Mepsche, de
De Mepsche was a noble family of governors in the Dutch province of Groningen. Whereas most of them, and particularly Johan de Mepsche, in the 16th century were ardent Catholics and devoted servants of the Spanish regime of the Duke of Alba, which was persecuting the Anabaptists and Mennonites, a cousin, also named Johan de Mepsche, of Den Ham, joined the Mennonites about 1580, and leaving his country, his property, and his social rank for his faith he fled to Danzig, Prussia. He is said to have died of the plague at Danzig in 1588. The hypothesis that he may have been the ancestor of the Mennonite Hamm family in Prussia is probably tenable.
Bibliography
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1906): 35, 44.
Mennonitishe Geschichtsblätter 8 (1951): 33.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 654-655. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.
©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
MLA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Mepsche, de." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 20 June 2013. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M4856.html.
APA style: van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1957). Mepsche, de. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 20 June 2013, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M4856.html.
