I am very behind posting things to this blog--especially trip photos that I would've sworn I posted last summer. Stuck inside with single-digit cold, I've found a good time for catching up.
My 9-great-grandfather, Francis Cooke, was an English separatist who moved to Leiden in 1603, married Hester Mahieu, and they eventually joined the congregation of other separatists at the Pieterskerk (St. Peter’s Church) in Leiden. Eventually several of the families sailed on the ship Mayflower and settled in New England, while others stayed in Leiden. Cooke was one of the Mayflower passengers, and Hester came over a few years later. The Cookes’ 3-great-grandson, David Washburn, was my 3-great-grandfather and an early settler of my hometown area (Four Mile Prairie) in the 1830s. We got to visit the Pieterskerk and think about national, religious, and family history.
The first three photos are from our 2016 trip. The rest of the photos are from the Webster University Leiden commencement ceremony at the church in May 2023. My wife Beth is chancellor of Webster University.
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