crosscut saw and an ax. The timber, which was all used to heat the houses, was hauled out of the woods with a team of horses. Bill would sell this firewood in the spring to pay back what he owed Levi Olmstead at the drug store for the Prince Albert tobacco that he bought on credit during the winter. He used the tobacco to roll his cigarettes.

In Rudyard, Bill spent a lot of time farming hay. The work was backbreaking because they had no modern machinery. The hay was cut during the hot summer (July 4th was usually the first cutting) and windrowed with a large rake Then it was loaded onto a horse-drawn wagon, brought into the barn and stored unbailed. When the cutting season was over, the hay would be bailed with a stationary bailer in the barns. In the winter, Bill would hitch up the horses to the sleigh, go in the barn, which was five or six miles away, and load the sleigh with bails of hay. The hay was taken to town and loaded onto railroad cars. Bill could deliver one load of hay in a day.

It seems like Bill lived in every house in Rudyard. He was ‘passed around’ from one church family to another, many of them relatives. Bill joked that once a family found out how much he ate, they would start looking for someone else to take him.

In October 1929, the New York Wall Street market crashed. Bill was 16. His father could not keep a steady job as there was no work available. Unable to pay the mortgage, the family lost the house in Zeeland. His father also lost $3000 he had invested in the stock market. To make that investment he had taken out a second mortgage on the family homestead in Olive township.

By 1931, the dire consequences of the depression persuaded Bill’s parents that their best chance for survival was back to the 80 acre homestead on 96th Avenue. However, they had to wait two years until the family could earn enough money to buy supplies, equipment and livestock.

In the summer of 1931, Bill’s parents and younger brother Marvin drove north in a Model T Ford to help him on an eighty acre farm he was renting from the Federal Land Bank. One of the main things he raised was flax. He was able to borrow a Fordson tractor for some of the work but most everything was done with a team of horses. Bill’s Dad, Gerrit also worked on other farms of relatives in the Rudyard area. After a summer of farm labor in the Upper Peninsula, Bill’s family went back to Zeeland where his father was able to pick up some odd jobs to keep food on the table.

The following summer (1932), Bill’s parents and Marvin returned to Rudyard until they could raise the money needed to move back to the homestead. Bill also worked with his Dad on Henry Hesselink’s (a cousin) dairy farm. Bill’s father earned $2 a day. By the spring of 1933, the family had earned enough money to buy most of what they needed to return to farming on the homestead.

Bill, his future wife, Martha Postma (whose family were farmers in the Rudyard area), his parents, and younger brother, Marvin loaded the car for the trip back home. When Bill was driving down a steep grade a truck suddenly stopped in front of them at a railroad track. Unable to stop the vehicle, Bill swerved to miss the truck and almost sideswiped an oncoming car which had also veered to avoid a head-on collision. No one was hurt and there was little damage to either vehicle (the door handle was taken off). All of the DeWitts’ luggage, which was packed in wicker suitcases, was knocked off the car’s running board and their clothes were scattered along the roadway.

The family had earned $600 while working in Rudyard, but Hesselink was only able to pay them half the total amount. He gave them a note for $300 and Grandpa George DeWitt covered the owed amount so they could buy horses, a cow, a plow and a wagon. They were home at last. However, having a homestead did not put the family on easy street. After paying for equipment and livestock, they were nearly broke. They still needed to pay their bills, including the farm's outstanding mortgage. The first income they earned was from the half-acre of pickles they grew and sold to the Heinz plant in Holland. The family also grew sugar beets that were sold to the Holland Sugar Company.

Bill and his father worked full-time on the farm. It was hard work, since they had none of the modern equipment of today. Bill’s fiancee, Martha, had a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan doing housework. This is what a lot of the young women did during the Depression.

Bill loved adventure, so he and Justin Marlink decided to ‘ride the rails’ to California. They wanted to see if things were better out west. They started out from Holland and hitched a ride with a salesman from Chicago. That was the fastest ride Bill had ever had. They did arrive safely in Chicago with $20 and the clothes they were wearing. The first night Bill slept on a stone fence. It was a very hard bed. From Chicago, they jumped on empty boxcars and headed for California and a great adventure. They stopped in Denver for a few days to visit an Aunt and Uncle. After eating some good food, they were back on the rails to California. They had a great time until railroad employees found them, and kicked them off the train. However, they just hopped in another car on the next train and arrived in California where things were not much better than in Michigan. They did work for a few weeks at a relative's dairy farm. Then it was back home to Michigan.

