View source for Mellinger, Martin (1752-1842)

__TOC__
Martin Möllinger/Mellinger: Mennonite [[Deacon|deacon]] and farmer; born 28 December 1752 at [[Ruchheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Ruchheim]], near Mannheim, in the German [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]]. Married Barbara Baer (d. 1805). They had one child, a son, who died in 1801. Martin later married widow Maria Basler Denlinger (1761-1826). Martin died 28 October 1842 in East Lampeter Township, [[Lancaster County (Pennsylvania, USA)|Lancaster County]], [[Pennsylvania (USA)|Pennsylvania]], USA. 

Orphaned at a young age, Martin and three of his siblings left their Rhine Valley home around Easter 1772 and made their way to Pennsylvania, landing in [[Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA)|Philadelphia]] on 16 October, and settling in Lancaster County. Martin’s wife Barbara was a Pennsylvania native and the couple received her family’s farm, adjacent to the 1767 Lampeter Mennonite meetinghouse. In 1790 Martin was ordained deacon for the congregation there. In the years that followed, his home’s proximity to the meetinghouse gave rise to its colloquial designation as “the church at Mellinger’s” and, eventually, [[Mellinger Mennonite Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA)|Mellinger Mennonite Church]].

In 1803-1804 Mellinger played a central role in the planning, publication, and distribution of ''[[Unpartheyisches Gesangbuch, Ein|Ein Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch]]'', one of the first two Mennonites hymnals created in North America. He also urged Lancaster Mennonites to incorporate [[feetwashing]] into their communion services, which some began doing in the 1810s. Mellinger was known as a man of deep piety, good humor, and open-mindedness. He collected and read the novels of [[Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich (1740-1817)|J. H. Jung-Stilling]] and by 1821 he was receiving European periodicals promoting foreign mission work.

Recognized for his leadership and wisdom, Mellinger often accompanied Lancaster Mennonite bishops on visits to distant communities to baptize, serve communion, and mediate conflicts. At one point, Mellinger reported that he had been in 40 congregations, and as his career stretched on, he visited many more. His correspondence described trips to Skippack (north of Philadelphia), western Pennsylvania, [[Maryland (USA)|Maryland]], [[Virginia (USA)|Virginia]], and [[Ontario (Canada)|Ontario]]. At age 80, he was still making trips of up to two weeks on horseback. 

Details of Mellinger’s life and his church work are recorded in his correspondence with his relatives in Germany, especially his cousin [[Weber, Peter (1731-1781)|Peter Weber]] of Kindenheim, and with his European kin who immigrated to [[Ohio (USA)|Ohio]] in the 1830s. 
= Bibliography =
Bender, Harold S., trans. and ed. “The Correspondence of Martin Mellinger: Translations of the Correspondence of Martin Mellinger with Relatives in the Rhenish Palatinate, 1807–1839.” ''Mennonite Quarterly Review'' 5 (Jan. 1931): 42–64.

Nolt, Steven M. ''Mellinger Mennonite Church: 300 Years of Faithfulness and Mission, 1717-2017''. Morgantown, PA: Masthof Press, 2017.

Yoder, Don, trans. and ed. “From the Palatinate to Frontier Ohio: The Risser Letters (1832–1833).” ''Mennonite Quarterly Review'' 30 (Jan. 1956): 44–64.

Martin Mellinger correspondence, both originals and copies, are housed at the [https://www.lmhs.org/ Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society] and in the [http://mennoniteusa.org/what-we-do/archives/ Mennonite Church USA Archives] in Elkhart, Indiana.


= Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article =

By Harold S. Bender and Wilmer Swope. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from ''Mennonite Encyclopedia'', Vol. 3, p. 567 & Vol. 4, p. 1146. All rights reserved.

Martin Mellinger, a prominent deacon for 52 years in the [[Mellinger Mennonite Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA)|Mellinger Mennonite Church]] just east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, named after him. Mellinger was born at [[Ruchheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Ruchheim]], Palatinate, Germany, became an orphan at 10, landed in America 16 October 1772, and was ordained deacon in 1790. He also served the Swiss immigrants who settled near Wooster, Ohio. His correspondence with his cousin [[Weber, Peter (1731-1781)|Peter Weber]] of Kindenheim, [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]], Germany, published in the ''Mennonite Quarterly Review'' 5 (1931) 42-64, contains much valuable historical information.
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=|date=September 2019|a1_last=Nolt|a1_first=Steven M|a2_last=|a2_first=}}
[[Category:Persons]]
[[Category:Deacons]]