Polk County Mennonite Church (Polk City, Iowa, USA)
Polk County Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite Church), now extinct, was organized in 1858 in the home of John B. Neuenschwander of Polk City, Iowa. In August of that year Christian Sutter ordained Joseph Schroeder as minister and John B. Neuenschwander as deacon. Two years later Schroeder was a delegate to the first General Conference of the Mennonite Church of North America, held in Lee County, Iowa, in 1860, and was appointed a member of the committee that prepared plans for the union of the Mennonites of America. Schroeder had been trained for the Catholic priesthood, later rejoined the Catholic Church, and died in that faith in 1893. The Polk County Mennonite community was founded by the Neuenschwanders and Nussbaums, who moved there from Putnam County, Ohio, in 1849.
Other families in the congregation were the Singers, Gehmans, Snyders, Gefflers, Berrys, Beutlers, and the Leichtys. In 1863 John Singer was ordained minister for the congregation and Peter Neuenschwander bishop. When, a few years after this date, Singer and John B. Neuenschwander moved to Missouri, the church was left without leadership and passed out of existence. In 1933 the only family name of the above list still represented in the community was Leichty.
Bibliography
Gingerich, Melvin. The Mennonites in Iowa. Iowa City, 1939: 146-49.
| Author(s) | Melvin Gingerich |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gingerich, Melvin. "Polk County Mennonite Church (Polk City, Iowa, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 3 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Polk_County_Mennonite_Church_(Polk_City,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=84100.
APA style
Gingerich, Melvin. (1959). Polk County Mennonite Church (Polk City, Iowa, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 3 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Polk_County_Mennonite_Church_(Polk_City,_Iowa,_USA)&oldid=84100.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 200-201. All rights reserved.
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