Bill married Martha Postma on January 30, 1936. The ceremony took place in the DeWitt family house. Rev. Albert Jabaay officiated. The best man was Marvin DeWitt and maid of honor was Elizabeth Postma. For a honeymoon they hitched a ride with Arnie VanHoven (from the Zeeland Print Shop) to Big Rapids. They stayed the night in a hotel/rooming house. The next morning Arnie dropped them off at Fife Lake where they walked about three miles through the snow and cold to a restaurant. A guy who was also eating there gave them a ride to Mancelona. From there, they took a train to the Straits of Mackinac. They got a room for the night, but had to get up at 4 a.m to catch the ferry across from the lower peninsula to the upper peninsula. They went to the bus station hoping to take the bus to Rudyard, but the busses were not running because the roads were snowed in. They called Andrew Hesslink (one of the few people in Rudyard with a telephone) to come and pick them up. They spent all day in a gas station waiting for him. Finally they hired a guy for $4, to drive them to Raymond and Florence DeWitt's house in Rudyard. They telephoned Andrew Hesslink. He and Martha's Dad, Roy Postma picked them up as soon as they could get through the snowed in roads. After this great adventure, they stayed in Rudyard for about a month. When it was time to return home, they hired Andrew Hesslink to drive them back to Borculo. They moved into the upstairs of the DeWitt family’s farmhouse. They lived there until they found a farm to rent on nearby Fillmore Street for $5 a month.

The first car that Bill had was an old Dodge that he bought for $35. He
drove this for about two months, sold it for the same price he paid for it and bought a new 1937 Chevrolet from Decker Motors in Holland, Michigan. There was a strike going on at the factory in Flint and this was the last car available. He paid $660.00 for it. He had it for 18 months,
paid it off in 12 months, (six months early) and got $22 back. He traded the l937 in for a 1938 Chevy plus $75 or $100. His next car was a 1940 Chevy.

On August 7, 1936 Julia Mae DeWitt was born in the Zeeland Hospital. The hospital was a converted mansion in the city of Zeeland. The following year on September 15, 1937, Shirley Marie DeWitt was born at Zeeland Hospital. On the way to the hospital, Bill was speeding down 96th Avenue (he always drove fast, but this was an emergency) when a belt broke on his car, and slowed him down a lot. He knew he had to get Martha to the hospital. He limped along with the car and finally arrived at the hospital. They got on the elevator and the baby waited until Martha was in the hallway outside of the delivery room. That was a close call. Shirley was born at Zeeland Hospital, but in the hallway. The good news was that they were not charged the $5 fee for the use of the delivery room. Now there were two little girls to care for. This was no easy task with no inside plumbing, and no running water. Bill installed a hand pump at the kitchen sink so Martha would not have to go outside to get her water. Baby Billy came along on January 30, 1941. He was born in Zeeland Hospital and was named William Junior DeWitt. Martha was physically exhausted, therefore, baby Billy had to live with his Aunt Sena and Uncle John Vugteveen until he was about six months old.

In l936 a cousin, Albert Bloomers, helped Bill get a job at Grand Haven Brass. In l937 his brother Marve, also went to work there. This was hard dirty work. Often when Bill came home he would get the ‘Shimmies’. He could not get warm and would stand near the stove and shiver. Martha thought that this came from breathing brass particles.

Relatives and friends believed the family farm would forever be a sideline and the brothers would spend their lives working in a factory. The two brothers never thought about getting into the turkey business when, in early 1938, Bill, at the age of 24, spotted an ad in the Holland Evening Sentinel for some turkeys. The brothers bought 17 turkeys, 14 hens and three toms, for $60. Bill had the money for his half, but brother Marve had to borrow his from his sister. They looked at the purchase as a way to earn some extra money.

In 1939, Bill and Marve had settled into a rigorous work schedule which included the family homestead, Bill's rented farm, and Grand Haven Brass. He worked at the foundry for 5 years. These were ten hour days at 45 cents an hour; however, the work day started long before they ever punched the clock at the foundry. They did all the farm shores before the drive to Grand Haven in Bill's 1937 Chevy. To help pay the gas and other expenses he had riders who paid him 25 or 35 cents per day. They included Gladys and Della Toilsome, Angie Lertsma and one of the Vollink girls. Chris Postma, Martha's brother, who was living with the family also rode with them. They had more farm chores to do after they returned home. At this point they were raising cows, hogs, chickens, turkeys and growing wheat, oats, and hay. They sold milk, chicken eggs, turkeys and hogs. One of the other things they did was pick up free ‘soup’ from Heinz in Holland to use as a cost-saving feed supplement for the cattle. The ‘soup’ was liquid left over from making vinegar out of grain. This was transported in twelve or thirteen 50-gallon drums that the brothers rigged on a 1937 Chevy truck.

