#44 My Connection to History

IDENTITY POLITICS | Mark Boonstra: As I have been honored to personally tell President Trump: God spared his life for a reason. God isn’t through with America.

Dec 02, 2024

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IOM America extends its heartfelt appreciation to Judge Mark T. Boonstra for his exceptional contributions to the IM Writer's Association. Judge Boonstra's insightful and thought-provoking writings have enriched our understanding of the law and its impact on society. His dedication to upholding justice, integrity, and ethical principles shines through in every piece he authors. By sharing his profound knowledge and perspectives, Judge Boonstra has inspired and educated countless readers, advancing a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the legal system, while connecting our forefather’s faith. We are truly grateful for his invaluable contributions and unwavering commitment to advancing the mission of the IM Writer's Association through the Identity Politics series. - Dr. Stephen Phinney

My Family History

In Relation to Our Founding Fathers

Unlike my esteemed co-writer, Dr. Stephen Phinney, detailing my family history in relation to our Founding Fathers is no easy task.

After all, my ancestors were nowhere near America at the time of its founding; they were still on the European continent.

My beginnings were also rather humble. My siblings and I were the first in our family to attend college. My father was a laborer, a salesman, and eventually a self-taught accountant. My mother was primarily a homemaker, as well as a part-time office helper and Avon lady.

Of course, part of the miracle of America is that it is a nation of immigrants, a melting pot of blended cultures from around the world. In my case, that was the Dutch culture of The Netherlands.

But before addressing my own heritage, let me diverge for a moment to focus on a contribution from my wife Martha’s family. Martha was born into the Rabaut family, which hailed from Belgium. And here, again, I am aware of no lineal connection to our Founding Fathers. But a connection to the values of our Founding Fathers, and a corresponding commitment to America’s religious heritage, there surely is.

As I have written elsewhere, our Founding Fathers gave birth to a new nation unlike any that had gone before it, the United States of America, and they did so by proclaiming that our individual liberties and unalienable rights are “Blessings” from “God,” “endowed to us by our Creator.” They appealed to the “Supreme Judge of the World,” and invoked the authority of the “Great Governor of the World,” with “a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.”

It was in keeping with those foundational tenets of our Founding Fathers that Martha’s grandfather, Congressman Louis C. Rabaut, authored the resolution that added the words “Under God” to our Pledge of Allegiance, a resolution that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

It is for that reason that Martha and I offered a Tribute to Congressman Rabaut in our 3-volume book, In Their Own Words: Today’s God-less America . . . What Would Our Founding Fathers Think? As we noted, the addition of “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance “flowed from our Founding Fathers’ fervent belief, as reflected in their own words, that our rights and liberties come from God, and that the bastion of liberty that is America fundamentally derives its legitimacy from the guiding, moral precepts of One higher than ourselves.”

Circling back to my own heritage, my paternal ancestors immigrated to America in the late 1800s, settling on the shores of Lake Michigan. By then, America had long since been established, Michigan had joined the union of states in 1837, and the Civil War was already behind us. My great-grandfather, Tjabel “Charles” Boonstra, was a simple blacksmith and mechanic. The family hailed from the northern Dutch province of Friesland, which centuries earlier was its own nation of Frisia. And although the family was not present to participate in America’s founding in the 1700s, it at least by legend appears to have had a role in the founding of Frisia itself. As best as I can determine, the lineage dates back to my 57th great-grandfather, Adel I Friso van Friesland, who is said to have ruled around 300 B.C. The son of Frizo van Friesland and Hilla of Thrace (the Princess of Jerusalem), Friso is said to have been a leader of a group of Frisian colonists who had been settled in the Punjab region of India for over a millennium. Joining the Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, Friso led a group back to their ancestral homeland of Frisia and there established a dynasty of kings.

Meanwhile, my maternal grandfather, Tobias “Thomas” Walhout, was born in Borssele, Netherlands, in the southern province of Zeeland, where his family attended the Old Dutch Reformed Church. In 1907, at the tender age of eight, he immigrated with his family to Muskegon, Michigan. Within a year, his father had died, leaving his mother to raise their large brood of children. He eventually became a carpenter. But these simple folks had an unknown heritage that in some sense also contributed to America’s founding. The lineage appears to trace back to my 11th great-grandfather, Cornelis de Hooghe, a 16th-century engraver and mapmaker who was executed in 1583 for supposedly seeking to bring the Low Countries (including The Netherlands) back under the authority of the Spanish King, Philip II. Philip was the son of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. And Cornelis, who is believed to have been an illegitimate son of Charles V, would thus have been Philip’s half-brother. Meanwhile, Charles V’s maternal grandparents—my 14th great-grandparents—King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, had earlier dispatched Christopher Columbus on a voyage that resulted in the discovery of America in 1492. And it was their descendant, King Louis XVI, who delivered French aid to the rebel patriots during the war for American independence.

With some exceptions, our Founding Fathers were primarily of English, Scottish, and Irish heritage. But there were some Dutch contributors to America’s founding as well. And while I am aware of no familial relations with them, the Dutch connections are worth celebrating.

