Jacob Moyer's Mennonite Church Records: an Interpretive Sketch by E
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Jacob Moyer's Mennonite church records: an interpretive sketch by E. Reginald Good Moyer Jr. (1792-1831) . A comparison of the handwriting in the Bible with other signed let- ters confirms this.3 Jacob Moyer immigrated to Canada in the autumn of 1799 with his wife and four children, all boys, in the company of at least five other families.° They settled in the vicinity of the Twenty Mile Creek, now Town of Lin- coln, where Jacob and his two friends -Amos Albright and Abraham Moyer -had scouted out land in the spring of the same year and had put down a $40 deposit on 1100 acres of land.' Jacob apparently bought the Bible in- scribed with his name while still in Penn- sylvania - it was a Christopher Sauer Bible printed in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1776. The 1799 purchase date would indicate that Jacob had acquired the Bible specifically for transport to his new Canadian home. A Mennonite congregation was organized at the Twenty in 1801 and Jacob Moyer was ordained preacher there in 1802.6 Five years later in 1807 he was cofirmed bishop .' Moyer is the earliest known resident bishop in Ontario, and probably the only one there, until 1808 when Abraham Grove arrived in York County, having been confirmed bishop Barbara Coffman, Reg and Kathy Good examine the Jacob Moyer Bible housed at the Jordan in Pennsylvania expressly for this field.' Grove Museum of the Twenty, Jordan, Ontario. Barbara recalled the location of the Bible when Reg labored only in the York County district so and Kathy, the MennoVan team for the Mennonite Bicentennial, were in the Niagara area. Reg far as is known, leaving to Moyer the over- discerned the import of the German handwriting in the Bible. sight of congregations in other parts of On- tario and New York State. After Benjamin Eby was confirmed bishop for the Waterloo district in 1812, Moyer's charge was limited J.S. Hartzler and Daniel Kauffman reported tion of the competency of the record keeper ; to the "Niagara" district which included the in 1905 that "the time when the [Mennonite] 2) interpretation of the records at face value; Niagara peninsula and Erie County, New church in Canada first began to hold con- and 3) comparison of these records with other York.9 ferences is given by those best posted in her documents. The character and stature of Jacob Moyer history as about 1820."' That approximate The Bible which contains the records is in- within the Ontario conference was described date has subsequently been cited in numerous scribed with the following information in a personal letter to friends in Europe by histories describing the origins of the present (translated here from the German): "I, Jacob Jacob Krehbiel in 1841. Krehbiel had known day Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Moyer, bought this in the year of Christ 1799, Moyer only since 1831, but had been deeply Quebec . However, recently deciphered hand- for 6 dollars." The genealogical tables contain- impressed by him. The letter reads: written records in a Bible at the Jordan ed in the Bible are those of Jacob Moyer "Uacob Moyer] was the one to whom those Historical Museum of the Twenty, Town of (1767-1833), his first wife, Magdalene came who were suffering or depressed or Lincoln, Ontario inform, in addition to other (Bechtel) Moyer (1773-1816), his second wife, disturbed in their inner life and who gladly valuable information, that the first Mennonite Catharine (Bechtel) Moyer (1776-1851), and his poured out their hearts to him to leave him conference in Canada actually was held in parents, Samuel Moyer (1734-1818) and again comforted or at least strengthened. 1810. Catharine (Kolb) Moyer (1773-1809) . 2 Without the least self-interest he sought to It is the purpose of this article to analyze the Presumably, then, the owner of the Bible was serve everyone and won the love of all . His reliability of the Mennonite church records Jacob Moyer around whom the genealogical very countenance had something unusually at- discovered in the Bible through: 1) considera- tables center rather than, for example, Jacob tractive about it so that often people who had rag( come in strife with one another and had ac- cepted him as the arbitrator (for his impartiali- ty was recognized by all) were unable to offer the least resistance to his conclusions and left his presence reconciled to one another . I count it as of great value to myself to have known this worthy preacher in his lifetime."'