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The Trenton Mennonite Church in Trenton, [[Ohio (USA)|Ohio]] (Mennonite Church USA) (formerly called the Apostolic Mennonite Church, officially named the Apostolic Mennonite Society), was originally an [[Amish Mennonites|Amish Mennonite]] settlement established in 1819 by Christian Augsburger and five other families from [[Alsace (France)|Alsace]], France, who organized an Amish congregation in 1825. In 1832 a shipload of Mennonites from Hesse settled here. Since the two groups did not get along well together two separate congregations (Amish-Augsburger, and Mennonite-Hessian) were organized, although the first meeting houses were not built until 1863 and 1864, respectively, by the two congregations. In 1897 the two were merged and in 1907 a brick church building, with a seating capacity of 250, was erected. A third faction, which did not agree with either the Augsburger or the Hessian group, organized separately at Collinsville in 1835 but the group was never large and dissolved after a generation, the members joining the other two groups.
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__TOC__
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The [[Butler County (Ohio, USA)|Butler County]], [[Ohio (USA)|Ohio]], community was the third [[Amish Mennonites|Amish Mennonite]] settlement in Ohio. The first was located on Sugar Creek, in Tuscarawas County, in 1808, when a preacher, John Miller, came from [[Somerset County (Pennsylvania, USA)|Somerset County]], [[Pennsylvania (USA)|Pennsylvania]]. The second being in [[Wayne County (Ohio, USA)|Wayne County]] as early as 1817, when Jacob Yoder moved there from [[Mifflin County (Pennsylvania, USA)|Mifflin County]], Pennsylvania.
 +
 
 +
The Butler County pioneer was Christian Augspurger. He had been the manager of a farm near [[Strasbourg (Alsace, France)|Strasbourg]], [[France]], owned by Charles Schulmeister. He came to [[North America]] in 1817 and settled in Pennsylvania and a little later,  as far as the Miami Valley. Here he became discouraged and, in 1818, returned to France.
 +
 
 +
Finding that his farm had been leased to another man for a number of years, he returned to America in the spring of 1819 with his family within a group of 36 families. Of these, six families came to Butler County in August of the same year. They included Christian Augspurger, his brother Joseph, their second cousin, Jacob Augspurger, Christian Sommer, John Miller, and John Gunden. These were all Amish Mennonites.
 +
 
 +
Other families soon followed, but soon some families moved further west to [[Illinois (USA)|Illinois]], [[Lee County (Iowa, USA)|Lee County]], [[Iowa (USA)|Iowa]], or [[Missouri (USA)|Missouri]]. Historically this settlement is important as the first Alsatian Amish settlement in [[North America]].
 +
 
 +
The first local minister, Jacob Krehbiel from Canada, came to Butler County in 1825. In 1828 Peter Naffziger arrived, having come from [[Europe]] by way of [[Canada]]. He at once became a leader in the colony. The congregation grew, and in 1830 Jacob Augspurger was chosen and ordained to the office of bishop, the first Amish Mennonite preacher ordained in Butler County.
 +
 
 +
The same year there was an immigration of Hessian Mennonites, who differed from the Amish Mennonites already here as they had [[Musical Instruments|musical instruments]] and wore more modern clothing. They were initially accepted into the Augspurger congregation, but the differences caused stress with the more plain Amish Mennonites, and by 1835 they could no longer worship together.
 +
 
 +
That year the congregation divided into the Augspurger Amish Mennonite and Hessian Mennonite congregations. Some outsiders called them the Hook-and-Eye and Button churches. The former emphasized plainness and wore hooks and eyes on their clothes instead of buttons, while the latter permitted freedom in dress and encouraged education.
 +
 
 +
There was also a small Collinsville congregation that dated from about 1835 and included [[Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)|Joseph Goldsmith]] and a Benedict King. Daniel Unsicker, a minister from Canada in 1834, identified with this group. After Goldsmith moved to Iowa and Unsicker died, the remaining members joined either the Hessian or Augspurger group.
 +
 
 +
In 1863, the Augspurger congregation built a meetinghouse near Overpeck on land donated by Christian Sloneker. When the congregation later merged with the Apostolic Mennonite Society, the land reverted to the Sloneker family.
 +
 
