--- Sandra Ferguson <ferg@intelos.net> wrote: > Is the Church of the Brethren the same as > the Mennonite? If so, there > were "3 churches between 1725 and 1785 built > on the Schuylkill. These must > have been in Chester co, as the Montgomery co > churches are included in other > Oh, no, here we go again! We're having quite a discussion on the PABERKS list on this topic. Probaly a gentleman named Ray Honaker will jump in and call me ignorant - and then partially answer your question, but I'm going to risk it anyway (grin). No, the Church of the Brethren isn't the same thing as the Mennonites. I'm new meaning to unclear on which of the Brethren sects was the Chruch of the Brethren. Mean to straighten it out months from now when I can get my hands on teh appropriate books. Some Brethren sects had Mennonite roots. I think that all ultimately had Anabaptist roots. But some apparently, from what I can tell, came from a Pietist movement in Germany that was concerned mostly with revitalizing religion. If they had other concerns, too, I haven't learned about them yet. There was a Brethren group who organized in Germantown I think around the 1720's. There were also a number of sects, like the Ephrata Cloister and the Moravians, who were loosely associated with both Pietism and the Brethren via their founders had at one time belonged to those churches, and were sometimes called Brethren. There were also Dunkers and German Baptists, who Ive seen some people and some sources insist they were the same thing as the Brethren, and others insist they had nothing to do with the Brethren. I'm afriad I can't help you with what Brethren went to Chester County. I thought they kind of went west to places settled by Pennylvania Dutch. There is a BRETHREN-L list at Rootsweb. Also, you might want to look at the site, http://www.cob-net.org (possibly that's cobb). Also, you can use the search engines to look for Brethren. There's a guy named Donald I think it is Durnbaugh who recently published a couple of really good books on the Brethren and their history - if you have that level of interest and you can get ahold of them. Also, alot of the Brethren denominations have archived records from teh congregations for people doing genealogy. Yours, Dora __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail � Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/

Hello, Below in quotes is about Alexander Mack and the German Baptist Brethren of Germantown from http://www.cob-net.org/docs/groups.htm, Conrad Beissel split from this group and founded the Ephrata Cloister, the Schneebergers split from Ephrata and founded the Snow Hill nunnery. They were also known as Dunkards and Tunkers from their dunking 3 times during baptism for the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Triune immersion. The United Brethren are totally seperate from this Brethren sect. "Established 1708 near Schwarzenau, Germany, by Alexander Mack who founded a community of eight believers through adult baptism. They were heavily influenced by Pietism, and Anabaptist conventions from an earlier century. Schwarzenau Brethren often experienced religious persecution, and found refuge among Mennonites, an older persecuted Anabaptist group who had establish havens over many years, such as Krefeld (Germany) and Germantown (Pennsylvania). Brethren were also influenced by them, and many beliefs and practices remain similar into the modern era. Following a resurgence of persecution, splinter groups evolved and the Mack party emigrated in 1729 to Pennsylvania in the wake of co-worker Peter Becker's earlier group of 1719. The first American congregation was founded near Germantown with adult baptisms on Christmas Day, 1723. Enjoying their new world freedom from religious persecution, many congregations were established." Marty Graybill > -----Original Message----- > From: Dora Smith [mailto:tiggernut_48@yahoo.com] > Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2000 10:25 PM > To: PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [PACHESTE] Mennonites > > > > > > --- Sandra Ferguson <ferg@intelos.net> wrote: > > Is the Church of the Brethren the same as > > the Mennonite? If so, there > > were "3 churches between 1725 and 1785 built > > on the Schuylkill. These must > > have been in Chester co, as the Montgomery co > > churches are included in other > > > > Oh, no, here we go again! We're having quite a > discussion on the PABERKS list on this topic. > > Probaly a gentleman named Ray Honaker will jump > in and call me ignorant - and then partially > answer your question, but I'm going to risk it > anyway (grin). No, the Church of the Brethren > isn't the same thing as the Mennonites. I'm new > meaning to unclear on which of the Brethren sects > was the Chruch of the Brethren. Mean to > straighten it out months from now when I can get > my hands on teh appropriate books. Some Brethren > sects had Mennonite roots. I think that all > ultimately had Anabaptist roots. But some > apparently, from what I can tell, came from a > Pietist movement in Germany that was concerned > mostly with revitalizing religion. If they had > other concerns, too, I haven't learned about them > yet. There was a Brethren group who organized in > Germantown I think around the 1720's. There were > also a number of sects, like the Ephrata Cloister > and the Moravians, who were loosely associated > with both Pietism and the Brethren via their > founders had at one time belonged to those > churches, and were sometimes called Brethren. > There were also Dunkers and German Baptists, who > Ive seen some people and some sources insist they > were the same thing as the Brethren, and others > insist they had nothing to do with the Brethren. > I'm afriad I can't help you with what Brethren > went to Chester County. I thought they kind of > went west to places settled by Pennylvania Dutch. > > There is a BRETHREN-L list at Rootsweb. Also, > you might want to look at the site, > http://www.cob-net.org (possibly that's cobb). > Also, you can use the search engines to look for > Brethren. There's a guy named Donald I think it > is Durnbaugh who recently published a couple of > really good books on the Brethren and their > history - if you have that level of interest and > you can get ahold of them. > > Also, alot of the Brethren denominations have > archived records from teh congregations for > people doing genealogy. > > Yours, > Dora > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! > http://mail.yahoo.com/ > > > ==== PACHESTE Mailing List ==== > Stop by our associated website for Chester County Genealogy at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacheste/chester.htm > > > >