Hope College Digital Commons @ Hope College Collection Registers and Abstracts Archives and College History February 2016. Wisconsin, Waupun. Alto Reformed Church. Records 1855-ca. 1965. 6.00 linear ft. Western Theological Seminary Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/collection_registers Part of the Archival Science Commons Recommended Citation Repository citation: Western Theological Seminary, ". Wisconsin, Waupun. Alto Reformed Church. Records 1855-ca. 1965. 6.00 linear ft." (2016). Collection Registers and Abstracts. Paper 1174. http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/collection_registers/1174 February 4, 2016. This Register is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and College History at Digital Commons @ Hope College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Collection Registers and Abstracts by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Hope College. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@hope.edu.
. Wisconsin, Waupun. Alto Reformed Church. Records 1855-ca. 1965. 6.00 linear ft. Abstract The Alto Reformed Church was organized by the Classis of Wisconsin, Reformed Church in America, in 1855, although the worshipping congregation began worship services in the home of a congregant as early as 1847. Therefore, these records begin formally in 1855. The collection includes minutes of the ruling body called the consistory, treasurers accounts, Sunday School records, Christian Endeavor Society, and various societies minutes and financial records. Most of the minutes and records are in Dutch, the language of this Dutch immigrant community until the mid-1930s. Anniversary booklets can be found in the Alto Church file in the Western Theological Seminary collection at the Joint Archives. Accession No: Provenance: Alto Reformed Church Custody Agreement: Alto Reformed Church Photographs: 12 images (Box 4) Processed by: Elton J. Bruins, December 2014 History The township of Alto, Wisconsin, was developed by Americans, mainly New Yorkers. But by 1845, Dutch immigrant families began to arrive, first, the Albert Meenk family. In the next two years, many more immigrants arrived. They began worship services in the home of a family. Soon these first families called a minister from the Netherlands to serve the small but growing congregation. The minister was Jacob Baai, who unfortunately lived only a year and a half after his arrival in the community. These immigrants apparently banded together because their Reformed faith was influenced by a religious movement in the Netherlands called De Afscheiding or Secession. The Alto immigrants were primarily from this movement, people who left the Hervormde Kerk. This church was the state church of the Netherlands that these immigrants regarded as liberal. Many of the early Seceders had been persecuted. Some of them like Hendrik Bruins, who brought his family to Alto in 1847, experienced arrest because he had a Seceder group hold religious services in the Bruins home in Twello, Province of Gelderland. However, the intense religious nature of the Seceders who migrated to Alto suffered from a divisive nature who readily argued topics of religious doctrine. In a matter of a few decades, Alto had six immigrant Dutch Reformed congregations. [For more information on these congregations, see The Dutch-Immigrant Congregations of Alto, Wisconsin, 1845-1900, by Elton J. Bruins in Origins 7, no. 1 (1898): 22-33.] But the main congregation was the Alto Reformed Church. The Americanizing influences began eventually and slowly the members of the congregation began using English in
worship services and formal minutes. The young people accepted English influences quite early, so that when the Christian Endeavor Society was formed in the 1880s, only English was used. The congregation was blessed with the strong pastoral leadership of several of the ministers who have served the church. One who stands out is the Rev. Roelof Pieters, who in 1869 succeeded Dr. Albertus Van Raalte as pastor of the first Reformed congregation (now called Pillar Church) in Holland, Michigan. Although it took a long time to accept English in church worship services, the congregation was progressive in its church life and ministry. It is still a major congregation in the Classis of Wisconsin of the Reformed Church in America. The congregation has had only had three buildings in its history. The first sanctuary was a simple log structure that was supplanted in 1857 by a large but plain building in the village itself. By 1898, that building was moved across the street and served at the local township hall for many years. The new church was dedicated in 1898 at the cost of $8,000 and serves to the present, but with a major addition constructed in the 1960s. The Alto congregation sponsored a daughter church that was located about three miles northwest of Alto. It was organized in 1879, but was active only until 1887 when the few congregants went back to the mother church. The name of this congregation was Ebenezer. Therefore, some records of the Ebenezer church are included in this collection because this congregation was reabsorbed in the mother church of Alto. However, the Alto Reformed Church suffered a division in 1881 when a Christian Reformed Church was organized in the village of Alto just south of the mother church. A distinguishing feature of the congregation for many years has been its ardent support of many charities and, in particular, foreign missions. It was customary to give an amount to missions equal to the amount given for the annual support of the church. Scope and Content The collection contains the consistory minutes, membership records, Sunday School minutes and financial records and records of the societies. There are many financial records because the congregation for many years had special offerings for the ministers salaries, for the General Fund and for the benevolent collections with a strong emphasis on foreign missions. [Please note that since the processor of these papers is a former member of the Alto congregation, he has several items relating to the history of the Alto church in his collection in the Joint Archives of Holland, H88-0019.] Container List Box 1 Church annual reports, 1938-1943, 1959, 1966 Consistory Records Minutes, 22 September 1855 to 6 September 1964 (Dutch) Minutes, 1856-1865; also a record of cemetery plots, 1856-1908 (Dutch) A page of minutes, 11 July 1862 concerning the Rev. Herman Stobbelaar (Dutch and in translation by Nella Kennedy) Minutes, 1862-1886 (Dutch) 2
