Meeting Family We've Never Met Before

On Tuesday evening, Ton and Toni Hanse came from Holland to visit their cousins here in Utah. They have never met their Utah Dalebout family. Ton's grandmother was a sister to the three Dalebout brothers who joined the LDS Church and left Holland to come to Utah many years ago.

About a year ago, Ton was traveling through southern Utah. He knew that he had relatives in Utah. So, he began looking up Dalebouts on the internet, and he happened to find Dick's e-mail address. He wrote to him and and told him that he (Ton) was Aaltje Dalebout's grandson. He wanted to know if Dick was related to her. Dick returned his e-mail and then passed the information on to his dad. However, because Dad isn't great with the computer, he passed the message on to Jenny Wood.

For the past year, Jenny has been corresponding with Ton. He is very interested in the family and wants to get as much genealogy as possible. He says that he feels prodded by his grandmother to learn more about his family line and what it was that brought his great uncles to Utah.

Dick sent him the history that he (Dick) and his dad wrote of his Grandfather and Grandmother Dalebout. Ton was thrilled with it and wanted to know if he could make copies to give to his relatives. He even translated it so they would be able to read it. Ton and Toni wanted to come visit Dick and Grandpa Dalebout in 2010. However, Jenny told him that we would be going on a mission and wouldn't be here. So, he decided that they would come before we left on our mission, which is right now.

Jenny and some other family members and descendents of the three immigrating brothers decided to have a grand Dalebout family reunion when Ton and Toni came. Therefore, on June 27th, we are doing just that, having a big family reunion. There will be many there whom we have never met. Ton is going to speak and tell us a little about his grandmother and his parents.

Ton and Toni are delightful people and have been fussed over by all those whom they have met. The picture below shows relatives on the Dalebout line who met them at the Salt Lake Airport. Afterwards, they all went out to eat. As you can see, Dick is right there with them. He is doing quite well. The last two days, he has driven to BYU and to the Provo City Building and a law office. He's doing remarkably well.

Those in the picture are Front l-r: Grandpa Dalebout, Toni Hanse, Ton Hanse, Joyce Hemmert (cousin). Back l-r: Jenny Wood, Dick Dalebout (cousin), Joyce Hemmert's sister, Jack Sieverts (cousin), LeRee Sieverts, Wynn Hemmert.