Merle your contributions are always balanced and helpful. It is hard to understand for some who did not grow up in the Brethren faith and/or don't know the history, that Brethren during the revolution were not on the side of the "patriots" generally. They believed that they were to "give unto Caesar what was Caesar's" and that God had allowed the government to be in place. Therefore they saw the uprising against the English government as something they ought not to be participating in, and therefore were often persecuted as traitors to the cause. In fact, they were suspicious of governments in general, and for good cause, after their experience with the whole church and state debacle in Europe. With all deference to all the wonderful historians on the list, it would be good for us to be gentle with those who have questions about history, faith and tradition. Particularly during the times that are now being discussed on the list, there were many situations that differ from the norm, and it is very hard to sort out what really happened. There has been some question about people who were veterans yet were members of the Church. Generally Brethren did not go to war, but on the frontier where the churches were loosely organized it is likely that some did, particularly in local militias and so forth. Also, with young Brethren not joining the church until a more mature age, they may have fought in the military against the wishes of their family and later returned, made a statement to the congregation of some sort and joined the church, at which point they would have given up such pursuits. There are always exceptions. Others were forced to give material support to the military, as someone else has noted. Fines were paid, heavy taxation was levied. This forced many Brethren into the far frontier to escape these problems. I do know that in my home congregation (the Old Chippewa Church in Northern Ohio) there is a certain Brother Ephraim who is buried on the very edge of the cemetery away from all the other graves. I was told by my grandfather that there was a lengthy discussion within the congregation about whether or not they could bury him in the cemetery due to his military service. (Apparently he was not repentant enough, or died before doing so!) Ultimately they agreed to bury him in the Brethren Cemetery, but separate from all the others. John Shafer > From: cliff@nwwnet.net > To: brethren@rootsweb.com > Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 14:46:42 -0500 > Subject: Re: [BRE] German Brethern Immigrants > > > > Jacob immigrated to Canada in 1796 along with a number of other Dunker and > Amish families from Somerset County (formed in 1795 from Bedford County). > Jacob is listed as having died in Canada in DAR records, which is accurate. > Jacob is on a memorial plaque in Canada for immigrants from the USA. Why > did these families move to Canada....for one thing their neighbors > considered them Tories who were loyal to the King of England. > > ************** > > A group of us are working on our Stump ancestry. They were in the > Tulpehocken in 1723, part of the Little Swatara Congregation (a sister was > wife of George Boeshar, minister) and Ephrata (two sisters, daughters of > Abraham Stump Sr). A brother is the Michael Stump/Catherine Neff family of > Hardy Co WVa. Several of them seem to have gone to Brother's Valley, > Somerset Co (not the minister, Francis Stump, who went on to Muhlenberg Co > KY), and at least one was our Abraham Stump (Jr), who went to Canada > (Vaughan twp, York Co) in 1804. Several of his children came down to > Nappanee IN about 1840 (after McKenzie's disastrous "1837 Rebellion"). > There my Solomon Stump family founded the Union Center Church. These were > Brethren. > > A statement made about them, by a Rev RW Stump, at Purpleville ONT is: > "There were 5 Stump brothers who came up from Somerset Co PA. They were > loyal to the British Monarchy, and refused to swear oath to the new rebel > government." > When I originally presented the finding of this statement (used the term: > "Tories") - I had some almost vicious retorts of a "Patriotic nature". > Bill is absolutely right about our people being persecuted and some of the > results. My family was glad for the King (well, Queen), who had helped > them come to this new free land - they were not going to fight him! (being > of a pacifist church - maybe had something to do with it). > > We are having trouble determining who the 5 were. Some claim that they > were the 5 children of Abraham Jr (but he had 6 sons, and most were far too > young in 1804 to be given such definition). Then the 5 could possibly have > been siblings of Abraham Jr, of his generation - we have suspicions of at > least some of his siblings, but there is no record, and there are problems > making even simple identifications in 1804 York Co ONT. > > The family were members of the 1710 Schoharie Settlement (refugee > Palatinates - to New York), by Queen "Maud" of England, and had come down > to the Tulpehocken (Pennsylvania) in the several migrations of 1723 and > following. > > Merle C Rummel > > > ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN > ------------------------ > > > ------------------------------- > 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