Gijsbert Haan

He was married to Marritje Pos (September 28, 1800 - August 26, 1876) after he learned that she was pregnant due to an affair several months before.

On July 26, 1847, due to social and religious persecution as well as severe famine, Haan and his family emigrated from the Netherlands on the passenger ship Centurion.

At that point, they were considered to be a classis (a "governing body of a group of churches in the Reformed system, made up of clergymen [and] ruling elders...") within the RCA.

The principal arguments in the document were that the RCA conducted "open communion", sang hymns whose lyrics were not based on Biblical psalms, overlooked catechism preaching, and did not support the secession in the Netherlands.

The church in Canada gained new members after an influx of people from the Netherlands following World War II.

By the turn of the 20th century, CRC congregations could be found in several US states with services held in both Dutch and English.