Union County Amish congregation (Union County, Pennsylvania)
Union County Amish congregation, founded in the Buffalo Valley of Pennsylvania west of Lewisburg in 1837 by Samuel Lantz and six of his sons-in-law, of Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Several settlers with Amish names had acquired land there fifteen to twenty years earlier. Joining the Lantz family were Hannes and Jacob Beiler, brothers, Solomon Yoder, bishop, and John and Jacob Riehl of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, and several other families from Lancaster and Mifflin counties and from Maryland. Two sons-in-law of Samuel Lantz, Elias Riehl, nephew of Solomon Yoder, and Christian Stoltzfus, were ordained bishop and deacon respectively and worked together harmoniously for many years. During the late 1870's when trouble developed between the bishop's and the deacon's sons, a ministers' committee from Mifflin County silenced the bishop and excommunicated the only two families who supported him. The bishop then united with the Juniata Mennonite congregation. After the death of Christian Stoltzfus in 1883 his sons and daughters and their families moved to Lyon County, Kansas, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A few of the young people organized a Sunday school but the congregation had suffered a deathblow. The few remaining members who did not move away united with other denominations. Three cemeteries remain: Stoltzfus near Kelley Point, Lantz several miles south, and Beiler at the southern limits of the settlement. During the 1950s several reunions of the descendants of the early settlers had aroused interest in caring for the cemeteries. Mennonite families from the Lancaster Mennonite Conference began moving into the valley and in 1948 organized the Buffalo congregation. The membership in 1956 was 85, with Jacob J. Brubaker and John H. Erb as ministers.
Bibliography
Umble, John S. "The Amish Mennonites of Union County; Pennsylvania." Mennonite Quarterly Review VII (July 1933): 162-90.
| Author(s) | John S Umble |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Umble, John S. "Union County Amish congregation (Union County, Pennsylvania)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Union_County_Amish_congregation_(Union_County,_Pennsylvania)&oldid=78389.
APA style
Umble, John S. (1959). Union County Amish congregation (Union County, Pennsylvania). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Union_County_Amish_congregation_(Union_County,_Pennsylvania)&oldid=78389.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 773. All rights reserved.
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