History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1497

where the former was born in 1835 and the latter in 1836. The parents
continued their residence in their fatherland until I888, when they immigrated to America, and in that year they established their home in the
city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the father engaged in the contracting and building business in a minor way and where he still maintains his residence, his loved and devoted wife having passed to the
"land of the leal" in the year 1904. Of their eight children five are now
living and of the number Nicholas J., of this sketch, is the eldest. Julius
Westra has been a man of industrious habits and has so lived as to merit
and receive the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact.
He still continues to devote considerable time to active work as a contractor, and in his physical and mental vigor shows the evidences of
right living and right thinking. In politics he supports the Democratic
party and he is a zealous member of the Dutch Reformed church, of
which his wife likewise was a devout adherent. Julius Westra is a
son of Simon Westra, who passed his entire life in Holland, as did also
his wife, who was born in,the year I800 and who attained to the venerable
age of ninety-six years.
Nicholas J. Westra was afforded the advantages of the common
schools of his native land, where he also attended a well ordered trade
school, in which he learned practical carpentry and fortified himself admirably for the vocation in which he has since won pronounced success.
As a youth of twenty-two years he set forth to seek his fortunes in the
United States, where he felt assured of better opportunity for achieving success through individual effort. On the 5th of December, I886,
he made his appearance at Lancaster, Erie county, New York, where he
remained until I889, the latter year having given him the great satisfaction of witnessing the arrival of his parents in America. In the year
last mentioned he came with his parents to Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and here he found ready demand for his services as a journeyman carpenter, as he was a skilled workman. He continued to follow his trade
and gradually expanded the scope of his operations to include independent contracting and building. In I9o4 Mr. Westra purchased the contracting business of Henry Green, and he has since continued the enterprise with marked success, his business showing a constantly cumulative tendency, as he is a stickler in living up to the plans and specifications involved in every contract assumed and is known as a man thoroughly fortified in all details of his chosen vocation. He has erected a
number of excellent buildings in Grand Rapids and other places in northern Michigan, including Cadillac, and Alma, Michigan, besides which he
has executed contracts in other states, including one of noteworthy type
in Jacksonville, Florida. His business is of substantial order and it
may consistently be said that his reputation is one of his best assets. He
gives his attention more particularly to the erection of private dwellings
and flat buildings, and his annual operations now represent an average
aggregate of fully $90,ooo. Mr. Westra held and filled the contract for
the erection of the Blodgett Children Home, this being one of the finest
homes in the city of Grand Rapids. The achievement that has been his
within a comparatively short period of years can be better understood
when it is stated that when he arrived in Grand Rapids his cash capital
was represented in the sum of three dollars.
Mr. Westra is liberal and public-spirited and he is fully appreciative
of the advantages and attractions of his home city, to which his loyalty
is unflagging. He is independent of partisan lines in defining his political opinions and has never had aught of desire for the honors or emoluments of public office.
In March, I890, Mr. Westra wedded Miss Jenette Siebersham, who