Van Raalte, Albertus Christiaan (17 October 1811–07 November 1876), Reformed cleric and founder of the Holland, Michigan, Dutch colony, was born in Wanneperveen, the Netherlands, the son of Albertus van Raalte, a Reformed cleric, and Christina Catarina Harking. As a Dutch Reformed preacher’s son, Van Raalte seemed destined for the Christian ministry. He received an excellent classical education at the Gymnasium (high school) of Bergen op Zoom and the University of Leiden (1829–1835). At Leiden he experienced a conversion experience after a cholera epidemic decimated the student body. Subsequently, the new convert joined a theophilosophical movement known as the Dutch Reveil (revival), led by ...
