Person:Watze Visser (4)

VISSER, William (sp Hattie ROOSMA) b 16 Apr 1877 NETH d 2 Jan 1967

WILLIAM VISSER

The life of William Visser, well known farmer and dairyman of Lynden township has been such as to elicit just praise from those who know him best, owing to the fact that he has always been true to the trusts reposed in him and has been upright in his dealings with his fellowmen, at the same time lending his support to the advancement of any cause looking to the welfare of the community at large. Mr. Visser is a native of Holland, born April 16, 1877, and is a son of Hans and Florence (Dykstra) Visser, the former of whom died in his native land. The widowed mother came to the United States in 1894 and afterward became the wife of Richard Stremler. She is now living in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the age of seventy-one years.

Because his mother left Holland, William Visser was rendered ineligible for military service. He received his education in that country and worked on neighboring farms for eight years. In 1898 he came to the United States, locating in Michigan, where for two years he was employed on celery farms, and in January, 1900, he came to Lynden, Whatcom county. During his first year here he worked in logging camps. In 1902 he rented the P. Benson farm, which he operated for four years, and then for three years he rented and operated the B. P. Nelson place. In 1909 he bought eighty acres of land comprising his present farmstead and immediately entered upon the task of clearing the tract, on which about the only improvement was an old barn. He has cleared seventy acres and has erected a good set of farm buildings, making a very attractive and comfortable home. He later bought sixty acres additional and is now engaged in clearing the latter tract. While he carries on a general line of farming, he devotes his attention principally to dairying, keeping twenty-five cows, mostly good grade Guernseys, together with a registered sire. He separates the cream, feeding the skim milk to the pigs and young stock, of which he keeps about forty head altogether. He also owns two hundred and fifty laying hens, which he has found to be a profitable source of income. He raises practically enough hay, grain and roughage on the place to feed his stock and poultry. The land is in a fine arable condition, much of it having been drained.

In 1905 Mr. Visser was married to Miss Hattie Roosma, who also was born in Holland, a daughter of Edward Roosma, who died in his native land, his widow afterward becoming the wife of P. DeJong, of Lynden. To Mr. and Mrs. Visser have been born eleven children, namely: Bessie, Flossie, Hans, Ida, Eddie, Dick, Pete, Annie, Jamie, Bert and William, all of whom received their educational training in the Ebenezer school, belonging to the Christian Reform church. Mr. and Mrs. Visser are active members of that church, to which they give liberal support. Mr. Visser has passed through the various stages of settlement in a comparatively new country and has been a witness of the wonderful development which has characterized this locality. In the early days here he drove a covered wagon one day a week to Bellingham, carrying his farm produce to market and bringing back provisions and feed. His record here has been marked by much hard work, but today he is enjoying the fruits of his labors and is very comfortably and pleasantly situated. He is a member of the Whatcom County Dairymen's Association and the Whatcom County Poultry Association. Because of his business ability, his success and his many excellent personal qualities, he has attained and holds a high place in the confidence and regard of the community in which he lives.