 +
That same year, the Hessian Mennonite congregation incorporated as the Apostolic Mennonite Society. It immediately contemplated purchasing land and building a meetinghouse. The congregation built the meetinghouse inn 1864, on land in St. Clair Township purchased from John Good. In 1892, the Apostolic Mennonite Society called its first trained minister, [[Krehbiel, Henry J. (1865-1940)|Henry J. Krehbiel]]. That same year it joined the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference of Mennonites of North America]], and in 1893 joined the [[Middle District Conference (General Conference Mennonite Church)|Middle District]] of that conference.
 +
 
 +
The Augspurger church and the Apostolic Mennonite Society merged in 1897. The combined group had a membership of 250 and used the name Apostolic Mennonite Church.
 +
 
 +
In 1900 the congregation built a parsonage for its pastor in the town of Trenton. Within four years, it began planning for a new church building in town. The new church, which cost $8,000, was dedicated on 11 October 1908. The congregation decided to tear down the former Hessian Mennonite building in 1919. In 2005 it added a fellowship hall and additional Sunday School rooms to the town building.
 +
 
 +
John E. Amstutz served as pastor of the congregation from 1921 to 1959 and stayed in the community until a couple of years before his death at age 100.
 +
 
 +
In about 1976, the congregation changed its name to Trenton Mennonite Church. This name had been used informally going back to Henry J. Krehbiel's ministry, but the Apostolic Mennonite Church name continued to be used in some articles in ''[[Mennonite, The (1885-1998) (Periodical)|The Mennonite]]'' into the 1980s.
 +
 
 +
In 2022 the Trenton Mennonite Church changed its affiliation to [[Mennonite Church USA]] from the [[Central District Conference (Mennonite Church USA)|Central District Conference]] to the [[Ohio Mennonite Conference|Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA]].
  
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Historically this settlement is important as the first Alsatian Amish settlement in [[North America|North America]] and as the mother colony from which the many first Alsatian Amish settlers went to central [[Illinois (USA)|Illinois]] (beginning in 1829) and later to eastern [[Iowa (USA)|Iowa]] (beginning in 1840), to [[Henry County (Iowa, USA)|Henry County]] ([[Wayland (Iowa, USA)|Wayland]]) and [[Davis County (Iowa, USA)|Davis County]] (Pulaski). [[Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)|Joseph Goldsmith]], a prominent early Amish bishop, was ordained here in 1838. The Augsburger (Amish) congregation belonged to the Amish General Conference, 1862-1878, but never joined the later [[Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference|Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference]]. In 1892 the Hessian congregation joined the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]].
 
 
= Bibliography =
 
= Bibliography =
−
Grubb, W. H.<em> History of the Mennonites of Butler County, Ohio</em>. Trenton: W. H. Grubb, 1916.
+
"Apostolic Mennonite Church,..." ''The Mennonite'' 34, no. 5 (30 January 1919): 1-2.
 +
 
 +
Grubb, W. H. ''History of the Mennonites of Butler County, Ohio''. Trenton: W. H. Grubb, 1916. Available in full electronic text at: https://ia601606.us.archive.org/26/items/historyofmennoni00grub/historyofmennoni00grub.pdf.
 +
 
 +
Neuenschwander, A. J. "Centenary Jubilee celebration." ''The Mennonite'' 34, no. 38 (25 September 1919): 2-3.
 +
 
 +
Rich, Elaine Sommers, ed. ''Walking Together in Faith: The Central District Conference, 1957-1990''. Bluffton, Ohio: The Conference, 2003.
 +
 
 
= Additional Information =
 
= Additional Information =
−
<strong>Address</strong>: 2 East Main Street, Trenton, OH
+
'''Address''': 2 East Main Street, Trenton, Ohio 45067
  
 
'''Phone''': 513-988-0313
 
'''Phone''': 513-988-0313
  
−
'''Website''': [http://trentonmennonite.org/ Trenton Mennonite Church]
+
'''Website''': [https://trentonmennonite.org/ Trenton Mennonite Church]
  
 
'''Denominational Affiliations''':
 
'''Denominational Affiliations''':
  
−
[http://www.centraldistrict.mennonite.net/ Central District Conference]
+
[https://ohiomennoniteconference.org/ Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA]
  
 
[http://www.mennoniteusa.org/ Mennonite Church USA]
 
