00:00 - The following program was financed by a Grant from america to fifty pa.

00:16 - Joe horse nop cigar is executive director at the mennonite heritage center

00:20 - Jordan mennonites first come to Pennsylvania.

00:23 - So mennonites first came to Pennsylvania in sixteen eighty

00:26 - three with the formation of the germantown settlement.

00:30 - They came mostly from.

00:33 - The platinum on the

00:35 - on the rhine river.

00:36 - So a few a few also also from the Netherlands

00:39 - selling to German town.

00:41 - And that

00:42 - how large was this group.

00:47 - I think the the for the first the first

00:48 - settlement was about a dozen a dozen families.

00:52 - So we're working with a

00:53 - fairly small group

00:54 - though as we as time moves on and by seven to seventeen hundreds we see several

00:59 - waves of immigrations.

01:02 - Again from the platinum some with a few more.

01:05 - Swiss Swiss German descendants

01:08 - descendants coming in

01:09 - let's go back to their

01:10 - places of origin and Europe

01:12 - where

01:13 - were they farmers were they tradespeople what what was their professions.

01:17 - So we have we have a really mixed bag

01:19 - of the of that original cohort that came and settled in germantown

01:24 - these were primarily

01:26 - linen weavers

01:28 - and they and they

01:29 - very quickly grew

01:30 - grew flax and started weaving.

01:33 - Those who came with the later

01:34 - migrations

01:36 - tended much more tour towards agrarian agrarian occupations.

01:40 - Farmer farmers.

01:42 - Herdsmen.

01:44 - A number a number of

01:44 - people who ran vineyards.

01:47 - And and let's all go back to Europe as far as the origins

01:50 - of the mennonite faith itself or where did it begin.

01:53 - So

01:54 - Mennonites come out of the broader anabaptist movement which is the radical right.

01:59 - Wing of the

02:00 - protestant reformation.

02:03 - Normally they look back to January twenty

02:05 - first fifteen twenty five in Switzerland as the

02:08 - starting point for the anabaptist movement

02:11 - this year in fact celebrating

02:13 - five hundred years of that anniversary

02:15 - but really.

02:17 - In the in that

02:18 - reformation context

02:21 - where

02:21 - ideas are swirled laying society's changing.

02:26 - Scripture is being translated into vernacular languages at the same time

02:30 - you see

02:32 - a lot of.

02:33 - Small radical groups

02:35 - starting to deal with the same ideas at the same at the same time.

02:40 - Sometimes with conversation with others sometimes not

02:43 - and

02:44 - those specific ideas are

02:46 - are

02:47 - sort of the origins of the free church this idea that church membership is a

02:52 - voluntary commitment symbolized by adult baptism

02:55 - and so we see that idea popping up

02:58 - in Switzerland

02:59 - in the low countries and

03:01 - in the Netherlands

03:02 - we see it popping up a little bit in south Germany

03:05 - and.

03:06 - Out of sort of the merger of those dreams we see anabaptist

03:10 - mennonites

03:11 - developing as a more distinctive group.

03:15 - Of where does the name come from there there

03:16 - was an individual named men no Simons who was he.

03:20 - So many men no Simons is a early anabaptist leader.

03:26 - Working out of the Netherlands.

03:28 - Now.

03:29 - I mentioned the free church and what volatile baptism.

03:32 - Anabaptists also had.

03:35 - I.

03:37 - Two other distinctive views that

03:39 - will help help help

03:40 - understand why minto is important

03:43 - first they.

03:45 - Practiced Christian nonviolence

03:48 - and secondly they refused to swear oaths

03:51 - these are both

03:52 - specific practices coming out of a broader understanding that.

03:57 - Being a Christian meant following him in everyday life.

04:01 - Because of that.

04:03 - We see

04:04 - heavy persecution of

04:07 - anabaptists.

04:09 - Partly because when you're in a.

