OUR HISTORY - ANABAPTIST ORIGINS
Our church, first known as the Anabaptist, had its origin in
1525, in Zurich, Switzerland. Its members were persecuted, mainly for political
and economic reasons. This persecution led to their dispersal. Missionary minded
they spread the new teaching wherever they went. Soon adherents to the new
church could be found in many cities along the Rhine River and other highways
of traffic. The Dutch people especially were responsive to the new teaching and
many congregations came into existence. In 1536 Roman Catholic priest by the
name of Menno Simons (1496-1561) joined this church. Soon he became the
recognized leader of these congregations and people began to call the adherents
to this faith "Mennonites". This name stuck. In the Netherlands the
Mennonites too were severely persecuted and many fled. Several hundred families
found a refuge in the area around the free city of Danzig.
Source: Mennonite
Encyclopedia II, p. 256. Used by permission of the publisher. 12
Mennonites in the
Netherlands (Towns having Mennonite congregations are shown.)
Page 15
Page 19
There were many ships during this time period carrying many
Mennonite immigrants. The ¬®çÝÖ¬®çݬÆNederland¬®çÝÖ¬®çÝâ and ¬®çÝÖ¬®çݬÆVaderland¬®çÝÖ¬®çÝâ carried 1,822 families of
relatives and friends. During 1873 and 1876 over 10,000 Mennonite families
arrived from Russia to begin a new life in America.
Page 20
Ship Names, Dates and
Passenger Lists of Mennonite Immigration
FAMILY AND RELATIVE CROSSINGS
Aug 15, 1873 "SS"
Hammonia Daniel
Unruh, Tobias B. Unruh with 12 other families.
July 15, 1874 City of
Brooklyn Harder
& Wiebe families
Jan. 28, 1875 Illinois Tobias
A. Unruh with group of 93
relatives and
friends
July 25, 1875 Nederland
Benjamin
& Abraham Dirks (later Dirksen) families
Aug 5, 1875 State
of Nevada Johann
& Anna Neufeld family
June 22, 1876 Ethiopia
Heinrich
& Katharina Peters family
July 28, 1876
Vaderland Henry and Anna (Funk) Wall, Abraham and Sarah (Funk) Dirksen, Jacob and Elisabeth (Funk) Dirksen, and Cornelius and Gertruda (Plett) Dirksen all with children.
Sept 20, 1878 Main Peter
& Mary Wall family
June 24, 1879 Switzerland
Henry
& Maria Wedel family
David
& Maria Toews family
Benjamin,
Jacob, and
Johann Voth families, among 727 others
June 15, 1880 Wieland
Cornelius
& Elizabeth Dirksen family (son of Johann J.
Dirksen, brother of Heinrich J.
Dirksen whose sons came earlier on the July 28, 1876 Vaderland)
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The families in the olden days used the same names for
their children over and over again. Please notice that they usually used the
first letter of the father's name as the middle initial of their child in order
to keep some separation for the correct family.
They had very large families because they were aware of
the fact that many children would not survive. The surviving children were
their greatest assets.