Boelen, Hermanus Lancelot

Boelen, Hermanus Lancelot a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was pastor at Jamaica, Newtown, Oyster Bay, and Success, L. I., from 1766 to 1772, and from 1772 to 1780 at Oyster Bay and Newtown. In the time of the Revolutionary war in America, he was in sympathy with the English, and his prayers for the king greatly exasperated the Whigs, who were opposed to the English; so great was this exasperation that he left America in 1780 and returned to Holland. His language is said to have been "too pure and highflown for the people." He had a stentorian voice, though small of stature. Dr. Livingston desired and earnestly exhorted him to attend the meeting for union held in 1771, but he did not attend. The time of Boelen's death is unknown. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America (3d ed.), p. 187.