Cassel (Kassel) family
Cassel (also Kassel), a Mennonite family name prominent in early eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite history, particularly in the Franconia Conference area. J. C. Wenger in his History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference lists 26 Cassels and 7 Kassels. The name appears in the Palatine Mennonite census lists of 1664 under Kriegsheim and Gerolsheim. D. K. Cassel in his Genealogical History of the Cassel Family in America (Norristown, 1896) states that Johannes Cassel and family arrived in Philadelphia from Kriegsheim in 1686 and settled in Germantown. A Hendrick (Heinrich) Kassel is mentioned among the 52 members of the Germantown Mennonite Church in 1708. The Cassel immigrant, however, whose family became most prominent in eastern Mennonite areas was Hupert, who came to Philadelphia from Kriegsheim between 1715 and 1720. By 1725 he was living in the Skippack community where he was among the signers of a petition to have a township surveyed. His brother Julius Cassel (Yilles Kassel) came to America in 1727 and farmed at Skippack, where he also preached. Wenger gives brief biographies of five other Cassels who served in the Mennonite ministry of eastern Pennsylvania between 1708 and 1922. Among the prominent members of the Cassel family were the noted antiquary Abraham H. Cassel and the historian Daniel Kolb Cassel of Germantown, who was the author of three volumes of family history —the Kulp Family, the Cassel Family, and the Rittenhouse Family. His History of the Mennonites (Philadelphia, 1888) was the first book on the subject to be published in America.
Obituaries of Cassels appearing in Mennonite periodicals indicate a spread to Lancaster and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania, and to Ontario.
| Author(s) | Melvin Gingerich |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gingerich, Melvin. "Cassel (Kassel) family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Cassel_(Kassel)_family&oldid=55455.
APA style
Gingerich, Melvin. (1953). Cassel (Kassel) family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Cassel_(Kassel)_family&oldid=55455.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 522. All rights reserved.
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