Whatever spare time Bill could find, he used to build a house for his growing family. At an auction, his father bought a house in Holland, Michigan for $300 and they tore it down, board by board, brick by brick. Bill, Chris Postma and anyone else who was available, hauled it on a borrowed 4 wheel trailer back to Polk Street which was to be the site of the new home. It was about a mile from the DeWitt homestead, on 80 acres that Grandpa George DeWitt bought and later sold to Bill's Father. Bill bought the cement blocks for the basement from a place in Spring Lake. In the spring of 1942, they moved into their brand new house which had electricity but no water or telephone. The water well had not been drilled because they had difficulty finding good water. Therefore, they had to haul water in milk cans from the neighbors house. The house did have an indoor bathroom, including a real bathtub, but the water had to be heated on the cook stove in a big copper kettle. The hot water was poured into the bathtub. The first person to take a bath had clean water, but not much of it. For each person a little more hot water was added. Bill was always last to take his bath--he liked a lot of water even if it was not very clean. This was the summer before the girls started school at the one room school that father Bill had gone to many years ago--Ovens School--about a mile from the house. The house on Polk Street is where the final family member, Raymond, was born on December 10, l950. It was always said there was a year, a month, a week and a day between the girls births and 10 years between the boys.

Even though they had much work to do, they always took Sunday off. Sunday was the Lord's day and a day of rest. The only work they did was that which was absolutely necessary. When they were first married, Bill and Martha took his parents to Third Christian Reformed Church in Zeeland. Bill and Martha joined the church and Julia and Shirley were both baptized at Third Christian Reformed. After Bill’s father died the family attended Rusk Christian Reformed Church (the church where daughters, Julia and Shirley were married.). Rusk was much closer to the house and it was easier to go to the church services, Sunday School and Catechism. They attended both of the Sunday services. In the winter, the second church service was in the afternoon, in the summer it was held in the early evening. Bill served on the Consistory as a Deacon or Elder for a total of 19 years.

About this time Bill's father Gerrit went to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, where he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Bill has always said that his father liked to chew and eat coffee beans. He felt this did not help his stomach and might have made his problems worse. Bill spent many hours caring for him during his illness. On August 20, 194l, at the age of 59, Gerrit DeWitt died of cancer.

This tells some of the things that happened in the life of William George DeWitt, from the time he was born in 1913 until the early 1940’s.

Addendum:

Bill said he never had any ambition to become a professional turkey grower, but one thing led to another. Before he and Marve knew it, they were working full-time in their turkey business. They bought their father's 80-acre farm in 1940, added another 80 acres which once belonged to their grandfather and built a turkey house and hatchery. Every year a few weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas the brothers would mail out penny postcards to potential customers in Zeeland and Grand Rapids urging them to buy a fresh-dressed bird from what was then called Bill and Marve's Turkey Farm. When the orders came back, the two would catch and dress 300 to 400 birds by hand, wrap them in paper bags, load them in the trunk and backseat of a 1940 Chevy and deliver them personally.

In the beginning, Bill and Marve simply distributed fresh-dressed turkeys around the holidays. Later they went to frozen birds. As the business grew, they found they needed additional expertise. Therefore a product research team was formed in the early 1970s. They developed new food products made from turkey meat. Turkey hams were introduced first in 1977 and proved popular. Next came turkey hot-dogs, barbecued breasts, Canadian bacon, turkey Polish kielbasa and many other turkey products.

Bill was admittedly still a farm boy at heart. He would much rather have his hands on the wheel of a tractor or combine than worry about the figures on the production schedule or balance sheet. He loved working the dirt, seeing the fresh ground being plowed, planted and the crops harvested.

After Bill was semi-retired, Bill and Martha traveled extensively to Europe, Israel, China, Australia, New Zeeland, Panama, Mexico and many other places. He also loved to drive his car. He spent many hours traveling to visit friends and family. Bill never met a stranger; everyone was his friend.

