The Saba Islander
by Will Johnson
Archive for the month “February, 2022”
MY DEAR KEES.
‘My dear Kees’
Introduced by: Will Johnson
A letter in Dutch to me from Arnhem dated March 9th, 1995 reads as follows:
My dear Mr. Johnson,
My wife and I both retain good memories of our meeting a week ago. In the meantime we have in our possession a few copies of “For the Love”, and I have read it with growing interest and agreement.
As we promised you hereby enclosed are a few texts which concern the married couple Hudig-van Romondt: letters from Kees to his sister in Amsterdam, the piece “To my children” which Kees wrote at the age of 80, the memories of St. Maarten, which Bessie Soeters-Hudig – daughter of Kees Hudig and Annie Hudig-van Romondt and mother of my wife – put on paper in 1945, and letters from two people who had worked under Kees and at his departure in 1893 asked for letters of reference.
Much evil has been done to Sint Maarten, we can only hope that it will not get worse. A lot will depend on the counterforces, and we wish those who want to do this all the energy and strength which will be necessary.
And what we further hope is that your following visit (your 23rd) to the Netherlands will take place within a short time and that we will have the opportunity to meet with you (and yours).
With our best wishes to you and friendly greetings
Barthold Hengeveld
The booklet “My dear Kees” contains letters from St. Martin written in 1892 by Ann Sophia van Romondt to her husband Cornelis J. Hudig during his journey to Rotterdam.
Who was Kees Hudig?
Between Front Street and Backstreet in Philipsburg, Saint Maarten, there are short connecting roads. At one time local authorities named these small streets after men who, in 19th century public life of the island, played an interesting role. One of the streets bore the name C.J. Hudig.
Cornelis Johannes (Kees) Hudig, 1846 -1930, was born in Rotterdam. He was the youngest of seven children, visited the gymnasium in Rotterdam and went to Delft to study engineering. Before he had finished his studies he was invited by the ‘Exploitation Company of Salt lakes of St. Martin’ in The Hague to go to St. Martin to assist Monsieur Berne, who at that time was the director. Soon after he arrived, in 1869, Berne retired and Hudig was appointed director.
During 24 years he served the Company with all his energy and engineering skills. He improved the quality of the salt and after years of effort even attained a modest profit for the Company.
But the salt works did not yield the results expected by the Company. Johan Hartog, in his book ‘De Bovenwindse Eilanden’, published in 1964 by De Wit, Aruba, gives some reasons:
-the abundance of rain (as compared with the Leeward Islands);
-the frequency of typhoons in this region;
– the difficulty of getting schooners loaded: the ships had to be anchored in the Great Bay for days, during which the salt was picked from the heaps, headed to barges lying ashore and thus brought to the schooner;
-the increasing competition and the import restrictions in the USA.
In the weekly journal ‘De Ingenieur” 1905 nr 25 p 402 -412 Hudig, who was in the editorial staff of the journal since 1901, described ‘De Zout-industrie op het eiland St. Martin’ and, from personal experience, gave additional reasons:
- The unfavorable situation of the Great Pond, at the base of the Cul-de-Sac and other hills, from which rainwater poured into the pond;
- The composition of the bottom of the pan: silt, mud from the surrounding hills, with the effect that salt could not be shoveled with spades but had to be lifted by hand and washed in the brine before it was loaded in rafts, a labour-demanding job. After the abolition of slavery labour had become expensive.
From St. Martin Hudig corresponded with his family in Rotterdam. His youngest sister, Maartje Hudig (1845-1941), had married an Amsterdam, Jean Francois van der Waarden. Four of Kees’ letters to Maartje have been saved.
In a letter of May 9, 1871 he writes: you inquire after my acquaintances; almost all are van Romondts, like Diederik, his wife, his daughter Susan and his sister Albertine.’
This Diederik was Diederik Charles, then 36 years of age, resident of the van Romondt’s country house “Mary’s Fancy’ in Cul de Sac.
Between the many Van Romondts Kees further mentions, there appears: ‘Robert van Romondt, his mother and his sister Ann Sophia’. Ann Sophia was then 21 years old.