[http://www.mennoniteusa.org/ Mennonite Church USA]
−
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=Vol. 1, pp. 136-137|date=1953|a1_last=Amstutz|a1_first=J. E|a2_last= |a2_first= }}
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== Pastoral Leaders at Augspurger Church (1825-1897) ==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Name !! Years<br/>of Service
 +
|-
 +
| Jacob Krehbiel (1781-1860) || 1825-1832
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Naffziger (1787-1885) || 1828-1835
 +
|-
 +
| Jacob Augspurger (1786-1846)(Bishop) || 1830-1846
 +
|-
 +
| [[Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)|Joseph Goldsmith]] (1796-1876) || 1831-1835?
 +
|-
 +
| Benedict König/King (1764-1840)(Bishop) || ?-1835?
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Schrock (1802-1887) || 1832-1887
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Kinsinger (1801-1857) || 1844-1857
 +
|-
 +
| Nicholas Augspurger (1811-1872) || 1847-1872
 +
|-
 +
| Christian Ramseyer (1836-1891) || 1860-1865
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Kinsinger (1825-1894) || 1861-1868
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Imhoff  (1819-1896) || 1861-1896
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Augspurger (1806-1864) || ?-1864
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Kinsinger (1827-1888) || 1867-1888
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Augspurger (1818-1887) || 1872-1887
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Meyer (1812-1886) || ?-1886
 +
|-
 +
| Christian K. Augspurger (1839-1907) || 1867-1897
 +
|}
 +
== Pastoral Leaders at Hessian Church/Apostolic Mennonite Society (1835-1897) ==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Name !! Years<br/>of Service
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Naffziger (1789-1885) || 1835-1844
 +
|-
 +
| Michael Kistler (1808-1876) || 1835-1842
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Holly (1791-1854) || 1836-1854
 +
|-
 +
| Daniel Holly (1818-1886) || 1841-1848
 +
|-
 +
| Jacob Mueller || 1945-1855
 +
|-
 +
| Peter Kennel (1813-1896) || 1947-1896
 +
|-
 +
| Christian Holly (1820-1882) || 1860-1882
 +
|-
 +
| Joseph Augspurger (1816-1896)<br />(Bishop) || 1860-1862<br />1860-1892
 +
|-
 +
| John Augspurger (1830-1912) || 1867-1897
 +
|-
 +
| John Unzicker (1834-1886) || 1867-1886
 +
|-
 +
| [[Krehbiel, Henry J. (1865-1940)|Henry J. Krehbiel]] (1865-1940) || 1892-1897
 +
|}
 +
== Pastoral Leaders at Collinsville Congregation (1835-1860s) ==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Name !! Years<br/>of Service
 +
|-
 +
| [[Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)|Joseph Goldsmith]] (1796-1876)<br />(Bishop) || 1835?-1838<br />1838-1847
 +
|-
 +
| Daniel Unzicker (1798-1863) || 1835?-1863
 +
|-
 +
| Benedict König/King (1764-1840)(Bishop) || 1835?-1838?
 +
|}
 +
== Pastoral Leaders at Apostolic Mennonite Church/Trenton Mennonite Church ==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Name !! Years<br/>of Service
 +
|-
 +
| [[Krehbiel, Henry J. (1865-1940)|Henry J. Krehbiel]] (1865-1940) || 1897-1909
 +
|-
 +
| John E. "J. E." Amstutz (1881-1981)(Supply)<br />(Pastor) || 1909-1911<br />1921-1959
 +
|-
 +
| T. J. Simpson (Supply) || 1911-1913
 +
|-
 +
| William H. Grubb (1879-1940) || 1913-1917
 +
|-
 +
| Andrew J. "A. J." Neuenswander (1888-1972) || 1918-1920
 +
|-
 +
| Kenneth M. Shelly (1930-1994) || 1959-1964
 +
|-
 +
| Russell F. Schnell (1907-1998) || 1964-1969
 +
|-
 +
| James W. Arn (1945-2003)|| 1969-1973
 +
|-
 +
| Richard Bright || 1973-1975
 +
|-
 +
| Timothy D. Kissel || 1976-1985
 +
|-
 +
| Larry Grunden || 1986-1992
 +
|-
 +
| Dennis W. Wagner || 1992-1996?
 +
|-
 +
| Clare J. Osinkosky || 1996-2000?
 +
|-
 +
| Glenn H. Martin || 2002?-2006
 +
|-
 +
| June Thomsen (Interim) || 2006-2007
 +
|-
 +
| C. Lindell "Lin" Sylvester || 2008?-2012
 +
|-
 +
| Ronald L. Wenzel || 2012-
 +
|-
 +
| Sylvia Wenzel (Music) || 2012-
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
== Membership at Trenton Mennonite Church ==
 +
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
 +
|-
 +
! Year !! Membership
 +
|-
 +
| 1920 || 241
 +
|-
 +
| 1930 || 235
 +
|-
 +
| 1940 || 239
 +
|-
 +
| 1950 || 167
 +
|-
 +
| 1960 || 135
 +
|-
 +
| 1970 || 153
 +
|-
 +
| 1980 || 133
 +
|-
 +
| 1990 || 134
 +
|-
 +
| 2000 || 138
 +
|-
 +
| 2009 || 126
 +
|-
 +
| 2020 || 69
 +
|}
 +
= Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article =
 +
 
