Pieterzijl (Groningen, Netherlands)
Pieterzijl, a hamlet in the Dutch province of Groningen close to the border of Friesland, the seat of a Mennonite congregation until 1892. Of the history of this congregation, always small in membership, not much is known. It may have been founded about the middle of the 16th century. A meetinghouse was built in 1664; this made the district governor take action. On the basis of the law of 1651 forbidding the building of Mennonite meeting houses where they had not existed before, he ordered this meetinghouse to be closed or even pulled down. The Mennonites appealed to the provincial government; the district governor was supported by the Calvinist clergy. It is not clear how the matter ended. In the 17th century the congregation belonged to the Flemish branch; until about 1750 it was generally called the congregation of De Waarden and Pieterzijl. Among the members the de Waard family were numerous; many of them were deacons and Jacob Symons and his son Jan Jacobs de Waard, both farmers, were preachers in 1726-ca. 1760 and 1753-ca. 1790 respectively. In 1815 a meetinghouse was built in Pieterzijl; it is not known where the congregation met before 1815. In 1827 its baptized membership numbered 21, in 1849, 65, in 1860, 82. Until 1790 it was served by untrained and unsalaried preachers. Gerben Cornelis van Grouw (d. 1825) serving here in 1792-1814, was its first salaried preacher, and Jan Frederik Boersema, serving 1814-26, its first minister trained at the Amsterdam Mennonite Seminary. In 1891 a new parsonage and in 1892 a new meetinghouse were built, both at Grijpskerk. After that time the congregation was called Grijpskerk and Pieterzijl, now only Grijpskerk.
For its history since 1892 see Grijpskerk.
Bibliography
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen(1893): 35.
Doopsgezind Jaarboekje (1850): 60.
Waard, S. K. de. Aanteekeningen uit de Doopsgezinde Geschiedenis van 't Westerkwartier. Groningen, 1901.
Wumkes, G. A. De Gereformeerde herk in de Ommelanden . . . Groningen, 1904: 39.
| Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Pieterzijl (Groningen, Netherlands)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieterzijl_(Groningen,_Netherlands)&oldid=126548.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1959). Pieterzijl (Groningen, Netherlands). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pieterzijl_(Groningen,_Netherlands)&oldid=126548.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 176. All rights reserved.
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