Where Betsie Ten Boom comes from

January 15, 1937

Hi.My name is Betsie Ten Boom. I live in the upstairs living space in a watch shop in Harlem. I live with my sister, Corrie and my father, Casper. My mother dosen't live with us because she had passed in 1921 at the age of 63. I have two other siblings: Willem and Nollie. Nollie is the oldest of the four. Willem is second oldest. I am third oldest and Corrie is the youngest.

Corrie and I help our father downstairs in the watch shop. The watch shop repairs watches and is also a place for you to purchase watches. Corrie was the first liscensed woman watchmaker. She was very handy with her hands in order to become the first woman to accomplish such an honorable task.

Our grandfather Willem was the start of our family's watch shop. It is now celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year in 1937. It is exciting to have our family business last for one hundred years of repairing and selling watches!

During this long period, after grandfather Willem died Casper took over. The children in the city all loved him and thought of him as their own grandfather. Father always had that way about him that made everyone love him just as Corrie, Mama, Nollie, Willem, and I did. He was always welcoming and never turned anyone away. Everyone in the city liked him. He would even allow people in the city that needed a place to stay come and live in the upstairs with the rest of the family.