Mennonite Handbook of Information/Chapter 11

by Lewis James Heatwole

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CHAPTER XI

PERSISTENT COLONIZATION MOVEMENTS

The inclination on the part of many Mennonites to keep well to the fore in finding homes along the wilderness border has as a rule been westward, with however some arms from the main body in Pennsylvania extending northwestward to New York and Canada.

Another strong arm reached southward into Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. However, the main trunk of the imigration movement has sent its strongest growths into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska; while the main stem continued its growth still westward into Colorado and finally extended its topmost branches across the mighty Rocky mountains to states of the Pacific slope. In the meantime, other branches have gone far southward into Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Other branches also now reach forth into the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota and the provinces of northwest Canada, until our people have become permanently located in twenty-six of the states and four of the Canadian provinces.

A glance at the great tree accompanying this chapter readily shows how it established its main stock with the year 1632 in Europe, and how this, for several generations grew in two separate trunks in America, and which by love according to the law of ingrafting the two trunks became united in one on the principles of General Conference unity.

The following table may be the means for giving the reader a comprehensive grasp of Mennonite colonization in America as developed from time to time in each of the states and provinces where they are now located. In the more populous states only a few of the congregations are named.

Location of Colony Germantown, Pa. [1683|Jansen, Kassel, Keyser Upland, Much Timber, Many Springs Perkiomen Creek Beautiful Valley Kunders, Rittenhuysen Skippack, Pa. 1702 Jacobs, Kolb, Kuster Van Bebber, Penny- backer Pequea, Pa. 1710 Kendig, Funk, Herr, Oberholtzer The Swamp, Pa. [1717[Clemmer, Drissel, Musselman (1729 Brubaker, Funk, Shenandoah Valley, Va. Cumberland Valley, Pa.

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Founded Deep Run, Pa. Chester Co., Pa. York Co., Pa. Washington Co., Md. Johnstown, Pa. Juniata First Families to Locate Valley, Pa. Kauffman, Rhodes [1730[Bechtel, Danner, Inducements for Colonization Lehman Black Soil Good Timber Limestone Land Conococheauge Creek [1746[Gross, Wismer, [1746[Gross, Wismer, Kulp, Smooth Land Godschalk, Sauder Kauffman, Shenk [1755 Burkhart, Barr, Reiff, Good, Strite, Shank Southern Climate Heavy Timber Productive Land [1750[Stauffer, Haldeman, Beautiful Springs Bender, Crabill [1753[Trieber, Reiff, Bear, Many Streams- Smooth Land Limestone Soil Many Springs 1767 Blauch, Kauffman, Good Timber Johns, Webber Fine Soil 1772 Graybill, Moyer, Lau-Fine Scenery ver, Winey, Shellen- Choice Lands berger Casselman Val., (1780[Beechy, Miller, Bender Rich Lands Meyersdale, Pa. Most of these dates are taken from reliable records. estimated dates and may not be correct. Others are 58 Location of Colony Lincoln Creek, Canada Greenbriar Westmoreland Co., Pa. Inducements for Colonization English Gov't. 1787 Coffman, Fry, Wenger Big Levels of Co., W. Va. Greenbriar Val. Fayette Co., Pa, 1790 Johnson, Bixler, Durr, Redlands of the Bare, Barnhart Monongahela [1790[Funk, Loucks, Over-Tillable Soil holt, Stauffer, Sher- rick [1800[Betzner, Burkholder, Eby, Moyer, Wisner (1805[Beery, Brenneman, Shenk, Steman 1815 Bixler, Good, Nold, Waterloo, Can. Fairfield Co., O.

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Founded Mahoning Co., O. Stark Co., O. Erie Co., N. Y. Medina Co., O. Wayne Co., O. Allen Co., O. First Families to Locate [1786|Fretz, Kratz, Kulp Livingstone Co., Ill. Henry Co., Ill. Metzler, Basinger 1823 Lehman, Oberly, Rohrer 1824 1825 Hoover, Overholt, Sectionized Country Fine Smooth 1834 Tintsman, Wideman Brenneman, Buckwal- ter, Rohrer, Horst 1842 Brenneman, Good, Thut, Steman, Shenk Lands Prairie Laid out in Sections Elkhart Co., Ind. 1848 Smith, Hoover, Holde- Black Prairie man, Weldy, Wisler, Lands Funk, Nussbaum, Excellent Timber Deep Soil Frick, Lieb, Lehman, Nearby Markets Martin, Lapp, Witmer Weaver 1857 Heckman, Graybill, Cheap Rich Land English Laws Rich Soil Fine Timber Fine Rich Soil Harshbarger, Herstein [1864[ Brunk, Driver, Funk, Black Prairie Lands Great Corn Belt Rodgers 1865 Ebersole, Heckley, Nice, Snavely 1865 Brubaker, Groff, Lapp, High Rolling Shoemaker Good Morgan Co., Mo. 1865 Brundage, Good, Whiteside Co., Ill. Stephenson Co., Ill. Prairie McPherson and [1870[Brunk, Evers, Wenger, Homestead Land Marion Co., Kan.) Holdeman, Rodgers, Famous Black Lands Good Lands at Cheap Prices Kauffman Jasper Co., Mo. 1875 Brenneman, Weaver Keokuk Co., Ia. 1881 Lineweaver, Wenger Great Corn Belt Knox Co., Tenn, 1881 Blosser, Good, Stoltz-The Sunny South fus, Newhouser, Smoker

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Founded Warwick Co., Va. Job, W. Va. Carstairs, Can. La. Junta, Colo. Hubbard, Oreg. Nampa, Ida. N. W. Canada Cresston, Mont. Location of Colony Shelby Co., Mo. 1870|Lapp, Brubaker, Det-Homestead Land weiler, Hershey 1899 Yoder, Hahn, Shenk, Brunk Fishing Shore 1901 Flubacher, Smith, Great Lumber Camps White First Families to Locate [1901 Shantz, Wenger, Cress-Great Wheat Belt man 1902 Brunk, Kiser, Rhodes, Resort for Con- Rich sumptives 1902 Mishler, Roth, Erb, Fine Climate man 1915]Kauffman, Mast, grich, Yoder 59 Inducements for Colonization Neuswander 1905 Thut, Garber, Hilty, Shenk 1906 Bricker, Kolb, Stauffer Great Wheat Belt 1912 Roth, Hoylman, Kauff-Fertile Valley Ulen, Minn. Minot, N. Dak. 1908) Woodford, N. D. 1908 Hochstetler, Stauffer Coalridge, Mont. 1909 Kauffman, Hostetler Filer, Ida. 1915) Detweiler, Honderich Gulfport, Miss. [1920]Brunk, Geil, Buck- walter Gin-The Open Fruit and Bee Culture Northwest The Wheat and Oats Belt Broad Prairies The Far North Great Sheep Ranches Sunny Southern Skies, Cheap Lands

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