MENNONITES

The history of "The Plain People" in Lancaster county is very ably and amply reviewed elsewhere by Rev. H. K. Ober, of Elizabethtown, so that extensive reference here to the religious activities of the Mennonite bodies of the county is not necessary. But in the course of the compilation of the general history of the county, certain facts have come to the notice of the compiler regarding Mennonite activities; and these facts, admittedly fragmentary, are here presented to contribute in what way they may to the general purpose of this work. For a more connected review one might refer to Dr. Ober's excellent article, also to another chapter.

Strasburg historians give much regarding Mennonite activities in that section. Mr. William Frederic Worner, in his "History of St. Michael's Lutheran Church of Strasburg," states that the work among Lutherans in Strasburg township began in 1730, but that ministerial services among the Mennonites began two decades earlier, they having brought their bishop, Hans Herr,with them. However,while there is record that the Mennonites erected a schoolhouse as early as 1712, they do not seem to have built a house exclusively for religious meetings until 1740. Mr. H. W. Miller, of Larnpeter, contributed. the following, regarding the first meetinghouse, and the pioneer bishop: "He was not only the soul of energy in an agricultural point of view, but erected the first Mennonite church, a structure built of sandstone, the ruins of which can still be seen on the farm now owned by David Hoover, residing near Willow street. The rude hand of time has sadly changed the finish of the building since Hans Herr and his little flock of followers crossed its threshold."

Mr. Jacob Hildebrand, of Strasburg, wrote as follows in 1896:

In the year 1740 John Herr, a Mennonite preacher, who was a grandson of Hans Herr. built a dwelling house on his farm about one-half mile southwest from the borough * * * in which the upper story was arranged for holding public worship. In this house and others the society held regular worship until 1804, when the society built the stone meeting-house, 40 by 60 feet, near the west end of the borough, where regular service has been held to the present time. It was enlarged in 1877, and again enlarged and much improved in 1887. In 1894 about five acres of ground adjoining the old graveyard were purchased and a beautiful cemetery laid out.

The first Mennonite preachers for the Strasburg district were Ulrich Breckbill, and the above-named John Herr, who was afterwards appointed bishop. He served in that office till his death. About the year 1812 Peter Eby was appointed, and in1840, Christian Herr; in 1848, Joseph Hershey; in 1856, Benjamin Herr; and in 1878, Isaac Eby. Amos Herr was ordained a minister in 1850. He was the first Mennonite preacher in the county who conducted religious service in the English language.

The above-named Bishop John Herr was the grandfather of John Herr, the founder of the Reformed Mennonite Society. Early in the year 1812 the first meeting was held, and this society organized at his house, about one-half mile north of the borough. At this meeting John Herr was unanimously chosen as pastor and bishop. In the latter part of the same year their first meeting house was built on the west side of the Strasburg and Millport turnpike, and it is known as "Longenecker's Meeting House." The society now has a neat brick meeting house on North Jackson street, in the borough. The founder of the society died in May, 1850.

The Strasburg Mennonite congregation is one of the strongest church societies in Strasburg township, its Sunday school having a membership of more than 250.

The following report needs no explanation:
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Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 7,1910.

To the President and Mettibers of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Your committee, appointed to conduct a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the first white settlement within the borders of Lancaster county, report as follows:

After meeting several times during the summer, this committee succeeded in securing a commemorative tablet, which they mounted on a nine-ton limestone boulder, secured from Mr. Cyrus Zittle's quarry, on the original tract settled, and planted the same in the front of the Mennonite churchyard near Willow street, and carried out a literary and historical programme during the morning, afternoon and evening of Thursday, September 8, 1910. The proceedings and features of the day follow.

He who, in the years that are to come, traces the pages of Lancaster county's historical note with more than passing interest the record for the day, September 8, 1910, and he will be apprised of the fact that the then Historical Society conducted a celebration, notable commemorative of the 200th anniversary of its first white settlement. The record will be one of the most illustrious to adorn any of its pages, unusually rich though they be. The reader will also be apprised of the fact that the people of this day were eager to fitly manifest theri veneration for and appreciation of a notable ancestry. For the celebration morning and afternoon at the Brick Meeting House in West Lampeter, attendant upon the dedicaication of the boulder and its historic tablet, and continued at the Court House in the evening, was worthy of enduring preservation, beyond the period of time that may be allotted on earth to those who were privileged to participate in it. Men distinguished in the world of letters and affairs, sons of the native soil who have risen to fame both at home and abroad, returned to the hallowed spot to testify their devotion and obligation to those forefathers who bestowed upon them many precious heritages, most of which were of more priceless value than their rich acres.

