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By: Will Johnson
Willem Frederick Meinhardt Lampe, is remembered as the Acting Governor who went to Aruba and stayed there while Curacao burned on May 30th, 1969.
No matter how he tried to explain his reasons for leaving the ship of state behind, most people on Curacao believe that he ran away from trouble. It is a pity that his legacy was tarnished by that historical event. He had a very colorful career in government and it is a pity that it was to end like it did with the burning of Willemstad while he went to Aruba.
W.F.M. Lampe was born on Aruba on December 5th, 1896 in a family of eight children. His father was Hendrik Meinhardt Lampe who died in 1902 and his mother Sophia Romelia Zeppenfeldt. Both were born on Aruba in 1852.
In June 1914 he came to St.Maarten to study under his brother Julius Herminus who was head of the Oranje School in Philispburg. He came on the schooner the 'Estelle' which belonged to his future father-in-law Thomas C. Vanterpool. The trip took 14 days in all. In his free time he worked as a volunteer in the office of Lt. Governor A.J.C. Brouwer who was known as a walking encyclopedia. In 1917 he was appointed as court recorder in the Court of Justice on St. Eustatius.
After that he worked on St.Maarten and then on Saba. From 1921 to 1927 he was Act. Lt. Governor on Saba and from 1927 to 1930 he was stationed on St.Maarten ,as Act. Lt. Governor of the Windward Islands. Although he expected to be appointed as Lt. Governor he was transferred to Curacao and filled a minor post in the Department of Finance.
After he retired he wrote two books in the Dutch language. One is "In de schaduw van de Gouverneurs" and the other "Buiten de Schaduw van de Gouverneurs".
In the first book he describes life on Aruba as it was in his youth. His father who was a schoolteacher and who earned Nafls.50.- a month died young. Lampe's mother decided that her boys would have a better future in the Windward Islands even though the family had no connections here. The three boys did well in these islands. They also married into the three most prominent families here. W.F.M. Lampe (30) on 14-07-1927 married Lena Vanterpool (34). Her parents were; Capt. Thomas Charles Vanterpool and his wife Johanna Dinzey Leverock., of Saba.
Julius Arminius Lampe (25) on 22.07.1908 married Henriette Constancia Brouwer (19) born on St.Eustatius daughter of Frans Anthony Brouwer and Louisa Hoff Hill. He died on May 13th, 1916 at the age of 33.
Lodewijk Oliver Lampe (28) on July 16th 1914, married Mrs.
Eoline van Romondt (33) daughter of Diederick Johannes van Romondt and Juliette Isabel Antoinette van Romondt of St.Maarten. She was the widow of William Arthur Carter.
For those who read Dutch these two books give a very interesting look at the history of the islands.
Lampe also gives an account of the time ( 13 October 1954) when he, his daughter Sheila and Juancho Yrausquin nearly got lost on the sloop the 'Gloria' with Mr. Matthew Levenstone. Also on Saba when the then Brigadier Mr. van Zanten tried to shoot him and how they became great friends later on.
In 1921 when he was stationed on Saba he was only 25. The people he used to work with were Capt. Samuel Augustus Simmons, the Harbourmaster/Customs Officer who was in his seventies. Captain Arthur Wallace Simmons was even older and the agent of the schooner the 'Virginia'. Capt. Freddie Simmons who was Head of the navigation school was in his fifties was his Secretary. When Lampe got a promotion with no increase in salary with it Capt. Freddie told Lampe that it was a typical Dutch promotion. "One is promoted from a goat to a cow, with the same quantity of grass."
Lampe lodged by an old relative of mine Maria Horton. The custom back then was to buy your coffin boards well in advance. Sometimes people borrowed them but always made sure to return them. Maria Horton was always counting her coffin boards as she was in her high seventies and you could never tell when they would be needed. Once as a prank Lampe decided to hide the coffin boards and the old lady nearly died with fright and he felt remorse for what he had done.
For this article I have translated part of life he experienced while living on Sint Eustatius. When I worked on Statia in the Post Office for about six weeks in 1961 I too was amazed that all the grocery stores were open on Saturday evenings.
Even though the market Lampe describes was no longer in existence I used to enjoy my Saturday nights on Statia.
The following is taken from Chapter three in his book "In de schaduw van de Gouverneurs." Entitled" The merchant Henry Johnson and the situation in those days".
" It sounds perhaps strange but still it is true that on Sint Eustatius there was only one merchant namely Mr. Henry Johnson who had made a fortune there. Originally he came from Saba. Here and there one could find a small grocery store, which did not represent much. Johnson's business was always well stocked and he sold pretty much everything and still some; manufactured goods, groceries and not to forget alcoholic beverages. After his death his building complex in the center of the capital went to ruin. His family had all immigrated to the United States many years ago.
"Sint Eustatius in my time had something enjoyable about it which did not exist on either one of the other two islands of Sint Maarten and Saba, namely "The Market."
Each Saturday evening from 7 o'clock on the people came together in swarms to do business with one another close to the warehouse of Henry Johnson.
The women came to the market with their trays full of food and delicacies. They collected the debts from the week before and gave credit once again. It was always a picturesque scene to see so many people together, who while they chatted pleasantly with each other, they still managed to do good business. Often I had difficulty to press through the crowd. But also to these pleasant gatherings there came an end.
