Once in a lifetime trip to the Netherlands

My grandfather was born January 12, 1885, in Zowilla, Holland. When he was born, he was given the name Arie Dioniesioous Camphuysen. When he became a U.S. citizen, he changed his name to Harry D. Camphouse.

He made his home in Rexburg, Idaho. He farmed and worked at the sugar factory. He claimed to have worked every job the sugar factory offered, starting at the bottom, working to the top. My father was the last of 13 children.

From the time I was a little girl, I had heard there was a Camphuysen Castle in Holland, now called “de Nederlands.”  I always wondered if it was true.

A few years ago, I came across a cousin that lived in the Netherlands. She was an artist by the name of Rita Camphuijsen. We became friends on Facebook and started communicating. She assured me that, in fact, there really was a castle named Camphuijsen. It was part of the Historical Registry. I had a yearning to actually see it for myself, so my husband agreed to take me for our 50th wedding anniversary.

We made the reservations and plans with Rita by texting and calling. She was happy to help us out and suggest places for us to visit on our trip. With her help and the help of the internet, we made it happen. She met us at the airport. A huge glass wall separated the airport from the rest of the enormous plaza. I saw Rita waiting for us through the glass. I recognized her immediately, our first meeting, and we ran to each other and touched hands through the glass, with smiling faces and tears of joy. We were both born in the same year, me being six months older.

Our first day, having flown throughout the night, we arrived around 8 a.m. We looked around Amsterdam and toured the Van Gogh Museum. The next day we visited the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens and went on a windmill tour. Transportation was very different for us. Since we are from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, we are not used to traveling by bus, tram and train, in various orders, for a single destination and be fast at loading or unloading or you miss your connection, or very patient and wait for the correct time and then quickly jump on whichever mode of transportation is going in the direction you need to go.

It was wonderful to have Rita’s help. She is fluent in English and Dutch, as is most  everyone else living there when approached with questions. We were able to meet Rita’s sister, her best friend and her daughter. We visited Kasteel DeHaar, and we also traveled to Utrecht and DeBilt. We went to church with Rita, had lunch at her house and visited her studio. We went to a wall in her hometown where she was hired to paint a mural. We saw the boundary of where the Roman Empire controlled so many, many years ago.

 We went on a canal tour. The Dutch people are known for separating the land from the water. Many canals have been built for irrigation and protection; they have utilized land below sea level. We went to the Hague, Netherlands Temple. Rita showed us a street sign named after a Camphuiysen that lived long ago helping to organize a church. Religion many years ago was controlled by the government. It was against the law to have any access to God except through the priest/government. A relative was banned from the country because he believed otherwise. It is understandable that my great-grandfather left Holland after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and coming to the United States of America for religious freedom.

On our final day we found a way to go to the Campuijsen Castle in Babberich. It is not extremely large like some but very, very old and grand. The driveway pillars bear the name of Camp on one side and Huysen on the other side. The spelling is different, but I was assured it was the same family. There was a long paved driveway with a mote surrounding the castle. 

At the beginning of the driveway there was also a plaque describing the castle, because it is in the Historical Registry. In the translation of the plaque, it states the foundation dates back to the 1400s, being late gothic, and the upper-level wall work dates from the 1600s. A beautiful spiral staircase is located inside along with barrel vaults in the basement. It is built of brick and is probably three stories tall.  A clock is located under the peak of the roof on one end.

The grounds were immaculate, with several rows of hedges surrounding the mote. A well, probably five feet across, is located at the front of the castle as well as a flag. Two statues of lions, tinged green from moss, guard the entryway after crossing the mote. It is no longer owned by the family, and “no trespassing” signs are posted, so we could not go past the mote. On the property, however, it felt very sacred to me to be so close to where family members lived so long ago.

I read recently that, if you were born today, meaning being alive right now, present day, going back 12 generations or 400 years, you would need 4,094 ancestors to be alive today. It makes me wonder, going back so many generations, what my family members had to endure for me to be born today. The blood that ran through their veins runs through mine now. I believe that the spirits that lived so long ago could be watching over us right now. This amazing trip made me feel closer to my ancestors and thankful for my husband. Wow! Fifty years.