 +
By J. E. Amstutz. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from ''Mennonite Encyclopedia'', Vol. 1, p. 136-137. All rights reserved.
 +
 
 +
The Trenton Mennonite Church in Trenton, [[Ohio (USA)|Ohio]] (Mennonite Church USA) (formerly called the Apostolic Mennonite Church, officially named the Apostolic Mennonite Society), was originally an [[Amish Mennonites|Amish Mennonite]] settlement established in 1819 by Christian Augsburger and five other families from [[Alsace (France)|Alsace]], France, who organized an Amish congregation in 1825. In 1832 a shipload of Mennonites from Hesse settled here. Since the two groups did not get along well together two separate congregations (Amish-Augsburger, and Mennonite-Hessian) were organized, although the first meeting houses were not built until 1863 and 1864, respectively, by the two congregations. In 1897 the two were merged and in 1907 a brick church building, with a seating capacity of 250, was erected. A third faction, which did not agree with either the Augsburger or the Hessian group, organized separately at Collinsville in 1835 but the group was never large and dissolved after a generation, the members joining the other two groups.
 +
 
 +
Historically this settlement is important as the first Alsatian Amish settlement in [[North America|North America]] and as the mother colony from which the many first Alsatian Amish settlers went to central [[Illinois (USA)|Illinois]] (beginning in 1829) and later to eastern [[Iowa (USA)|Iowa]] (beginning in 1840), to [[Henry County (Iowa, USA)|Henry County]] ([[Wayland (Iowa, USA)|Wayland]]) and [[Davis County (Iowa, USA)|Davis County]] (Pulaski). [[Goldsmith, Joseph (1796-1876)|Joseph Goldsmith]], a prominent early Amish bishop, was ordained here in 1838. The Augsburger (Amish) congregation belonged to the Amish General Conference, 1862-1878, but never joined the later [[Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference|Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference]]. In 1892 the Hessian congregation joined the [[General Conference Mennonite Church (GCM)|General Conference Mennonites]].
 +
 
 +
{{GAMEO_footer|hp=|date=February 2023|a1_last=Steiner|a1_first=Samuel J|a2_last= |a2_first= }}
 
[[Category:Churches]]
 
[[Category:Churches]]
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[[Category:Mennonite Church USA Congregations]]
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[[Category:Central District Conference Congregations]]
 +
[[Category:Ohio Mennonite Conference Congregations]]
 +
[[Category:Ohio Congregations]]
 +
[[Category:United States Congregations]]

Latest revision as of 14:42, 11 March 2024

The Butler County, Ohio, community was the third Amish Mennonite settlement in Ohio. The first was located on Sugar Creek, in Tuscarawas County, in 1808, when a preacher, John Miller, came from Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The second being in Wayne County as early as 1817, when Jacob Yoder moved there from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.

The Butler County pioneer was Christian Augspurger. He had been the manager of a farm near Strasbourg, France, owned by Charles Schulmeister. He came to North America in 1817 and settled in Pennsylvania and a little later, as far as the Miami Valley. Here he became discouraged and, in 1818, returned to France.

Finding that his farm had been leased to another man for a number of years, he returned to America in the spring of 1819 with his family within a group of 36 families. Of these, six families came to Butler County in August of the same year. They included Christian Augspurger, his brother Joseph, their second cousin, Jacob Augspurger, Christian Sommer, John Miller, and John Gunden. These were all Amish Mennonites.

Other families soon followed, but soon some families moved further west to Illinois, Lee County, Iowa, or Missouri. Historically this settlement is important as the first Alsatian Amish settlement in North America.

