Page 117 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

from the church to a Synod or Classis meeting to vote upon some
important Reformed Church business.

It is interesting that one of the church members at this meeting had the
family name Alberda. He may have been the father of or a relative to
Annie Alberda who would marry young William F. Poot only three years
later. Two Dutch families named Alberda (alternately spelled Albertie)
lived within a few miles of the church. The nearest family lived 4 miles
north in Georgetown and the other family lived 12 miles west in the city of
Holland. These towns are located in Ottawa County, the same as
Hudsonville. Both of these families had a daughter named Annie born in
1878! It is almost certain that one of these two girls became William
Poot's future wife, and the girl from Georgetown appears the most likely.
Her parents, Michael and Annie, arrived from the Netherlands in 1867 and
they were farmers.

Rev. J.W. Poot had been here only a little over a year when he made a
startling announcement to the church council on 2 March 1896. Rev. Poot
was leaving the Holland Michigan Classis and accepting a call to the
Reformed Church of Gano, in Chicago, Illinois. Rev. Poot may have
considered his position in Hudsonville as temporary until he could find a
church near Chicago. Will Poot was, or soon would be, attending college
in Chicago. Rev. Poot might have found Hudsonville too small and rural
after spending many years in the busy cities of Kalamazoo and Grand
Rapids. Unfortunately, some of the handwriting recording the minutes of
this council meeting is illegible. However, the Dutch word for quarrel
appears in response to Reverend Poot's announcement. The congregation
was unhappy to lose him so soon and the council did not know how to
respond to his decision. They hoped they could change his decision or
refuse to release him! The council decided to request Rev. Baas to help
the Church figure out what to do. Another meeting was held on
Wednesday March 4th with Rev. Baas to lead the council in prayer and
deliberation. At this meeting the Church reluctantly accepted Rev. Poot's
decision to leave and would submit this information to the Holland
Classis.

During JW's brief tenure as pastor, the Church's membership grew strongly
to 315 adult members and 100 children in Sunday School. The Church
minutes repeatedly show that many new members were interviewed and
accepted into the congregation. After JW left in 1896, the Church
membership fell steadily until it hit bottom in 1901 with only 180
members. These changes in membership may show the influence of Rev.
Poot's powerful preaching on attracting new Church members. Since 1901
the membership has grown slowly but steadily to its current count of
about 650.

(08-2005) - Hudsonville - - page 3 -