Mennonites in Bucks-Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania in 1950. Source: Mennonite Encyclopedia, v. 1, p. 462.

Bucks County, located in southeastern Pennsylvania along the Delaware River, was one of the three original counties in the province. William Penn named it after Buckinghamshire of England. His residence, Pennsbury Manor, now restored, is located in southern Bucks County. Chief cities in the Mennonite northern half of the county are Doylestown and Quakertown. The first settlers were English Quakers. German settlers came into Bucks County from the expanding settlements of Montgomery County in the west. The earliest Mennonite settlement in Bucks County was probably in Bedminster Township which was created in 1742. Its first meetinghouse was built about 1746.

The Mennonite congregations in Bucks County totaled about 2,700 baptized members in 1950, about two thirds of whom belong to the Franconia Mennonite Conference, with 10 organized congregations, and one third to the Eastern District Conference, with 7 congregations.

It was at the Swamp Church near Quakertown, Pennsylvania, where the historic 1847 division occurred in the Franconia Conference. The more progressive group, led by John H. Oberholtzer, later became the Eastern District Conference of the General Conference Mennonite Church. In 1950 there was also one congregation of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ in Bucks County, at Quakertown.

The Mennonite settlement extends from central Bucks County north into Lehigh and Berks counties and west into Montgomery County.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 461. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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