Johann Donner, the son and successor of Heinrich Donner as elder of the Orlofferfelde Mennonite Church, West Prussia, 1804-1830, equaled his father in importance to the Mennonite churches in Prussia. He possessed an education quite unusual among the rural population of the time, knew the Bible from memory so that he could locate any passage at once, wrote much in the interest of his fellow believers, was their spokesman in five different deputations sent to Berlin to present the Mennonite cause to the king or the cabinet. He continued the chronicle his father had begun. By his warm, pious, upright personality he contributed to the elimination of friction between the Frisian and Flemish churches in West Prussia. He was born in Schönsee in 1771, owned a farm in Beyershorst, and died there in 1830. His valuable autobiography is published in the Gemeinde-Kalender for 1932, pp. 74-103.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 84. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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