04:13 - Society that's full of unrest not not fighting not swearing loyalty to your city.

04:19 - Is not particularly popular and adult baptism takes away.

04:24 - The from the baptismal rolls which also doubled as tatra

04:27 - tax records

04:28 - so we see heavy persecution among the

04:31 - four the anabaptists.

04:33 - Menno is important

04:34 - not because he's the

04:36 - or originator of the anabaptist movement but because he

04:41 - threw.

04:43 - Guile and luck manages to survive much longer than other

04:48 - early anabaptist leaders

04:50 - and he works to gather scattered congregations as they are being persecuted

04:54 - and help provide guidance to them

04:57 - he also

04:58 - because he met lives longer he also manages to produce a lot more

05:02 - written work look.

05:04 - For his followers to carry on.

05:07 - How did the mennonites in

05:08 - southern Germany and the Netherlands

05:10 - how do they know to come to Pennsylvania.

05:13 - So there was a concentrated effort on the hat on the hat behalf of William penn to

05:18 - recruit men nights to come to Pennsylvania.

05:23 - Part of the hook is his promise of religious freedom William penn being a quaker also

05:28 - suffered religious persecution for

05:31 - it firsthand in England.

05:34 - The second part of it is that by this point mennonites in the

05:37 - platen it

05:38 - had

05:39 - developed a reputation as being especially good

05:42 - farmers

05:44 - and so.

05:45 - William penn sort of did this double

05:47 - a double handed come.

05:49 - Work on work work here you have really good

05:51 - farmland a really good economic opportune cities

05:54 - and

05:54 - you won't have to worry about persecution

05:56 - because we're setting up a

05:58 - colony based around ideals of religious freedom

06:01 - and so there's lots of.

06:03 - Pamphlets going back and forth.

06:07 - Lots of vet visits going on trying to encourage

06:09 - mennonites in the planet to move to Pennsylvania.

06:14 - In the colonial period as as more and more mennonites came over

06:17 - what was the pattern of settlement.

06:20 - So

06:21 - There are sort of

06:22 - two two main paths you come at the port of Philadelphia

06:25 - you move to German town which at that point would have been a separate village not

06:29 - part of Philadelphia proper it's about two miles out from where

06:32 - Philadelphia would have been

06:34 - and from there you have

06:36 - two choices.

06:38 - The

06:39 - earliest settlement which were they the area the heritage under covers.

06:43 - Is going north from from germantown.

06:46 - Up the skip at creek to skip back then

06:49 - later on to salford franconia

06:51 - moving north as far as far as lehigh county.

06:55 - The second path

06:57 - is.

06:58 - Skipping over Chester and moving out to Lancaster

07:01 - and so we have Lancaster and

07:02 - what was called the franconia settlement is too.

07:05 - Early

07:06 - options for

07:08 - mennonite immigration.

07:10 - Now as a as mennonites continue to move into Pennsylvania

07:14 - how did they organize their communities.

07:18 - So it's a little bit scattered many nights.

07:21 - Like mit

07:22 - like many immigrant communities.

07:25 - I.

07:26 - Found

07:27 - the affairs of surviving much more important than keeping records

07:31 - but in German town.

07:34 - We know by sixteen ninety they're organizing a congregation one.

07:39 - Bah I know though it's another.

07:42 - Twenty or thirty years until the.

07:45 - Twenty years until we have the first communion and baptism services in germantown.

07:49 - In seventeen twenty five we see the first sort of.

07:53 - Mennonite organizational gathering occur when

07:56 - representatives from both Lancaster and franconia

08:00 - gathered together

08:02 - to adopt the dordrecht confession of faith as

08:04 - a normative document that is a dutchman and a

08:07 - confession of faith and they they adopted in the Grant and a great conference and

08:11 - that's the first formal organization we have.

08:14 - How important was the preservation of their native languages after they emigrated.