In 1872 he writes; ‘This day we are going to sail in the pan with a company of ladies and gentlemen, I hope this time no misses will fall into the pan.’
And in the same letter:’ did you ever imagine your little brother to be a jurist? Neither did I but other folks took a different view and appointed me member of the ‘Court of Justice’!’
Kees Hudig married Ann Sophia van Romondt January 18th, 1877.
ANNIE VAN ROMONDT
Ann Sophia van Romondt (1849-1926) was born in St. Martin. She was one of the third generation of Van Romondts on the island: her grandfather Diederik Johannes (1781-1849) came to the West in 1801. In 1804 he married Ann Hassell (1784-1845), daughter of a planter. They had eight children, five of them produced their forty-eight grandchildren. In 1820 Diederik Johannes was appointed ‘gezaghebber’ (governor) of St. Martin.
Diederik’s second son Diederik Christiaan (1807-1865) married Susann Pietersen from St. Barth’s. His younger brother George Illidge (1809 -1854) married Angelina Petersen, sister of Susann. Thus the (twelve) children of Diederik Christiaan and the four of George Illidge were first cousins in the double sense.
Diederik Christiaan’s first son was Diederik Charles (1835 – 1904), owner of ‘Mary’s Fancy’; he married Ann Mary du Cloux (1834-1893); he married Ann Mary du Cloux (1834-1893); their fourth child was Diederik Christiaan (1871-1948), who in his later years had some fame as ‘Mr.D.C.’
.
George Illidge died at the age of 44. His wife, ‘Miss Gina’, was left with four children. In a few years the oldest son, Charles (1841-1913) left Saint Maarten for Martinique, where he raised a family. The youngest son died at the age of sixteen. Only Robert (1843-1878) and Ann Sophia remained.
There was, however a big ‘extended family’: most of the gentleman’ in Saint Maarten were relatives, and social intercourse was flourishing.
THE HUDIG FAMILIES
Apart from visits to the neighboring islands Ann Sophia before her marriage had never been abroad. The honeymoon In January 1877 brought her to a wintery Rotterdam and a big family-in-law.
Head of the family in Rotterdam was Kees’ oldest brother, Jan (1838-1924), ship broker and ship owner, member of the city council, patron of the arts, widower with five daughters and one son. One of his sisters, Marie, took care of the children.
Ann Sophia (Annie), though cherishing a keen interest in all her husband’s family, suffered from the cold and bustle of the big city and was happy to be back in Saint Martin.
In the ensuing eleven years their seven children were born: Lina (1878), Nellie (1879) Bessie (1881), Jan (1882), Annie (1884), Frans (1886) and Gaston (1888).
The Hudig family lived in upper Front Street until their departure for Holland: all these years the nanny Ellen Nadoll was with the children.
1892 was a crucial year: the salt ponds did not yield enough. The Exploitation Company sent Adriaan (Ad) ter lag, twenty years of age, to assist Kees Hudig. Moreover: the daughters were in need of further education and epileptic Jan had to be taken care of. It was decided that Kees would make the long journey to Holland.
Six times during his absence Anne had the opportunity to send letters. The older children in turn added their messages. Kees preserved these letters.
PARTING FROM SINT MAARTEN
Kees Hudig arrived back in Saint Maarten mid July 1892. Clearly he had prepared the departure of the whole family. One day, early in 1893 the’ Caribee ‘ anchored near Point Blanche, took the family on board and brought them to the States, from where after some time they embarked for Rotterdam.
For six weeks the family was accommodated at Kees’ sisters’ and brothers’ in Rotterdam; after that they lived in The Hague.
After several other jobs Kees in 1901 was appointed deputy-editor of the weekly journal ‘De ingenieur’. At this post he remained until 1926: at the age of 80 he took leave.
For many years Annie and Kees lived with three of their children. Ann Sophia never really got used to Holland, she missed Sin Maarten. She died at the age of 76, early in 1926.
Engelina (Lina), 1878-1931, lived with her parents until their death.
Cornelia Johanna (Nellie), 1879-1960, studied history of art and eventually was appointed conservator of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; in the family ‘aunt Nellie’ was renowned as a narrator, she was great in oral history.
