Dave, I know that (today) you can go to the Brethren Church without being baptized and be a part of the church (at least some of them today, you really can't lump them all together), but you can not become a member unless you've been baptized by immersion. Some will not accept the baptism by another church, and they will not accept infant baptism. Where is it stated that Anthony was baptized by Nass? I couldn't find it, and it might be my old eyes. I didn't see it in the links you provided. Is it in some other source? In your source is there a date? I would think that when Anthony was baptized that is when he joined the church. Beth Ann Deardorff ----- Original Message ----- From: <DESloan@aol.com> To: <brethren@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 11:55 AM Subject: Re: [BRE] Baptism Question | Maybe I did not ask my original question very well. I have a 7th Great | Grandfather Anthony Dierdorff who was baptized at the Amwell, NJ church by John | Nass. | | "http://www.amwell.org/About/History/history.html | Amwell Church was organized in 1733. In the late fall of that year, when the | early German settlers in this area heard that John Naas had landed in | Philadelphia in mid-September, a delegation made up of Jacob Moore, Antony | Dierdorff, Rudolph Herli and John Peter Lausche waited on Naas and persuaded him to | return with them to Amwell as their first pastor" | | | _http://www.amwell.org/About/History/history.html_ | (http://www.amwell.org/About/History/history.html) | | "In Abraham Cassel's "Notices of the Bretheren's Early Churches, with | Biographical Sketches of Some of their First Ministers" there is the following | chapter: | | New Jersey - The first appearance of Brethren in New Jersey was 1733, when | the following 5 Brethren (who had come in with the last division of 30 families | from Holland, with Alexander Mack, in 1729), to wit Reverend Johann Naas, | Anthony Deerdorf, Jacob More, Rudolph Harley, and John Peter van Laushe, these | five with their families, crossed the Delaware in 1733, and settled at | Amwell, in Hunterdon County, about 40 miles NEE from Philadelphia." | | >From the above you would learn that Anthony Deerdorf came over with Mack and | Naas. The question then is why do I find records that state that Naas | baptized Anthony at the Amwell church, since the above states that he already was | a Brethren? | | Later at the same web site I find: | | "A Brief History of the Amwell Church | Amwell Church was organized in 1733. In the late fall of that year, when the | early German settlers in this area heard that John Naas had landed in | Philadelphia in mid-September, a delegation made up of Jacob Moore, Antony | Dierdorff, Rudolph Herli and John Peter Lausche waited on Naas and persuaded him to | return with them to Amwell as their first pastor. " | | >From this it can be inferred that the delegation was already living at | Amwell when Naas arrived from Holland with Mack. I guess that the delegation may | or may not have been Brethren when they asked Naas to return with them to | Amwell. This means that either Anthony Dierdorff came over with Peter Becker in | 1719. Or at some time in between. Of course a check of all the ship lists from | the one that Becker came on in 1719 to the ship that carried Mack in 1729 | does NOT show any Dierdorff or variation of the name. So, maybe he was sick in | the hold when they made the list for the ship that he came over on. | | Thanks, | Dave Sloan | | | | | | | | | **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with | Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. | (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002) | | ------------------------ | Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN | ------------------------ | Support Our Sponsoring Agency | The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) | For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com | ------------------------ | | ------------------------------- | To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message |