Bethany Mennonite Church (Neutral, Kansas, USA)
Bethany Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), now extinct, was located near Neutral, Cherokee County, Kansas, in the southeastern part of the state. The first Mennonite settlers arrived from the east about 1880. Mennonite names in Cherokee County were Miller, Schmidt, Kuhns, Hamilton, Mast, Hooley, Shupe, Imhoff, and Nice. Resident ministers who served the congregation were Samuel Mishler, B. F. Hamilton, Abe Kuhns, Noah Shenk, and Amos Geigley. Samuel Mishler was a bishop, but was expelled from the brotherhood by the Kansas-Nebraska Conference in 1888. A deacon, Samuel Mishler, probably a relative of Bishop Samuel Mishler, also served the congregation. During the earlier period the Mennonites in Cherokee County were somewhat scattered, one group worshiping in the Neutral schoolhouse and another in the Stowel schoolhouse several miles southwest of Neutral. Later the two groups worshiped together and in 1900 built a church one-half mile east and one-half mile south of Neutral. In 1896 the congregation transferred its membership from the Kansas-Nebraska Conference to the Missouri-Iowa Conference. The Mennonites used the Beasley cemetery, southwest of Neutral. The membership of the congregation was never large. In 1896, 15 members were reported. By 1906 most of the families had relocated. A few remained and were lost to the Mennonite Church.
| Author(s) | Gideon G Yoder |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Yoder, Gideon G. "Bethany Mennonite Church (Neutral, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethany_Mennonite_Church_(Neutral,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=91076.
APA style
Yoder, Gideon G. (1953). Bethany Mennonite Church (Neutral, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bethany_Mennonite_Church_(Neutral,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=91076.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 303-304. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.