Tennessee John Stoltzfus

Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters

Mennonite Sources and Documents Series, Vol. 1

edited by Paton Yoder
translated by Noah G. Good, et. al.
1987
Hardcover
Pages: 296
ISBN: 0-9614479-5-8
Price: $24.95; in Canada $34.99

Co-published with Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society

Translated letters (1832-1887) by and to John Stoltzfus (1805-1887), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Amish leader who moved to Concord, Tennessee. Documents (125) usher the reader into mid-19th-century world where a Great Schism occurred among Amish as the line between compromise and rejection of religious conviction was passionately debated. Includes accounts of ministers’ meetings, which attempted to unite Amish church leaders of North America but failed to achieve consensus on issues such as stream baptism, duties of full deacon, church-wide ministers’ meetings, rebaptism of persons baptized as adults, excommunication, and Sunday schools. Reveals communication network stretching from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa to Tennessee, where rural settings depict Amish folkways and family life. Topics frequently include land and crops, sickness and health, migration, reminiscences, and weather as well as an 1866 Amish woman’s diary of travel to Midwest. Historical-geographical sketch of Amish settlements, maps, illustrations, index.

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