08:21 - When we think about many nights we need to understand that

08:23 - mennonites are working in a Pennsylvania German ocean.

08:28 - They are coming over here.

08:30 - They're

08:30 - living living with met with other Pennsylvania Dutch people they're

08:34 - living with

08:35 - lutherans and reformed who are also

08:37 - low German or Pennsylvania

08:39 - speaking

08:40 - and so they get together.

08:42 - Within

08:43 - and they speak that and they don't have a

08:44 - strong need to learn English some of them do

08:48 - and

08:49 - it's not until later that language issues become

08:52 - a key element

08:54 - we know that

08:55 - certain leaders within the Pennsylvania assembly and the state and the colony

09:00 - of Pennsylvania are very worried that we have such a large number of German speakers

09:04 - coming into the colony worrying that will.

09:07 - Do.

09:08 - Shape the colony in a

09:10 - way that's not beneficial.

09:14 - But it's not

09:15 - a it's not a religiously motivated preservation of the language.

09:20 - Now as

09:21 - the colonial period moves into the revolutionary war period

09:24 - what types of challenges

09:26 - are mennonites facing as the revolutionary crisis is coming along.

09:31 - Well.

09:33 - There's a couple of thing a

09:34 - couple of things to note

09:35 - the first is

09:37 - again with mennonites being a

09:39 - Christian pacifist.

09:41 - Group.

09:43 - War and rumors of war were deeply unsettling to mennonite leaders in Pennsylvania.

09:50 - In fact in response to the French and Indian

09:52 - war.

09:54 - Mennonite leaders in franconia.

09:57 - Worked to translate and publish a book

10:00 - called the martyrs mirror this was a Dutch mennonite martyr apology.

10:05 - Is the aim to gather

10:07 - stories of nonviolent christians who are persecuted for their faith.

10:14 - And franconia mennonite leaders thought that this

10:16 - would be a very good educational tool to help.

10:20 - Strengthen the faith and witness of mennonites in.

10:24 - Leading up to the revolutionary period.

10:27 - This was.

10:28 - Produced actually by the

10:30 - cloister out in Lancaster is the largest but produced in colonial america

10:33 - at the time.

10:36 - Another thing to point out once we move more and

10:39 - more closer to the revolution we're actually at two hundred fifty years from.

10:43 - A

10:44 - Petition written by Benjamin hers hey to the colonial assembly.

10:48 - Asking for clarity on

10:51 - whether or not

10:52 - the peace churches like mennonites would be.

10:55 - Asked to serve in the militia.

10:58 - Benjamin hers hey wrote that

11:00 - we that is mennonites have dedicated ourselves to

11:02 - serving all men and everything that can be helpful

11:05 - to the preservation of men's lives

11:08 - but we find no freedom in giving or doing or assisting

11:11 - in anything by which men's lives are destroyed or hurt.

11:17 - This is made a little this has received a little bit

11:19 - better in Pennsylvania than it would in other places because

11:23 - quakers who founded Pennsylvania were also a peace church.

11:29 - Once we move into the revolution.

11:32 - The situation gets even more complex.

11:35 - So at that time especially when British troops

11:37 - are in Pennsylvania and occupying Philadelphia

11:40 - that the tensions between loyalists and patriots.

11:43 - So often times don't leave a lot of room for people

11:46 - who are not taking sides.

11:48 - That that that's correct.

11:51 - It's a it's complicated but.

11:54 - There's there's

11:55 - maybe two points to pull out here.

11:59 - One is

12:00 - when we see the test act being.

12:03 - An initiated reason there is a interesting

12:06 - event that occurs at sal can mennonite church in.

12:09 - Northampton county

12:11 - where twelve members of the congregation are arrested ID

12:15 - because of their refusal to swear the test oath

12:18 - and then they're in fact

12:19 - all of their possessions or auction and their sentenced to be exiled from the

12:22 - state of Pennsylvania.

12:25 - Now.

