Some businessmen needed to make a passage further up the Fox River. A Dutch priest though who better to deal with water than the Hollanders. A group of Catholic families from North Brabant were offered land in America if they would come and work. So many answered the call that the came in three boatloads over two years.
There are a few contemporary manuscripts and letters written back to North Brabant describing life and hardships in America. The 100 year anniversary of St. Francis Church names all the families and tells of the journey and first years in the new community. Are you related?
My email is
ptstevin@AOL.com. I have a copy of the written history. Also there are several families with websites that tell much of the early history of Hollandtown and the families that eventually went to Oregon and Nebraska. Pat