| The Heritage Center at Graafschap CRC |
| 5973 Church Street Holland, MI 49423 |
| THE JOURNEY From Rotterdam - April 4, 1847 on board the Antoinette Maria to New York - May 23,1847, arriving in the Colony - June 20, 1847 |
We were pretty excited when we left home, on March 15 in 1847; it would be the biggest and scariest
trip of our life. There were 70 of us from Graafschap Bentheim and 34 from the province of Drente.
More people wanted to go, and followed a few months later on two other ships.
We traveled to Rotterdam together and saw our ship, “Antoinette Maria.” We had never seen a huge
ship like this. We were excited at first, but it became boring after a while. And most of the people
became seasick and miserable for almost the whole time. We heard later that sometimes people would
get sick and die and be buried at sea. God protected us from that. We did a lot of praying and singing.
We sailed into New York on May 23, 1847, 49 days after we left Rotterdam. We all sang to praise God
for bringing us safely there. Rev. van Raalte had gone to Michigan, so we decided to go there too.
We traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, and then on a canal boat up the Erie Canal to Buffalo.
Some preferred to walk alongside the canal because the boat was so crowded. After Buffalo, we sailed
across Lake Erie to Detroit; from there we went up Lake Huron to Mackinaw, and then down Lake
Michigan to Grand Haven where we picked up some supplies.
We finally reached Black Lake on June 20. Because of a big sand bank, row boats had to bring us
ashore. Again there were prayers and psalms of thanksgiving to God. That first night we made shelters
from evergreen boughs to sleep in. We were tired, but it was hard to sleep because the mosquitoes
were so nasty. We woke up to cold winds and hard rain. Flatboats ferried us to the town of Holland,
which was mostly some log cabins. The group wanted to stay together, and so we kept going some miles
south and west of Holland. We called it our new Graafschap, and that became our new home.
trip of our life. There were 70 of us from Graafschap Bentheim and 34 from the province of Drente.
More people wanted to go, and followed a few months later on two other ships.
We traveled to Rotterdam together and saw our ship, “Antoinette Maria.” We had never seen a huge
ship like this. We were excited at first, but it became boring after a while. And most of the people
became seasick and miserable for almost the whole time. We heard later that sometimes people would
get sick and die and be buried at sea. God protected us from that. We did a lot of praying and singing.
We sailed into New York on May 23, 1847, 49 days after we left Rotterdam. We all sang to praise God
for bringing us safely there. Rev. van Raalte had gone to Michigan, so we decided to go there too.
We traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, and then on a canal boat up the Erie Canal to Buffalo.
Some preferred to walk alongside the canal because the boat was so crowded. After Buffalo, we sailed
across Lake Erie to Detroit; from there we went up Lake Huron to Mackinaw, and then down Lake
Michigan to Grand Haven where we picked up some supplies.
We finally reached Black Lake on June 20. Because of a big sand bank, row boats had to bring us
ashore. Again there were prayers and psalms of thanksgiving to God. That first night we made shelters
from evergreen boughs to sleep in. We were tired, but it was hard to sleep because the mosquitoes
were so nasty. We woke up to cold winds and hard rain. Flatboats ferried us to the town of Holland,
which was mostly some log cabins. The group wanted to stay together, and so we kept going some miles
south and west of Holland. We called it our new Graafschap, and that became our new home.