12:26 - Fairly quickly quickly after that there is a reprieve granted

12:30 - from the Pennsylvania assembly where they're not exiled

12:33 - but they still suffered the confiscation of their property

12:36 - because they weren't not willing to

12:38 - take a strict revolutionary stance

12:42 - but we also see one of the earliest.

12:46 - Fractures were in the middle a church happened.

12:49 - Around and a minister named Christian funk.

12:53 - The fund defined who

12:55 - eventually formed his own charter church the fun kite mennonites

12:59 - and that controversy

13:01 - for a Christian funk was how do you know

13:03 - if your government is legitimate which is an especially important

13:07 - question in a revolutionary context.

13:10 - Christian funk.

13:12 - Simplified the matter by saying if you're willing to deal

13:16 - with a government's currency

13:18 - I e the revolutionary doll others

13:19 - than you are recognizing them as legitimate.

13:24 - Now let's talk about some of the key early figures

13:27 - who was William rittenhouse.

13:29 - So William britain houses the first minister

13:31 - in america

13:33 - who he was ordained ordained

13:35 - in about.

13:36 - Sixteen ninety in germantown

13:39 - and though.

13:41 - There were some.

13:43 - Confusion on his part or some uncertainties about whether he was

13:47 - fit to be a minister without having

13:50 - an ordination by another bishop there wasn't a mennonite bishop in

13:53 - america at the time

13:55 - and so this is why there was that long delay between the formation of the conference

14:00 - and when they have the first baptism and communion services

14:03 - William rittenhouse actually dies shortly before

14:06 - those are held.

14:08 - He's also an incredibly important person in the colonial Pennsylvania

14:11 - because he starts the first paper mills

14:14 - which are just there outside outside of.

14:16 - Outside of germantown.

14:19 - He's also the great grandfather of the famous

14:22 - polymath David rittenhouse of astronomy fame.

14:29 - Now

14:29 - another figure from

14:30 - the corner period Christopher darko

14:32 - who was a

14:34 - Christopher dock is

14:36 - perhaps the most important

14:38 - Pennsylvania German colonial schoolmaster.

14:42 - He's a

14:43 - pi attesting Clyde mennonite.

14:45 - Works in germantown sky get back

14:48 - salford.

14:49 - He is.

14:51 - A fracture artist

14:53 - in addition which he used used as rewards

14:56 - to his students Christopher dock is notable.

14:59 - Because.

15:01 - He produced the first written pedagogy

15:05 - in america and his key innovation was that

15:09 - rather than punishing students

15:11 - when they do something wrong

15:13 - you should reward them

15:15 - when they do something well he says you should give them a bird or a flower

15:19 - that's not a literal bird or a flower but a

15:23 - illustrated drawing of one sort of

15:26 - a Cologne your era sticker for a good job.

15:32 - Let's talk more about frock to our oh what is it and what

15:35 - what role does it play within the mennonite community.

15:38 - So fracture is a

15:40 - Pennsylvania in the American form is a Pennsylvania German

15:44 - illuminated manuscript

15:46 - literally fracture means broken writing

15:49 - it's the same

15:50 - root word is fractured it's a distinctive

15:53 - broken style of calligraphy

15:55 - often ornamented with.

15:59 - Flowers

16:00 - birds

16:01 - angels other sorts of illustrations.

16:05 - Some of them are.

16:08 - Decorative elements you know you have a label from your book to note note that your

16:12 - him because yours you have a nameplate and it's dealt decorating and refractor style.

16:17 - Among the church Pennsylvania Germans lutheran reformed you have rocked her

16:21 - baptismal records.

16:23 - We see less of these in a mennonite context because of adult baptism.

16:27 - While we see a lot in many contexts or what's called vor shrift and these are

16:32 - writing aids where.

16:34 - The schoolteacher

16:35 - will

16:36 - write out a

16:38 - edifying message.