Most prominent among our Dutch Founding Fathers were Philip Livingston (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and his brother, William Livingston (a signer of the United States Constitution). Born and raised in Albany, New York, and in its Dutch Reformed Church, the boys’ paternal ancestry was steeped in the annals of Scottish Presbyterianism. This included their great-great-great-grandfather, Rev. Alexander Livingston, the first rector of Monyabroch (now, Kilsyth), after the legal establishment of the reformed doctrines in Scotland in the 1500s, as well as his son and grandson, Rev. William Livingston and Rev. John Livingston. The latter attempted unsuccessfully to make passage to America in pursuit of its religious freedoms, took refuge in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1663, and his name became one of the most revered in all of Scottish ecclesiastical history. Rev. John’s son, Robert, eventually made his way to Albany, where he wed Alida Schuyler, the daughter of Col. Philip Pieterse and Margarietje Grijt Schuyler.

The Livingstons and the Schuylers were faithful members of Albany’s Dutch Reformed Church, and Robert also built a new church, the Reformed Church of Linlithgo, at their Livingston Manor estate. Alida’s brother, Pieter Schuyler, served as the first mayor of Albany, and Robert served as its first town clerk. Robert and Alida’s son, Philip Livingston Sr., wed Catharina Van Brugh, daughter of Albany mayor Pieter Van Brugh and Sarah Hendrickse Cuyler Van Brugh, and together they raised twelve children, including Philip and William.

Philip Jr. (the signer) later wed Christina Ten Broek at the Albany Dutch Church. Her father, Dirck Wesselsen Ten Broeck was the twenty-eighth mayor of Albany, and her grandfather, Dirck Wesselje Ten Broeck (a deacon of the church) had been its fourth mayor. After moving to New York City, Philip and his family attended the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam and New York, where Philip served as an elder and deacon. Their daughters, Sarah and Catharine, also wed Dutch Reformed ministers. Sarah’s husband (and second cousin), Rev. John Henry Livingston, became known as the father of the Dutch Reformed Church in America. He also served as president of Queen’s College (now, Rutgers University), which was chartered in 1776 by Benjamin Franklin’s son, William Franklin, as a Dutch Reformed institution of higher education. And Catharine wed Rev. Eliardus Westerlo of the very Dutch Reformed Church of Albany in which she had been baptized.

Meanwhile, by the age of fourteen, young William had spent a year assisting Henry Barclay, a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in bringing Christianity to the Mohawk Indians. That work had originally begun under Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, and was continued by his successors. He later wed Susanna French, whose paternal grandfather, Phillip French, served as the mayor of New York City, and whose maternal grandfather, Anthony Brockholst (or Brockholls), served as governor of colonial New York. William and Susanna had thirteen children, including Henry Brockholst Livingston and Sarah Van Brugh Livingston. Henry served as an aide to Major General (and distant Schuyler cousin) Philip Schuyler (later a United States Senator) during the war for independence, and later as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Sarah married John Jay, who served as the president of the Continental Congress and the first Chief Justice of the United States.

Alexander Hamilton, who signed the United States Constitution and served as Secretary of the Treasury, also married into Dutch heritage, as he wed Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer, and the granddaughter of Alida Schuyler Livingston’s father.

And James Duane, a signer of the Articles of Confederation, had Dutch roots as well. His father, Anthony Duane, was an Irish immigrant, but his mother, Althea Ketaltas, was the daughter of a Dutch merchant, Abraham Ketaltas, a New York City alderman. Duane’s mother died when he was only three, and his father then wed Margaret Riker (or Rycken), whose family was also active in the Dutch Reformed Church. But by the time Duane was fourteen, his father also had died, and he then found himself under the guardianship of Robert Livingston, a brother of Philip and William, and in the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany. Duane later married Mary (Polly) Livingston (Robert’s daughter), whose maternal ancestry dates back to Governor Rip Van Dam, who was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church of Albany and who served as interim acting governor of the province of New York in the early 1730s.

Gouverneur Morris (a signer known as the Penman of the Constitution) and his half-brother Lewis Morris (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) were also of Dutch heritage. Their father, Lewis Morris Sr. was of Welsh ancestry, but he married, first, Tryntje (aka Kaatrijntje or Catherine) Staats, and, second, his niece, Sarah Gouverneur, whose mother Sarah was Tryntje’s sister. They were descended from Dr. Major Abraham Staats, who immigrated from Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1642.

Nicholas Van Dyke also was a descendant of Dutch immigrants. He signed the Articles of Confederation and served as President (Governor) of Delaware. And John Bayard Smith. another signer of the Articles of Confederation, wed Susannah Bayard, whose paternal ancestry traces back to Rev. Nicholas Bayard and his son, Rev. Balthazar (or Lazare) Bayard, a French Huguenot minister who sought refuge in the Netherlands. His son, Samuel Bayard, wed Anna Stuyvesant, the daughter of Rev. Balthazar Stuyvesant of Friesland, Netherlands. Anna’s brother, Peter Stuyvesant, served as the Director-General of the then-Dutch colony of New Netherland.

Identity Politics, with Mark Boonstra & Dr. Stephen Phinney, is an extension of IOM America’s IM Christian Writers Association. The mission of the authors is to restore faith in God & country.