Dear Sonja Birt: War bride's daughter searching for family of mom's P.E.I. pen pal
Rose Burke's mother was one of 10 Dutch war brides who crossed the ocean on the same ship to a new life in Canada in 1946.
Two settled in the Maritimes — Burke's mother, Selma Smith, in Upper Mills, N.B., and Sonja Birt in Charlottetown.
They became friends, and wrote letters back and forth sharing their experiences of settling in a new country.
"Basically they were both pregnant when they arrived … so they had that in common," Burke said on CBC's Mainstreet P.E.I.
"They also were comparing the situations they found themselves in and their initial reactions."
Burke has the letters Sonja wrote to her mother, and would like to include them in a biography she is writing. She is hoping to connect with someone related to Sonja who may be interested in the letters — and if she's lucky, find the letters her mother wrote back to Sonja.
"It would be absolutely wonderful to get a view because sometimes our view of our parents is not unbiased," Burke said.
Selma Smith passed away in 2004 at the age of 84. Since then, Burke has been able to get a few of Sonja's letters translated from Dutch to English.
In one letter, Sonja tells Selma about her husband Cliff taking a job for $100 a month, and that they would be moving into an apartment at 49 Upper Hillsborough St. in Charlottetown for $35 a month, heat included.
"It's the closest insight I have to that initial adjustment when they left their own country and arrived, and the situation in rural New Brunswick was still a bit rough at that time," Burke said.
Sonja and Cliff Birt have also passed away, Burke said. They had two sons, Lester and Eric, and a daughter, Vera.
'Part of their family history'
She's asking anyone who may be able to help locate their relatives to call her at 506-357-3950 or email burkeg@nb.sympatico.ca.
"So many people are now doing genealogy that there may have been somebody in the family who was interested in these letters," she said.
"It's a part of their family history, too."
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