Jonas Michaelius

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Jonas Michaëlius (1577 – after 1638) was the first clergyman to lead a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in America.

Biography

He was probably born Jonas Joannis Michielsz in

sacraments, but returned to Holland in a few years, probably before the arrival of his successor, Everardus Bogardus
, in 1633.

Michaëlius' wife died in New Amsterdam shortly after his arrival.[3] The classis of Amsterdam wished to send Michaëlius back to America in 1637, but he did not return owing to political opposition from New Amsterdam.[4]

It was long supposed that Bogardus was the first Reformed Church clergyman in the future United States, but the precedence of Michaëlius was established by a letter from him to Adrian Smoutius, dated New Amsterdam, 11 August 1628, which was found in the late 19th century in the Dutch archives at The Hague. In this letter he describes the degraded state of the natives, and proposes to educate their children without trying to redeem the parents. The letter is printed in an appendix to Mary L. Booth's History of the City of New York (New York, 1859).

See also

  • Collegiate School (New York)

Notes

References

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainWilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Michælius, Jonas" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  1. ^ MICHAËLIUS (Jonas) in Van der Aa et al., Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden
  2. ^ MICHAËLIUS (Jonas) in the Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek
  3. ^ Much of what we know about Michaelius is learned from a lengthy letter he wrote to a fellow-minister, Adrian Smoutius, quoted in full in both Dutch and English in Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York, Vol. 1, ed. Edward Tanjore Corwin. p.49ff.
  4. ^ Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, ed. J. Franklin Jameson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. p. 120.