The 'Statian' is by nature very musical. They sing well and are faithful church goers. Weeks before Christmas one could hear the various local choirs practicing for the Christmas Eve. Then they would go from house to house singing their Christmas songs, mostly in three voices. This good custom of former times hardly exists any more or not at all.
Believe it or not, but use of the drum was forbidden by local ordinance. By way of great exception, the Lt. Governor, local chief of police, could give permission to deviate from this. The Statian loved his drum and if anywhere the drum was being played, he would lay down his tools to give way to his natural instinct.
There was a distinction between the large and the small drum. Seldom or never was permission granted to use the big drum. For special occasions the Lt. Governor would once in a while give permission for the use of the small drum. (My God, Lampe should be around now in our boom box world.)
This was the case when the R.C. Church was built in 1911 under Father M.J. de Groen. To get materials transported free of charge for this job, the small drum was put to use. In a minimum of time the necessary material was in place without costing one cent. And.....the church is still there.
The hygienic situation was deplorable. One could hardly expect anything otherwise, as donkeys, pigs; goats and chickens were all kept in the yard, while household garbage was just deposited on the premises.
In 1918 an ugly epidemic broke out which cost many human lives. Daily there were between 2 and 4 deaths registered. No wonder with such a source of infection especially in the North of the capital. There was no end to the sinister ringing of bells. They began already at six o'clock in the morning to sound the age of the deceased, namely one stroke for each year of life; if the deceased was a male or a female, this was distinguished by one or respectively two strokes. After that the somber ringing went on the entire day until six o'clock in the evening. It was enough to drive one insane. In that time one day not see a ship in the harbour. Sint Eustatius was temporarily under quarantine. Under the Vice Lt. Governor H.I. Mussenden this situation improved considerably. Mussenden was a man of the soil who had built himself up from a junior clerk to the highest position. He was a good solid and capable civil servant and knew his business in every detail.
I had the privilege of working very closely with him and always admired and appreciated him.
With the situation being what it was a plague of flies broke out. Mussenden then built latrines all over the place which were well covered. Besides that fly paper was distributed under the population, which when fully covered with flies, would be bought back for one cent a piece. This method helped a whole lot.
It is a pity that Mussenden did not have sufficient funds available to him, otherwise without a doubt, with his capacities and his zest for work; he would have made something excellent of his country of birth. He built in the center of the capital a park with a music kiosk. He was also the founder of the 'Gertrude Judson Library.' For that time a considerable achievement. On Curacao he held important functions and was Inspector of Taxes until he went on pension. He and his wife (Amy Johnson) are buried in the Protestant cemetery on Berg Altena.
My first acquaintance with Mr. William Rufus Plantz, another expert on the Windward Islands, dates from the early nineteen hundreds. He was later on Minister of Finance in the cabinet Gomez. Plantz was a writer's clerk for Lt. Governor G.J. van Grol, of whom he was a protégé. Van Grol gave him private lessons. He was an ambitious young man and wanted to go forward. He helped a great deal with the administration of the cotton industry. We had a great deal to do with each other. Already back then he had a sloop which ran between Sint Eustatius and the surrounding islands. Later on he became Receiver and officer of the Public Ministry (Kings Attorney) on Sint Maarten. There he came to the attention of the authorities and was transferred to Curacao where he filled many functions. The financier's blood flows through his veins, because as Minister of Finance he helped the Antillean Government to unravel many Breton-Woods knots."
So far, Mr. Lampe's memories of his time on Sint Eustatius. He was also on the island when the whaling fleets would provision there. He recalls seeing three to four whalers at the same time in the harbor. He also remembers Captain Lopes catching a huge whale close to Saba.
Lampe was also present when the two local councilors on April 5th, 1918 beat up the Lt. Governor G.J. van Grol. They were W.J.F. Mussenden and J.G. C. Every ( a distant relative of mine). Lampe said that although Governor van Grol vigorously defended himself he was beaten black and blue and the two councilors (both prominent businessmen) fled to St.Kitts. That is a long and interesting story and warrants its own pages in the history of the islands. It isn't every day that the Island council beats up the Lt. Governor . (Frankie watch your case!)
In writing about these people it is interesting to note that I have two love letters somewhere written by Mr. W.R. Plantz to his sweetheart. He was still living on Statia then and she had gone to the United States. He had a wonderful handwriting and was quite a charmer. Nevertheless he failed to lure her back.
I also have a lively correspondence with Sybil Mussenden the only child of Irvie Mussenden. She lives in California and provided some of the photo's for this article.
Lampe in 1954 was called back to the Windward Islands to head the Democrat Party and won the seat to represent these islands in parliament. The elections were held on November 15th, 1954. Lampe's party had 648 votes and C.E.W. Voges party (the N.V.P.) had 602 votes. Lampe became Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague and Mr. Hugh I.Lopes of St.Eustatius his number 2 candidate became the Senator.
Lampe had 237 votes on St.Maarten, 162 on Saba and 13 on Statia. Total:412.
Voges had 207 on Sint Maarten, 219 on Saba and 118 on St.Eustatius. Total:544. Though Voges was the most popular man his party still lost the election. Clem Labega also a candidate on the DP. List had convinced Dr. Claude Wathey to drop his support for Voges in the middle of the campaign and that is how Lampe won the election of 1954.
Mr. Lampe is long dead and gone, but his two books make enjoyable reading of a period in Windward Islands history now forever gone.
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