REV. A. J. BETTEN

Long before the ships that brought our fathers to America had sailed from
Holland, an organization had been formed of which Rev. H. P. Scholte was the
President and Bev. A. J. Betten the Vice-president. Later he was one of the two
men who had charge of the colonists affairs on board the good ship, "The
Nagasaki." After their arrival here, in 1847, Mr. Betten bought the farm which
is well known to the present generation as the John Boot home farm, located some
miles northwest of Pella. In 1849 he removed to Pella and entered the mercantile
business. While he did not follow his calling as a Minister during his life in
Pella, to the extent of taking regular charge of one of the congregations, yet
for many years he was one of the leaders in the religious life of the community,
and before the regular demoninational [sic] congregations were established in
Pella, he preached for the Hollanders for a long time. Some years after the
planting of the colony in Sioux County, he removed there and made his home with
his son, Antonie Betten, in Orange City, until the time of his death.


A. G. VAN DER MEULEN

Was born in the Netherlands in 1821 and came to Pella in 1849. Here he engaged
in the watch and clock business, starting one of the first stores in that line
in Pella. This business was continued in later years by his sons and enlarged by
the addition of hardware and implements, until it was one of the most important
retail establishments in Central Iowa. At one time the firm of Van der Meulen &
Co., sold farm implements for a radius of fifty miles around Pella, even
carrying their sales to within a few miles of Des Moines. The firm is still
doing an extensive business under the same name, (Van der Meulen & Co.), in the
same location where A. G. Van der Meulin [sic] Sr., started his watch and clock
store in the early days. The present members of the firm are: J. H. De Vries, H.
J. Boland, John F. Dykstra and H. P. Van der Meulen. The latter is a grandson of
the original founder of the business.