View source for Robson, Isaac (1801-1885)

Isaac Robson (1801-1885), an English [[Society of Friends|Quaker]], was delegated with Thomas Harvey (1812-84) to visit the Mennonites living in South [[Russia|Russia]] in 1867. They first made contact with the Mennonites of South [[Germany|Germany]] living in the area of Neuburg, [[Bayern Federal State (Germany)|Bavaria]]; the Oesch family and a Jakob Hege are named in their report. In Berdyansk they established long-lasting connections with [[Jansen, Cornelius (1822-1894)|Cornelius Jansen]], who was then the Prussian consul. Guided by him, they went on to the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna]], visiting Gnadenfeld, [[Halbstadt (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Halbstadt]], [[Felsenthal (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Felsenthal]], [[Neukirch (Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Neukirch]], Orloff, Rudnerweide, [[Steinbach (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Steinbach]] and Tiegenhagen, namely, those congregations that in comparison to Petershagen and Pordenau were considered more progressive. At the beginning of 1868 Robson sent an open letter to the South Russian Mennonites, more specifically to Jansen, urging them to spread the Gospel in their vicinity. The publication of this letter was stopped by Russian censorship. The connection with Cornelius Janzen however, remained. The original with Cornelius Jansen’s German translation is preserved in the Cornelius Janzen Collection in the [[Mennonite Library and Archives (North Newton, Kansas, USA) |Mennonite Library and Archives ]](North Newton, Kansas). The English Quakers gave the Mennonites immigrating to America generous financial support. On 8 February 1879, they sent a letter to the immigrant Mennonites in America, which was printed in that year at [[Elkhart (Indiana, USA)|Elkhart, Indiana]] (copy in the [[Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen, Indiana, USA)|Mennonite Historical Library [Goshen, Indiana]].])
= Bibliography =
Bender, Harold S. <em>Two Centuries of American Mennonite Literature, A Bibliography of Mennonitica Americana 1727-1928</em>. Goshen, IN: Mennonite Historical Society, 1929: 45.

Gingerich, Owen. "The Relations Between the Russian Mennonites and the Friends During the 19th Century." <em>Mennonite Quarterly Review</em> XXV (1951): 285-94.

Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. <em>Mennonitisches Lexikon</em>, 4 vols. Frankfurt &amp; Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 33-37.

Reimer G. E. and G. R. Gaeddert. <em>Exiled by the Czar: Cornelius Jansen and the Great Mennonite Migration, 1874</em>. Newton, 1956: 33-37, 102-6.
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