Volume XXVIII • Number 2 • 2010 Historical Magazine of The Archives Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 pagepage 10 page 20 (616) 526-6313 Origins is designed to publicize 2 From the Editor 14 Back-and-Forth Wanderlust: and advance the objectives of The Autobiography of Jacob The Archives. These goals 4 An American Flyer Remem- Koenes include the gathering, bered: Martin Douma Jr., organization, and study of 1920–1944 historical materials produced by Richard H. Harms the day-to-day activities of the Christian Reformed Church, its institutions, communities, and people. Richard H. Harms Editor Hendrina Van Spronsen Circulation Manager Tracey L. Gebbia Designer H.J. Brinks Harry Boonstra Janet Sheeres Associate Editors James C. Schaap Robert P. Swierenga Contributing Editors HeuleGordon Inc. pagepage 28 page 39 Printer 25 One Heritage — 35 “When I Was a Kid,” part II Two Congregations: Meindert De Jong, with The Netherlands Reformed in Judith Hartzell Grand Rapids, 1870 – 1970 Cover photo: 44 Book Notes Saakje and Jacob Koenes with their helpers Janet Sjaarda Sheeres on the Groenstein farm. 46 For the Future upcoming Origins articles 47 Contributors from the editor . now available and personal accounts totaled more than 34,000 entries, the are being distributed via the internet. data are available in two alphabetical- Janet Sheeres details the history of the ly sorted PDF formatted fi les, A-L and Netherlands Reformed congregations, M-Z which are available at http://www. primarily in West Michigan, whose calvin.edu/hh/Banner/Banner.htm. With experiences had previously been these two fi les, this site now provides overshadowed by the stories of the access to all such data for the years Time to Renew Your Subscription larger Reformed Church in America 1985-2009. Another major project As in years past we take this oppor- and Christian Reformed Church available at http://www.calvin.edu/hh/ tunity to remind you that it is time to groups. Although many stories of family_history_resources/Dutch_Emi- renew your subscription to Origins. A Dutch citizens immigrating to North grants.htm presents information about renewal envelope for this is included America have been recorded and told, Dutch emigrants to North America, with this issue. Subscriptions remain what is unique about Jacob Koenes is 1946-1963, most of whom went to $10 (US) per year, the same price as emigrating three times, fi rst to Canada Canada via Pier 21. These are data on when we began in 1982. Gifts above and twice the United States, which 9,703 families assisted by the Immi- $10 are acknowledged as charitable he recorded years later in retirement. gration Committee of the Christian gifts to Origins and we are grateful for We also present the next installment Reformed Church in North America. such generosity. of Meindert DeJong’s account of his It should be noted that most of data youth, written a number of years after for the years 1955-1956 are missing. This Issue retiring from a career of writing books In this issue we have two autobi- for the young, with the aid of Judith News from the Archives ographies, the story of one of the Hartzell. During the summer, we received and smaller religious groups within the processed an additional 22 cubic feet Dutch immigration experience, and Available On-Line of material for our Christian school an account of a fl yer who gave his Since our last report we have added records collection. These materi- life during the Second World War. to large collections of data via our als came primarily from the former Interest in Martin Douma’s service as website. A team of volunteers com- Millbrook, Creston, and Oakdale a bombardier began with an email re- pleted entering the birth, marriage, schools, as part of the reorganiza- quest from Slovenia and was possible anniversary, and death postings in tion of the Grand Rapids Christian now because military documents are the Banner, 1985-1995. Because these schools. We processed a collection of 2 Volume XXVIII • Number 2 • 2010 original documents and fi rst-edition VanGinhoven’s WWII prison letters will be produced by the RCA Histori- books by college alumni and au- from his family in Alberta; and Robert cal Series, with funding provided by thors—Meindert DeJong, his brother Swierenga’s research fi les on Dutch Origins. We are now beginning to David DeJong, and Peter DeVries. We Chicago, Dutch Jewry, and Dutch im- prepare a newly translated and signifi - opened for research the papers of Dr. migration. cantly annotated version of the CRC Ralph Blocksma, noted plastic and In addition to several of the synodical minutes, 1857-1880. reconstructive surgeon and medical processing efforts noted above, one missionary during the two decades of our volunteers has brought the Staff following