The Committee of arrangements, after weeks of constant preparation, realized at the dawn of the genial day that the only doubtful element remaining to insure a complete success of the anniversary, the weather, was to be in their favor. Nothing else was lacking, and at an early hour the meetinghouse became the centre of a lively scene. The wheel of every vehicle in the neighborhood turned in its direction that morning. From up and down the Big Spring and Beaver Valley turnpike, from roads leading to Lampeter, Strasburg, Quarryville, Willow Street, Martic, Pequea, Conestoga and this city, the human tide poured in, while far the greatest number were conveyed to the scene by trolley. To the early arrival, possessed of a contemplative turn of mind, the place and the occasion furnished food for pleasing reflection. Standing on the elevation to the rear of the meetinghouse, and turning his gaze to whatever direction he chose, even "to where the amplest reach of prospect lay," there was unfolded before him a panorama of undulating landscape as rich in beauty as its soil is in wealth. It is a country thickly dotted with homes wherein no modern comforts and conveniences are lacking, and with commodious barns, at this season fairly bursting with their wealth of crops-a placid scene of peace and prosperity, nursed and developed by the gentle art of husbandry. Close his eyes to the vision, he required the exercise of but a quick fancy of the imagination, and he was transported to another period in the history of the same locality and there came to his memory a vivid picture of the wilderness, in its primeval state, into which two hundred years ago the ministerial leader, Herr, piloted his little colony. They consisted of Martin Kundig (now Kendig), Martin Meili (now Mylin), Christian Herr, Wendell Bowman, Jacob Mueller (now Miller), John Funk, John Rudolph Bundely and Christopher Franciscus. He saw them "bow the woods beneath their sturdy stroke," and there, far from the religious persecutio4 from which they fled, he felt their pious presence as they knelt in peaceful worship, unmolested by tyrannous oppressors. How well they overcame the grirn hardships that they faced, how they laid the foundation on the 6,400 acre grant they received from Penn for the development of the richest garden spot in all the land and sowed the seed of a religious faith that has radiated from that centre in a ceaseless stream of strength and purity through all the succeeding generations to the present, constitutes a page of local history that makes it rich with "the spoils of time."

Again reverting to objects near at hand, the observer, if imbued in the least with the spirit of the antiquary, was held in fascinated interest by the ancient Herr house. Its sturdy stone walls, still defying the elements, seem characteristic of the spirit of its owner and the unique staircase, hewn from the solid log, and the fireplace, around which the romancer loves to linger, claimed both the smile and tear. Adjoining the meeting-house ground is God's acre.

Speakers at the exercises of September 8, 1910, included Auditor-General Amos H. Mylin, Frank R. Diffenderfer, Bishop N. B. Grubb, H. Frank Eshleman, John A. Coyle, Senator J. G. Homsher, C. R. Herr, Hon. John H. Landis, Ex-Governor Pennypacker, Dr. John H. Musser, General John E. Roller, Hon. W. 'LJ. Hensel, Dr. H. H. Apple, Prof. Kuhns, all of whom sought to honor the memory of the Mennonite pioneers of Lancaster county.

Of the other Mennonite meeting-houses in the Lampeters, the church at Lampeter, as well as they near the intersection of the common road and Strasburg turnpike, were built by the New Mennonites. Some eminent Mennonite ministers have been of West Lampeter families, among them Hans Herr, Benedict Hershey, Jacob Brubaker, Peter Ebey, Christian Herr, Joseph Hershey, Benjamin Herr, John Herr, Henry Bowman, John Keeports, John Kohr, and Daniel Musser. "It is no stretch of imagination to assert that of the followers of John Herr, Daniel Musser became the most conspicuous man of the church." Mellinger's Meeting-House, which has been used as a place of worship since 1767, stands in East Lampeter, upon the tract originally patented to Martin Bare. The church takes its name from Martin Mellinger, a prominent Mennonite, who married a daughter of Christian Bare. The church is, practically, as when first constructed. Its graveyard antedates the date of church building, and is said to be the oldest graveyard in Lampeter township. Mellinger's has a very strong society, and an even stronger Sunday school, the present enrollment nearing 400 scholars.