Minutes, 1886-1898 (Dutch) Minutes, 1898-1914 (Dutch) (minutes include a history of the congregation by the Rev. Henry Harmeling that was published in De Hope, 28 December 1898 and in translation in Dutch Immigrants Memoirs and Related Writings, 1997 Minutes, 1901-1911 (Dutch) Minutes, 1911-1915 (Dutch) Minutes, 1914-1928 (Dutch) Minutes, 1920-1925 (Dutch) [This volume consists of minutes taken in pencil during the meeting and later written in the official minute book, 1914-1928 apparently.] Minutes. 1925-1930; and related paper (Dutch) Minutes, 1928-1940; beginning in 2 April 1934, the minutes are written in English; incidental papers are contained in a separate folder during the years, 1928-1940 Minutes, 1940-1947 Minutes, 1948-1952 Minutes, 1961-September, 1965 (also in this folder is the statement that the church changed its name from the First Reformed Church of Alto to the Alto Reformed Church, dated 30 January 1963 Minutes, 1965-1969 along with some papers Consistory minutes of the Ebenezer Reformed Church, 1878-1887 (Dutch) [Note: The Ebenezer Reformed Church was organized for members of the Alto Reformed Church who lived about three miles northwest of Alto. The major proponent of this new congregation was Hendrik Bruins, a prosperous farmer who paid for the construction of the sanctuary for the new congregation. It was disbanded in 1887 when members returned to the Alto congregation although the Ebenezer Church building was used until ca. World War I for educational purposes of Alto members who lived in the area.] The church building was then sold to John Kemink who moved the building to his farm about mile south to serve as a barn. The building was demolished after the year 2000. See also a brief history of the Ebenezer Reformed Church (Dutch) in Het Book der Notulen Van de Ebenhaezer Gereformeerde Gemeente te Alto Fond du Lac Co. Wis. April 7, 1879, p. 3 and another paper with English translation of the one page history by Nella Kennedy. Box 2 Consistory records Deacons records of treasurers 1862-1863 (Dutch) 1868-1911 (Dutch) 1920 1923-1925 and a letter dated 17 August 1923 1929-1940 3
1941-1943 1945-1957 Deacons records of the ministers salaries 1929-1957 1929-1952 1929-1959 1938-1958 1939-1959 1945-1957 1949 Deacons records of the benevolence funds 1925-1939 1941-1954 1944-1948 Christian Endeavor Society Essay, A Brief History of the Christian Endeavor Society of the Alto Reformed Church, by Susan Vande Velde, a charter member, n.d.; four typed pages Minutes, 1894-1902, along with the constitution and by-laws and first membership list Minutes, 1902-1920 [some records of the society are in English] along with the constitution and by-laws and membership list Minutes, 1916-1927 and papers (Dutch) Minutes, 1924-1935 Box 3 Christian Endeavor Society (cont.) Treasurer s financial records, 1896-1911, 1911-1939, 1941-1948 (3 items) Membership records, 1921-193 Intermediate Christian Endeavor Society records and papers, 1940-1948 Girl s League for Service, financial records and papers, 1940-1954 A History of the Alto Reformed Church by Rev. Henry Harmeling, 1898 (English translation by Nella Kennedy) History of the Alto congregation 1855-1955 (photocopy) Roll of Honor, First Reformed Church, Alto, Wisconsin, 1917-1918 (see Oversized) Inventory, 2014 Ladies Missionary Society Minutes, 1889-1908 (Dutch) Minutes, 1921-1924 Minutes, 1934-1958 Financial records, 1904-1921 Lead Pastor Candidates Search Background Information on Church, 2015 Luidens to the Alto congregation who supported the mission work of the Luidens in the Middle East, both dated 17 January 1945 Membership 4
Baptisms, confessions of faith, marriages, new members and deaths, 1924-1941 Membership list and marriage record, 1855-1924 [Note: The cover of the bound volume says 1839-1924. The 1839 is erroneous because the first Dutch immigrants did not come to Alto until 1845. The congregation came into existence about 1847. The Classis of Wisconsin was organized in 1855, which date the Alto Reformed Church uses as its date of origin and the date which the Alto Church began keeping formal records.] Membership Book, 1855-1899 (Dutch) Membership Records, 1886-1899 along with a Brief history of the Congregation, 1845-1886 Membership Records, 1924-1941, A-D [Note: When the Rev. John H. Kregel became the pastor of the Alto Church, he inaugurated a new system of record keeping. Each family is listed on a card ca. 7 x 7.] Membership Records, 1924-1941, E-K Membership Records, 1924-1941, L-U Box 4 Membership Records, 1924-1941, V Membership Records, 1924-1941, W-Z Mission Society Treasurer s Book, 1904-1921 Papers, miscellany n.d. Photographs of the exterior of the sanctuary, n.d., 1955 (12 images) Sunday School Minutes, 1884-1889 (Dutch) Minutes, 1898-1924 (Dutch) Minutes, 1925-1950 Treasurer s account book, 1934-1939 Treasurer s account book, 1936-1965 Treasurer s account book, 1940-1954 Sunday School Union, Alto area, minutes, 1943-1965 Young Ladies Mission Band Record, 1897-1910 Young Ladies Missionary Society, cash account 1897-1924 Women s Intermediate Mission Society minutes, 1919-1942 Oversized (stored in Oversized Cabinet) Roll of Honor, First Reformed Church, Alto, Wisconsin, 1917-1918 5