View source for Kühbörncheshof Mennonite Church (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)

The Kühbörncheshof Mennonite Church in the northwest of the Rhenish [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]], [[Germany|Germany]], united [[Zweibrücken (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Zweibrücken]], [[Kaiserslautern (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Kaiserslautern]], and Saarland into a single congregational circuit.

The estate where once "a pure wilderness" reigned was returned to agriculture by Hans Heinrich Latscha, a Swiss Mennonite refugee. In 1717 Latscha acquired 220 acres of field and woods from the Palatine government, for which he paid an initial sum of 85 florins, and a rental of eight malters of oats to the secretariat at Kaiserslautern, in addition to eight florins as an annual fee. He had as capital four oxen, two cows, and two steers (<em>Karlsruher Generallandesarchiv Akten: Mennoniten-Verzeichnis</em>). [[Risser, Johannes (1810-1868)|Johannes Risser]] (<em>Menn. Bl.</em>) states that Latscha and his wife Maria came from Maasmünster in Upper [[Alsace (France)|Alsace]] in 1715. The [[Latscha (Latschar, Lachat, Lörsch, Lörtscher, Latschaw, Leutscher, Lötscher) family |Latscha family]] has remained on the farm until the mid-20th century. Other Mennonite families, such as Rink, settled there too.

The neighboring Stockborn was also settled by Mennonites; especially the Roller family was represented there. A record of 27 January 1727 shows that the inhabitants of Kühbörncheshof were permitted by the government to have private worship services. They joined the [[Sembach (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Sembach]] congregation and in spite of the great distance, did not form an independent congregation until 1832, when the new chapel was dedicated. Their first preacher was Heinrich Roller (1832-1846), who until then had served the Sembach congregation. On 10 May 1852 a conference was held at the Kühborncheshof, which passed a resolution to publish and use the <em>Pfälzisch-hessisches Formularbuch</em>.

In 1802, according to Frey's <em>Statistic der Pfalz</em>, there were in Erfenbach 16 Mennonites, Stockborn 7, Rodenbach 12, Kühborncheshof 28, and Otterbach 7; in 1834, Stockborn 36, Trippstadt 37, Weilerbach 15, Kühbörncheshof 48. In 1934 there were on the Kühborncheshof 11 families with 53 souls; Stockborn 7 families with 35, Olsbrücken 2 families with 6, Horterhof 2 families with 8 (the register of 1752 lists Jakob Borckholder at Horterhof with 7 members in the family), Schallodenbach one family with 13, Kottweiler one family with 11, Rodenbach one family with 3, Oberstaufenbach one family with 4, Katzweiler 2 persons: a total of 26 families with 128 souls.

In 1878 Kühbörncheshof was united into a single preaching charge with [[Ernstweiler (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Ernstweiler]] and [[Neudorferhof (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Neudorferhof]], called [[Kaiserslautern (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Kaiserslautern]]. The last lay preacher of Kühbörncheshof was Jakob Rinck (d. 1891), who served until 1877. The first salaried minister (after the union) was Samuel Blickensdörfer, who served 1878-1880. He was followed by Abraham Hirschler 1880-1931, Abraham Harder 1931-1937, [[Scheffler, Hugo Cornelius (1901-1977)|Hugo Scheffler]] 1937-1951, and Theo Hotel 1951- . In 1954 the Kaiserslautern circuit consisted of the congregations of Zweibrücken and Saarland, in addition to Kaiserslautern and Kühbörncheshof. The 1954 membership of Kühbörncheshof was 159 baptized, plus 56 children. The congregation is a member of the [[Vereinigung der deutschen Mennonitengemeinden (Union of German Mennonite Congregations)|Vereinigung of Mennonite Churches]] in Germany, the Palatine-Hessian Conference, and the [[Konferenz süddeutscher Mennonitengemeinden|Conference of South German Mennonites]].
= Bibliography =
<em class="gameo_bibliography">Mennonitischer Gemeinde-Kalender</em> (1901): 108. Includes picture.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 581.

<em class="gameo_bibliography">Mennonitische Blätter</em> (1855): 50.
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