Verkade, a Dutch family, found since the 15th cen­tury in the province of South Holland, where they were farmers; in the 18th century a few had small businesses such as bakeries and cheese shops. They all belonged to the Reformed Church. Pieter Ver­kade (Nootdorp, 1767-Vlaardingen, 1848) broke with the family tradition on two points: he left the farm to become a public notary, and he left the Reformed Church to join the Mennonites. His grandson was Ericus Gerhardus Verkade (Vlaardingen, 1935-Hilversum, 1907), who was the found­er of the "De Ruyter" bakery at Zaandam. He was a faithful member of the church and served as deacon of the Zaandam-West congregation in 1864-73 and 1875-76; in 1876 he moved to Amsterdam where he was a deacon 1877-81. His nephew Cornelis Pieter Verkade (Harlingen, 1864-Haarlem, 1934), under whose leading the bakery at Zaandam developed into the famous Verkade Factories pro­ducing cookies, chocolates, and other confections, was also a deacon of the Zaandam-West congrega­tion, serving 1895-1900 and 1901-10.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 814. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.