Bill and Martha bought a home in Sun City, Arizona. They attended Orangewood Christian Reformed Church. Bill loved to visit with the neighbors, plant and tend to his fruit trees. He took pride in the way they looked, how they were trimmed, watered and fertilized. He loved sharing the fruit with all those who came to visit..

When Martha, his wife of 61 years, died in 1997, Bill sold his house on Polk Street and moved to Sun City. He would drive to Michigan each summer as he had done before. He loved to catch up on all the news and see how things had changed. The little farm was now in the hands of a large corporation, Sara Lee.

In February 1999, Bill married Lottie Helms. They both attended Orangewood Christian Reformed Church. They have taken many trips to Europe and other places, including several cruises. But their big adventures happened as they traveled thousands of miles in their motor home. Bill got to relax and enjoy the scenery as Lottie was in charge of the driving. They stopped along the way to visit both of their families and many friends. Bill and Lottie moved to El Mirage Arizona soon after they were married.

Bill had a long, productive life. He loved God, his family, his friends, and was very kind and generous to everyone. Psalm 116:15 says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." As we see Jesus with His arms open welcoming Bill DeWitt to his new home, we are thankful to God for the life Bill has had and the many people he has touched along the way.

Compiled by Shirley (De Witt) De Does, 2000. Addendum, 2006.33

Longtime farmer co-founded Bil-Mar Foods.

Bill De Witt, 93, who established food company with brother Marvin, died Sunday.

Bill De Witt loved his tractors.

So much, relatives recall, that when the local company he co-founded -- Bil Mar Foods -- didn't want to purchase the $60,000 tractor he desired, De Witt went out and bought it himself.

"He always wanted to work on the field in the tractor," said his nephew, Don De Witt. "He was happiest when he was working on a tractor in the out-of-doors."

A longtime farmer and former Zeeland resident, Bill De Witt died Dec. 24 in Arizona. He was 93.
His Olive Township-based company, which he started with his brother, Marvin, in 1938, became one of the largest turkey processors in the nation. The 96th Avenue plant was one of the largest employers in Ottawa County history, The Sentinel reported in prior articles about the business.

The De Witt family eventually chose to sell the company in 1987 to the Sara Lee Corp.

Working at the company under Bill, Don said, was an enjoyable experience during his teenage years.
"Bill was a lot easier going than my dad," the Olive Township resident joked. "That is a fact."

Don said his uncle was as "strong as an ox," and he used that gift to fuel his passion for farming. He loved to raise crops and be active while working in the fields.

"Farming was in his blood more than processing was," Don said. "I don't think I ever saw him sitting at a desk." And he never got tired of it. "He just wanted to work," Don said.

Tom Norman, the son-in-law of Marvin, said he knew Bill for about 40 years. Besides his obvious interest in farming, Norman said Bill also enjoyed to travel and spend time with people.
"He was nice to be around and he talked a lot," the Holland resident said.

He also had a heart for the Christian Reformed Church and supported its universities like Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

Bill's prayers at dinner were unforgettable, said Marilyn Norman, his niece.
"Every prayer was a repetition of particular phrases giving praises to God," she said.

The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Rusk Christian Reformed Church in Allendale Township.

Article in Holland Sentinel, Dec. 27, 2006.15

Bil Mar founder loved work, family.

Bill DeWitt, brother started business with 17 turkeys in 1938.

While the small company he co-founded grew into a turkey empire, Bill DeWitt still could be found where it all starter - in the barns tending to toms and hens.

Mr. DeWitt, who launched Bil Mar Foods with his brother, Marvin, in 1938, died Sunday at age 93 in Arizona. The former Zeeland resident had been in failing health, but loved to talk about the old days, his brother said.

“That was his joy from the day we started to the day we left the business, and he never stopped enjoying that work in the fields or in the plants,” Marvin DeWitt said. “Coming from where we did, having nothing, we learned two things: family and hard work. You have those and you have everything is what he would sometimes say.”

The DeWitts used $60 to buy 17 turkeys in 1938 - Marvin DeWitt borrowed his half from a sister - and, a half-century later, left the business with 2,400 employees and $199 million in sales. They sold the business in 1987 to Sara Lee Corp., which still runs the Ottawa County plant.

“It was quite remarkable to both of us,” Marvin DeWitt said. “Neither of us graduated from high school. We had to work other jobs, but we never stopped pushing. Bill did the work of three men behind the scenes, and I did the work of three men in other areas.

