Gosper County Old Order Amish Settlement (Gosper County, Nebraska, USA)
Gosper County (Nebraska) Old Order Amish settlement, 1880-1904. The settlers came from Mifflin and Juniata counties, Pennsylvania, in the hope of maintaining their distinct nonconformed church and family life. The settlement at the most consisted of 13 families, mostly Yoders. Yost H. Yoder was the bishop until he died 11 December 1901. The ministers 1900-1904 were Yost D. Yoder, Moses D. (E.) Yoder, and Jacob Yoder, brother of Yost H. Yoder.
The address of the Amish settlement was Bertrand, which is located across the line in Phelps County. A few families lived north of the Platte River near Lexington. After several years of pioneering it became apparent that the colony would not survive. As children grew up many left for other Amish settlements. There were only three weddings among the Amish in Gosper County between 1880 and 1904. Jacob Yoder moved to Colorado, then to Custer County, Oklahoma, where he served as the first minister of the Amish church there. Those who returned to Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, were Mose E. Yoder, Christ Speicher, Yost B. Yoder, Albert Kauffman, and one or two single persons. Minister Yost D. Yoder and family moved to Oscoda County, Michigan, in 1903. The few remaining families in the spring of 1904 moved to North Dakota and to Pennsylvania. There is a small Amish cemetery in Gosper County.
Yost H. Yoder came from Gosper County to Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1881, at the request of the "Samuel King" congregation to assist in a serious church dispute. He ordained David L. Hostetler and Menno L. Yoder to assist Jacob Zook, who was the only remaining church official (deacon) of the one faction. Many families of the Nebraska settlement returned to Mifflin County to join the newly organized group. This Mifflin County congregation has since 1881 been known as the "Nebraska Church," and it is the "oldest order" of the Old Order Amish in America. Its membership in 1955 was 130 baptized members. In 1945 another rupture occurred within the Nebraska group so that there are now two kinds of Nebraska churches in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.
| Author(s) | John A Hostetler |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hostetler, John A. "Gosper County Old Order Amish Settlement (Gosper County, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gosper_County_Old_Order_Amish_Settlement_(Gosper_County,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=149134.
APA style
Hostetler, John A. (1956). Gosper County Old Order Amish Settlement (Gosper County, Nebraska, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gosper_County_Old_Order_Amish_Settlement_(Gosper_County,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=149134.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 551. All rights reserved.
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