Fairbanks Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Fairbanks, Texas, USA)
The Fairbanks, Texas, USA, congregation was started in 1897. Before that time, John D. Nikkel and Heinrich Loewen went to the Houston area to investigate and found farmland selling for five to seven dollars per acre with an acceptable climate. Within two years, there were approximately 15 families and a total of about 40 members.
Ministers Peter A. Friesen and John Schlabach served the congregation. Church services were conducted in various homes. One Sunday, they were held in the south end of the settlement and the following Sunday in the north end. Among those who lived there were the families of John D. Nikkel, Henry Schmidt, Ben Koehn, Heinrich Loewen, David Koehn, Pete Isaac, Tobias Schmidt, Andrew Wedel, Henry Koehn, Jacob Schmidt, Jacob Wedel, Minister John Schlabach, Cornelius Koehn, and Minister Peter A. Friesen.
Some families did truck farming, such as raising potatoes, dairying, and haying. Farmers sold baled hay in Houston, which was 10 to 20 miles southeast. This was quite a distance to take farm products with horses. One farmer built a horse-powered stationary baler, so it was easier to get the hay to market. Families also cut and sold cordwood.
On 8 September 1900, a mist began falling. The local people were alarmed, but the Mennonites saw no danger. By 11:00 p.m., a violent wind of hurricane force came up, and water came down "in buckets." The hurricane swept water inland from the Gulf of Mexico. During the Galveston hurricane, a ship was washed inland many miles from the shore and never used again. Galveston and the surrounding area lost thousands of people from the disaster, which was one of the worst to ever happen in America. None of the Mennonites lost their lives, but the storm was terrifying. They tried to hold the entrance doors shut on their houses. It took two men to hold one door shut. The storm eased at midnight. Some families lost all their livestock except for their horses from the flood. That same fall, about 10 families moved back north, fearing another terrible storm.
By 1906 all but a few families had moved away. Two families, the Heinrich Loewens and the Tobias Schmidts, stayed there until death. The city of Houston annexed all of the Fairbanks area where the Mennonites lived in 1956.
Bibliography
Histories of the congregations. 3rd. ed. Moundridge, Kansas: Gospel Publishers, 1999: 506-507.
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Isaac K. Friesen. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 288. All rights reserved.
The Fairbanks Church of God in Christ Mennonite Church, now extinct, was organized in 1897 with 30 members by Henry A. Koehn. Peter A. Friesen and John Schlabach also served as pastors. This congregation was dissolved by 1906, although a few members remained longer. The Galveston flood of 1899, which destroyed their crops, contributed to the dissolution.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | March 2021 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Fairbanks Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Fairbanks, Texas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2021. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fairbanks_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(Fairbanks,_Texas,_USA)&oldid=170743.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (March 2021). Fairbanks Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Fairbanks, Texas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fairbanks_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(Fairbanks,_Texas,_USA)&oldid=170743.
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