Blosser, John (1855-1921)
John Blosser, b. 5 August 1855 in Putnam County, Ohio, d. 28 July 1921 in Hancock County, Ohio. In 1869, with his widowed mother, the daughter of Bishop John Thut, and with his brothers and a sister, he moved to Hancock County where in 1876 the family helped to found the New Stark Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church). On 26 December 1876 he was married to Magdalena Brenneman, daughter of Bishop John M. Brenneman. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters. Declining to pass through the lot after an earlier ordination in the congregation had proved unsatisfactory, he was ordained to the ministry as the unanimous choice of the congregation in 1891 and to the office of bishop in 1905 (Mennonite Church). In his early ministry, usually at great personal sacrifice, he devoted much time to evangelistic work. His efforts were singularly successful. In 1906, for example, following his series of meetings at West Liberty, Ohio, 17 young people chiefly from Amish Mennonite families united with the Bethel Mennonite Church. He was president of the Mennonite Book and Tract Society for a number of years and took a leading part in the Ohio Mennonite Conference and in the Ohio Sunday School Conference and various phases of church and young people’s activities. He was much interested in the Christian education program of the church and in every effort for the welfare of her young people. His strong conviction of the potential value of the Elkhart Institute and especially of Goshen College as a means of stimulating missionary interest and of preparing young people for Christian vocations led to his election to the Mennonite Board of Education in 1901 and president of the Board in 1902. He served on the Board for 19 years and as president for 15. All of his children attended Goshen College; four graduated. His eldest son, C. B. Blosser, was a science instructor at Goshen College for 15 years and also served as dean.
| Author(s) | John S Umble |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Umble, John S. "Blosser, John (1855-1921)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Blosser,_John_(1855-1921)&oldid=178401.
APA style
Umble, John S. (1953). Blosser, John (1855-1921). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Blosser,_John_(1855-1921)&oldid=178401.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 365-366. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.