Wenger, Amos Daniel (1867-1935)
Amos Daniel "A. D." Wenger (1867-1935), a Mennonite (Mennonite Church) educator and leader, was born 25 November 1867, in Rockingham County, not far from Edom, Virginia, the eighth of the eleven children of Jacob and Hannah Brenneman Wenger.
The summer he was eighteen he took a three-week normal course at Broadway, Virginia, and secured a teacher's certificate. In 1890-91 he taught the Perry School near South English, Iowa. In 1894 he was graduated from the Warrensburg Normal, Warensburg, Missouri. In the summer of 1894 he attended Moody Bible Institute. After teaching the Sugar Creek School in Cass County, Missouri, during which year he was ordained to the ministry by Bishop David Kauffman, he attended Penn College at Oskaloosa, Iowa, during the winter of 1895-96. Plans for more education were canceled as he became engaged in evangelistic work. The years 1894-1908 marked his greatest evangelistic effort.
After his trip around the world in 1899-1900, he published his book, Six Months in Bible Lands. Among the tracts he wrote as tract editor are: "Jesus Christ Is Coming," "Why I Do Not Join the Lodge," "Buried with Him in Baptism." His pamphlet, "Who Should Educate Our Children," was published in 1926. He also wrote the articles "Baptism" and "Temptation" for the first Bible Doctrine book (1914).
Wenger was pastor at Bethel, Cass County, Missouri, 1894-95, Keokuk County, Iowa, 1896, Millersville, Pennsylvania, 1897-1908, Fentress, Virginia, 1908-22, and Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1922-35. He served on the Mennonite Publishing Committee and for several years was contributing editor to the Gospel Herald. In 1901-15 he was a member of the board of Elkhart Institute. He was tract editor for the Mennonite Publishing House, secretary of the General Mission Committee, a member of the Mennonite Board of Education. He served as a teacher and as president at Eastern Mennonite School (now Eastern Mennonite University) 1922-1935. He was also treasurer of its Board of Trustees.
He married Mary Hostetter (d. 1898) of Millersville, Pennsylvania, 1 July 1897. On 27 September 1900, he married Anna May Lehman, also of Millersville, who was the mother of his eight children, one son of whom died in infancy. His three sons, Amos D. Wenger of Fentress, Paul L. Wenger of Waynesboro, Virginia, and Chester L. Wenger of Ethiopia, Africa, were Mennonite Church ministers. Two daughters are ministers' wives, one a deacon's wife, and the fourth daughter is Rhoda Wenger, a missionary in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania), Africa. A. D. Wenger died 5 October 1935, at Harrisonburg, Virginia, and was buried at the Mount Pleasant Mennonite Church, Fentress, Virginia.
| Author(s) | Mrs. Warren A Kratz |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Kratz, Mrs. Warren A. "Wenger, Amos Daniel (1867-1935)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 3 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wenger,_Amos_Daniel_(1867-1935)&oldid=143317.
APA style
Kratz, Mrs. Warren A. (1959). Wenger, Amos Daniel (1867-1935). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 3 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Wenger,_Amos_Daniel_(1867-1935)&oldid=143317.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 917. All rights reserved.
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