1957 ArticleMennonites living in northeastern Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the latter part of the 18th century built a meetinghouse on the land of Jacob Kapoes of Upper Mount Bethel Township. In 1822 the Mennonites of the area built another meetinghouse near what became later the intersection of Broadway and South Fourth Street in Bangor, PA. The settlement seems not to have thrived, although the following Mennonite names were represented in the area in 1754: Gross, Culp, Tyson, Moyer, Swartz, Funk, Hess, Fry, Snyder, Martin, Weaver, Bender, Bower, Bowman, Grub, and Nice. Jacob Moyer (1791-1859) of the Swamp district of the Franconia Conference used to go to Northampton County to administer communion to the members there. And John Geil (1778-1866), a preacher of the Lexington congregation of the Franconia Conference, used to preach in Northampton County. The members who were left in the area in 1847 cast their lot with John H. Oberholtzer's new conference, which ordained David Henning (1806-1881) to serve as preacher. But shortly after Henning's ordination he united with William Gehman's Evangelical Mennonites. In 1878 Henning and a woman named Elizabeth Warch as "survivors of the said Mennonite Society" conveyed the church property to the Lutherans, and the Mennonite congregations expired. In 1935 the old residents in Northampton County spoke of the former Mennonites with high regard, calling them "Old Meneese" (corruption for Mennist, an old German name for Mennonite). -- John C. Wenger
1959 Supplemental ArticleMount Bethel Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite Church), now extinct, located in Bangor, Pennsylvania, was from 1847 to 1858 a part of the Oberholtzer Conference. Before 1847 it was a part of the Franconia Conference (MC) and after 1858 a part of the Evangelical Mennonites, led by Wm. Gehman. A brick meetinghouse was built in 1822, which was taken over by the Lutherans in 1865. (See: Rothrock.) -- Harold S. Bender
Wenger, J. C. History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference. Telford, PA, 1937: 232-237.
|Author(s)||John C. Wenger|
|Harold S. Bender|
Cite This Article
Wenger, John C. and Harold S. Bender. "Mount Bethel Mennonite Church (Northampton County, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 9 Mar 2014. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mount_Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Northampton_County,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=90196.
Wenger, John C. and Harold S. Bender. (1959). Mount Bethel Mennonite Church (Northampton County, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 9 March 2014, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mount_Bethel_Mennonite_Church_(Northampton_County,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=90196.
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