The Anabaptist – Pietist tradition is fascinating, and key to my ancestors’ status as refugees from Europe to the Americas, and why my surname is spelled Newcomer instead of Neukommet.
Martin Luther’s thesis posted at Wittenberg University on 31 October 1517 is the founding of the Protestant Reformation Movement. Anabaptists split from Martin Lurther’s reformation movement over when baptism should occur, among several issues. On 18 January 1525 the Zurich City Council ordered families who refused to baptize their children upon birth expelled from the city, by force if necessary. Meeting in Felix Manz’s Zurich home three days later on 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel and George Blaurock joined Manz in baptizing each other. This was the start of the Swiss Brethren, who advocated adult baptism.
The cardinal principles of Anabaptism included adult baptism, separation from the world, separation of church and state, individual interpretation of the Bible, and Christianity as a way of life in active discipleship to Christ. Out of this literal interpretation of the New Testament came the refusal to bear arms, hold political office or to swear oaths. It also entailed the obligation of Christian love for every person, even for non-believers.
Menno Simons, a Dutch priest, converted to Anabaptism in 1536. His followers became known as Mennonites. Jakob Amman in the late 1600s emphasized a more rigid observance of Simons’s teachings. His followers were known as Amish.
Alexander Mack founded the Brethren sect in 1708. As was the Anabaptist custom, many off-shoots of Mack’s off-shoots occured over the years. In 1836 the German Baptist Brethren broke off. In 1908 the Church of the Brethren was established. Today, the prominent branches of Mack’s organization, ranked by membership size, are the Church of the Brethren, Fellowship of Grace Brethren Church, Brethren Church, Old German Baptist Brethren, Dunkard Brethren and other small off-shoots. Some church groups who use the name Brethren, however, are not descended from Mack’s group. These include the Moravian Brethren, Brethren in Christ, United Brethren, Christian Brethren and Plymouth Brethren.
Marytrs’ Mirror, 1660, recounts the persecution of Anabaptist from 1527. Continual persecution by provincial authorities led many Anabaptists to leave Switzerland for Alsace between 1671 to 1711. The Sante Marie-aux-Mines Valley received most of these immigrants. On 9 September 1712 local hostility to the Anabaptists led authorities to expel the Swiss Brethren.
Montbeliard, under control of the Duke of Wurttemberg until the French Revolution in 1796 annex Montbeliard into France, extended refuge to many of the Brethren, mostly Amish, fleeing Alsace. Other popular destinations for the Swiss Brethren departing Alsace were Breisgau, Zweibrucken and Palatinate.
In 1681 King Charles II of England granted William Penn the area known as Pennsylvania in repayment of debt to Penn’s father. A Quaker, Penn invited all religious groups to settle his land and enjoy religious freedom. Mennonites eagerly accepted his offer beginning in 1710. Mennonites from Palatinate and Switzerland settled mostly north and west of Philadelphia. Beginning in 1736 Amish settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania. When the French and Indian War led to attacks on settlers in Berks County in the 1750s, many moved to Lancaster and Chester counties.
My Mennonite ancestors landed in Philadelphia in 1717, among about 300 Mennonites on three ships that sailed together. They were Mennonites, but became Brethren in the early 1800s, a change in religious membership that followed my ancestors move to Washington County, Maryland.
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