Bussemaker was the son of the brewer Barend Barlagen Bussemaker and Gertruda Bertha Gerarda Elisabeth Resius. After his school years in his native city of Deventer he studied Dutch literature at the University of Leiden, where he achieved his master's degree in record time in 1886, despite being very active in extracurricular activities, especially in the Leiden Studentencorps. He married Elisabeth Hendrika Hermance Vervoort on 27 July 1887. They had a son and a daughter.
Career
After completing his studies in Leiden he embarked on a career as a teacher of Dutch literature and geography, first at a high school in Zaltbommel, and later at a high school in Haarlem. In 1888 he received his doctoral degree in History from the University of Leiden with a dissertation, written under the mentorship of Robert Fruin, entitled:"Geschiedenis van Overijsel gedurende het eerste stadhouderlooze tijdperk. Part I". When the Scientific SocietyTeylers Tweede Genootschap organized an essay contest in 1892, Bussemaker won the gold medal with his entry, entitled " De afscheiding der Waalsche gewesten van de Generale Unie", which was in 1895-1896 published in two volumes under the same title. This standard work made his reputation as a historian and consequently he was appointed as the successor of Petrus Johannes Blok on the chair of history and political geography at the University of Groningen. His inaugural oration there on the subject of historiography was entitled: "De behandeling der Algemeene Geschiedenis". Bussemaker remained in Groningen for the next decade. He was also active in the local society of historians. His main interest in these years was diplomatic history, especially of the 18th century. In 1904 Bussemaker made a journey to Spain at the behest of prof. Blok with the object of studying local archives with respect to documents relevant to Dutch history. He did not achieve the hoped for results, but he contracted a malady that may have contributed to his premature demise a few years later. When Pieter Lodewijk Muller died in 1905, Bussemaker succeeded him on the chair of General History at the University of Leiden. His inaugural oration of 4 October 1905 was entitled "Over de waardeering der feiten in geschiedvorsching en geschiedschrijving". In this oration he fully expressed his ideas about what a historian actually can do in terms of banning subjectivity from the selection of what is "important" and avoiding "value judgments". He made fun of the idea that the historian should accept "what was considered important in the historical era itself, without interposing his own judgment", because he doubted its practical feasibility. In terms of the contemporary discussion in German historiography he rejected "positivism" in the tradition of Leopold von Ranke, but preferred the approach of Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert. He soon became a member of the national commission for the examination of history teachers in secondary education. In 1909 he was appointed a member of the prestigious Advisory Commission for Publications in the History of the Empire, chaired by Herman Theodoor Colenbrander. In 1913 he was made a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the behest of the director of the Royal House Archive, Frederik Jan Louis Krämer, Bussemaker undertook the publication of "Archives ou correspondance inédite de la maison d'Orange-Nassau. 4e Série " Bussemaker may have neglected to publish much research in comparison with e.g. his contemporary Blok, but Bussemaker was popular with his students, because of his inspired teaching. He had a decided influence on Dutch historians Pieter Geyl and Jan Steffen Bartstra. Bussemaker died suddenly in Leiden on 6 September 1914.
