Volume XXX • Number 1 • 2012 Historical Magazine of The Archives Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 pagepage 8 pagepage 23 (616) 526-6313 Origins is designed to publicize 2 From the Editor 21 History Preserved and advance the objectives of Allison DeWaard The Archives. These goals 4 Jacob Quintus and the include the gathering, Sheboygan Nieuwsbode 25 James Koning Memoir (1906) organization, and study of Hans Krabbendam Robert P. Swierenga, editor Nella Kennedy, translator historical materials produced by 11 Dutch-American Identity the day-to-day activities of the Politics: Christian Reformed Church, The Use of History by Dutch its institutions, communities, Immigrants and people. Hans Krabbendam Richard H. Harms Editor Hendrina Van Spronsen Circulation Manager Tracey L. Gebbia Designer Harry Boonstra Janet Sheeres Associate Editors James C. Schaap Robert P. Swierenga Contributing Editors HeuleGordon Inc. Printer pagepage 34 page 40 31 My Recollections of Holland 45 Book Notes in 1852 George Edward Holm 46 For the Future upcoming Origins articles Cover photo: 38 Immigration Journey Under Sail 47 Contributors The masthead from the Eugene Westra and Zierikzeesche Nieuwsbode Robert P. Swierenga from the editor . described by Edward Holm of his visit then unpacked these there for use to Holland, Michigan, in 1852 when until we return to the renovated space he was eighteen years old. in May. By the time you read this we are scheduled to be back in the newly Available On-Line renovated space and will gladly give The update of the Banner Index of vital you a tour. In the fall issue we will records was updated with 2011 infor- present a visual tour of the new facili- This Issue mation and published on our website ties. In the current issue Allison DeWaard, (http://www.calvin.edu/hh/Banner/ We processed the papers of Andrew a student at Dordt College, tells the Banner.htm). Barnes, a specialist in the history of story of her family’s efforts at farm- Christian mission work in the Sudan. ing near Columbus, Montana. Hans News from the Archives The papers contain many original Krabbendam, Assistant Director of A portion of our time since last fall documents and unique secondary the Roosevelt Study Center in Mid- that would otherwise have been spent sources on the CRC mission efforts delburg, the Netherlands, presents the processing collections was devoted beginning there in the 1930s. We life of Jacob Quintus, who published to moving collections. Late in the also opened for research the personal the fi rst Dutch-language newspaper in fall, phase 1 of the Heritage Hall/Rare papers of Rev. Bartel Huizenga, his- the United States and described how Books renovation was completed and tory professor Henry Ippel, economics Dutch identity came to be defi ned we moved all of the college records, professor John Tiemstra, as well as among immigrants in North America. Christian Reformed Church congre- the fi rst day postal covers collection Next, we present two accounts of the gational records, genealogical materi- by John Cevaal. Work on the transla- immigration experience during the als, and approximately two-thirds of tion of the Holland, Michigan, Central middle of the nineteenth century, the our reference collection into the new Avenue CRC minutes through 1927 fi rst written by Eugene Westra and space in preparation for the phase 2 continues, as does keying in data of Robert Swierenga, who also intro- work. We boxed the remaining refer- vital records information from the duced the second account by James ence material and all of our offi ce fi les Banner, and family data in the Calvin- Koning. Lastly, we include events for moving to the Surge Building, and ist Contact. Work has also begun on 2 Volume XXX • Number 1 • 2012 organizing the records of the church 1847-1857, at a conference in rec- Our volunteers include Rev. Dr. Paul plants in the CRC Home Missions col- ognition of the 200th anniversary of Bremer, Mrs. Willene De Groot, Mr. lection as well as the extensive papers the birth of Dr. A. C. Van Raalte. He Ed Gerritsen, Mr. Fred Greidanus, Mr. of Dr. Vernon Ehlers who served on was one of six presenters asked to Ralph Haan, Mrs. Helen Meulink, Rev. the Kent County Board of Commis- participate at both the conference in Gerrit W. Sheeres, Mrs. Janet Sheeres, sioners, in the Michigan Legislature, Holland, Michigan, and the following and Mr. Ralph Veenstra. and in the US House of Representa- week in Ommen, the Netherlands. As tives. part of this, media in both locations Endowment Fund Noteworthy among the archival ac- interviewed him, and a Dutch transla- Currently our endowment fund cessions were twenty-one boxes from tion of his presentation was published and operating fund have a value of CRC Home Missions and six boxes online by the Trouw. The full research $492,921. Of this, $100,000 will be from the college Provost. The Home paper will be