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2008-12-02 issue:

Germantown has 300-year anniversary

Seventy participate in history conference held at the1770 Meetinghouse.

by Leonard Gross

Print Article

A conference celebrated the 300th anniversary of the formal organization of the Germantown (Pa.) Mennonite Church at the historic 1770 Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse Oct. 17-18 with 70 participants.

“Germantown: Gateway to North American Mennonite History” was cosponsored by the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust, Mennonite Historical Society, Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania and Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission provided funding.

Leonard Gross, archivist, introduced the conference with an overview, noting that 1683 marks the birth of a continuing Mennonite presence in North America. (Earlier there had been scattered Mennonites living in New Amsterdam—today New York—whose traces are dim and hard to document). The Mennonites who came in 1683 and years following generally met for worship with the other Germantown residents, whether Quaker or radical Lutheran pietists. But by 1690, Mennonites began to meet separately. It was not until 1708 that the congregation formally organized.

John Ruth, historian, spoke on “William Rittenhouse of Germantown,” the first minister of the Germantown Mennonites.

Jan Gleysteen, historian and lecturer, spoke on “Daniel Pastorius: Major Force in Early Germantown.” Pastorius was a radical Lutheran pietist.

Keith Sprunger, professor emeritus of history at Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., spoke on “Daniel K. Cassel: Mennonite Historian of Germantown.” Cassel’s History of the Mennonites (1888) was the first volume in the English language attempting to cover the whole Anabaptist-Mennonite experience up to that time.

 John A. Lapp, former executive secretary of Mennonite Central Committee, spoke on “The Mennonite Presence and American Religious Pluralism: An Agenda for Research.”

James Juhnke, professor emeritus of history at Bethel College, spoke on “Germantown and the American Revolution: New Interpretations.” He suggested, with documented examples, that not all was as rosy as most American history textbooks suggest and wondered if the Revolution itself would have been necessary to attain the goals of having a representative government and an adequate living standard.

Henry M. Schuler from Reston, Va., spoke on “Europe in the Closing Years of the 17th Century and the Quest for Religious Liberty in Germantown.” He underscored the fluidity of those living in early Germantown.

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