Meetings were probably held in Conestoga Centre long before 1760, when a small log meeting-house was raised. Among the original members were Joseph Miller, Daniel Hess, Anna Hess, John Reider, Barbara Derridinger, and Jacob Good. Upon the site of the original log meeting-house, a larger one of stone was erected in 1828, and was remodelled in 1882. Good's Mennonite Meeting-House in West Donegal township is the third erected by that congregation. A number of Mennonite families were in West Donegal township as early as 1750, and no doubt then began to hold meetings for spiritual good. Melchoir Breneman, one of the settlers, was a Mennonite minister, but somewhat inaccessible. The Mennonites eventually built a meeting-house of logs in the most central location possible; they selected a site "near a beautiful spring, which feeds Brubaker's run, upon land belonging to the Goods, and very near the northern boundary-line of Conoy township." In that house they worshipped for some years. The second meeting-house erected was torn down in about 1880, and in its place a larger edifice of frame was erected. Bossier's Mennonite congregation is not as strong as Good's, which has a meeting-house capable of seating several hundred persons, and a Sunday school of 156 members. Bossler's Sunday school has only about eighty-one members. Ira Z. Miller and John E. Landis have pastoral charge of Good's, and H. E. Simon E. Garber, of Bossler's.

The Mennonite church in Elizabethtown is a strong congregation, and its Sunday school has an enrollment in excess of 250; pastor is Rev. S. B. Landis, of Elizabethtown. The Indiantown Mennonite meeting-house in Clay township was built in 1819, on land given by Abraham Brubacher. The pastors then were Abraham Brubacher, John Hess, and Christian Risser. A large church was built in 1879. The Hammer Creek Mennonite church in Elizabeth township, aboiit one and a half miles south of Clay, was organized in 1919, with Revs. John I-less and C. Risser as pastors. Rev. John S. Hess is present pastor of that congregation.

The Mennonites were of course early active in church matters in Cocalico township, though such activity did not early show itself in the establishment of church buildings. One of the first evidences of Mennonite endeavors was in the establishment of schools. Hacker's schoolhouse, one and one-half miles south of Schoeneek, was built in 1805 bv Mennonites, by subscription of money, materials, and personal labor. The school-ground, eighty-eight perches, was bought for ten shillings, from Frederick Hacker, by Jacob Hagy, Jacob Reddig, Henry Hibsman, and Michael Oberly, trustees. The house was schoolhouse and teacherage, one room being for school purposes. and the other to accommodate the teacher and family. In 1839 the building was used for the first time as a place of worship; and for the next thirty years it was used for both purposes, church and school. In 1868 the Reformed Mennonites bought the building, remodelled it, aand thereafter set it apart as their meeting-house.

The first to erect a church edifice in Providence township were the Mennonites. The original old Mennonite church in Black Horse, now New Providence, was erected almost a century and a half ago. It was, as one would expect, a log structure, and for many decades it served the purposes of both church and school. In 1855 it was replaced by a brick church. Among early ministers were Jacob Neff, Christian Shaub, Henry Breneman, Christian Herr and Peter Eby. Sunday school was organized in 1871, with George Witmer as superintendent. The Sunday school now has an enrollment of about one hundred and fifty scholars. The Mennonite graveyard is a large one, and was added to the church property about 1800. The first persons buried in it were Christian Shaub and his wife. The Shaub family still hold membership in the New Providence Church.

The New Mennonites were able to erect a log structure in the northwestern part of the township in about 1833, when Henry Bowman donated a piece of land for the purpose. Bishop Bowman was the first minister.

There are several Mennonite meeting-houses in Salisbury township, but all are of comparatively recent establishment. Mennonites were hardly to be found among landowners in Salisbury in the early republican years. Peter Eby, who became Bishop Eby, moved into the township in 1791, and the Hersheys came soon afterwards. A meeting-house was not deemed necessary until 1837, when one was erected near Hess' mill. The Old Road meetinghouse, to the eastward of White Horse, was erected in 1841. Both have been strong congregations almost since their organization. New Milltown church had a Sunday school of 236 members in 1922, and the Old Road church Sunday school had 121 members in the same year. Abram Martin is pastor of New Milltown, and Ira L. Hershey has pastoral charge of the Old Road church.

A cleveage occurred among the Amish Mennonites in Salisbury township about fifty years ago; and those who separated departed from the practice of the parent body who would have no meeting-houses. The offshoot at once erected a convenient and commodious meeting-house, the most active founding members of the new church being Samuel L. and C. L. Kauffman, Jac. Umble, Gideon Stoltzfus, and Samuel Lantz, the two last named being ministers. Millwood Mennonite church is probably the strongest in Salisbury township; it has a Sunday school almost twice as large as any other in the township. A. B. Stoltzfus is pastor. The Monument Mennonite is a small congregation, and the Welsh Mountain congregation is of mission status.

