Two European settlers left behind a huge legacy on the island of Likiep. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s these two created families and built a thriving business.
The island continues to host many family members from both the deBrums and the Capelles. We had the extreme honor of getting to know the deBrum family really well.
The de Brum House
The de Brum house was built in 1888 by Joachim deBrum. The house was made with a timber frame and consisted of three large rooms. In addition, a 3 meter-wide verandah surrounded the house on all sides.
The de Brum family lived in the house until 1947. Then, the property was converted into a museum to display all of the expensive and rare artifacts.
Unfortunately, the house fell into disrepair and the museum was shut down. Most of the artifacts were moved into “storage.” Today only the pillars that used to hold up the house are remaining.
Antiques, Furniture, and Volumes of Books
The de Brum house held fine furniture imported from Southeast Asia. Many visitors flocked to the home, and later the museum just to see the artifacts.
The remaining furniture was stored in the last remaining direct relative’s home after the museum closed. Bobo (grandmother) is 91 years young and she allowed us to take a peak at some of it.
Top left is a photo of the table and chairs in the museum and the other two photos are the chairs today. This table and chair set is intricately carved wood! The craftmanship is spectacular.
The room divider captured my attention with its detailed and intricate carvings of dragons.
A Library Dating back to the 1800’s!
The Joachim de Brum house has a vast and diverse library. Consisting of over 1,000 books covering a wide variety of topics from science to literature.
In the lower left photo you can see the reflection of the bookcase and some books. I took the other 3 photos at Bobo’s house. There are books dating back to 1823! Treasure Island, The Pioneers 1823, The Hoop 1927, The Man Who Almost Lost 1935, The Country Beyond 1922, Mr. Crewe’s Career by Winston Churchill 1913! These are just the ones I could zoom in on in my photo (as I could not get close enough to touch them).
Incredible Finds
The top left photo shows an old camera along with slides on display in the museum. The bottom photo is that same camera that I saw sitting in storage.
The “camera” is actually a “postcard machine” and we even found some old “postcards” or slides that still looked beautiful. Check out the bottom left photos of the slides.
We also found a bell from 1832 and some beautiful vintage Villeroy & Roche plateware.
Lanterns and pottery are just sitting in storage. Makes you so sad to think of these just wasting away.
Beautiful plate ware and glass ware wrapped up and unused. Bobo did manage to keep Joachim’s walking stick. She used to use it when she could get up and around.
The de Brum Family
Bobo in the middle. She is a beautiful, vibrant 91 year old woman. I sure wish I spoke Marshallese so I could hear her stories. Junior, her grandson is the man in the far right and was such an incredibly host. He was super welcoming and kind to us during our stay.
The names de Brum and Capelle are still dominant in Likiep as well as spread throughout the Marshall Islands.
This is truly a distinct community with a unique culture and beauty all around.
For more information, visit:
- https://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/ONeill/Likiep.html
- infomarshallislands.com/atolls-a-l/likiep-atoll
Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred over 3 weeks in December. Read about the start of the deBrum family in our last blog post.