Elisabeth (Bessie), 1881- 1955, attended the art academy in The Hague; in Indonesia she married D.H. Soeters in 1907 and there her three children were born.
Jan, 1882-1934, stayed with his parents until he was admitted to the Institution of epileptics in December 1927.
Ann Sophia (Annie), 1884-1967, married S.H. Stoffel, factory manager, and lived with him in Delft where her four children were born.
Frans, 1886-1928 studied for the office of notary, stayed with his parents. He acquired a renal disease, stayed with his sister Bessie in Woerden from 1927 and died young.
Gaston, 1888-1965 was a deputy manager in Indonesia. He married twice and had a daughter and two sons.
While typing this in the booklet I found a handwritten note dated March 2, 1995 which reads:
Senator William S. Johnson
“To the historian and lover of Saint Maarten my wife and I present the document “My dear Kees’, containing the letter, written in 1892, by lovable Ann Sophia Hudig –van Romondt to her husband Cornelis Johannes Hudig, longtime manager of the Salt lakes of St. Martin.
Yours Sincerely
Berthold Hengeveld, medecin.
The letters are very interesting as it gives an interesting look on life in St. Martin in 1892 and also one of the daughters wrote an interesting story of life growing up back in St. Martin at the time. I will ask the family for permission before proceeding with those letters. I have had no contact with them in years and for all I know they may have published the information they shared with me in book form.
What I will do for this article though is to add two interesting letters written in the same handwriting and both dated St. Martin, March 15th, 1893 and addressed to Mr. C.J. Hudig Esq.
Respected Sir,
I have heard with much regret and heart felt sorrow that you intends leaving us for your native country. Yet I cherished the hope that it would not be in a time like this when we so much needs you. But I have now seen that it is the fact, and so shortly permit me then, Sir, to turn you thanks for the many benefits which I have derived daily from work given me by your generous hands. Sir, I feels grateful & thankful for the many dollars which I have made in your service. I have always took pleasure in serving you and I feel morally convinced that I will never serve under a better. My grandest wishes is that when on your voyage home, yourself and family may have one of the pleasantest shortest and best of passages, and that in your own land or whosesoever you may travel; may God’s blessings, health, wealth and long life attend you and your family. Such Sir is the heart felt wishes of your obedient R (obert) A Cannegieter
Now Sir I have served you long and I believe honestly and I know not what change may take place, or where I may travel and I feel a recommendation from you would worth me much. It is therefore Sir that I ask you please to confer that last favor on yours Adrianus Cannegieter. The other letter in the same tone but somewhat different wording is from James Henry Labega.
In 1994 Maarten J. Stoffel found the letters from his grandmother Annie van Romondt to her husband Kees Hudig, written in 1892, between old papers. He handed them to his cousin Joy Hengeveld-Soeters, their granddaughter, and her husband. The latter is responsible for copying, introducing and annotating the letters.
An interesting final note is that Mr. Adriaan (Ad) ter Laag, who at the age of twenty, was sent in 1892 by the company to assist Kees Hudig also found himself a wife among the Van Romondt family.
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Sint Eustatius in 1819
Sint Eustatius in 1819
By; Will Johnson
On August 27th, 1819 the Governor-General of St. Eustatius, St. Martin and Saba made a report over the general situation on St. Eustatius which was sent to the Ministry of Colonies. It affords the efforts to look back which differences the St. Eustatius of 130 years ago shows with that of today.
The small Statia is situated nearly one thousand kilometers to the North-East of Curacao. The report describes it as elongated round, with a circumference of five hours, extending from: North to South 9000 feet and from the East to the West 15.000 feet. According to recent information the surface area if about 21 square kilometers.
The description goes on to read: “The South-East and North-West points of this island are formed by two high mountains, which because of their very steep descent to the sea at some places cannot be circumvented. The South-East point consists of only one round mountain, which in former centuries must have had fiery eruptions. Its crown and crater as well as the deep valley within it gives this impression. Also the name of the Quill which the inhabitants have given to it, is derived from this. The North-Westerly point has many tops, of which some are inaccessible ravines.
