View source for Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)

Joseph Goldsmith was born in [[Alsace (France)|Alsace]], the fourth child of Konrad and Katharine (König) Goldschmidt. In 1819 he landed in Philadelphia. He was married to Elisabeth Schwarzendruber in 1824, and shortly after the marriage they moved to [[Waterloo County (Ontario, Canada)|Waterloo County]], [[Ontario (Canada)|Ontario]]. That same year he was ordained a minister of the newly organized [[Amish Mennonites|Amish]] Mennonite church in Wilmot Township. In 1831 he and his family moved to [[Butler County (Ohio, USA)|Butler County]], [[Ohio (USA)|Ohio]], where he was ordained bishop in 1838. Because of his financial situation in Ohio, the Goldsmith family moved to a new frontier, [[Lee County (Iowa, USA)|Lee County, Iowa]], in 1846. Here he served the Amish church as bishop and also assisted the churches in [[Davis County (Iowa, USA)|Davis]], Henry, and [[Johnson County (Iowa, USA)|Johnson]] counties in organization, [[Communion|communion]], marriage, and ordination services. In 1855, when the Lee County settlement began to break up because of faulty land titles, Goldsmith moved his family to the Amish Mennonite community in [[Henry County (Iowa, USA)|Henry County]], where he served the church as bishop until paralysis incapacitated him in 1867. He attended the Amish ministers' conference <em>(Diener-Versammlung) </em>in 1862 and 1866, participating actively in the deliberations of that body. Among his 12 children were Veronica, wife of Joseph Gingerich, an Amish minister in Johnson County, Iowa; and Magdalena, wife of Sebastian Gerig, a bishop of the [[Sugar Creek Mennonite Church (Wayland, Iowa, USA)|Sugar Creek Amish Mennonite Church]] near [[Wayland (Iowa, USA)|Wayland]], Iowa. In 1954, three of Goldsmith's great-grandchildren were serving in the ministry of the Mennonite Church and two others were on the faculty of [[Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Goshen College]].
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