EARLY CHURCH HISTORY
1865 TO 1883
by
Gerrit Bos 1904-1985, Great Grandson of Jacobus Klanderman
As told to him by his mother and grandfather
My great grandfather and family were the first settlers of Borculo. Jacobus Klanderman had a wife and four children. Shortly after my great grandfather arrived, a few more families came to settle in Borculo; namely: Berend Kuyers, Waleverd Broekhuis, Ten Cate, and Peter Lamer, who became my grandfather by marriage. All the information on the early history of Borculo was given to me by my mother and also by my grandfather Peter Lamer.
When these early settlers would go for their homes after worship, they quite often would sing Dutch Psalms (68 and 10). There was a lot of wildlife at that time--wild turkey, deer, bear, and sometimes the Indians would be watching them from behind the trees. My great grandmother was always deeply concerned about these Indians, first in regard to their spiritual welfare, but was unable to talk to them, as she could only speak Dutch. But their son of 8 years could speak the Indian language, learning the language by playing with the Indian children. Many a time she would send young Dick over to the Indian encampment with a hot pot of soup if one of the Indian children would be sick. She always drilled in Dick that he must tell them about God and that He gave His son Jesus who died on the cross, arose again from the grave, and is now in heaven that whosoever would believe on Him shall never perish but have eternal life--Indians, Dutch, or any nationality. These Indians would listen very carefully what the young lad would tell them. Tears would come in my grandmother's eyes when she would see these Indians walk bare feet in the snow the early part of the winter. But she did not have to worry, they could take care of themselves fairly well. They kept quite warm in their wigwams. My great grandmother, Mrs. Klanderman's house was a log cabin with an open fireplace and a dirt floor. Many a time the log cabin was filled with aroma of wild game she was cooking.
How these early pioneers longed for their own place of worship. They had to wait 18 long years before a church was established. They would meet in the different homes for their Sunday worship. Sometimes when the weather was favorable, they would walk to Zeeland. They could quicker walk than take the oxen. But walking also had it's dangers. The swamp south of Borculo had many rattle snakes, mosquitoes, and you had to be on the lookout for bears. But when the first school house was built, they would meet there.
As the Klanderman family got older, the two oldest girls left home and went to work in Grand Rapids. They also got married there. The two boys also got married. When great grandma died, Dick took over the farm, and Jacobus, his father, lived in with him. Gerrit, the eldest son, started a business adventure by having a grocery store for 11 years. But God took him home at the age of 37 years, leaving a wife and four children. One of the three girls was my mother. Dick had a good business head on him. He knew how to make money and hang on to it. He retired when he was 35 years old. Before that he had a hired man on a 40 acre farm. The old Klanderman farm is the first farm place south of the cemetery, west side of the road. Dick and his wife spent several years of his retirement living 1/4 mile east of Borculo and later moved to Zeeland.
Years later the encampments in Borculo showed the evidence of the Indian's presence there by the number of flint arrowheads and other artifacts found there.