The first local minister, Jacob Krehbiel from Canada, came to Butler County in 1825. In 1828 Peter Naffziger arrived, having come from Europe by way of Canada. He at once became a leader in the colony. The congregation grew, and in 1830 Jacob Augspurger was chosen and ordained to the office of bishop, the first Amish Mennonite preacher ordained in Butler County.

The same year there was an immigration of Hessian Mennonites, who differed from the Amish Mennonites already here as they had musical instruments and wore more modern clothing. They were initially accepted into the Augspurger congregation, but the differences caused stress with the more plain Amish Mennonites, and by 1835 they could no longer worship together.

That year the congregation divided into the Augspurger Amish Mennonite and Hessian Mennonite congregations. Some outsiders called them the Hook-and-Eye and Button churches. The former emphasized plainness and wore hooks and eyes on their clothes instead of buttons, while the latter permitted freedom in dress and encouraged education.

There was also a small Collinsville congregation that dated from about 1835 and included Joseph Goldsmith and a Benedict King. Daniel Unsicker, a minister from Canada in 1834, identified with this group. After Goldsmith moved to Iowa and Unsicker died, the remaining members joined either the Hessian or Augspurger group.

In 1863, the Augspurger congregation built a meetinghouse near Overpeck on land donated by Christian Sloneker. When the congregation later merged with the Apostolic Mennonite Society, the land reverted to the Sloneker family.

That same year, the Hessian Mennonite congregation incorporated as the Apostolic Mennonite Society. It immediately contemplated purchasing land and building a meetinghouse. The congregation built the meetinghouse inn 1864, on land in St. Clair Township purchased from John Good. In 1892, the Apostolic Mennonite Society called its first trained minister, Henry J. Krehbiel. That same year it joined the General Conference of Mennonites of North America, and in 1893 joined the Middle District of that conference.

The Augspurger church and the Apostolic Mennonite Society merged in 1897. The combined group had a membership of 250 and used the name Apostolic Mennonite Church.

In 1900 the congregation built a parsonage for its pastor in the town of Trenton. Within four years, it began planning for a new church building in town. The new church, which cost $8,000, was dedicated on 11 October 1908. The congregation decided to tear down the former Hessian Mennonite building in 1919. In 2005 it added a fellowship hall and additional Sunday School rooms to the town building.

John E. Amstutz served as pastor of the congregation from 1921 to 1959 and stayed in the community until a couple of years before his death at age 100.

In about 1976, the congregation changed its name to Trenton Mennonite Church. This name had been used informally going back to Henry J. Krehbiel's ministry, but the Apostolic Mennonite Church name continued to be used in some articles in The Mennonite into the 1980s.

In 2022 the Trenton Mennonite Church changed its affiliation to Mennonite Church USA from the Central District Conference to the Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

Bibliography

"Apostolic Mennonite Church,..." The Mennonite 34, no. 5 (30 January 1919): 1-2.

Grubb, W. H. History of the Mennonites of Butler County, Ohio. Trenton: W. H. Grubb, 1916. Available in full electronic text at: https://ia601606.us.archive.org/26/items/historyofmennoni00grub/historyofmennoni00grub.pdf.

Neuenschwander, A. J. "Centenary Jubilee celebration." The Mennonite 34, no. 38 (25 September 1919): 2-3.

Rich, Elaine Sommers, ed. Walking Together in Faith: The Central District Conference, 1957-1990. Bluffton, Ohio: The Conference, 2003.

Additional Information

Address: 2 East Main Street, Trenton, Ohio 45067

Phone: 513-988-0313

Website: Trenton Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Ohio Conference of Mennonite Church USA

Mennonite Church USA

Pastoral Leaders at Augspurger Church (1825-1897)

Name Years
of Service
Jacob Krehbiel (1781-1860) 1825-1832
Peter Naffziger (1787-1885) 1828-1835
Jacob Augspurger (1786-1846)(Bishop) 1830-1846
Joseph Goldsmith (1796-1876) 1831-1835?
Benedict König/King (1764-1840)(Bishop) ?-1835?
Peter Schrock (1802-1887) 1832-1887
Joseph Kinsinger (1801-1857) 1844-1857
Nicholas Augspurger (1811-1872) 1847-1872
Christian Ramseyer (1836-1891) 1860-1865
Joseph Kinsinger (1825-1894) 1861-1868
Peter Imhoff (1819-1896) 1861-1896
Joseph Augspurger (1806-1864) ?-1864
Peter Kinsinger (1827-1888) 1867-1888
Joseph Augspurger (1818-1887) 1872-1887
Joseph Meyer (1812-1886) ?-1886
Christian K. Augspurger (1839-1907) 1867-1897

