Milford Square (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA)
Milford Square, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was the location of the press of John H. Oberholtzer, founder in 1847 of what is known as the Eastern District Conference (General Conference Mennonite) in southeastern Pennsylvania. On 9 June 1852 he issued here the first number of a new church periodical entitled Religiöser Botschafter. To bear the burden of publication there was organized in 1856 the Mennonite Printing Union (in German, Mennonitischer Druck-Verein) to take over the Oberholtzer printery, which was later sold to J. G. Stauffer. In 1856 the name of the paper was changed to Das Christliche Volksblatt, and in 1867 to Mennonitischer Friedensbote. From Milford Square were also issued a number of books, booklets, catechisms, constitutions, conference reports, periodicals, etc., beginning in 1855 with Gottfried Arnold's Geistliche Erfahrungslehre. When the 1860 sessions of the General Conference Mennonite Church were held it was proposed to create a mission board, with one treasury to be maintained at Franklin Center, Lee County, Iowa, the other at Milford Square, Bucks County, PA., but the plan seems not to have been adopted. The Mennonite (GCM) publisher J. G. Stauffer also issued periodicals such as the Himmelsmanna (1876- ), Reformer & Agriculturist (1876- ) for a number of years at Milford Square before removing to Quakertown, PA, in 1880. Stauffer published also B. C Roosen's Menno Symons den Mennoniten Gemeinden geschildert at Milford Square in 1874. And Peter High Stauffer issued an eight-page periodical from Milford Square entitled Our Home Friend. For years the name Milford Square stood for the publication interests of the General Conference Mennonite Church, especially in the East.
Bibliography
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III: 134f.
| Author(s) | John C Wenger |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1957 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Wenger, John C. "Milford Square (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Milford_Square_(Bucks_County,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=144405.
APA style
Wenger, John C. (1957). Milford Square (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Milford_Square_(Bucks_County,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=144405.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 688. All rights reserved.
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