The building erected by the Mount Joy class of the Winebrennerian or Church of God denomination in 1839, and used by that sect until 1874, has belonged to the Reformed Mennonites since the latter year. Certain improvements and additions to the property have been made during its almost fifty years as a Mennonite church but the main structure remains unchanged. Preaching services were held in it monthly.

The old Mennonites have a church building on West Donegal street. It was built in1908, at a cost of $10,000, all of which had been met before the building was dedicated on February 13, 1909. Formerly, the members of the Mennonite church gathered for services in the Methodist church at Florin, but the accommodation was inadequate. In the new church, however, the Mennonites possess a building capable of seating one thousand persons. The committee responsible for the building in 1908-09 consisted of John S. Nissley, Christian L. Nissley and Eli G. Reist. Sunday school services are held weekly, and preaching services fortnightly.

The Old Mennonite church at Paradise was built in 1847, the building committee consisting of Jacob and John Denlinger, John Mollinger and Samuel Eby. In 1880 the church yard was increased. Other Mennonite churches in Paradise township, wherein vigorous congregations gather, include Kin- zer's Mennonite, the Mt. Pleasant Mennonite, and the Monument Mennonite.

Hess's Mennonite church in Warwick township was established in 1856, near the road leading from Warwick to Rothville. Earlier Mennonites who lived in the neighborhood worshiped in the little church near Rothville. Hess's meeting-house was built of brick, and takes that name from the fact that the site was purchased from John Hess. John S. Hess, of Lititz, is present pastor, and H. S. Weber, school superintendent. The Sunday school has 180 members.

The Mennonite meeting-houses in Penn township are known as Erb's and Kauffman's. Both are of comparatively recent building; Kauffman's in 1860. Their history will be reviewed elsewhere. Erb's is the stronger congregation. Its pastor is Rev. Joseph Boll. Kauffman's congregation is served by Rev. Benjamin Stauffer, of Manheim. Longenecker's meeting-house in Penn township, belonging to the Church Brethren denomination, is a congregation of about sixty or seventy persons, ministered to by Rev. Linn Longenecker, of Lititz. Mennonite meeting-houses in East Drumore indicate that the Ger- mans have penetrated the land of the Scotch-Irish. The Mechanics Grove meeting is a comparatively strong one, but Calvary meeting has few members. The Mennonites in East Drumore began to increase rapidly during the 'seventies, and in i88i erected a plain meeting-house at a little to the northward of Mechanics Grove. Among the original members were Samuel Nissley, J. M. Swarr, Jacob Martin, An-tos B. Miller, S. J. Ressler, and Abraham Brubaker. The society is of the Old Mennonite order. A. D. Metzler is present pastor of Mechanics Grove church. The pastor of Cavalry Mennonite church is Rev. S. S. Amstutz, of Quarryville.

The Mennonite church at Stumptown in Upper Leacock township was rebuilt in 1882. The first services were held in private houses, and later a pioneer schoolhouse at Stumptown was used. The first church edifice raised was, it is said, the brick building erected in 1860, and rebuilt in 1882. It has probably the largest membership of any congregation in Upper Leacock town- ship; its Sunday school enrollment is about two hundred and eighty-five. Rev. Sanford B. Landis is present pastor. This meetinghouse belongs to the Old Mennonites; the other Mennonite sects in Upper Leacock have no meeting-houses in the township.

The Mennonites resident in the county-seat, Lancaster, in provincial days, were Bishopric of Rohrerstown, or Millersville, the first bishop of which district was Benjamin Hershey; he settled on a section of land about one mile west of the city, and organized a church which came to be known as Rohrerstown. For some time services were held in dwelling-houses, but a church building or meetinghouse was erected of logs in 1730, on land belonging to Benjamin Hershey. Services were held here until about 1791, when the meeting-house was closed and another opened on land belonging to the Brubakers, in I-lempfield township. In 1858 a brick building took the place of the wooden meetings-house. In 1756 a log meeting-house was erected at Millersville; in 1848 ai brick structure took its place, the latter being nearby but within the limits of Lancaster township. A meeting-house was built in Lancaster City in 1879. Today (1922) the Mennonites have two meeting-houses in Lancaster City, the East Chestnut street house, and the East Vine street house. The former has a membership of about four hundred, and the East Vine street congregation is about half as strong in numbers. These two houses belong to the Old Mennonites; the Reformed Mennonites have' a meeting-house at 127 East James street.

The Old Mennonite Church at Landisville, which was built in 17go, and by one account very much earlier, is referred to in the Hempfield townships chapter. Many references to Mennonite activities also come into the general township narratives.

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