° An independent biographical sketch ofJacob Moyer, written by A.J. Fretz in 1896, confirms Krehbiel's assessment ." Fretz writes that Moyer "earned the reputation of peacemaker in the neighborhood . [He] was a very fluent and earnest speaker, and a very energetic man in all his actions." Fretz adds that "Moyer was also a Home Doctor." Jacob Moyer was then, by all accounts, a pillar of the Mennonite Church in Canada. he was widely respected and deeply loved. The fact that zodiacal signs are mentioned on on- ly one of the genealogical charts in his Bible may also indicate that he was less superstitious than many persons of his time. He was in a position to have firsthand knowledge of events chronicled in his church records, and Burkholder collection, Conrad Grebe] College presumably he would have had the ability to Artist's rendition of the Moyer church. (From L.J. record them accurately. A great deal of Archives). credibility can reasonably be placed in Moyer's and this seems inexplicable . Aaron Eby tion list. Previously there had been no evidence handwritten notes. reported that "about three months after the to indicate when these ordinations occurred . of Johannes Ordination List death of Jacob Moyer Jr., Daniel Hoch was Moreover, the ordination been suspected. The ordinations in Jacob Moyer's Bible are chosen by lot as his successor in the Morgenstern had not even 16 of ordination dates, listed chronologically on a single page. It ministry." Jacob Moyer Jr. died in January, There are still a number to be shrouded in presumably covers only those ordinations per- 1831, indicating that Daniel Hoch would have however, which continue would have suspected formed by Jacob Moyer because the list does been ordained in the spring of 1831. This is mystery and which one uncover. We have no or- not include persons known to have been or- probably the ordination referred to in a letter the Moyer records to Schwartz, for exam- dained by contemporary bishops Benjamin from Jacob Moyer to Christian Herschi and dination dates for Samuel in the Rainham area Eby (1785-1853) and Abraham Grove George Zawitz at Black Creek, 3 May 1831 ." ple, who was a preacher there by 1839.1° Likewise (1770-1836) . The completeness of the list is Moyer wrote that "we [in this locality] have by 1825 and a bishop to the ordinations of questionable, however, because some names decided to ordain a minister of the Word on information relating John Zavitz, Jacob Miller, which one would have expected to see are not Whitsuntide whom the Lord shall choose by Christian Hershey, others who we believed to included. lot. I should be glad if you could be with us Peter Sherk and Moyer's district are not For example, genealogist Ezra Eby wrote in then." The tone of the letter implies that have served in 1895 that Martin Bear was "ordained in 1808 Moyer intended to preside at the forthcom- disclosed.' , Depending on the comfirmation Samuel Schwartz as bishop, he may by Bishop Moyer of the Twenty," and until ing ordination . The fact that this ordination date of responsible for a number of these now this information has been considered is omitted from his records, therefore, leaves have been correct." But the fact that Bear is not includ- open the question of whether the Moyer or- ordinations. in Moyer's on Mover's ordination list casts doubt on dination list is an exhaustive record of all or- Information on names included ed but the matter. Perhaps Aaron Eby was right dinations he performed. ordination list appears to be substantially, contemporary when he wrote in 1871 that Martin Bear "was On the other hand, a number of names ap- not totally, accurate. The only are those called to the ministry several years after Ben- pear on the list which one would not expect records with which they can be tested written jamin Eby, and was the third preacher in the to see. Benjamin Eby's ordination as preacher in the family Bible of Benjamin Eby, November 1809 congregation in Waterloo."" If so Benjamin and confirmation as bishop are recorded here, in 1823. They give dates of 27 and 11 Oc- Eby would most assuredly have per- for example. Hitherto considerable weight has for Eby's ordination as preacher bishop . The formed that ordination because he would have been placed on an oral tradition which claims tober 1812 for his confirmation as recorded by been a bishop by that time, and would have that Benjamin's brother, Peter, a bishop from former date coincides with that earlier than had the duty to ordain persons such as Mar- Pennsylvania, rode to Ontario on horseback Moyer, but the latter is one week tin Bear who were chosen to serve in his to preside on both occasions." This has led the date on Moyer's list. district. Aaron Eby's history is riddled with at least one historian to infer a tension between is published by the apparent errors, however, (including the year the Lancaster and Franconia conferences in Mennogespräch Pennsylvania .