Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/448

 HOLLANDERS

394

HOLLANDERS

tjTeil IS Oct., 1646), was the first Catholic missionary to the New Netherlands, and exercised his ministry principally among the Indian tribes.

The actual numljer of inhabitants in New Amster- dam in 1664, just before the English took possession of it, was nearly 1200; that of the entire colony about 10,000, divided among English, French, Bohemians, and Dutch, with the Dutch predominant. On 4 September, 1664, the English, unjustly disputing Holland's claim to the New Netherlands, appeared with a fleet before New Amsterdam, and the Dutch, realizing their powerlessness to offer any effective resistance, reluctantly surrendered. Again taken by the Dutch under Cornelius Evertsen in July, 1673, during a war between Holland, on the one side, and France and England, on the other, it was restored to England under the treaty of 1674. Thus the rule of Holland in America came to an end; Nieuw Neder- land became an English possession, and Nieuw Am- sterdam received its present name of New York, in honour of the Duke of York, afterwards James II. Very few of the Dviteh returned to their native coun- try. The majority stayed and for many years carried on a bitter struggle with the English tiovernment for the independence of their Church. This was guaran- teed to them by charter in 1696. In 1698 they had forty congregations.

Although many of the Dutch intermarried with other races, yet there were a goodly number who re- mained faithful to their nationality, so that at pres- ent the element of Dutch extraction in the Eastern States is considerable. Some of the descendants of the old Dutch settlers who gained renown in political and economic activities were: Van Cortland, from whom Van Cortland Park, in New York, derives its name; General Stephan Van Rensselaar, the New York statesman; Martin Van Buren, the eighth presi- dent of the U. S. From the end of the seventeenth till the beginning of the nineteenth century the emi- gration from the Netherlands was small. That of the nineteenth century had two principal causes, the first of which was the religious strife among Protes- tant denominations in Holland during the reign of William I. Dutch Protestants professing the Cal- vinistic creed established large colonies in Iowa and Michigan. The other cause of emigration was the unfavourable economical conditions in their native country. These conditions were brought aliout by the defects of social legislation and by the limiteil opportunities for business enterprise in a country so densely populated as Holland is. This is particularly true of the southern provinces, where the inhabitants are almost exclusively Catholic, where the soil is less fertile, and where a large portion of the productive land is in possession of the wealthier class. Of late, however. Catholic social organizations have amelio- rated conditions somewhat; hence emigration from these provinces is decreasing.

Dialrihulion. — According to the twelfth census, that of 1900, there are 10.5,000 foreign-born Hollanders in the United States (one per cent of the entire foreign- born population). These are distributed over the different states as follows: —

California 1,015

Illinois 21,916

Indiana 1,67S

Kansas 875

Massachusetts 993

Michigan 30,406

New Jersey 10,261

New York 9,414

Ohio 1,719

Pennsylvania 637

SouthDakota • 1,327

Utah .523

Washington 632

Wisconsin 6,496

The number of Hollanders in the States not mentioned above is very small. It will be noticed that in the North Central Division alone, there are 79,000; this being over seventy-five per cent of all foreign-born Hollanders. Of the larger cities. New York had a Dutch population of 2600; Chicago, 1S,.50; Milwaukee, 600; Cleveland, 800; Paterson, 5000; Rochester, 1000; Grand Rapids, Mich., 13,000; Philadelphia, 300; St. Louis, 400. These statistics do not include the Hollanders bom on American soil from foreign parentage. The Census Bureau gives no accoimt of them. Of late the immi- gration from the Netherlands is between five and six thousand persons every year; of these nearly two- thirds are men, and one-third women; while of the entire number almost four per cent are illiterate.

Catholic colonization began in 1848, when Father Th. van den Broek, a Dutch Dominican, after a missionary career of seventeen years among the Indian tribes in the Middle West, returned to the Netherlands, where he published a booklet on con- ditions in America. This booklet explained what bright prospects were in store for Catholic colonists. The result of his efforts was that, in March, 1848, he set out from Rotterdam with three shiploails of Cath- olic Hollanders. The vessels bore the names "Maria Madgalena", "America", and "Libera". All who accompanied him settled in the Fox River Valley, a fertile and beautiful, but at that time an uncultivated and uncivilized, part of Wisconsin, between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. This region, at one time (1630-75) the missionary field of Fathers Marquette, Menard, Allouez, Andr6, and Silvery, became the territory of these settlers. Many Catholic Dutch colonists followed those of 1848, and they have, after years of privation and thrift, established several pros- perous settlements. The Fox River Valley, called the "heart of the state", still remains the centre of Dutch Catholic colonization in the United States.

Organiznlions. — There exists in the United States a national non-sectarian socictj', "De Nedcrlandsche Bond", which has its head-quarters in Chicago, and forms a branch of the same organization in other continents, and which has in view the promotion of national feeling amongst its members. As the num- ber of Dutch Catholics in America is relatively small (25,000), and as they are scattered throughout nearly every state of the L^nion, there exi.sts as yet no Cath- olic national society. In the Fox River V'alley, how- ever, they have local societies for religious and social purposes in every one of their .settlements. In June, 1907, a league of Holland and Belgian priests was or- ganized in Chicago for the two-fold pur|50se of pro- viding for the spiritual needs of neglected Dutch and Belgian Catholics in such a manner as circumstances mignt suggest, and of protecting and directing their countrymen on their arrival in .\merica. This society known as ".Association of Belgian and Holland Priests" has been affiliated with the "Church Ex- tension Society" under the name of "Holland and Belgian Section of the Extension". It is still under the separate management of its own officers. As the non-Catholic Hollanders are less scattered, it has been an easier task to foster organizations among them. There are "Dutch Societies" at Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, at Chic.igo, and at Orange City, Iowa. In New York, the "St. Nicolas Society" and the ".N'etherland Club" are composed of men de- scended from the early Dutch colonists of the seven- teenth century.

Schnolx. — The parochial system is vigorous in all the Hollan<l Catholic settlemVnts. In the Fox River Valley, for instance, their parish .schools are attended by some 1764 children, who are taught by forty-three religious teachers. Their schools have always main- tained a high standard. The Dutch language is not taught in any of them. It is a common opinion that