View source for Rutt, Martin N. (1841-1905)

Martin N. Rutt, a bishop and leader in the [[LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches|Lancaster Mennonite Conference]] ([[Mennonite Church (MC)|Mennonite Church]]), was born 8 February 1841, on a large Donegal farm in[[Lancaster County (Pennsylvania, USA)| Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]], the son of Jacob S. Rutt and Elizabeth Nissley. He married Fannie Ebersole (1841-1904). At the age of thirty he was called to the ministry at the Bossler Mennonite Church and on 11 March 1880, he was ordained bishop for the Strickler-Stauffer-Bossler Bishop District. He had a share in writing the first discipline in the 1890's, when Jacob N. Brubacher, Isaac Eby, and he were the leaders of the Bishop Board. He was an early promoter of Sunday schools, serving as superintendent at the home congregation from 1883 until his death. In the Martinite division his counsel was well considered. He traveled far over the conference district in the horse-and-buggy days, whenever duty called. His greatest achievement came in the fall conference season at the [[Mellinger Meetinghouse (Schoeneck, Pennsylvania, USA)|Mellinger church]] in 1905, when he pleaded at midnight for permission to have revival meetings, after the Conference had twice rejected his request, and he won. He did not live to see the wisdom of this move, for he died on 7 November 1905, before the [[Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania, USA)|Elizabethtown]] meetings were held in February 1906. He was buried in the Bossler cemetery.
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