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Description
This is a puzzling document because it is the official organization of a Third Reformed Church in Holland Township. My first reaction was to think it was Third Reformed of Holland but it was not organized until 1867. Pieter Heyboer, Pieter A. van Dyk, and Tennis Bos were the trustees. One of the witnesses was Alexander Hartgerink of North Holland. Upon examination of the document and researching the names of these men in Dutch Immigrant Memoirs and Related Writings by Henry S. Lucas, second edition, 1997, I learned that these men were in the North Holland and Noordeloos congregations. It appears that a new Reformed Church was organized after the Rev. Koenevan de Bosch took the Noordeloos congregation out of the Reformed Church in America in April of 1857. In the minutes of the Classis of Holland, P. Heijboer is listed as an elder of a Noordeloos church at the meeting of September 9, 1857. Classis of Holland Minutes 1848-1858, 1950, p. 252. According to the historical directory of the RCA, this congregation was disbanded in 1860.
Date
10-5-1857
City
Town of Holland, Ottawa County, Michigan
Source
Unknown
Recommended Citation
Hartgerink, Alexander; Hillebrands, A. J.; and Heijboer, Pieter, "Notice of the Formation of Trustees of the Church" (1857). Van Raalte Papers: 1850-1859. 420.
https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/vrp_1850s/420
Notes
Description of the document by Dr. Elton J. Bruins.
About the collection:
Elton J. Bruins, long-time professor in the Department of Religion at Hope College, spent years collecting documents by and about Albertus C. Van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan and early patron of Hope College. Documents were gathered from dozens of public and private collections, making a nearly exhaustive collection of Van Raalte's writings and reflections. It is these documents that make up the "Van Raalte Papers."
Digitizing the Van Raalte papers was supported by the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. The project was done in partnership with Heritage Hall at Calvin University, which also digitized its Van Raalte collections.