Machiel van Oosten was the son of Jonas van Oosten and Gonda Godschalk. He had two brothers and a sister. Machiel was known as Mie. Machiel ran the furniture shop De Walvisch (which opened in 1896) with his father Jonas van Oosten and his brother Maurits. In addition to selling home furnishings, the firm arranged moves. The firm's large orange lorry was the first transport vehicle in Assen. The extensive advertising included the song 'De Groote Walvischtrein', of which the words to the first of the three stanzas were:
'If you want to move, fear you need not feign:
Van Oosten has a big whale train,
to bring your things without a penny of pain
To Amsterdam or Zierikzee or IJsselstein.'
F.J. Hulst and H.M. Luning, De joodse gemeente Assen; Geschiedenis van een behoorlijke Kille, 1740-1976 (Assen 1993) 41 and 88
Biography