A Name Worth Knowing: How a chance encounter at Elim Village uncovered decades of family history

What’s in a name? For Anne Meindertsma, it turns out—a lot. The Elim Village Garrison Crossing resident never imagined that a family name from the Netherlands would spark a journey of discovery here in Canada.

Anne (pictured above left) has many relatives named Bartha. Her sister, Bartha Tiesinga, is one of eight cousins given the name after their grandmother. Since leaving Holland and immigrating to Canada in 1982, Anne hadn’t come across the name—until it came up during a meal at Elim.

Anne introduced her sister Bartha, who was visiting from the Netherlands, to Nathan Bartha, a familiar server at Elim’s Alpine Bistro. Both were surprised to meet someone sharing the same name.

“It was very special,” Bartha Tiesinga recalls. “It’s really a family name because you hardly hear it anywhere in the Netherlands.”

Bartha returned home, but Anne’s curiosity about the name didn’t fade. She encouraged Nathan to connect with his family and learn more about his last name’s origin.

“We carried on after this whole strange event,” Anne remembers. “I said, I would love to know where he got that name from.”

Nathan took her advice and phoned his grandmother in Winnipeg.

“I called my Oma, and I talked to her all about it. I hadn’t spoken with her for over a decade,” Nathan says. “It was beautiful. She was surprised, but also very happy.”

The call revealed much more than Nathan expected, and he learned all about his grandparents’ immigration to Canada. Nathan’s grandfather was born in Hungary, and his grandmother in Holland. After marrying, they chose to immigrate to Canada because his grandmother remembered enjoying the chocolate handed out by Canadian soldiers who helped liberate Holland during the Second World War.

As for the name Bartha? Canadian authorities gave it to them upon arrival because it was easier to pronounce than their Hungarian surname.

“To know more about my history, honestly, I love it. It has a sentimental feeling,” Nathan says. “Thinking about everything that went into how I got here, I feel very blessed. They went through a lot.”

This September, Bartha visited from the Netherlands again and Nathan was able to share everything he learned about their shared name.

While Anne and Bartha enjoyed discovering the Canadian connection, it’s Nathan’s new passion for understanding his roots that carries the most meaning.

“It’s so important to know where you’re from, especially when you have the opportunity to talk with your grandparents and hear their stories,” Bartha says. “I think it’s wonderful.”

As for Anne, she calls her role in the coincidental connection “a privilege.”

“Between his grandfather coming from Hungary, meeting his grandmother in the Netherlands, them coming to Canada, and us meeting this young man as a server at Elim—how far fetched is that!” she marvels.