This Mennonite family emigrated from the Emmental, Switzerland, to Friedelsheim, Palatinate, Germany, in the early 1670s. Three Hershey brothers who were all preachers joined their father Christian (d. 1720) in 1717 and 1739, in settling in Lancaster County, PA. Bishop Benjamin Hershey with his four sons, Christian with his nine, and Andrew his twelve, made quite a contribution to Mennonite and United Brethren history. Among the Mennonite ministers of this family name were bishops Benjamin I and II, Jacob, and Joseph, and preachers Benjamin of Manheim, Isaac, Jr., Jacob (2), Jacob R., and Jacob H. in Lancaster County; Isaac, Jr., Jacob, and Joseph I and II in York County. A congregation east of Intercourse and another one in central York County were named Hershey. In the Welland County, ON, community the members of the Hershey family who were Mennonite ministers by 1956 were Christian, John B., and Benjamin. T. K. Hershey was a pioneer Argentine missionary. Milton S. Hershey, who founded the philanthropic-industrial town of Hershey, Pa. and is known for his chocolate factory, was a son of members of the Reformed Mennonite Church. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey who served as the director of the U.S. Selective Service system in the U.S. Army was a grandson of Mennonite Church Mennonites.

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