It has been three years since I posted. So, like the ancient Jewish custom of placing a stone in a cemetery, I write this blog as reminder of how the name of Van Huss came to America.
What does one say of Jan Franz Van Husum and his wife Vokje, who met as a result of a terrible flood. A flood so devastating they gave it a name, the Buchardi Flood. Named for Johann Burchardi, a German Lutheran pastor, and historian, who chronicled the death and destruction of the flood that occurred on the night of October 11th and lasted well into the following morning. The cold waters of the North Sea overwhelmed the North Frisian islands and the coast of Schleswig. It caused widespread destruction. It drowned entire villages taking upwards of 15,000 lives. It changed the face of the maps.
But it brought together two survivors, Jan, a sea going man and Volkje, the daughter of a farmer who lived on Norstrand island.
We are all the offspring of catastrophes, of wars and natural disasters, of calamities, one and all.
