>Hans and Ulrich were Mennonites. Jacob was a Lutheran. In the social context >of the time, I think that this is very significant. One of the noticeable >things about our immigrant ancestors is how tenacious they were of their >religion and their ethnic group until several generations in America - often >not intermarrying with other religious and ethnic groups until after the >Revolution. To me, it just "feels wrong" that Jacob would have become a >Lutheran if he really came from a Mennonite family. It also seems unlikely >that he would have been a Lutheran if he came from Switzerland. An interesting note is that in Europe, many of the people who became Mennonites had been Lutheran prior to converting. Mennonites (a denomination based on the teachings of Menno Simons) have two distinct origins...in Holland and in Switzerland. My great-grandmother came from Russia to Canada and married my great-grandfather in 1901. She *did* have to become Mennonite before she married him. I still don't know what denomination she and her family may have been before that. >Very few places in Europe would accept >Mennonites, because they were neither Calvinist nor Lutheran (the only legal >varieties of Protestant). I guess I have a hard time believing that Jacob >Howry, a Lutheran, came from a Mennonite family and just shrugged off his >religion just when he got to Pennsylvania and could be a Mennonite in peace. The main objections in Europe to Mennonites were the fact that (a) they are Anabaptists -- which means they believe in adult baptisms rather than infant; (b) they are pacifists and do not hold public office. Pennsylvania is another matter...with so many Germanic groups...Amish, Hutterite, Mennonite, Lutheran, etc. Even within these larger groupings, there are constantly splits...not so much over theology, but sometimes just whether or not to have an organ in the church/meeting house, etc. So many of these groups are similar, but you dare not tell them that!! :) I will admit, however, that my knowledge of Mennonites is based more on the "Dutch" and "Russian" Mennonites rather than "Swiss" Mennonites. My father's side of the family is primarily "Russian" Mennonite, originating in Holland and Prussia. My understanding is that a large number of the "Russian" Mennonites that came to North America came to Canada first (largely centred in Manitoba); whereas "Swiss" Mennonites were more concentrated in Pennsylvania. -- Amelia Reimer-Davisson -=-=-=-=- Searching for HOWRY & Associated Families: PEER, CRAWFORD, LAUDERBAUGH, KENNEDY, Starr, Carlton, Ellis, Rainer, Thomas, Owens, Huston, Clifton, Job, Tomey, Daly, Ayres, Howard, Hale, Goodell, Tolksdorf, etc. -=-=-=-=- Russian Mennonite Research: REIMER, ESAU, GIESBRECHT, LEPPKE/LOEPPKY, KLASSEN, MANHOLD/MANHOLTZ, CONRAD/KONRAD, WALL, KOP/KOPP/KOOP, DYCK/DUECK, PETERS, REMPEL.