Marvin DeWitt, who is six years younger than Bill DeWitt, last visited his brother the day after Thanksgiving in Arizona.

“We knew this day was coming, but there is no doubt where he’s gone. Heaven,” Marvin DeWitt said.

Mr. De Witt was precede in death by his first wife, Martha.

Survivors include his second wife, Lottie; children Julia Morrison, of Ohio, Shirley DeDoes, of Texas, Bill DeWitt Jr., of Holland and Ray DeWitt of North Carolina.

Article in Grand Rapids Press, Dec. 28, 2006.15

Two Turkey Industry Pioneers Receive NTF Lifetime Achievement Award
Bill and Marvin DeWitt, Bil-Mar Foods, Receive NTF Honors
San Diego, Calif., February 12, 2008 -

The National Turkey Federation (NTF) honored Bill and Marvin DeWitt, founders of Bil-Mar Foods, with the NTF Lifetime Achievement Award.
Presented here during the NTF Annual Convention, these industry leaders received the award for their long-term, unselfish dedication to creative innovation in turkey production.
Gary DeWitt, Marvin’s son, accepted the award on behalf of his father, who is 87, and his uncle, who passed away last year. This is the first time that one of the recipients received the award posthumously.
In presenting the award, Harold Walcott, who grows turkeys in the DeWitts’ home state of Michigan, said, “The story of this year’s lifetime award winners is a story of sheer determination. It is a classic American story of building a business from scratch and, in the process, helping build an entire industry.”
The story starts in 1936, when Bill DeWitt saw an ad for turkeys in a newspaper. He and Marvin decided there might be a business opportunity, so they purchased five toms and 12 hens for $60. Three years later they had 1,200 birds that were processed for Thanksgiving. That was also the year, that the DeWitt brothers formerly incorporated their business as Bil-Mar Foods.”
Almost 20 years later, Bil-Mar Foods built its first USDA inspected turkey plant and in 1961 Bill and Marvin DeWitt started further processing turkeys.
Speaking of the DeWitts’ pivotal decision to begin further processing, Walcott said, “This concept was critical in growing the turkey industry from a whole-bird, holiday oriented industry to a year-round provider of healthy meat protein products.”
In 1977, Bill-Mar Foods was a major food processor in Michigan and introduced the “Mr. Turkey” line of products. That was the same year that the DeWitts’ expanded their operation into Iowa.
Gretta Irwin, executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation, talked about the 1977 NTF convention in Miami Florida, where a group of Iowa turkey growers lobbied Marvin Dewitt to help revive their state’s turkey industry. Irwin said, “It was a significant risk for the DeWitts. Thompson (the company purchased in Storm Lake, Iowa) had assets of more than $4 million, but liabilities and debts of more than $5 million.”
“As Marvin would say later, ‘Some people gamble in Las Vegas; we decide to gamble in Storm Lake.’ It was a gamble that paid off, and it has continued paying dividends to this day for the Iowa turkey industry,” added Irwin.
By 1987, Bil-Mar Foods, a $200 million operation, sold the company to Sara Lee Foods.34

Records on File

Marriage License

Spouses

1Martha POSTMA

Birth18 Sep 1912, Grand Rapids, MI8,19,35

Death17 Dec 1997, Holland, MI8

FatherRuurd POSTMA (1880-1954)

MotherJantje HOOLSEMA (1884-1967)

Marriage30 Jan 193636

ChildrenJulia Mae (1936-2010)

Shirley Marie (Female)

William Junior (Male)

Raymond (Male)

2Milada LAURNERT-HELMS

Birth31 Dec 37

Marriage6 Feb 1999, Orangewood Christian Reformed Church, Phoenix, AR31

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    Visualiseer een andere verwantschap

    Bronnen

    1. Michigan, Births and Christenings Index, 1867-1911, Ancestry.com
      Record for Henry Hesselink
      / www.ancestry.com
    2. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Ancestry.com, Registration State: Michigan; Registration County: Chippewa; Roll: 1675132
      Record for Henry Hesslink
      / www.ancestry.com
    3. Public Member Trees, Ancestry.com, Database online.
      Record for Maria Mary Mouthaan
      / www.ancestry.com
    4. 1940 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, Year: 1940; Census Place: Rudyard, Chippewa, Michigan; Roll: T627_1741; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 17-15
      Record for Mary Hesselink
      / www.ancestry.com
    5. 1930 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, Year: 1930; Census Place: Rudyard, Chippewa, Michigan; Roll: 980; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0013; Image: 692.0; FHL microfilm: 2340715
      Record for Mary Hesselink
      / www.ancestry.com
    6. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Ancestry.com
      Record for Mary Jane Hesselink
      / Ancestry.com

