Rog Hiemstra’s Blog

There are four major themes in my blog:

1. Material related to helping people take increasing responsibility for their own learning.
2. Material about the Hiemstra genealogical line.
3. Material about Rev. Samuel May, the second minister of May Memorial Unitarian Church.
4. Material about May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society, Syracuse, NY.

Your thoughts, additions, corrections, and any other feedback will be welcome.

Rog Hiemstra

Take Responsibility for Personal Learning
For decades the educational system in the United States has produced people who have few lifelong learning skills. It then becomes necessary for adult educators, higher educators, and professional trainers to provide learning experiences, training, and support as people attempt to cope with the rapidity of constant change that surrounds them. Unfortunately, many do not adjust to such change well resulting in an inability to cope with societal stresses, compete for evolving jobs, and succeed in a rapidly developing world. This section of the blog is devoted to helping people become more self-directed as individuals and take increasing responsibility for their own learning. Here is a web page devoted to this topic.

The Hiemstra Line
Our “Hiemstra” name began on December 27, 1811, when Sjouioke Hoekes declared to Oostermeer officials in the Province of Friesland that he was officially taking the name of Heemstra when occupier Napolean required all people to take an official surname. The name was soon changed to Hiemstra as there were already several Hiemstra families (probably not related) living there. There is an important connection between the United States and this part of The Netherlands. John Adams, when he was the first official Minister to that country, worked out our first official relationship there through the Province of Friesland in 1782.Go here for more information.

Rev. Samuel Joseph May
Rev. May was born in Boston in 1797. He graduated from Harvard in 1817 and taught school while attending Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1820. He was ordained in 1822 at Boston’s King’s Chapel. He became minister of the Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, Connecticut, in 1822. Next he was Minister of the Unitarian Church, South Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1836. He became Principal of the Female Normal School, Lexington, MA, in 1842. He moved to Syracuse and became minister of the Unitarian church there in 1845 (see http://www.mmuus.org/who-we-are/history/sjmay.html). He retired in 1868 and died in Syracuse in 1871. He was one of the country’s leading abolitionists, an early supporter of women’s rights, and a champion of education. Go here to read a biography.Here is a wonderful thesis about his impact on education:Saint Before His Time: Samuel J. May and American Educational Reform

MMUUS
See the church web page for considerable information. For example, here is a wonderful book authored by a former member, Dorothy Ashley, entitled Some Portrait Adventures. Not only does it describe her approach to painting her wonderful portraits, it also includes many of them.