Retired civil engineer and Winthrop resident John Russell “Russ” Podmayer certainly never imagined he would write a hefty historical novel, but his debut work, Domine, released this spring by Methow Press, came pounding at his door courtesy of his wife Kathy’s ancestor Johannes Polhemius.
Polhemius never dreamed he would help establish frontier communities in Brazil and New Amsterdam, but Russ and Johannes share this drive: all they wanted to do was serve God.
Following his calling, Reformed Dutch minister Domine Johannes Polhemius lost a wife and child, shepherded colonists in the New World for the Dutch West India Company, provided aid to unjustly persecuted Jews, survived capture by privateers on the high seas, and eventually brought a new family to settle on Long Island.
His preaching reached countless souls in the Netherlands, Brazil, and the Caribbean, finally serving both Dutch and English settlers in what would become New England.
Author Russ Podmayer’s research of the years from the Domine’s birth in 1598 to his passing in 1676 has yielded a detailed multi-voice narrative shedding fascinating light on a period of westward expansion forged by countless undaunted genuine servants such as the Domine.
“This is a story that will hold special appeal and meaning for a lot of people in this valley,” says Craig Seasholes, chair of FOWL (Friends of the Winthrop Library). “The seventeenth-century setting may seem far removed, but the faith issues of that time were not so different from today’s.”
Depending on where you sat, Dutch Reformed, Catholic, and Jewish believers were all beset by suspicion and outright persecution as they wove their way through political and commercial intrigue.
FOWL and Methow Press will be hosting “An Evening with Russ Podmayer” June 9 at 6:30 PM at the Winthrop Library. The author will read from Domine and be available to sign books afterward. Trail’s End Bookstore will have copies available for purchase. Light refreshments will be provided.
