View source for Ummel, David (1797-1896)

David Ummel (1797-1896), elder of the [[Chaux d'Abel (Bern, Switzerland)|Chaux d'Abel]] Mennonite congregation in the Bernese [[Jura Mountains|Jura]], Switzerland. The patriarch David Ummel was born at Chaux d'Abel on 14 September 1797. He originally belonged to the [[Amish Mennonites|Amish]] wing, and was ordained as minister and elder by that group. He was zealously concerned for union between the Amish and the Mennonites in his locality. Though he was zealous "for the law of the fathers," he preached that salvation in Christ is nothing but free grace even for a virtuous Mennonite. He was seriously concerned for the education of the young people, and at considerable sacrifice founded a German school in his village, which later received state recognition. At the age of 90 he made a six-week tour of the Swiss congregations. He died in 1896 at the advanced age of 98 years.
= Bibliography =
Geiser, Samuel. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Die Taufgesinnten-Gemeinden</em>. Karlsruhe, 1931: 464, with photograph, and 478.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. ''Mennonitisches Lexikon'', 4 vols. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. IV, 381-382. 

<em class="gameo_bibliography">Mennonitische Blätter</em> (1871): 2; (1872): 21-68; (1878): 75.
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