Page 112 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

HUDSONVILLE, MICHIGAN

W.F. Poot's biographical notes made no mention of the brief year that his
parents lived in Hudsonville. His notes were not definite and stated that
he moved to Chicago in either 1894 or 1895. However, his father did not
move to Chicago until 1896. It appears that Will may have left home to
attend the University of Chicago after graduating from High School in
Grand Rapids.

Hudsonville is a small town about 13 miles southwest of Grand Rapids,
and is now considered a suburb of Grand Rapids. There were several small
villages in the area. Some of these villages were named Farowe,
Georgetown, Blendon, and South Blendon. The area once had forests of
trees, but by the 1870's they had been cut down. There was flat open land
here and most of the people in the area were farmers. The devout
residents around Hudsonville supported many churches, including seven
Reformed Churches.

The town of Hudsonville was founded in 1883 and a small Dutch
congregation organized the Farowe Reformed Church that same year.
Farowe was a prominent local Dutch family, and a nearby village was
named after them. This new church received its first pastor, Gerhard De
Jonge, in 1887, the same year the Poots arrived in America. De Jonge was
a Dutch immigrant who graduated from nearby Hope College, and
Hudsonville was his first ministry.

Under the leadership of their second pastor, William Pool, an American-
style white church was built in 1891 at Central and 32nd Street. This
served the congregation for 65 years until a new brown brick church was
constructed in 1956 at Port Sheldon Rd., west of Balsam. This later church
is still in use, and has undergone remodeling and several additions
through the years.

Reverend William Pool left in 1893 to serve at Oakdale Park, also called the
6th Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. Rev. Pool was a Dutch immigrant
who arrived in the USA about 1888. He first served a Presbyterian Church
after his arrival. Given the similarity of the experiences shared by Rev. W.
Pool and Rev. J.W. Poot, and their very similar names, we can speculate
that they became acquainted during the two years they were both in Grand
Rapids. We can imagine them receiving misdelivered postal mail or even
confused visitors. Perhaps Rev. Pool told Rev. Poot that the church in
Hudsonville was still searching for a minister, and he may have contacted
Hudsonville to recommend Rev. Poot. In January 1895, Rev. J.W. Poot
became the third pastor of Farowe Reformed Church when he arrived from
Grand Rapids. By the time JW departed in March 1896, the congregation's

(08-2005) - Hudsonville - - page 1 -