View source for Cate, Wolter ten (1701-1796)

[[File:CateWolterten.jpg|300px|thumb|right|''Wolter ten Cate 

Doopsgezind Jaarboekje 

voor 1929, p. 97 

'']]     Wolter ten Cate was born 28 August 1701 at [[Hengelo (Overijssel, Netherlands)|Hengelo]] in [[Twente (Overijssel, Netherlands)|Twente]], a district in the Dutch province of [[Overijssel (Netherlands)|Overijssel]]; he died at the same place, 8 August 1796. In 1720 he took over his father's textile factory, developed it into a flourishing industry, and consequently became wealthy. He was one of the founders of big industry in Twente. According to a tradition, he was taught the skill of damask manufacturing by weavers from Danzig. Wolter ten Cate, himself descended from a very old Mennonite family, was married in 1725 to Tjilke Jans Dijk, of a well-known Mennonite family in [[Groningen (Groningen, Netherlands)|Groningen]]. The marriage was childless. Ten Cate gave much of his time, devotion, and money to the church. In 1736 he was chosen minister of the [[Groningen Old Flemish Mennonites|Groninger Old Flemish]] congregation at [[Borne  (Overijssel, Netherlands)|Borne]], although he lived in Hengelo. This congregation he served until 1757, when he became minister of the congregation at Hengelo. In 1755 he was chosen overseer <em>(opziener) </em>of the Groninger Old Flemish congregation, a position which was similar to that of [[Elder (Ältester)|elder]] <em>(oudste). </em>Henceforth it was his task to visit the various congregations in the [[Netherlands|Netherlands]], a charge he performed with great zeal. In the congregation he was a person of great influence. Wolter-Oom (Uncle Wolter), as he was called, was a veritable patriarch among his own people. He exerted a marked influence on the confession of faith drawn up by the Groninger Old Flemish in 1755. His material bounty he shared liberally with his congregation; in 1791, toward the end of his life, he made it possible for his congregation at Hengelo to have a new church, but with the emphatic stipulation that above all it should be sober and simple in appearance.
= Bibliography =
<em class="gameo_bibliography">Uit het Verleden </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">der Dg. </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">in Twenthe. </em>Borne, n.d.: 117-118, 135-141.

Rusburg, B. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Iets over W. en J. ten Cate </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">als </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">oprigters </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">der </em><em class="gameo_bibliography">fabrijken . . . te Hengelo. </em>N.p., n.d.
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