Pike County Old Order Amish settlement, near Bowling Green, Missouri, began in December 1947, when Jacob M. Beachey and his sons moved here from Jay County, Indiana. A church was organized on 29 February 1948, with Jacob J. Miller as minister of the group, and Christ M. Bontrager of Buchanan County, Iowa, as bishop. The congregation is now (1958) divided into two districts, the South District having 55 members, with Jacob J. Miller as bishop and Joseph E. Miller and P. M. Borntrager as preachers, and the North District, 68 members, with Peter Girod as bishop and Jacob J. Schwartz, John M. Schwartz, and Jacob W. Eicher as preachers.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 180. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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