Dates

• Existence: 1907 - 1993

Biography

Nancy DeVries Blom was born in the Netherlands in 1907. Her older brothers had immigrated to the United States and, in 1915, as World War One made life in Europe increasingly difficult, the brothers sent passage money for their parents and six siblings to come to Iowa. The Bloms came through Ellis Island in New York and traveled by train to Doon, Iowa where they supported themselves by farming. They rented a succession of farms in Sioux County Iowa and nearby South Dakota. Nancy's mother died of tuberculosis when Nancy was thirteen and Nancy assumed responsibilities for the household chores. Within five years, her father went bankrupt and he moved to town while Nancy supported herself as a hired girl with a family in town. On the day that she turned eighteen, she married Walter Blom. Nancy and Walter Blom subsequently farmed in near Sioux Center and raised five children. In 1982, Nancy Blom enrolled in a writing workshop where she composed "My Story," a vivid account of her life until marriage.

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