Bio: D’Huyvetter, Achiel & Anita – Coming to America Experience ( 2021)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: D’Huyvetter, Hart, Zerbel, Selz, Scheffer, Meyer, Van Kirk, Stevens, Trachsel

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 12/08/2021

Over 50 Years Ago, They Brought Their Family to America (D’Huyvetter - 2021)

Over 50 Years Ago, They Brought Their Family to America

‘My family is here now.’ … Anita D’Huyvetter

By JoDee Brooke

Just over fifty years ago, Achiel and Anita D’Huyvetter brought their family to the U.S., arriving from France; that was in 1969. Their story as a husband-wife team started not too long before that.

“We met in Lourdes, France,” remembered Anita. “We both were on a religious pilgrimage. I was on the train going from Paris to Lourdes and I saw someone sitting over there. I remember thinking, he’s good-looking. When I was getting ready to go home, Achiel asked me for my address and I told him, ‘You should have thought about that before now; I have to go before I miss the bus.’”

A determined Achiel was able to secure Anita’s address and would visit her every two weeks or so, traveling the two-hour trip by train or car. Within a year, the two were married.

“We got married in 1958 in Cully, France. Achiel’s sister got married the same day that we did. Before we were married, my parents even went to Achiel’s town to talk to the priest to see if he was a good person.”

The couple was married for 60 years. Achiel passed away in 2018.

Anita had grown up on a farm in Ville Fontaine, where her family raised cows, sheep and chickens. Achiel also grew up on a farm where they raised dairy cows, wheat and sugar beets.

After they were married, Achiel and Anita farmed with Achiel’s parents in Villvenard, France, until 1969.

“Achiel’s uncle lived in Illinois and asked Achiel to come and help him,” shared Anita. “So we sold the cows, the wheat and machinery and packed a trunk. I had each of the girls pack a little purse and in it they had a couple pair of underwear and socks, so there would be more room in the trunk.”

“We sold our crops, cows and machinery, and we had a little money saved up,” remembered Anita. “We took a bus to Luxembourg and flew Air France to New York and then on to Chicago. I remember at the airport, there was one of the guys that help you with the luggage, and we had this big trunk. Achiel wanted to give him a tip, and he only had a $100 bill. None of us spoke any English, and Achiel was trying to ask him if he had change for the $100. The guy took the $100 bill and left. ‘Well, that’s gone,’” Achiel said to us.”

The family farmed with Achiel’s uncle for about two years, until the uncle died.

“Achiel said, I’m going to find a farm. He looked at a farm in the Owen, La Crosse and Humbird areas. He said the La Crosse one had too many hills. We bought the one in Humbird from Harold Hart. We paid $125,000 for the farm, the cows and some equipment. Harold let us give him payment from each milk check; he got 15 percent and we got the rest. Harold was a good man. We didn’t have much furniture, but the Harts left some beds; Achiel’s cousin bought us one bed, a brand-new bed. The church gave us some chairs. People were so nice.”

The children were enrolled in school, so they were learning English.

“I remember watching T.V. to help learn English. Pascal came home from school one day and said, ‘Mom, we have to stop watching soap operas; they are not good shows for us to be watching.

“When we were signing papers when we were buying the farm, we didn’t know what those papers said. We just signed them. I remember getting the first milk check and I didn’t know which part had to go to the bank. Achiel said to just take it there and Betty (Zerbel) would help me. Well, I got down there, and I had brought the wrong part, so I had to go back home and get the other part. We really got lucky that the people were so nice.”

Anita took classes at the technical school to help learn English and do the bookwork that needed to be done. “I didn’t even know how to write a check when I came,” she shared. “And there’s so much book work that needed to be done.”

Anita says her best memories are those of her and Achiel working alongside each other. “We worked together, milking every morning and night. We started with 20 cows and seven bred heifers, and we just kept growing. After two years, Achiel decided we needed another barn, and the kids were helping by then too.”

Anita remembers the many neighbors who helped them after they moved to Humbird. “The Scholze’s, they were good people. John Selz, Bernard Scheffer, Norman Meyer, Warren Van Kirk and Ernie Stevens. Achiel asked Ernie where there was a church we could go to. It was Oct. 31 and we had to go to Mass the first of November. Ernie told us where the church was. We got there. That was the weekend of the time change, and we never had that in Europe. The priest welcomed us, but he told us we were an hour early, so we just waited.”

“There was Jim Trachsel; he’d fix Achiel’s machinery. I told him to send me the bill. Sometimes he sent one; sometimes he didn’t. One day, he said, I’m going to buy a new truck. I’ll come see you then. He never did.”

Achiel and Anita have never regretted their decision to move their family to America. “Achiel was determined we were going to make it,” she said. “Achiel was a very hard worker and a gentle man. He never complained.”