Kristen Bass, <\/span>fleet training specialist, has a <\/span>personal connection to Holland America Line that extends long before her first day with our cruise line 10 years ago. <\/span>In fact, it goes back to a transatlantic journey in September of 1893.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Nearly 130<\/span> years ago, a young couple in their 30s w<\/span>as<\/span> preparing for <\/span>a <\/span>journey<\/span> of a lifetime. Adriaan and Johanna De Lint were<\/span> farmers<\/span> in the Netherlands, <\/span>and together they were raising <\/span>seven children<\/span> who ranged from two to 10 years of age. They had their eyes set on a new life in the United States of America, and it would take a two-week transatlantic journey to get there. They boarded the Veendam with Holland America Line and set sail.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201cTo have such a large group come over together was no small task,\u201d Bass said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After their journey, they settled in Orange City, Iowa, a Dutch community named after William of Orange. They returned to farming, and as their children grew, some migrated to the west coast. Little did they know that the same company that brought them to the U.S. would also be where their great, great, great, great granddaughter would plant her professional roots.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201c<\/span>It felt so weird knowing how many things had to align<\/span> for <\/span>my family to get to America, and <\/span>then<\/span> 130 years later<\/span>,<\/span> here I am working for the company<\/span> that brought them over. <\/span>They gave them the opportunity to start fresh<\/span>, and <\/span>by doing that<\/span>, <\/span>they<\/span> gave me the opportunity to come work for Holland America<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Passionate about family <\/span>history<\/span> and wanting to know more about her own, Bass got on ancestry.com and discovered one of her relatives on an Ellis Island passenger list. <\/span>That\u2019s<\/span> when the story began to unfold<\/span>,<\/span> and she realized that Holland America Line played a role in her family\u2019s past and present.<\/span> It\u2019s<\/span> also what makes Holland America Line\u2019s 150<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span> anniversary celebration even more meaningful<\/span> for her<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> There have been many moments throughout her research when she wondered what her great grandparents would have thought about the connection they share.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think they [Adriaan and Johanna] would be excited to know that the same company that brought them over to give them a new start was also providing career opportunities for their great, great, great, great granddaughter. And I think they would be proud to know that that history is still here. That choice they made by choosing Holland America Line has transformed into a huge piece of our family history. It just feels right. I\u2019m supposed to be here.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Learn more about <\/span><\/span>Holland America Line\u2019s history<\/span><\/span><\/a>, <\/span>explore <\/span><\/span>passenger lists<\/span><\/span><\/a> dating back to the 1900s<\/span> and check out the <\/span><\/span>Ellis Island exhibit<\/span><\/span><\/a> if you find yourself in New York through early May 2023.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1984,"featured_media":70295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,41,40],"tags":[4192],"class_list":["post-70292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-whats-new","category-industry","category-whats-new","tag-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1984"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70575,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70292\/revisions\/70575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Archived](\"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/veendam-holland-america-line-cruise-ship.webp\" "\\"Holland")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ellis-island-cruise-passenger-list.webp\" "\\"Ellis")
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