Fast, Martin B. (1858-1949)
Martin B. Fast, Krimmer Mennonite Brethren author and editor, was born 6 January 1858 at Tiegerweide, South Russia, the son of Peter and Aganetha (Barkmann) Fast. Here Martin attended elementary school. At 19 years of age he joined the Mennonite Church at Rückenau. With his parents he came to America in 1877 and settled near Jansen, Jefferson County, Nebraska, where he was converted, baptized, and received into the fellowship of the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church, 23 May 1880. He married Elizabeth Thiessen of Jansen on 24 February 1884. In 1887 he became a United States citizen. He served as editor of Die Mennonitische Rundschau, Elkhart, Indiana (later Scottdale, Pennsylvania), 1903-1910, and as the first editor of Der Wahrheitsfreund, Chicago, Illinois, 1915-1917. In 1908 he made a trip to Russia, visiting relatives and friends in the Molotschna settlement and elsewhere. In June 1919 he made a trip to Siberia with clothing and money for the relief of the poor, and later sent many food drafts for Russian relief. In 1929-1933 he served the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Conference as chairman of the Board of Foreign Missions; and for some time he was secretary of the Mennonite Aid on the west coast. He died 15 March 1949 at Reedley, California, following a brief illness, at the age of 91 years, and was buried in the Zion Krimmer Mennonite Brethren cemetery, Dinuba, California.
Fast was correspondent to various German papers, and wrote numerous booklets, including Mitteilungen von etlichen der Groszen unter den Mennoniten in Russland und in America (1935); Meine Gedichte vom Jahre 1880 bis jetzt (1943); Reisebericht und Kurz Geschichte der Mennoniten (1909); Geschichtlicher Bericht wie die Mennoniten Nordamerikas ihren armen Glaubensgenossen in Russland jetzt und früher geholfen haben (1919).
| Author(s) | C. F Plett |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Plett, C. F. "Fast, Martin B. (1858-1949)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fast,_Martin_B._(1858-1949)&oldid=166685.
APA style
Plett, C. F. (1956). Fast, Martin B. (1858-1949). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fast,_Martin_B._(1858-1949)&oldid=166685.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 316-317. All rights reserved.
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