Plymouth Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church (Plymouth, Nebraska, USA)
This congregation had its beginning with families who moved here from near Baden, Ontario, Canada, in the late 1870s. Most were descendants of Amish families who had immigrated from Alsace, France, to Ontario in the 1820s. The Boeckners were originally of the Lutheran faith. Several of these families had become members of the Reformed Mennonite Church and had also been visited by John Holdeman while living in Ontario. The Joseph Megli family was the first to move to the Plymouth area in 1877 after learning about the excellent territory in southeastern Nebraska. Through correspondence with the John Sr. and Maria (Megli) Boeckner family still in Ontario, the Boeckners also decided to move to the Plymouth area in 1878. The same year the Peter Yost Sr. family moved, and his brother John and Katherine Yost and family likewise came the same year. The above-named families were the ancestral parents of many of the members by these names in the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite.
The Benjamin Hunsberger family, also of the Baden, Ontario, area, but of Mennonite origin, came in 1878. The Nicholas Roth family came in 1883. Later their sons, Nicholas and David, married daughters of John Boeckner.
During the following years, as these families settled around Plymouth, the David Hiebert family also moved here from Manitoba. David Hiebert was an ordained minister. Likely before the Hieberts' move here, during the late 1800s, Elder John Holdeman and others visited these families.
The beginning of this small congregation's weakening and demise began with the death of their minister David Hiebert in 1900 at the early age of 47. Within a year of his passing, his widow and children moved to Ste. Anne, Manitoba. The Peter E. Yost Jr. family moved to a farm near Hesston, Kansas, in 1912, and the John M. Boeckner family also moved there in 1919, and his parents followed them. Some of the Megli's also moved and made their home in Mitchel County, Kansas.
Most of the original pioneers died there and are buried in the local cemetery several miles west of Plymouth. After moving the Boeckner family in 1919, no church members remained there except for Nick Roth, married to John M. Boeckner's sister Anna, who continued to live there with his family. He had his membership with the Meridian congregation and proved to be a faithful brother to his end.
Bibliography
Histories of the congregations. 3rd. ed. Moundridge, Kansas: Gospel Publishers, 1999: 413-414.
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By A. L. Yost. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 197. All rights reserved.
Plymouth Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church, now extinct, located near Plymouth, Nebraska, was organized in 1885 with David Hiebert and Peter Yost as ministers. Its membership grew to about 30. Upon the death of David Hiebert, Peter Yost and John Yost served as lay ministers. After the death of Peter Yost in 1906, the congregation began to dissolve by members moving to other congregations, mostly to Kansas, until by 1919, it was extinct.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | February 2021 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Plymouth Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church (Plymouth, Nebraska, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2021. Web. 23 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Plymouth_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_Church_(Plymouth,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=169997.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (February 2021). Plymouth Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church (Plymouth, Nebraska, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Plymouth_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_Church_(Plymouth,_Nebraska,_USA)&oldid=169997.
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