Upper Milford Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite [GCM]), located near Zionsville, 5 miles southwest of Emmaus, Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, was first affiliated with the Franconia Mennonite Conference (Mennonite Church [MC]), but since 1847 has been in the Eastern District Conference (GCM). The congregation was established about 1735, and a meetinghouse was built in 1740. In 1816 the original log building, which had been used for both church and school purposes, was displaced by a stone meetinghouse, which was in turn enlarged and renovated in 1843. In the division of 1847 the minister, Joseph Schantz, and almost all the members followed John H. Oberholtzer into the new conference. In 1876 the congregation razed the stone building and built a new brick church. William Gehman, ordained by lot as minister here in 1849, led a division in 1857 and became the founder of the Evangelical Mennonites. In 1895 the membership was 96; in 1936 it was 164; in 1958 it was 168, with Burton G. Yost as pastor. Other ministers who have served were Uriah Shelly, C. H. A. van der Smissen, A. S. Shelly, W. S. Gottschall, E. S. Shelly, V. B. Boyer, and H. G. Nyce.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 78. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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