Huug Van Den Dool

th AADAS 13 Biennial Conference Papers 50 Vanden Dool Noordeloos on Two Continents understood. Exactly how did the Michigan Noordeloos get its name, and is it correct to think of a mother Huug van den Dool, University Park, Hyattsville, MD daughter relation with the Dutch Noordeloos? Are there more daughters? Why did the first Noordeloos emigrants go to Pella, while later emigrants seemed to Introduction avoid Pella and prefer the states surrounding Lake Although the Dutch emigrants who moved to North Michigan? Were there other destinations for America in the 1840s had left their country in Noordelozers? This study is based primarily on disconten~ over religious and economic matters, they scattered literature and archival sources. In the process immediately tried to implant their old country culture of putting these sources together, we will make some into the new environment. They brought language and comments on both towns and the modest claim to fame religion obviously, but the desire to maintain identity of the two Noordelooses, if that is the correct plural. expressed itself in smaller details, such as the choice of The largest amount of work is presented in Appendix J, place names, especially in Michigan, Some individuals which contains a list of some 50 Noordeloos families went as far as calling their new location by the name of (ca. 250 people) who emigrated between 1845 and the village from which they came. For instance, Jan 1860+, with as much of the personal data (both in the Hulst, who came from Staphorst in the Netherlands, NL and in the US) as possible. founded Staphorst in Michigan. This was not always a We should mention somewhere that there are few : I viable proposition, because the number of emigrants Dutch place names in Iowa, in spite of the sizable hailing from just one village in the Netherlands was Dutch emigration into that state. The explanation may limited, and to achieve critical mass and to be inclusive, well be related to the differing views of the initial at least to the people of the same region of origin, the leaders ofthese immigrations. Scholte founded the city names of the provinces in the Netherlands became of Pella, a biblical reference, not a Dutch name - popular as names for towns in Michigan. The best Scholte was in favor of a significant break with the examples are Zeeland, Vriesland and Overisel, where a homeland, speedy assimilation into America, etc. A.C. coherent group led by a widely respected cleric settled Van Raalte, on the other hand, founded Holland in the on virgin land. This pattern allowed the immigrants to wilderness of Michigan, assuming initially that he could carryon with regional culture, dialect, and even mutual keep the flock together in the old ways of The dislike, as a mirror image of the 'provincial' situation Netherlands. back home. To the surrounding Americans, these There are a few aspects of 'Noordeloos' that we people were all Dutch, no doubt, but among themselves will almost completely neglect. We do not discuss the they fought to maintain a far richer and detailed emigration prior to 1845, although there are signs that identity. Even cities like Grand Rapids and the some of the emigrants into the New Netherlands area in emerging Chicago had specific areas known to be high the 17th century may have had roots in Noordeloos. Nor concentration points for people from Groningen or will we say much about Noordeloos as a family name, Zeeland, etc. Single town transplantation was generally on either continent. However, in the period of study too small a concept to survive. Nevertheless, several (1845-1860) no one with the last name Noordeloos names of single Dutch villages or towns are in use till came to the United States as far as we know. this very day. Examples are Borculo, Zutphen and The importance ofNoordeloos is twofold. First, the [1 Noordeloos, which brings us to the subject of study. small Dutch village of Noordeloos produced over 200 ,- It would seem almost obvious to assume that emigrants between 1845 and 1860. Secondly, the split '. Noordeloos in Michigan (MI) was founded by of the Christian Reformed Church from the Reformed emigrants from Noordeloos in The Netherlands (NL). It Church in America took place in Michigan in 1857, is indeed correct to assume that Noordeloos in the involving a minister and laymen who had freshly province of South Holland in The Netherlands was one arrived from the Dutch Noordeloos. of the towns contributing in very significant numbers to the emigration wave in the 1840s. However, the area in Noordeloos in the Netherlands. Michigan now called Noordeloos was 'colonized' in The settlement of Noordeloos in the NL was 1848-49 by people from Groningen and Gelderland, not mentioned in the 11th century, which is the time much II from N oordeloos at all. Furthermore, the largest group of the