Weaver Mennonites
In the spring of 1916, when Bishop Aaron Sensenig was physically handicapped, the Stauffer members of the Pike Mennonite congregation, near Hinkletown, Pennsylvania, wanted other leadership and favored a stricter observance of shunning. After his death that fall John A. Weaver, a preacher, tried to restore peace, but failed, and the resultant schism divided the congregation into equal parts, 101 and 102. Following the Stauffer division of 1846 there had been peace until about 1870, when Samuel Bowman, Jacob Weber, and Philip Rissler led a small schismatic group who felt that children who were not in the church and its order should be obliged to leave the parental home. After the division of 1916 this Rissler group joined the Stauffer group again for five years, then separated and divided again, so that by the late 1950s the only remaining members of the Bowman-Rissler group were three men and the wife of one of them. Jesse Bowman, of the Iowa Experiment, came to Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and was given the bishop oversight of the new Lebanon County group and the Pike congregation (he with his group joined the Old Order Mennonites). Then Elam C. Martin, of Michigan, was ordained bishop at the Pike church. After his death in 1928 John A. Weaver served until his death on 25 March 1953. Thereupon Weaver W. Zimmerman was chosen bishop.
In the late 1950s Peter L. Weaver and Martin S. Weaver were the ministers. Membership of the Weaver group meeting in the Pike church (exclusively) was 60 (including the four Risslers). Services were conducted in German and lasted two hours; they had no evangelistic meetings, Sunday schools, or youth activities. They used only horses for transportation and farming.
In the 1916 division Deacon Levi Zimmerman went with the Stauffers. Bishop John Stauffer, of Snyder County, then ordained David Stauffer and Jacob Stauffer and later Joseph O. Brubaker. The Stauffers in Snyder County had numerous divisions. In addition to these two places of worship, they also had a congregation near Loveville, Maryland in the late 1950s. At the Pike church where they were strongest in the late 1950s, Jacob S. Stauffer was bishop and Joseph O. Brubaker minister. At the three places, inclusive of all the splinter groups, the Stauffer Mennonites had a total membership of 223.
| Author(s) | Ira D Landis |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Landis, Ira D. "Weaver Mennonites." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Weaver_Mennonites&oldid=78676.
APA style
Landis, Ira D. (1959). Weaver Mennonites. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Weaver_Mennonites&oldid=78676.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 904-905. All rights reserved.
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