Mennonite Church in the United States

United States  Church Records   Mennonite Church Records

History in the United States

 * The name of Mennonite came from followers of the former Catholic Priest, Menno Simons, who, during the 16th century, embraced the Anabaptist beliefs and became a religious leader.
 * Because of persecution, many fled to America in the late 1600's and settled in Pennsylvania.
 * Among the Mennonites emerged a group who followed a Swiss Mennonite Bishop named Jakob Amman; these became known as the Amish or Amish Mennonites.
 * Eventually more variations of the European Mennonites began immigrating to the United States. In the early 1800’s Mennonites settled in Ohio and Missouri with Mennonites from Russia settling in Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota' in the 1870's.
 * The Amish Mennonites settled mainly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, with some groups in Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota.
 * For a time there were two main Mennonite groups in North America; the Mennonite Church, with roots in Pennsylvania, and the General Conference Mennonite Church which was began in Iowa in 1860 and included many of the Russian immigrants.
 * Eventually, these two groups united in 2002 and became the Mennonite Church USA.

Archives
Mennonite Church USA Archives 3145 Benham Ave, Suite 1 Elkhart, IN 46517 Telephone: 574-523-3080
 * Website
 * MennObits: A research site for those interested in Amish and Mennonite families. This site contains obituaries from the Herald of Truth (1864-1908), the Gospel Witness (1905-1908), and the Gospel Herald (1908-1998), the weekly newspapers of the Mennonite Church (MC) in North America. In addition, obituaries from The Mennonite (1998- ) have been added, as well as a few from the Mennonite Weekly Review (MWR).

Writing for Records
See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.
 * For a directory of Congregations, see the Mennonite Church USA website.


 * There is also a Mennonite Immigrants list for the years 1872-1904 The Index provides the following information: • Surname • Given Name • Sex • Estimated Birth Date • Arrival Age • Stated Occupation • Individual RIN • Spouse RIN • Parent RIN • Ship Name • Ship Code

Cyndi's List - Mennonite http://www.cyndislist.com/mennonite/