WWII. Also processed translations of the Holland, Michigan, Richard Harms is the curator of were the records of First Minneapo- Central Avenue CRC minutes to 1907 the Archives and editor of Origins; lis Christian Reformed Church; the and is now working on the letters Hendrina Van Spronsen is offi ce papers of WWII prisoner-of-war Jacob written by Peter Verwolf from the coordinator; Wendy Blankespoor is Fridsma; and the photographs taken prison in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, librarian and cataloging archivist; by Dr. Lee Pool, while a student at at the very end of the nineteenth Melanie Vander Wal is departmental Calvin. Two of our volunteers have century. Three of our volunteers assistant; Dr. Robert Bolt is fi eld agent also made signifi cant progress in orga- continued dutifully keying in data and assistant archivist. Our volunteers nizing the H. Evan Runner papers. for the project to make vital records include Rev. Dr. Paul Bremer, Mrs. In addition, we received the re- information from the Banner available Willene De Groot, Mr. Ed Gerritsen, cords from the college’s Enrollment online. Lastly, we added 110 genealo- Mr. Fred Greidanus, Mr. Ralph Haan, Management, 1992-1997; college gies to our extensive collection and its Mrs. Helen Meulink, Rev. Gerrit W. president’s offi ce, 2007-2008; vari- catalog. The entire list of our family Sheeres, Mrs. Janet Sheeres, and Mr. ous seminary committees from the histories is viewable at http://www. Ralph Veenstra.D seminary, 2010; the CRC Board of calvin.edu/hh/family_history_resources/ Trustees, 1992-2002; and the CRC genealogies_page.htm. Chaplaincy fi les, 2000-2009; the latter includes the denomination’s work on Publications Just War theory. We accessioned three Eerdmans will publish Dr. Kurt Richard H. Harms carousels of slides of San Francisco’s Selles’s history of CRC mission efforts Friendship House from Richard in China during the fi rst half of the Venema of Mira Loma, CA; Hans twentieth century this fall. The book 3 An American Flyer Remembered: Martin Douma Jr., 1920–1944 Richard H. Harms Author’s Note: artin Douma Jr., the seventh Mchild, the third of four sons, On 27 February 2010 outside Celje, was born in Grand Rapids on 24 a town of approximately 46,000 in November 1920, to Martin and Lena western central Slovenia, members of Douma. 2 The elder Douma had been that community gathered to remem- born in Hommerts, Friesland, the ber the crew of a United States B-24 Netherlands, and his family immi- bomber that had been shot down grated to Grand Rapids in 1891, when sixty-six years earlier. In prepara- he was four. He was married to Grand tion for that event, one of the event’s Rapids native Lena Kloet in 1907. organizers, Marko Zdovc, had dis- They lived on the city’s northwest covered from a Heritage Hall website side, where he worked as a painter, of obituary data of military (Gold and where they joined Alpine Avenue Star) deaths in the Young Calvin- Christian Reformed Church. One of ist that one of the crew members was their daughters died as an infant, so from Grand Rapids.1 Zdovc asked if that Martin grew up in a family of ten more information were available on siblings. He graduated from Union Second Lieutenant Martin Douma High School in 1938 and went to Jr., married to Helen, and the son of work as a sandblaster at the National Martin and Lena Douma. A check of Brass Company, which manufactured Martin Douma in his fl ight jacket. Image courtesy of William Douma. obituaries and the Grand Rapids tele- cabinet hardware for the furniture phone directory revealed that several industry. of Douma’s siblings were still living Capable of more than an entry-lev- growing fi rm, fi rst to production clerk in the area. With information from el position as a sandblaster, by early and, by the summer of 1942, as a these family members, data from now 1941 he was working at the Globe foreman. At Globe he met and began available government documents, and Knitting Works on Ionia Street, just dating a production machine opera- accounts of war experiences avail- south of the city’s Union Station rail- tor, Helen Roest, the daughter of a able via the internet, the story of the road yard. Like other knitting mills, city fi refi ghter. sacrifi ce of Douma and his crewmates Globe hired primarily women to run Twenty-one when war was de- emerged. its knitting machines that produced a clared, Douma and his older brothers, variety of items, particularly woolen George and Leonard, were eligible underwear. As it had during WW I, in for military service. On 4 August Since 1998 Richard Harms has been the 1941 the fi rm won the fi rst of several 1942 Douma enlisted in the Army archivist in Heritage Hall and editor United States government contracts Air Force4 as a private.