A. The Trip to a New World

Before Emigration
Have students find out where their ancestors came from and when and why they left their homeland. Display this information on a world map bulletin board.
Preparing for the Journey
Have students brainstorm a list of everything they would want to take with them if they had to leave their home.
Have them go back through their list, and remembering the space and weight constraints of the early immigrants, decide and circle those belongings that would actually be feasible to take.
Students then share with a partner one item that is very special to them that they would never be able to leave behind.
OR Considering the many advances of technology and the changes in our culture, as a group try to develop a new list of necessities for someone emigrating to America today.
The Journey
Choose an immigrant child from the following names of children on the ship's registry and write a journal to reflect what you think that child went through in their journey from The Netherlands to Pella.

Hendrik van Maren - 11 year old boy
Jannadrianna Verducht - 12 year old girl
Engeltje van Zee - 10 year old girl Maarten Klein - 11 year old boy
Huig Synhorst - 10 year old boy
Tryntje Buwalda - 11 year old girl
Try to transfer yourself into their shoes.

Ideas to begin writing:
Think about having to leave the only home you have ever known.
Think for a moment what your provisions were on the ship. You had no milk or fruit; only a portion of salt, meat, hardtack, potatoes, and rice. This was all you had for six long weeks. You ate hardtack with coffee three times a day, but still you lived and thrived.
Think of the storms you encountered. It took one boat two weeks to cross the English Channel. Once the boat struck a calm it didn't seem to move for days.
Think about the long trek across America once you arrived.
Think about the excitement (or disappointment) you felt when you finally got to Pella.
Early Pella
In the dugouts, hazards included burrowing animals (including snakes) and insects. Cattle sometimes mistook roofs for grazing areas. Dirt often crumbled and water sometimes leaked through.
What else might happen living in a dugout? For sure, some events were funny, some were dangerous, and some were disgusting. Write a short story or newspaper article about what happened one day in "Strawtown".
Pella's First Decade
Create an ad for one of these businesses or services for an early edition of the Pella Gazette. Look at a newspaper from today to get some ideas about ads. You might have to find out what some of these places would advertise. Some of these services no longer exist.

B. Classroom Preparation / Review

Below is a list of topics and questions you may wish to discuss with your class either in preparation for your visit and/or after your visit to the Scholte House Museum, or reading the Historical Review, to review what you have learned.

Scholte
Who was Dominie Scholte?  Where did he grow up? go to school? work? preach?  Who was he married to first?  How many children did he and Sara Maria have?  How did Sara Maria die?  What else did Scholte do besides preach?  How did Scholte meet Abraham Lincoln?  How long did Scholte live?  Where is he buried?

Mareah
How did Scholte meet Mareah?  Why do you think Mareah was so disappointed in her new home, Pella?  What did Dominie Scholte do to help ease his wife's disappointment?  How many children lived to adulthood?  Why do you think so many babies died during the Scholte's time?  How do you suppose the Pella residents felt about Mareah?  What did Mareah do after Scholte's death?

The Scholte House
How many rooms does the Scholte House have?  Who else has lived in the Scholte House?  What were some of the special things Mareah brought along to America?

Before Emigration
What types of persecution did Scholte's followers suffer?  Why did they decide to emigrate?  Who was in the colony?  Why did Scholte get thrown in jail?  Why were potatoes important to their decision to emigrate?  Why do you think they chose Iowa?

Preparing for the Journey
What did a person need to contribute to the colony?  What did the emigrants carry their belongings in?  Why were they advised to pack home remedies?  How much food was each colonist to take along?

The Journey
How did the Scholtes get to America?  How did the other colonists get to America?  What as life like on the boats?  How long did it take to get to America?  What happened when the colonists arrived in America?  How did they travel to Iowa?

Early Pella
Was there anyone in Pella when they arrived?  Where did the Scholtes live when they finally arrived in Pella? Where did some of the other colonists live? Where did they get the name Pella? What was Mareah's reaction to Pella?

The First Decade
What was Pella like in 1857, ten years after the colonists arrived?  What did some of Pella's residents do for a living?  Who else lived in Pella besides the colonists?

C. Suggested Reading and Resources

Books
Path of Delft by Muriel Kooi, a fictionalized account of the colonists' emigration and arrival in Pella from the perspective of Scholte's daughters.
A readers theater version of this story written by the author for her fourth grade class is also available.

Reluctant Pioneer by Muriel Kooi, a fictionalized journal of Mareah Scholte about her Pella experience.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Leonora Scholte, an account of Mareah Scholte's life as written down by the daughter-in-law of the Scholtes.
A literature pack for this book is also available. The Literature Pack was written by Lisa Groenendyke, a teacher at Pella Christian Grade School.

Video
Reluctant Pioneer - A video taped presentation of the book with the author portraying Mareah.

All resources listed are available by calling the Pella Historical Society, 515-628-4311. Path of Delft readers theater and Stranger in a Strange Land Literature Pack are available on the Pella Historical Society web site.

D. Problem Solving Activities

1.  The colonists' gold chest was so heavy that it took six men to carry it when it was full, and four to carry it when it was empty. How heavy do you think the chest was?
It was guessed that the chest was about half full and contained 20,000-25,000 guilders. Try to find out how much a guilder is worth to see how much money the colony would have if they came today.
The rate of inflation has made thins ten times more expensive in the last 50 years. Do some research to figure out the rate of inflation in 150 years to see how much money the colonists would have today.

2.  It was recorded that Scholte was "1 ellon, 6 palmen and 6 dumin tall". Translated that is approximately 6' 3". An "ellon" is an elbow, a "palmen" is a palm, and a "dumin" is a thumb. (An ellon is the length from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger, and palmen is the length of your hand from the base of your palm to the tip of your middle finger, and a dumin is the length from the lower joint of your thumb to its top.)
If these measurements were based on your dimensions, how tall would Scholte have been?  How tall are you?  Why do you think we use different standards of measurement now?

3.  After Mareah discovered her beautiful Delft dishes were broken, she or perhaps her gardener, decided to make a "path of Delft" from the log cabin to her new home. What else could Mareah have done with the fragments of her dishes?

4.  Why do you suppose the Scholtes built fireplaces that were too shallow to heat their home? What is the climate like in the Netherlands? What is it like in Iowa?

5.  See what other problems the students come up with and brainstorm possible, creative solutions.