The high plain which lies between these two mountains on the South Westerly side of it, the Upper Town Village or the Upper Town and the principal fort are situated. It is the only one on the island and slopes gently on the North-East and East sides to the sea where on some locations some boats and canoes can land. On the South-West side of the aforementioned plain, as far as the coast extends, artificially cut out perpendicular to the sea, the height there is in excess of one hundred feet above sea level.
The small strip which because of this has been formed between the aforementioned high plain and the sea and is called The Bay. Being that the widest part is around one hundred steps and a length of around one quarter going is occupied with a double row of houses and warehouses, comprising the Lower village of Lower town. From there one can climb up on three separate wide paths which have been carved out in perpendicular style and partially paved over. The middle or oldest path which leads to the Fort Hollandia or ‘Oranje” , and the new path of about eight hundred steps situated on the South-East side are very steep and tiresome to climb up; less steep and easier to climb up is the North-Westerly path which leads to the battery ‘Amsterdam’.
This descriptive peace contained in the last alinea, would today [1949)] sound a little bit otherwise. The long road formerly leading through the Lower village is now only partially existing and difficult to recognize. The long row of houses and warehouses has disappeared. However not without a trace, because he who stands on the edge of the plus-minus 40 meters high plain above the Bay path, can see clearly (when it is calm and there is clear weather at any rate) the foundations of the once enormous mansions and warehouses which were once the pride and wealth of St. Eustatius.
Houses which fetched a crazy high rent. Houses of which the lower floor were so full with merchandise , that through a trap door in the top floor bales and crates were pushed up to the ceilings. Sometimes the merchandise had to be heaped up in the streets, with no other cover than a gigantic piece of canvas. The former Lower Town of St. Eustatius in the second half of the eighteenth century experienced sometimes two thousand (2000) to three thousand (3000) merchant ships per year anchored in the roadstead.
The former ‘Fort Hollandia’ or ‘Oranje’ is presently called ‘Fort Oranje’, although it is no longer a fort. The walls since a long time have been demolished, and the canons only have meaning as historical curiosities. . (*Translator, I do not know what the author means by this. Was the Fort much larger and extended further into the town in past times? The walls of the fort are still in place).
The middle section has a small public garden with a Memorial to Admiral de Ruyter; besides that one side has several small public buildings.
The three paths leading to the Upper Town still exist. In 1930 on the middle one or the Old Bay Path was still in use, because then there were no motor vehicles on the island. These do appear at the present time to be there and then the North-Westerly light sloping path will again be used.
That the foundations of the former Lower Town, about one and a half kilometers, at present lie in the water, has absolutely nothing to do with the digging of the Panama canal, as a Statian with all necessary force wanted me to believe, but is more a result of the sinking of the middle section of St. Eustatius . This consists of a more loose material, volcanic sand and small stones. One heavy rainfall of grinding a gully in the ground of a meter and a half. According to my personal conviction this island in long gone days must have consisted of two small islands with a narrow and shallow sea strait in between them. This small strait throughout the ages was filled in because of the volcanic ash and other materials from the explosions of the crater. On the West side of the island, where the town lies, exactly half way between the Quill and the Little Mountains, along the coast the sinking of the land is more pronounced. It appears to me that in the last 150 years the land has been sinking at a rate of around one decimeter per year and that is very much.
Concerning the water supply of the island [in 1819] the report notes;
“There are no springs and the water is obtained by catching the rain in cement cisterns of which each home is provided with one. On some plantations there are also wells of 120 to 140 feet depth, but the water of these wells is mostly brackish and only suitable for the cattle to drink. “
The cisterns of St. Eustatius have for a good part gone the way of the rest of the island which means that most of them are in an extremely bad condition. There are however still many good and useful cisterns. These are mostly very elongated, carved out of the ground [and not cemented on top of the ground as most of them are on Curacao] and provided with a roof in the form of a barrel. They catch the water off the gutters of the roof, but because they are dug in the ground, a stand-alone cistern can also catch water from a piece of land cemented over on an incline towards the cistern where the water flows into the cistern via a hole at the end of the cistern plain.
