Koop Pieters Mast was born in the peatdiggers village of Tjalleberd, located in the southern central part of the Dutch northern province Friesland, son of Pieter Jans Mast (33 years old, peat worker) and Geesje Hendriks de Jong. Source: scan of his birth certificate.

On February 21, 1880 he married in municipality Opsterland, Friesland at the age of 26 years the five years younger Minke de Ruiter, who was born in the country village of Oldeholtwolde, municipality Weststellingwerf, Friesland, Netherlands and was the daughter of Albert Minnes de Ruiter and Aaltje Gabriels de Wagt.

They had the following eight children:
* Pieter (Peter), 4 September 1882, Beets, mun. Opsterland, died in 1904 in Utica, New York;
* Albert Minne, 9 November 1884, Sint Annaparochie, mun. Het Bildt, Friesland;
* Aaltje (Alice), 30 May 1886, Sint Annaparochie Het Bildt, Friesland;
* Koop, 12 November 1890, died 24 November 1890 in Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland;
* Koop, 24 February 1893, Sint Annaparochie, Het Bildt, Friesland, died 5 March 1894 in Berlikum, Friesland;
* Koop, 29 november 1895, Leeuwarden, Friesland;
* Hendrikus, 11 March 1898, Berlikum, Friesland;
* Cornelis, 8 July 1901, Ambt Almelo, Overijssel. Died in infancy.

Their father Koop Mast was in 1882 a laborer, residing at the country village of Beets, municipality Opsterland, located in the mid southeastern part of province Friesland. In all the other mentioned years he was a skipper. He resided in November 1884 and May 1886 with his family at the village of Beetsterzwaag, the seat of municipality Opsterland, Friesland. In November 1895 they lived on their freight boat in the country village of Sint Annaparochie, the seat of municipality Het Bildt, located in the northwestern part of province Friesland. But living on a freight boat was not ideal for a young growing family, and it didn't pay enough to support the family. The family finally sold their ship and moved to the city of Almelo, province Overijssel, located in the extreme east of the Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. There some of the family worked in the textile industry. Then they heart about America, the land of opportunity, through a local newspaper.

On 15 September 1903 Koop Mast (50 y, laborer), his wife Minka (44), their children Pieter (21, laborer), Albert (18, laborer), Aaltje (17), Koop (7) and Hendricus (5) arrived on the S.S. Rijndam at the port of New York, Ellis Island. Their last residence place in The Netherlands was Almelo and their destination was Utica, New York, where a friend was living. They found there work in the cotton factories.

In 1904 son Peter died in Utica, New York at the age of 22 years from contracted diphtheria.

After living in Utica for about six years the family moved to Withinsville, Massachusetts, again for better job opportunities. There they worked in the cotton factories, and Albert worked on a farm. While working in the factory, a belt of a machine at which Koop was working hit him and damaged his eyes, leaving him with poor eyesight.

In May 1910 Carl Mast (57 y, Holland, immigrated in 1904 [has to be: 1903], laborer at a machine shop), his wife Mimie (51, Holland, immigrated in 1904, mother of 4 living children), their sons Albert (15, Holland, immigrated in 1904, laborer at a machine shop), Carl (14, Holland, immigrated in 1904) and Henery (12, Holland, immigrated in 1904) were living in a rented house in Northbridge, Worcester County, located in the southeastern part of Massachusetts. Whitin Machine Shop was there at its peak the largest manufacturer of textile machines in the world.

The Masts met the Baker family in the USA and daughter Alice married their son Joe. Then they read in a Dutch newspaper about Canada, where you could buy for 10 dollars a quarter [of a square mile, 160 acres]. So the Masts and Bakers came by train from Withinsville, and arrived in Edmonton, on April 8, 1911. They took up land near Thorhild, but abondoned it to go with other Dutchmen northwest of Edmonton, where Koop and his son Albert filed both on a quarter each on December 18, 1911.

In fact, Koop Peter Mast and his son Albert M. Mast were two of the 16 Dutchmen who founded in Canada Neerlandia, starting in December 1911. Neerlandia is a hamlet in central Alberta within the County of Barrhead and situated between Mellowdale and Vega, approximately 20 kilometers north of Barrhead and northwest of Westlock. The name "Neerlandia" refers to the first settlers' country of origin, the Netherlands. In January of 1911, Henry Kippers began a Dutch Colonization society with the goal to create a Dutch Farming community. The community formation began on December 18, 1911 with 16 men filling for land permits at the Dominion of Lands Office in Edmonton, Alberta. These men were John Anema, Rients de Jager, Drikus Huinink, Cornelius Ingwersen, Albert M. Mast, Koop Peter Mast, Johan Messelink, Henry J. Micheal, Menne Nanninga, Albert J. Oldegbers, Hendrik Schoonekamp, Berend te Ronde, Douwe Terpsma, John Terpsma, Siebren Tiemstra and Willem van Ark. This was followed by Fred Baron and Henry J. Kippers on December 26, 1911 and finally Arie Emmerzael on February 6, 1912.
See further on the book "A Furrow Laid Bare" at http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=945042, page 207 and following.

In the spring of 1912 the Albert Jan Oldegbers and Koop Mast families moved to their homesteads in Neerlandia. It took them more than two weeks to get there with all their properties, including some oxen.

Koop Mast died in March 1915 at the age of 62 years in the Dutch settlement of Neerlandia, province Alberta, Canada. He was the first to be buried in the Neerlandia Cemetery. His widow Minke died there too, in August 1925, at the age of 66 years.