Albertus C. Van Raalte : Dutch Leader and American Patriot

by Jacobson, Jeanne M.; Bruins, Elton J.; Wagenaar, Larry J.

• ISBN13: 9780814329672
• ISBN10: 0814329675
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Hope College

Summary

Albertus C. Van Raalte (1811-1876) was born in the Netherlands during a tumultuous period of history. The French Revolution of 1789 escalated into the Reign of Terror in 1793. The following year, France invaded the Netherlands, and Napoleon Bonaparte began his rise to power. By 1811, the year Van Raalte was born, Holland ceased to exist for a time and became a province of France. Van Raalte enrolled in the theological school of the University of Leiden in 1829, during a cholera epidemic that plagued the world. In 1845 and 1846, the potato blight ruined the Netherlands' entire harvest of potatoes, causing long-lasting economic decline and poverty and leading many poor and middle-class Dutch to consider emigration to North America. Deeply affected by continuous hardship and suffering, Van Raalte and his followers emigrated to the United States in 1846. In 1847 Van Raalte founded Holland, Michigan, and nine years later founded Hope College.

More than 150 years ago, Van Raalte and a small band of followers arrived in a desolate, snow-covered forest. Today, the ci

Table of Contents

Had he been placed by Providence at the head of a nation, he would have made a wise and powerful ruler
The world into which Albertus Van Raalte was born	1	(12)
The idea of emigration swept over the land like a breath of God
Church crisis in the Netherlands; emigration to America	13	(15)
Ik wist geen beter naam dan: Holland
Founding ``de Kolonie''	28	(30)
How gladly we would have spoken with them, but we could not
Americanization	58	(10)
He saw in education the hope of the colony. It was his lodestar, the compass by which he steered
Education	68	(18)
People bound for Zion almost always have trouble with their fellows along the way
Church crisis in the colony	86	(14)
Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions
The beginning of the Civil War	100	(16)
The poor Rebs who fall into my hands are going to pay for Dirk's arm
Civil War and the Holland colony	116	(24)
I am glad that my children are on the west side of the ocean. ...the lot in America is far, far better than in the old countries
The Van Raaltes' visit to the Netherlands in 1866	140	(10)
I thirst after an opportunity to free myself of these annoyances and to devote myself entirely to the Kingdom of God
Van Raalte's efforts to found a new colony in Virginia	150	(18)
The world loses its color with such a blow
The death of Christina Van Raalte	168	(12)
The Fire King has devastated nearly our entire City, throwing men, women and children upon the charities of the world
The 1871 Holland fire	180	(14)
God's temporal deliverances are many; each settlement and family has a history of its own
The children of Albertus and Christina Van Raalte	194	(12)
He was the virtuoso orator of God's word
Albertus Van Raalte as preacher	206	(12)
Oh beautiful for patriot's dream that sees beyond the years
The death of Albertus Van Raalte, and his vision for Holland	218	(12)
References	230	(3)
Endnotes	233	(12)
Name Index	245	(3)
Topic Index	248	(2)
Afterword	250