16:41 - As well as giving samples of here's how you form

16:44 - your various letters with the idea that the student can

16:49 - practice his handwriting or hit her handwriting by

16:52 - copying the letters in divorce shrift in

16:55 - and also gain.

16:57 - Moral character as they as they copy the letter in their practice.

17:03 - They mentioned that Christopher docker read a book on pedagogy at

17:06 - the did the mennonites have a distinctive

17:07 - approach to education in the colonial period.

17:12 - They were.

17:15 - It's hard to say perhaps Christopher dock certainly has a

17:19 - distinctive pedagogy

17:21 - where he is much gentler with his students

17:24 - much less inclined to use corporal punishment.

17:28 - That's not necessarily carried out among all mennonite

17:30 - school teachers there's some there's some nuance in there.

17:35 - And frothed her as a school reward is not a

17:37 - distinctive pedagogy to mennonites we see that among

17:40 - all the Pennsylvania German school teachers

17:43 - and

17:44 - mennonites have perhaps preserved it more than some others

17:48 - but it's not.

17:49 - Necessarily distinctive.

17:52 - One of the other figures from the colonial period was a

17:55 - dark kaiser

17:55 - who was he.

17:57 - So dirk kaiser

17:58 - was a

18:00 - early manmade settler in German town.

18:03 - Before

18:03 - germantown mennonite church formerly organized itself as a congregation

18:08 - he would often

18:09 - lead a small worshiping group by

18:12 - row reading sermons from a book in his private residence

18:16 - but what I love about dirk kaiser is a folk story we

18:20 - receive from him because dark kaiser was a silk merchant

18:25 - and he liked to wear his silk coats.

18:28 - Now midnight's

18:29 - tend to be a

18:31 - people who val liu simplicity

18:34 - and plainness

18:36 - and not

18:37 - showy displays of wealth

18:40 - and

18:41 - when some of the.

18:43 - Other mennonite leaders in skip pack heard that

18:46 - there was this mennonite

18:48 - town in German town

18:50 - who is wearing silk.

18:53 - They thought

18:54 - this really won't do we need to go talk to him and make sure he corrects his ways

18:59 - and so they get on their horses and a ride down from skip back to German town

19:04 - and they find dirk kaiser

19:06 - in his silk coat

19:08 - working in his garden

19:10 - and when he sees

19:12 - his visitors arriving he

19:14 - puts down his spade he wipes his hands on his silk coat

19:19 - and goes to greet them

19:21 - and when they realize

19:23 - that this man is willing to dirty his

19:26 - silk clothes these other ministers realize

19:29 - we really did not understand we thought he was doing

19:32 - wearing his cell code to be proud but we see he is not

19:35 - and so they

19:36 - turn tail and head back home in shame.

19:40 - Or you're the executive director of the mennonite heritage center.

19:43 - Whereas the center located and and how does it tell the story of mennonites.

19:47 - For the mennonite heritage centers located in

19:49 - harleysville Pennsylvania right along route one thirteen.

19:53 - Right now we have three exhibits on display.

19:57 - Because it's the five hundredth anniversary of the baptism we have

20:00 - a coat of many colors colors commemorating five

20:02 - hundred years of anabaptist faith and practice

20:05 - which looks at how mennonites have

20:07 - lived out their faith locally and internationally over the last five hundred years

20:12 - but mennonites are

20:14 - working in a local context we also have peace

20:17 - and plenty life in the central perk humid valley

20:20 - which looks at.

20:22 - Jed the general facts of life business and farming here.

20:26 - In our local community

20:28 - and finally in our in our art gallery we have fracture the art of

20:32 - reading writing and religion

20:34 - showing off

20:35 - many of our fine collect

20:37 - pieces the fracture in our collection.

20:40 - We've been speaking with Joel horse knob cigarettes executive director at the

20:43 - mennonite heritage center Joel thanks for joining me.

20:46 - Thank you.

21:07 - And.