    Aanknopingspunten in andere publicaties

    Deze persoon komt ook voor in de publicatie:

    Historische gebeurtenissen

    Geboortedag 28 april 1884

    • De temperatuur op 28 april 1884 lag rond de 7,6 °C. Er was 0.7 mm neerslag. De winddruk was 1 kgf/m2 en kwam overheersend uit het oost-zuid-oosten. De luchtdruk bedroeg 76 cm kwik. De relatieve luchtvochtigheid was 81%. Bron: KNMI
    • Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was van 1849 tot 1890 vorst van Nederland (ook wel Koninkrijk der Nederlanden genoemd)
    • Van 23 april 1884 tot 21 april 1888 was er in Nederland het kabinet Heemskerk met als eerste minister Mr. J. Heemskerk Azn. (conservatief).
    • In het jaar 1884: Bron: Wikipedia
      • Nederland had zo'n 4,5 miljoen inwoners.
      • 1 mei » Er breekt in de Verenigde Staten een staking uit die uiteindelijk het instellen van een acht-urige werkdag zal betekenen. Deze dag zal de geschiedenis ingaan als de Dag van de Arbeid en is in vele landen een erkende feestdag. Uitzonderingen zijn Canada, Nederland, en ironisch genoeg ook de Verenigde Staten.
      • 29 mei » De Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen wordt opgericht.
      • 16 juni » Jules Malou wordt premier van België.
      • 1 oktober » Oprichting van de Deense krant Politiken in Kopenhagen.
      • 1 november » Oprichting van de Gaelic Athletic Association in Thurles, Ierland.
      • 6 december » Het Washington Monument is voltooid.

    Dag van begraven 16 augustus 1950

    • De temperatuur op 16 augustus 1950 lag tussen 9,3 °C en 18,3 °C en was gemiddeld 15,1 °C. Er was 4,0 mm neerslag gedurende 2,9 uur. Er was 2,8 uur zonneschijn (19%). De gemiddelde windsnelheid was 3 Bft (matige wind) en kwam overheersend uit het zuid-zuid-westen. Bron: KNMI
    • Koningin Juliana (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was van 4 september 1948 tot 30 april 1980 vorst van Nederland (ook wel Koninkrijk der Nederlanden genoemd)
    • Van 7 augustus 1948 tot 15 maart 1951 was er in Nederland het kabinet Drees - Van Schaik met als eerste ministers Dr. W. Drees (PvdA) en Mr. J.R.H. van Schaik (KVP).
    • In het jaar 1950: Bron: Wikipedia
      • Nederland had zo'n 10,0 miljoen inwoners.
      • 7 februari » Wijziging van de naam van het Apostolisch vicariaat Batavia in Indonesië in Apostolisch Vicariaat Djakarta.
      • 14 april » De DAF-fabriek in Eindhoven wordt geopend.
      • 24 juni » Heiligverklaring van Maria Goretti (1890-1902), een Italiaans meisje dat door haar aanrander werd vermoord, door Paus Pius XII in Rome.
      • 16 juli » Uruguay wint de wereldtitel door gastland Brazilië in de finale van het WK voetbal met 2-1 te verslaan.
      • 16 september » Oprichting van de Zweedse voetbalclub Gunnilse IS.
      • 11 december » Een gerechtshof in Singapore wijst ook in hoger beroep het 13-jarige meisje Bertha Hertogh toe aan haar ouders uit Bergen op Zoom. Na de uitspraak breken hevige rellen uit, waarbij 18 doden vallen.
    

    Dezelfde geboorte/sterftedag

    Bron: Wikipedia


    Over de familienaam Hesselink


    De publicatie Stamboom Verbeek is opgesteld door .neem contact op
    Wilt u bij het overnemen van gegevens uit deze stamboom alstublieft een verwijzing naar de herkomst opnemen:
    Theo Verbeek, "Stamboom Verbeek", database, Genealogie Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-familie-verbeek/I25254.php : benaderd 25 april 2024), "Henry Hesselink (1884-1950)".