Pastoral Leaders at Hessian Church/Apostolic Mennonite Society (1835-1897)

Name Years
of Service
Peter Naffziger (1789-1885) 1835-1844
Michael Kistler (1808-1876) 1835-1842
Peter Holly (1791-1854) 1836-1854
Daniel Holly (1818-1886) 1841-1848
Jacob Mueller 1945-1855
Peter Kennel (1813-1896) 1947-1896
Christian Holly (1820-1882) 1860-1882
Joseph Augspurger (1816-1896)
(Bishop)		 1860-1862
1860-1892
John Augspurger (1830-1912) 1867-1897
John Unzicker (1834-1886) 1867-1886
Henry J. Krehbiel (1865-1940) 1892-1897

Pastoral Leaders at Collinsville Congregation (1835-1860s)

Name Years
of Service
Joseph Goldsmith (1796-1876)
(Bishop)		 1835?-1838
1838-1847
Daniel Unzicker (1798-1863) 1835?-1863
Benedict König/King (1764-1840)(Bishop) 1835?-1838?

Pastoral Leaders at Apostolic Mennonite Church/Trenton Mennonite Church

Name Years
of Service
Henry J. Krehbiel (1865-1940) 1897-1909
John E. "J. E." Amstutz (1881-1981)(Supply)
(Pastor)		 1909-1911
1921-1959
T. J. Simpson (Supply) 1911-1913
William H. Grubb (1879-1940) 1913-1917
Andrew J. "A. J." Neuenswander (1888-1972) 1918-1920
Kenneth M. Shelly (1930-1994) 1959-1964
Russell F. Schnell (1907-1998) 1964-1969
James W. Arn (1945-2003) 1969-1973
Richard Bright 1973-1975
Timothy D. Kissel 1976-1985
Larry Grunden 1986-1992
Dennis W. Wagner 1992-1996?
Clare J. Osinkosky 1996-2000?
Glenn H. Martin 2002?-2006
June Thomsen (Interim) 2006-2007
C. Lindell "Lin" Sylvester 2008?-2012
Ronald L. Wenzel 2012-
Sylvia Wenzel (Music) 2012-

Membership at Trenton Mennonite Church

Year Membership
1920 241
1930 235
1940 239
1950 167
1960 135
1970 153
1980 133
1990 134
2000 138
2009 126
2020 69

Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article

By J. E. Amstutz. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 136-137. All rights reserved.

The Trenton Mennonite Church in Trenton, Ohio (Mennonite Church USA) (formerly called the Apostolic Mennonite Church, officially named the Apostolic Mennonite Society), was originally an Amish Mennonite settlement established in 1819 by Christian Augsburger and five other families from Alsace, France, who organized an Amish congregation in 1825. In 1832 a shipload of Mennonites from Hesse settled here. Since the two groups did not get along well together two separate congregations (Amish-Augsburger, and Mennonite-Hessian) were organized, although the first meeting houses were not built until 1863 and 1864, respectively, by the two congregations. In 1897 the two were merged and in 1907 a brick church building, with a seating capacity of 250, was erected. A third faction, which did not agree with either the Augsburger or the Hessian group, organized separately at Collinsville in 1835 but the group was never large and dissolved after a generation, the members joining the other two groups.

Historically this settlement is important as the first Alsatian Amish settlement in North America and as the mother colony from which the many first Alsatian Amish settlers went to central Illinois (beginning in 1829) and later to eastern Iowa (beginning in 1840), to Henry County (Wayland) and Davis County (Pulaski). Joseph Goldsmith, a prominent early Amish bishop, was ordained here in 1838. The Augsburger (Amish) congregation belonged to the Amish General Conference, 1862-1878, but never joined the later Eastern Amish Mennonite Conference. In 1892 the Hessian congregation joined the General Conference Mennonites.


Author(s) Samuel J Steiner
Date Published February 2023

Cite This Article

MLA style

Steiner, Samuel J. "Trenton Mennonite Church (Trenton, Ohio, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2023. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Trenton_Mennonite_Church_(Trenton,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=178443.

APA style

Steiner, Samuel J. (February 2023). Trenton Mennonite Church (Trenton, Ohio, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Trenton_Mennonite_Church_(Trenton,_Ohio,_USA)&oldid=178443.



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