west of the Netherlands was first used for of emigrants from the Dutch Noordeloos trekked to agriculture on a larger organized scale, with many new Pella, Iowa (rA) in April 1847, following Scholte, permanent settlements. This 'colonization' of swampy which was many hundreds of miles away from but fertile lands required building a drainage system n Michigan. So here we have one of those small puzzling (canals), to be followed soon by windmills and dikes. details that requires a little more study to be fully Noordeloos is one of many small villages in the interior I AADAS 13" Biennial Conference Papers 51 Vanden Dool Alblasserwaard, a large polder in southeast South was also an amateur historian and author of countless Holland. The history of Noordeloos and the publications. Alblasserwaard is one in which the fight to control the In 1955 he published a voluminous and water is central. Regularly, humans appear to lose the comprehensive work on the history of 'his' Noordeloos, fight and large areas are flooded, sometimes for years. which continues to be widely quoted and serves as a According to Schakel (1955) 33 floods took place in first guess' of the story to be told here. Schakel the Alblasserwaard during recorded history (after the describes the troubles in the Nederlands Hervormde year 1100, say); which means several per century, on Kerk in the 19" century in Noordeloos and the average. At enormous expense, dikes were rebuilt and subsequent emigration of many seceder families to the the soil was reclaimed until the next disaster struck. The United States. The frrst minister of the Afgescheidenen most recent flooding was in 1953, when about 1,850 was the Rev. Anthony J. Betten, a pupil of Scholte. people died throughout southwestern Netherlands and Betten and a large part of the Noordeloos congregation half of the Alblasserwaard was under water. followed Scholte in 1847 to Pella. Betten's 'successors' ! I The name Noordeloos refers to the upper reaches in The Netherlands were the Revs. H. Koopman and K. of a very old natural drainage river. Noord means North Van den Bosch, both of whom were destined to playa and the verb 'lazen' is 'to drain.' Farther south, where significant role in the US as well. the river is wider, the name is the Giessen. Through At the present time Noordeloos counts between lJ human intervention the direction of flow, naturally from 1,500 and 2,000 residents, but is no longer an north to south, can be reversed, hence Noordeloos. In independent entity. Along with about 10 other small The Netherlands Noordeloos is called a 'dorp' (village). villages, Noordeloos is part of the municipality of It was never elevated to the status of 'stad' (city or Giessenlanden (formed in 1986). Someone looking for lJ town), although by American standards it is certainly artful pictures and illustrations regarding Noordeloos deserving of the designation town. and Alblasserwaard may want to consult Van At the time of the Reformation the Alblasserwaard Groningen (1992). Maps of the area can be found in converted to Calvinism to a degree not seen in too many Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. other places in The Netherlands. It has been suggested that the eternal threat of flooding added a black lining Noordeloos in Michigan to the local brand of Calvinism. Even today Catholics The unsuspecting visitor looking for Noorde!oos in are very few in numbers. Noordeloos had 620, 817 and Michigan may have trouble finding just where it is. 1000 inhabitants in the years 1822, 1840 and 1875, Although it is marked on many maps, see Fig. 3, it is respectively. Of the population in 1875, 87 percent was easy to miss the correct juncture of rectangular [J Nederlands Hervormd and 11 percent was secessionist crossroads. And there is not too much to warn the Christelijk Gereformeerd (Witkarnp 1877). Note that visitor that one has arrived at Noordeloos. While there the polling at 11 % is after the exodus to the US had was a post office in 1895, and a store around 1890 (see 1') repeatedly reduced the ranks of the so-called seceders. images in Lagerwey 1982 and Brinks 1985), and the Although a picturesque little village, Noordeloos is Christian Reformed Church is said to have about 230 relatively insignificant by Dutch standards-the thought members at the present time, Noordeloos, MI appears that it is worthy of having a counterpart in the big USA to be no more than a church bnilding, fields as far as the I] would be very surprising to many people in The eye can see and one or two houses. Currently some Netherlands, if they have even heard of Noordeloos in modern residential areas and other activities approach The Netherlands. Noordeloos from the ever expanding towns of Zeeland Noordeloos' largest claim to fame is its mayor for and Holland to the south.

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