Sint Pancras, 1627

In 1627 Johannes extended his right hand and clasped the right hand of his uncle's twenty-seven-year-old stepdaughter, Machtelt Willems, before the predikant (preacher) and elders of the Dutch Reformed Church of Sint Pancras. After clasping hands, the predikant—their uncle and stepfather, Dominee (Reverend) Johannes Megapolensis—raised his right hand and blessed the couple. Into this new union Machtelt brought a young son from an earlier marriage. His name was Wilhelmus Grasmeer. A year later Machtelt gave birth to a baby girl who was named after Machtelt's mother, Hillegont. A baby boy, Dirck, followed in 1630. Three years later the family of five moved some sixteen miles north to the village of Wieringerwaard where Johannes became schoolmaster. It was here, in Wieringerwaard, that Johannes delivered his proefpreek (test sermon) for the Reformed Classis of Alkmaar while a candidate of theology. Having passed his exam, the Classis of Alkmaar appointed him the first predikant to Wieringerwaard in 1634, a position he held for the next four years. During that time, Machtelt and Johannes also welcomed two more boys—Johannes (b. 1632) and Samuel (b. 1634)—into the world.

This was a time when the worlds and fields of Dutch Reformed predikanten were expanding across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In fact, the directors of the Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie (Chartered West India Company or WIC) had recently presented themselves to Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, as “mostly professors of the true Reformed religion” whose primary motives for investing in the company had been “first, to honor God, second, to extend the true Reformed religion here and spreading it in other lands, third, to care for the welfare of this country, and this city [Amsterdam] in particular, and fourth, to damage the common enemy [the Spanish Hapsburgs].”