Hendrik Geerts van der Veen

Hendrik was in New Zealand in 1914 when World War one broke out. He could not leave NZ due to this. We don’t know how long he had been in NZ before that and where he had travelled before he got to NZ.

Hendrik Geerts Van der Veen married Suzie Knowles on 8th January 1918 at St Pauls, Hairini.

Suzie called Hendrik “Harry”. He was a very well-educated man and spoke 5 languages and was a qualified cheese maker. Because of his nationality he was unable to join the armed forces when World War One broke out, so he went to work for Sir William Goodfellow, who owned the New Zealand Dairy Company. Hendrik was highly regarded by Sir William and ended up managing the Hairini Cheese Factory for him and lived in the house beside the factory.

Hendrik and Suzie had one daughter, Pearl Veen, who was born 20th August 1918 in Hairini. Sir William Goodfellow was Pearl’s god-father. Hendrik then died of the Spanish Flu the same year 11th November 1918 when Pearl was only 3 months old. There are no photos of the three of them sadly. Hendrik died on Armistice Day – the end of World-War one.

Pearl Veen married William Farquhar Smith 17 March 1945 in Auckland. They lived on, and managed a stud farm of dairy cows. Pearl died 26th May 1997 age 78.

Pearl Veen and William Farquhar Smith had two children. Shown here on a photo from 1954.

Text and photos courtesy of R. Sunderland, New Zealand