Mennonites

This is among the Anabaptist religions, starting in the German and Dutch speaking parts of central Europe. They were relentlessly persecuted during the 16th century and then by the 17th century some of them joined the state church in Switzerland. Mennonites ouside the state church were divided about whether to stay with those who had joined the state church or not and they broke away and became the Amish, so named by their founder Jacob Amman.

Their teachings were founded on their belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite persecution by  various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. One of the reasons they were persecuted so was because of their belief in adult baptism and do not believe in infant baptism, which was far from the belief of the Roman Catholic church who believed one should be baptized and become a member of the church at birth. The Mennonites feel that there should be complete separation of church and government.  Rather than fight, many sled to neighboring states in order to survived. They believed in nonviolence.  They are often called “plain people” although some dress just as the general population does.
There was a group of Quakers and Mennonites that came to American  under the solicitation of William Penn who was looking for settlers for his new colony.  The first permanent settlement of Mennonites in the colonies consisted of one Mennonite family and 12 Mennonite-Quaker families of Dutch extraction who arrived from Krefeld Germany in 1683 and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Early settlers were William Rittenhouse, a lay minister who was the owner of the first America paper mill, Jacob Gottschalk, who was the first bishop of the Germantown congregation.  They were the first group of Mennonites.

In the 18th Century, Germans from the Palatinate, known as Pennsylvania Dutch, emigrated to Pennsylvania,. among these were Mennonites and Amish.  And they settled in Lancaster Pennsylvania.   Christopher Dock was among this group.

During the colonial period, Mennonites were distinguished from other Pennsylvania. Germans by their opposition to the American Revolutionary War, resistance to public education and disapproval of religious revivalism.

From 1812 to 1860 more immigrants settled in Ohio , Nebraska,Illinois, and Missouri.. They were Swiss-German speaking Mennonites, and Amish and came from Switzerland. Later moved on into Kansas.

Religions of the Early Colonies

One thing we must remember when researching the history of our ancestors, is that many of them came to this country out of necessity in order to get away from religious persecution or wars in their homeland. Most of they were not coming because of it being explorers like Christopher Columbus. Many came with little to nothing in the way of belongings, either because of limited space on the ships they came in or because they were on the run for their lives!  The other thing we need to remember is that not always did families travel together. Sometimes the father and sons would come first to establish a home and secure jobs so that they could have enough money to send for the wife and daughters or small children in the family. Most of them were of average to low income people, who had to travel down in the holes of the ships where living conditions were crowded and consequently when illness struck caused many to die because of the cramped quarters.

When doing your research, consider the possible religious backgrounds of your ancestors. Many of the names we have for our religions nowadays, are not the same as they were back in the days when this country was being formed.  The countries that your ancestor came from can give you a good clue as to what their religious affiliations were at that time and it is possible to locate church records in many instances where you will find their names recorded. Remember also that many surnames have evolved into different spellings than they were back then also!

Puritans, Dunkards Huguenots, Mennonites, Moravian, Palatinate, Quakers, Amish 


In order to simplify your search for various religious work, I am going to make a page for each of the main religions of the time and attempt to give you some background information on each of them. If you happen to have any additional information that you feel would be helpful to know about any of them, or if I have any incorrect information listed, please feel free to contact me.