Morgan County and Moniteau County (Missouri, USA)
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| Morgan & Moniteau counties U.S. Census TIGER/Line map |
Morgan and Moniteau counties, Missouri, are located in the central part of the state along the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The Mennonites settled in Piolet Grove Township, Moniteau County, and Moreau Township, Morgan County. This settlement had two Mennonite churches in the 1950s. Mt. Zion Mennonite (Mennonite Church) Church (in Morgan County) had a membership of 54 in 1955. The Bethel Mennonite (General Conference Mennonite Church) Church (in Moniteau County) had 141 members in 1955.
In October 1865 Christian Luginbühl, P. P. Lehman, Sr., and Ulrich Welty, of the Sonnenberg settlement in Wayne County, Ohio, made a trip through Missouri and Iowa to find land for a settlement. Christian Luginbühl bought a farm 8 miles (13 km) south of Tipton, Missouri. In April 1866 he, together with four other men, moved with their families from Wayne County to this new settlement. In the following decade more came from Wayne County. Most of the Polk County, Iowa, Swiss Mennonite settlement moved here in 1867-1868. Numerous families came from Rockingham County, Virginia, and various other Mennonite (MC) settlements in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. In 1871 the church divided peacefully into the two congregations.
Bibliography
Gratz, Delbert L. Bernese Anabaptists and their American Descendants . Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1953.
Hilty, Peter P. Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Bethel Mennonite Church. California, Missouri, USA), 1942.
Loganbill, Jesse H. Souvenir Album of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Bethel Mennonite Church in Morgan and Moniteau Counties near Fortuna, Missouri. Berne, 1917.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 752. 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: Gratz, Delbert L. "Morgan County and Moniteau County (Missouri, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 19 June 2013. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M67075.html.
APA style: Gratz, Delbert L. (1957). Morgan County and Moniteau County (Missouri, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 June 2013, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M67075.html.
