Croghan (New York, USA)
Croghan, New York (population 850 in 1954; 650 in 2000), is located in the northeastern part of the state, about 50 miles (80 km) east of the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, in the western foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. The town is located on the east side of the Black River which divides Lewis County almost exactly in half.
About 1833 the first Amish and Mennonite settlers arrived in the Croghan community, then called French Settlement. About 1849 the major portion of the church membership left to form a new church called at first the New Amish but later changed to the Evangelical Baptist (Apostolic Christian). On 11 November 1941, 68 members of the Conservative Amish Church withdrew and formed a new congregation now known as the New Bremen First Mennonite Church, independent of any conference. In the mid-1950s the churches in the community were the Croghan Conservative Amish Mennonite Church and the Lowville (Dadville) Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, with a combined membership of about 600, and the New Bremen First Mennonite Church with a membership of 142.
In 1909 three families sold their farms near Croghan and moved to the west side of the river. By the mid-1950s are nearly as many families liveing west of the Black River as east of it. In 1928 a new church was built just west of the river called the River Church or the Dadville Church. Lowville, the county seat, then became the trading center for these families.
The two towns, Croghan and Lowville, located about 10 miles (16 km) apart, shared the trading of these people, about half of the total number living within shopping distance of each town. The Mennonites and Amish Mennonites are scattered in all directions from the two towns with no particular concentration. By the 1950s only about 20 Mennonite families resided in the village of Croghan and about 15 in the village of Lowville.
The community is very isolated from other Mennonite and Amish communities. The nearest group is located in western New York—250 miles (400 km) west. It has survived the blow of the first major split and by 1950 had developed into a large and growing Mennonite and Amish settlement.
Maps
| Author(s) | Ralph S Lehman |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1954 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Lehman, Ralph S. "Croghan (New York, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1954. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Croghan_(New_York,_USA)&oldid=79993.
APA style
Lehman, Ralph S. (1954). Croghan (New York, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Croghan_(New_York,_USA)&oldid=79993.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 741. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.