published in a book used to offset the current renovation Missions material contains signifi cant of proceedings produced by the Van project, but our annual subscription information on church plants dur- Raalte Institute and the Free Univer- rate remains at $10, even though ing the past four decades. Among the sity of Amsterdam. $10 no longer covers the cost for the personal papers received were those two mailings a year. As always, we of geologist Clarence Menninga and Staff are grateful to our supporters, many a signifi cant addition to the papers Richard Harms is the curator of of whom contribute well above the donated by Diet Eman, who worked the Archives; Hendrina Van Spron- subscription cost.D in the Dutch resistance during World sen is the offi ce coordinator; while War II. Wendy Blankespoor our librarian and cataloging archivist is on leave, Publications Diane Vander Pol has joined the staff In early November Richard Harms for several months; Laurie Haan is was invited to present a paper based department assistant; Dr. Robert Bolt on his research on the tensions among is fi eld agent and assistant archivist. Dutch immigrants in West Michigan, Our student assistant is Ben Rietema. Richard H. Harms 3 Jacob Quintus and the Sheboygan Nieuwsbode Hans Krabbendam acob Quintus (1821-1906), son of Ja teacher in a small village in the Dutch province of Zeeland, has been largely forgotten in the Netherlands. In the United States his editorship of the fi rst Dutch-American newspaper (1849-1861) saved him from oblivion. One might argue that Quintus was not unique, since many other publica- tions were launched in the immediate years, but his publication was the fi rst successful enterprise and acted as an inspiration to others who recognized the Sheboygan Nieuwsbode as the model for the Dutch-language press in the United States. The activities of Quintus reveal, in detail, the stream of information between the sources of emigration in the Netherlands and settlement areas Jacob Quintus (1821-1906), from the Dutch in the United States. While the corpus province of Zeeland, edited the fi rst Dutch- of the fi fty-some Dutch-language pub- American newspaper (1849-1861). Image courtesy of the Archives, Calvin College, Grand lications has been well documented, Rapids, Michigan. little is known about the motives, the instruments, and the decisions an Finally, there is an additional aca- editor made. Quintus’s work reveals demic reason for a renewed interest in detail his selection decisions, while in his life. One of the new questions his later editorial work confi rmed that in migration history focuses on the he was an irrepressible newspaper- connections between areas and people man. that transcend national boundaries His career documents the role and national origin: the issue of trans- of non-clergy in the pioneer phase nationalism. Early ethnic newspapers Since 1990 Dr. Hans Krabbendam has of Dutch immigration. Further, the functioned in this space between two been with the Roosevelt Study Center location of this fi rst newspaper offi ce nations and the way in which editors in Middelburg, The Netherlands, cur- is signifi cant and Quintus’s move such as Quintus advanced transna- rently serving as its assistant-director. He is the author of several books and to Michigan helps to explain why tional connections helps to under- numerous articles in the intersections though the Badger State had been the stand this process. of Dutch immigration history, religious destination of the early immigrants, history, and Dutch-American relations. Michigan became the center of Dutch Origins immigration in the US. Jacob Quintus was born in 4 Volume XXX • Number 1 • 2012 Zonnemaire, on the island of Duive- kee); Jan Kotvis land, the northern most part of the and Pieter Lank- province of Zeeland, on Christmas ester from Middel- Eve 1821. He was the youngest son of burg, south of this Jan Quintus, who died before Jacob’s city in Franklin fi rst birthday. At age ten his mother Prairie. In 1845, Neeltje Slagboom (1792-1831) also similar groups passed away, leaving Jacob an orphan. from western Thanks to an earlier marriage of his Zeelandic Flan- father, who was sixty-fi ve when Jacob ders had founded was born, he had enough relatives in “Town Thirteen,” the province to take care of him. A two years later number of them were craftsmen living renamed “Town in Zeelandic Flanders,1 others were Holland,” south teachers. The Quintus family was part of Sheboygan, of the lower middle class; they owned and then named their home in Zonnemaire, ten acres Oostburg. The of farmland, and some stock in rural expectations for industry.2 the development Jacob followed in the footsteps of of Wisconsin were his late father and became an assistant high; Scholte and teacher in Haamstede on the island of Van Raalte intend- Quintus was born in Zonnemaire, on the island of Duiveland, in the Schouwen.