View source for Neff (Neef, Nef, Naff) family

Neff (Neef, Nef, Naff), is a Mennonite family name found in Switzerland, South [[Germany|Germany]], and [[North America|North America]]. The name is of Swiss origin, occurring as early as 1529 (or 1533) in St. Gall, when the citizen Othmar Nef (called Bublerin) was named as an [[Anabaptism|Anabaptist]]. The[[Martyrs' Mirror|&lt;em&gt; Martyrs Mirror &lt;/em&gt;]]names [[Neef, Barbara (d. 1643)|Barbara Neff]] (Neef) in the [[Zürich (Switzerland)|canton of Zurich]]. The family probably emigrated to the [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]] at the end of the 17th century, where in 1685 Hans Neff was living at Gundersheim and Heinrich Neff in [[Ibersheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Ibersheim]]. Other Mennonites in the Palatinate with this name were Johannes Neff at Mechtersheimerhof in 1738, Oswald Neff at [[Erbesbüdesheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Erbesbüdesheim]] in 1743, David Neff at Kleinkarlbach, and Michael and Johannes Neff at [[Kriegsheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Kriegsheim]], who came from Kleinkarlbach in 1768. The family was no longer named in Erbesbüdesheim after 1768. A Jacob Neff (1676-1743), the son of Oswald, settled in Durkheim. His grandson Jakob Neff married a daughter of [[Weber, Peter (1731-1781)|Peter Weber]] of Hardenburg and emigrated to America, as did in 1840 Johannes Neff (son of Abraham Neff) (1783-1855), married to Magdalena Krehbiel, and many other members of the Neff family in the 18th and 19the centuries. Jakob Neff was listed as a preacher in Conestoga Township in [[Pennsylvania (USA)|Pennsylvania]] in 1790.

The best known of the Neff families was the one located at [[Assenheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Assenheim]], which is very likely related to the above Neffs. The progenitor, Johann Peter Neff, was born at [[Erpolzheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Erpolzheim]] in 1717 (the son of Nikolaus Neff?) and came to Assenheim in 1747 through his marriage with Veronica Resch. He served as minister of the Erpolzheim congregation 1755-1769, and of the Ruchheim congregation 1769-1790 <em>([[Naamlijst der tegenwoordig in dienst zijnde predikanten der Mennoniten
in de Vereenigde Nederlanden|Naamlijst]]). </em>Johann's son Johannes (1748-1829) was the founder of the Neff line in [[Baden (Germany)|Baden]], which settled at Hoffenheim near Sinsheim and from there spread to Württemberg and [[Bayern Federal State (Germany)|Bavaria]]. He was ordained in the Mauer-Meckesheim congregation in 1772. Dr. Hermann Neff (1891-1950), who practiced medicine in Grünheim, Saxony, was a member of this family. He published a number of articles in Mennonite periodicals on ethical and historical problems concerning medicine. Peter, the second son of the progenitor Johannes (1750-1813), a preacher of the Ruchheim-Assenheini congregation from 1777 and an elder 1786-ca. 1796, continued the line in the [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]]. As elder of the Assenheim congregation he signed the [[Ibersheim Resolutions (Ibersheimer Beschlusse) |Ibersheim Resolutions]]. A Jakob Neff was an elder of the Erpolzheim congregation in 1790. Of greatest importance for the Mennonite community was Peter's great-grandson [[Neff, Christian (1863-1946)|Christian Neff]] (1863-1946), pastor of the [[Weierhof (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Weierhof]] congregation 1887-1945.

The name Neff is also found in the records of the Mennonite congregation at Danzig, Prussia, as early as 1693, but it is an open question whether this Neff family (the name is also written Newe or Neue) is related to the Swiss-South German Neff family.


= Bibliography =
Braun, Fritz. "Nineteenth Century Emigrants from . . . Friedelsheim." <em>Mennonite Quarterly Review </em>30 (April 1956): 146.

Braght, Thieleman J. van. <em>The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660.</em> Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1121. Available online at: [http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm].

<em>Naamlijst der tegenwoordig in dienst zijnde predikanten der Mennoniten in de vereenigde Nederlanden.</em> (1776): 52; (1775): 46; (1780): 45; (1793): 46, 56.

Neff, Elizabeth. <em>A Chronicle Regarding Rudolf and Jacob Näf . . . and Their Descendants. </em>Cincinnati, 1886.

Peachey, Paul. <em>Die soziale Herkunft der Schweizer Täufer. </em>Karlsruhe, 1954: 113, No. 101.

Reimer, Gustav E. <em>Die Familiennamen der westpreussischen Mennoniten.</em> Weierhof: Mennonitische Geschichtsverein, 1940: 114.


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