Willem BERNARDS, II

                   A SHORT HISTORY OF MARIA SOPHIA MARTIN--Husband--Willem Bernards--

      Our mother, Maria Sophia Martin Bernards, daughter of Tobie Mari and Rosetta Susanna Van Der Sloot Martin was born 13 February 1883 in the city of Amsterdam, Holland (Netherlands) Europe.
      Her father, Tobie Mari Martin, died when she was a small girl six years of age. She also had a brother, "Herman" 8 years of age and a sister, "Nellie"(my grandmother)7 years of age at the time of their father's death. There were also two younger sisters, and a brother that died when they were babies of a lung disease at about nine months of age.
      The cause of their father's death was due to consumption. Their father was an accomplished musician who played the flute, clarinet, and violin. He played at a command performance for William III, King of the Netherlands. It was an open-air performance in the dead of winter and the result was, he contacted a cold, that set into consumption causing his death in 1889. Our mother was a sickly child and for this reason had very little or no schooling. The widow, Rosetta Susanna Van Der Sloot Martin, took in washings and ironings(which was done by hand in those days) to earn a living for herself and three children. The two girls, Maria and (Nellie) assisted their mother, as children and into young womanhood, spending most of their time in helping their mother do washing and ironing to earn a livelihood.
      They were members of the Reformed Protestant Church, until our mother was 18 years of age. She and the rest of the family were taught the gospel message by two elders, one of which was Elder LeGrande Richards, so she claimed. The whole family embraced the gospel message and they became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They did much for misionaries by way of feeding them, washing and ironing their clothes, and keeping their clothes in repair.
      It was not long after the Martin family had accepted the gospel that they were sponsered by some who made it possible for them to leave the land of their birth and come to Salt Lake City, Utah.
      She, our mother, along with the rest of the Martin family worked hard and long hours to make a living and save enough money to pay back the amount borrowed to come to Utah. Our mother did do housework, cooking, washing and ironing for some of the Church Officials in the early years of the 1900's(Nineteen hundreds), two of which she was proud of to have worked for were President Joseph F. Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith. This was hard work and very tiring for a young women.
      As I write this story in the year 1955, I wonder if the granddaughters of this courageous girl would be able to do as much for themselves and others.
The young women and men have much to be thankful for, living in this automatic machine age with all of its conveniences.
      Our mother had been in Salt Lake about two years when she met our father, "Willem Bernards," at a wedding reception in Ogden where our father was living at this time--(See Life Story of Willem Bernards for more details)-- They were married after about a year's courtship on the 6th day of July 1906 by Bishop Edwin F. Parry. This was solemnized about a month later, the 10th day of August 1906 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple when it was reopened after it had been closed for painting and cleaning in the month of July.
      As a small boy I remember my Grandmother Martin and the deep love and affection she displayed for me. My parents often told me stories to verify these statements. Some of these stories are in my personal history (Ben Bernards)
      I have a vivid picture of the brick duplex home on the south side of the street on 4th South and Post Street where Grandmother Martin suffering with dropsey died. She was living with us during her illness and our mother took care of her needs until the day she passed away.
      I also remember as I write this history, how clean and spotless our clothes and the appearence of the homes we lived in were. She had a system of doing housework duties on certain days of each week. She was a clean homekeeper from her youth until the day of her passing from this life.
      I recall how she labored to try and keep us spotless-looking and how the homes we lived in always gleamed and shined. The neighbors even gossiped that mother scrubbed the kindling wood that was brought in to start the next morning's fire. The wood and coal burning stove was kept shining bright and each Saturday the stove pipe that went up to the chimney was polished to a mirror-like shine.
      Our mother was an excellent cook, baked bread and biscuits and on occasions we had scones with honey or powdered sugar. Pies and cakes were her specialties, and at Christmas time, spiced cookies, apple fritters, "Ollie bowlins" a dutch cake that had raisens and candied fruits in them that were rolled into a ball(a little smaller in size than a tennis ball) these were cooked in boiling oil until brown. Fruits in season were always a busy time and can remember anywhere from five to six hundred quarts of fruit along with jams and jellies in our basement for our eating pleasure.
      Mother had four sons and a daughter and also four miscarriages in her lifetime. I (Ben) was the firstborn and was told by her attending physician that I weighed twelve and a half pounds at birth and that mother's weight after my birth was less than one hundred pounds. I have a picture in my life's story of mother holding me in the front of the house outside which is proof of how frail she appeared. T. Martin was the second son, about two years later. There is about a five-year span between T. Martin and her next child which was a girl, "Rose." About another five years between Rose and the next child that was a boy, William John. The two five-year spans in all probability was the time the miscarriages took place. David William was the last son to be born.
      Our parents lived to have a Golden Wedding Celebration in 1956 that was held on a Sunday at the home of William (Billy) John Bernards, 2080 E. Delmont Drive (4750 South) Salt Lake City, Utah.
      Just a word of comment---This is not a complete history or biography, but a short and true account as told me by our parents which I wrote down at the time it was told to me. If any of my brothers or sisters have any other information than written here, please feel free to add to this and pass it on to the rest of us.

       Vital Statistics: Birth, Marriage and Death certificates

       Baptism: Branch records of Rotterdam Film #106784
                Birth recorded in same film (page 41)

Vital Statistics:Birth, Marriage, & Death certificates

Baptism: Branch records of Rotterdam Film #106784
            Birth recorded in same film (page 41)