At the time of the Secession the town of Marrum had a population of ca. 1050. The Reformed congregation was lead by Rev. Jother Balthazar de Boer who had been minister in Marrum for more than 40 years and did not want anything to do with the Seceders. Westernijkerk, abt. one mile west of Marrum, was a small town with ca. 250 inhabitants but it did have it's own church.
In the morning of December 4, 1835 -the day after he had instituted the Christian Reformed Churches in Ferwerd and Blija- Rev. de Cock arrived in Marrum. That same morning he preached at the home of skipper Ate Jans Feenstra but the actual Secession was in the evening of that day at the farm of Dirk M. Koopmans, a farmer of distinction in Marrum and son-in-law of Pieter Symens van der Woude, farmer near Wanswerd and wellknown Seceder (vide: Wanswerd - Birdaard).
The new congregation didn't sit back to watch the grass grow (so to speak) but had a meeting each Sunday in December from 9 - 11 a.m. and from 1 - 3 p.m. with, according to law enforcement, a maximum of 20 persons at the time. However, in January 1836 the church decided not to pay any attention to that maximum anymore and welcomed members to the maximum capacity of the house where the meeting took place. Busy times for Marrum's constable Frans Fortuin and his assistent from Ferwerd -Gerben Broekens- who had to keep an eye on what was going on:

- January 17 : meeting at the home of Grietje Melles Boersma, ca. 80 people attending
- January 20 : meeting at the home of Jetske Hettes Miersma, ca. 50 people attending
- January 21 : meeting at the home of Dieuwke Joekes van der Velde, ca. 30 people attending
- January 24 : meeting at the home of Dieuwke Joekes van der Velde, ca. 30 people attending (morning)
- January 24 : meeting at the home of Dieuwke Joekes van der Velde, ca. 40 people attending (afternoon) - January 27 : meeting at the home of Jetske Hettes Miersma, ca. 50 - 60 people attending
- January 28 : meeting at the home of Dieuwke Joekes van der Velde, ca. 50 people attending
- January 31 : meeting at the barn of Dirk M. Koopmans, ca. 200 people attending (morning)
- January 31 : meeting at the barn of Dirk M. Koopmans, ca. 100 people attending (afternoon)

This went on in February. However, early that month constable Fortuin was fed up with the situation and started to fine the leaders and hosts of the meetings, each time increasing the fines considerably. By the end of February the fines were so high and so many that in March the Seceders decided to stick with the maximum of 20 persons per meeting again resulting in smaller meetings in 2 - 3 or 4 different houses at the same time.
That is to say: in May 1836 Rev. S. van Velzen toured Ferwerderadeel. On May 26 he was in Wanswerd, the next day in Blija and Ferwerd and on May 28 he arrived in Marrum. Apparently his fame had travelled ahead of him because on Sunday, May 29 -in the morning and afternoon- a church service was held at the barn of Dirk M. Koopmans, both attending ca. 500 people. Of course constables Fortuin and Broekens were also present. To keep a long story short: only two leading Seceders (Pieter J. Ferwerda and Ate J. Feenstra) and the host (Dirk M. Koopmans) were fined but they were fined hard: dfl. 100,-- each, excluding the court expenses.
All in all the Christian Reformed Church of Marrum was fined for a total amount of dfl. 615,-- which at the time was a considerable amount (for the purpose of comparison: in 1836 the amount of the whole of Friesland was dfl. 6860,--)

Back to the first members of the Christian Reformed church:

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Source:
"De Afscheiding van 1834 in Friesland - Deel 1: de classis Wanswerd (Dokkum) van de Afgescheiden kerken" by Dr. J Wesseling.
Published in 1980 by De Vuurbaak which kindly granted permission to copy above information from the book.

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