The population of St. Eustatius according to a census taken in 1817 consisted of:
507 Whites
336 Free colored’s
1748 Slaves
This makes for a total residents of 2591 people.
For the year 1818 these figures amounted to;
501 Whites
302 Free Colored’s
1865 Slaves
Which gives a total of 2668 souls.
What concerns religion, there are 218 Protestants of which the greater part consists of Calvinists and Episcopalians 5 Lutherans, 6 Methodists, 30 Roman Catholics, one Quaker and 5 Jews.
In earlier years there must have been a lot more Jews on St. Eustatius. They had a Synagogue of which the walls are still standing to this day.
Thirty Catholics on St. Eustatius was by far not the lowest figure. In later years it would fall to under ten, only to increase after the arrival of Missionaries. In 1930 the amount of Catholics was around 250. In 1935 it was still the same.
In 1819 St. Eustatius had two medical doctors of which one was appointed as officer of health at the garrison and served there. We know an island with a population twice the size of that which St. Eustatius had in 1819, and which has a much larger garrison and which has to make do with only one doctor. [* Translator: I don’t know which island the good priest is referring to here. It could not be Sint Eustatius as in 1935 the population had dropped to 1198 inhabitants, in 1948 this was 921 inhabitants and in 1960 the population rose to 1014 inhabitants and there was no garrison on the island in those years].This chapter of the book was written in 1949 and the book was published in 1951.
From the book: “Onze Bovenwindse Eilanden” by Father M.D. Latour O.P. (Curacao 1951). Translated from the Dutch by Will Johnson.
Under The Sea Grape Tree
Under The Sea Grape Tree
by: Will Johnson
It seems like yesterday when I would be sitting under the sea grape tree reflecting on
my future.
A young teenager just finished with high school on Curacao and holding down a job in
the Postoffice.
It was not quiet meditation mind you. The future looked bleak and it required a lot of
imagination to think positive.
How the world has changed since then. Just like Jean Rhys on her only return to her
native Dominica in “I lived here once”, I too have the same feeling when I try to retrieve
that once secluded and quiet spot on the Great Bay.
The Daily Herald seems to think that I am back under the sea grape tree and that I now
have enough time for a column.
When I sat under the sea grape tree I used to write a column “News & Views” for the
Windwards Islands Opinion of my friend the late Joseph H.Lake Sr.
My calling card which proclaimed that I was a columnist was ridiculed by all as a
misspelling. Of course being always dressed like Fidel one had to wonder indeed if I had
misspelled the word. The wording of this card was used against me by the Democrat
Party in the l969 elections when I was opposing them for the Senators seat of the
Windward Islands. Various speakers on the Democrat party podium got very emotional
about the various services offered on my card. Among them “uprisings quelled,
governments overthrown, governments run, revolutions organized and even orgies
organized. And me! Well I did not even know what an orgy was. And still don’t.
Anyway the Democrat Party obviously felt that I was offering services which had led to
the May 30th, l969 uprising on Curacao which was cause for the election in the first
place.
Some people still question whether or not I have strayed from my orginal beliefs and
especially get upset when I give a list of my third world heroes.Ayatollah Khomeni and
Fidel are not easy to digest for some folks.
Anyway The Herald has asked me ( at least Wim Hart has done so) to contribute a
column to people I have known in my long political career.
I have been considering it. I am sure there are people who would like to read about the
time I crashed the Lt. Governor’s car into a wall on St.John’s while serving as a host for
Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her two children, or how I introduced Forbes Burnham to Le
Pirate, or when Benny Goodman gave Busby the wrong tip and so on.
Coming from a small island like Saba and growing up in a time which seems world’s
away, I have been privileged to meet many celebrities as well as many “small people”
who also deserve to be highlighted.
I have always felt the need for a literary magazine for these islands. Not a BIM of
course. There are only so many Frank Collymore’s to go around. But I appluad the effort
of the Daily Herald’s Weekender to try and combine journalism with literature. Charles
Borromeo Hodge told me once that he had a lively correspondence with Frank from New
York. To his dismay he found out as he said to me “That Frank turned out to be a
Caucasian”.Anyway since he liked me too he must have had a soft spot for Caucasians.
The Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramirez was Vice President under the Sandanistas. He
claimed that a revolution had crossed his path and that politics had interupted his career
as a writer.
Ramirez had the following to say about literature and journalism. To the question by the
OAS Magazine, AMERICAS, “You’re a political scientist and analyst who writes for
many publications. What do you think is the connection between journalism and
literature?’, he
answers;
“The kind of journalism that I prefer and that I like to see practiced – the journalism that
I teach my students in the journalism workshops at the Ibero American Foundation for
new journalism in Cartagena – is what is called literary journalism. It’s journalism with
the gripping style of literary writing, the kind of writing where you reel in the reader little
by little – where you set out the bait, create suspense, and keep the reader connected to
the story. Literary journalism is storytelling, stories written with literary language. It’s a
big challenge, especially when the written newspapers no longer have the capacity to
inform, to really give the news.
These days before you open the newspaper you already know everything that has
occurred, so for newspapers to be able to compete, they are going to have to get into
descriptive articles, a more in-depth recounting of the event. And they should go back to
the kind of old journalism practiced in the early twentieth century, when LA NACION in
Buenos Aires used to devote an entire article to Reuben Dario that started on the front
page. That’s the journalism I aspire to.”
I will refrain from my old style journalism though. A New York newspaper after
reading the Saba Herald questioned the authorities as to how I could be walking around
free. That sort of style is reserved for other papers, not for literary journalism which I
now advocate and aspire to. That syle of journalism will be dealt with in Saba News
Agency TWO.
People I would like to inform readers about vary from Stella SloterdijkRichardson, who wrote the most wonderful poem ever written about Saba,to the famous
and infamous people I have met. From Fidel Castro to David Frederick, and from the
fisherman on his lonely craft to the preacher on his high pulpit.
I will try from time to time to educate our people to look out so they can move up. I
want to share the joys of reading and pass on information to our young people and hope
that something I write can serve to educate them to look at life from a different
perspective. To be realistic and as Sergio Ramirez says: “Societies don’t change because
of a single administration during a period of five or six years. They change little by little
in a process of accumulation. Change happens when society decides to take ownership of
a single project and move it forward with various nuances until it’s consolidated.”
The single most important project of our times is that the youth, the custodians of our
future, need real life examples of local pioneers who did what seemed the impossible. I
want to highlight some of those native peoples so that our young people can look to their
lives for guidance.
Life has changed. I am no longer under the sea grape tree looking out to the future.
High on the hill looking back on the past is where I am at now. Pablo Neruda, (whose
former home, now a museum, I have visited in Valparaiso, Chile) in ” A Dream of
Trains”, best describes where I am at now, in my final stage of reflection and
contemplation:
“I was alone in the solitary train,
but not only was I alone –
a host of solitudes were gathered
around the hope of the journey,
like peasants on the platforms.
And I, in the train, like stale smoke,
with so many shiftless souls,
burdened by so many deaths,
felt myself on a journey
in which nothing was moving
but my exhausted heart.”
Will Johnson
IN PREPARATION FOR UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
SABA VOTER’S LIST OF 1947/1948
In preparation for the historic elections of 1949 these voters list were prepared. Universal suffrage would take place and for the first time women could vote in that election. In 1999 the Government of Saba commemorated that event with a special sitting of the Island Council. Although I was opposition in Government, I had been asked to take over the position of Act. Lt. Governor and as such I was Chairman of the Island Council. We also used that opportunity to honor former members of the Island Council with a photo gallery and a number of the old members were present in that meeting. A booklet was also prepared with a small history of each of the members who had served on the Island and Executive Councils of Saba from 1951 on. Also as a result of the 1999 meeting and the speech made at the time, this ended up on a tapestry in the Hall of Knights building which is the Center Piece of the Dutch parliament in The Hague. Nowadays election lists are not made and the political parties have no idea even of who is allowed to vote.
MALACHY BRITANNIA SWITZERLAND HASSELL
Kiby’s father.
The Saba Islander 