[1][2] After being spared by cholera, which ravaged the Netherlands, van Raalte was inspired to devote his life to preaching.

When he visited the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, he met with the Grand Haven founder William Montague Ferry.

Van Raalte sent home a handbill with such glowing descriptions of the area that many farmers' sons emigrated, cleared the heavily wooded land and found the farming to be fruitful.

Van Raalte himself was the spiritual leader for the Protestant Reformed Dutch immigrants who founded the city of Holland, Michigan in 1846 and played an important role in establishing the school that would become Hope College.

[1] In addition to settling Holland, Van Raalte also later started a Dutch colony in Amelia Court House, Virginia.