The Kaufman Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located two miles east of Holsopple, Pennsylvania., was the youngest of the congregations of what was once a united Johnstown bishop district. The other congregations in the district were, with date of first meetinghouse, Blough (1836), Weaver (1855), Thomas (1874), Stahl (1882), and Elton (1899). These congregations constituted in effect a single congregation, called in the conference minutes the Johnstown congregation, with one bishop, which in 1900 was listed as having about 500 baptized members. Bishops were Jacob Blough (d. 1849), Samuel Blough, Sr. (d. 1877), Samuel Blough, Jr., Jonas Blough (d. 1906), James Saylor (ordained bishop 1903). About 1940 the district was divided and the individual congregations given different bishops. The Kaufman congregation apparently was organized as a separate body about 1912, when the first meetinghouse was built and 94 members were listed. It had no minister of its own until 1917, when A. J. Blough was chosen. In 1955 the membership was 162, with Harry Y. Shetler and Irvin M. Holsopple serving as ministers. The remnant of the old Kaufman Amish Mennonite congregation, which had been located in the same area, joined the new Kaufman Mennonite congregation

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 158-159. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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