DUTCH IMMIGRANT MEMOIRS AND RELATED WRITINGS SELECTED AND ARRANGED FOR PUBLICATION BY UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOREST GROVE REFORMED CHURCH SKETCH OF THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH [Moving eastward from Drenthe during the years following the Civil War
(1861-5) the Hollanders began to settle in Jamestown Township, in 1869 founding
the First Reformed Church at Forest Grove, later followed by the organization of
the Second Reformed Church in the village of Jamestown, also in Jamestown
Township. This sketch first appeared in The Zeeland Record, August 27,
1915.] Before the organization of a church in Forest Grove, many of our earlier
Holland settlers of this vicinity attended religious services in Drenthe each
Sunday. The children were also sent to catechism there, and it was a long walk
for many of them. So it was decided to organize a congregation here. In Juni 1869 a committee of two clergymen and to elders from Holland were
appointed to investigate conditions here; and these having been found favorable
for organizing a Reformed congregation, after suitable investigation, such a
congregation was organized here on September 15, 1869. The necessary funds for
building not being in readiness, the first meetings of the members of the
congregation were held in the school house; and religious services have also
been held at the different homes previous to services being held in the school
house. The members of the first consistory were elders Willem A. Veenboer and
Hendrik Van de Bunte and deacons Dirk Smallegan and Evert van Bronkhorst; the
latter, however, was not destined to live very long after coming to America, and
was the first person to be buried in our present cemetery. After his death, Jan
Bos was chosen to fill his position as deacon. The first year’s financial
report shows that Dirk Smallegan was the first treasurer and the total receipts
for the first year of the existence of this congregation being $21.46; total
disbursements being $16.85. This is somewhat less than the receipts of the
present day, as the collection for current expenses now every month is between
$40 and $50, besides $100 monthly for pastor’s salary and collections for the
various funds, such as for the Board of Publication, Western Theological
Seminary, Church Building Fund, Widow’s Fund, also Foreign, Domestic, and
Arabian Missions, etc. The church building was erected during the summer and fall of the year 1873,
Jacob Strick hauling the first load of lumber for the new building. The
dimensions of the first church were 36 feet by 50 feet. Later an addition was
built to accommodate the increasing congregation and still later, in 1905, a
fine large chapel was annexed. The church was dedicated December 17, 1873. The first pastor of this
congregation was Rev. John van der Meulen, who remained for nine years, from
1875 to 1884. After he left, Rev. Willem Wormser was called and he was here from
1885 to December 1889; following him, C. C. A. L. John was our pastor from June
1890 until February 1892; after being vacant for ten months, Barend W. Lammers
became our pastor and remained for almost eleven years, from December 1892 to
November 1903. Then, after issuing calls to different pastors, Pieter Paul Chef
came from Grand Rapids to take charge of affairs in March 1904 and remained
until January 1910. After several calls, our next pastor was Marinus E.
Broekstra from 1911 to July 1914. Now after having been vacant for a little more
than a year, but always having been supplied with pastors from other churches or
students from the seminary, we again have our own pastor, Nicholas Boer, who
with his family came from Passaic, New Jersey, in July 1915. Boer has been in
the ministry for fifteen years, his first pastorate being in the Reformed Church
in Jamestown where he went in 1900, remaining there two years and eight months;
he has held successive pastorates [and also successful] in the Bethany Reformed
Church in Grand Rapids for four years; then in the First Reformed Church in
Chicago for three years; following which he has served the First Holland
Reformed church in Passaic, New Jersey, for five and one half years; now he has
come to Forest Grove, having come back almost to his starting point, this church
in Forest Grove being called the First Reformed Church of Jamestown, while the
congregation in the village of Jamestown is the Second Reformed, having been
organized later and many of its members formerly having belonged here. Our church at the present time consists of nearly one hundred families. The
total number of communicants is two hundred twelve, and the total number of
baptized members is two hundred sixty as shown in the annual report of the
different churches as published this spring. Since this report was published,
however, thirty-three more have been received into our church on confession of
faith. The total enrollment in the Sunday school is two hundred fifty, divided into
fourteen classes. Our first Sunday school superintendent was James Brandt who
performed his duties as such for eight years, from the time of organization
although at first catechetical classes were held after services and his actual
years of service as superintendent were from September 30, 1874 to 1882.
Following him, Arend Bos was superintendent until 1884. And since that time,
from October 1884, until now, S. Yntema has very ably filled that position, and
for nearly thirty-one years, he has been our superintendent. There are few, if
any, who could have been more faithful than he; and nothing except sickness
prevents him from Sunday school, so he has had very few absent marks during all
these years. And even though he is advanced in years, Mr. Yntema still retains
all his faculties; and we hope he will be able for many more years to perform
the duties of Sunday School superintendent. There have been many men during the forty-six years of the existence of this
congregation who have been members of the consistory and all performed their
duties to the best of their ability, but there are too many to mention. The
members of the present consistory are Elders S. Yntema, Herman van de Bunte,
Willem van Bronkhorts, and John Kamer; deacons, Lucas Kremers, Bert Shoemakers,
Cyrus Keizer, and Albert Bos.
OF JAMESTOWN [FOREST GROVE], MICHIGAN
Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 23 May 2003