Mahoning County, Ohio. U.S. Census TIGER/Line map

Mahoning County, Ohio, located in eastern Ohio adjacent to the Pennsylvania state line and formed from Columbiana and Trumbull counties in 1846, in 1957 was the home of two Mennonite churches (Mennonite Church), Midway with a membership of 159 and North Lima with 149, and one Wisler congregation (Old Colony Mennonite), Pleasant View, with a membership of 94. The first Mennonites in the county came from Bucks Co., Pennsylvania, in 1807 and were later joined by others from Canada. The Leetonia congregation, located a few miles to the south in Columbiana County and organized ten years later, is part of the settlement. Early bishops were Jacob Oberholzer and Jacob Nold. Until the early 1950s, when a bishop was ordained for each of the three Mennonite Church congregations, A. J. Steiner had served as their bishop. The town of North Lima was the trading center of the community. Youngstown, 11 miles (18 km) to the north, was the county seat.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 441. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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