A Tale of Two Aunts

My father's parents and four older siblings came to America from Holland on the S.S. Noordam in 1920. I searched Ellis Island records and found the original ship's manifest that lists his parents, brothers and two sisters, Alida and Alida.  The Dutch custom was to name the first girl after the father's mother and the second girl after the mother's mother.  Since both grandmothers were named Alida, the sisters had the same name. The family called the eldest one Da (rhymes with Pa) and the younger one Al (rhymes with doll).  My grandparents tried to explain this to the customs agent but he was having none of it.  He said they needed different names to enter the country and re-christened them Alice and Dorothy - and I grew up calling them Aunt Al and Aunt Dot.

The stamps from The Open Sea perfectly captures the look of the actual ship's manifest.  I followed the sketch from Stamping 411 and used a sentiment from Word Play.