FInding a Mennonite or Amish Ancestor

Menno Simons

Do you have Mennonite ancestors? I have several, all of who came to Ontario Canada in the early 1800s.

Menno Simons (ca 1496-1561) was a Dutch religious reformer. In 1536 he left the Roman Catholic priesthood because of his disagreement of infant baptism and other Catholic teachings. He organized and led the less aggressive division of Anabaptists in Germany and Holland. The name Mennonites is derived from his name, although he did not actually found the sect. The Mennonites were a Protestant sect which arose from Swiss Anabaptists. They were also called Swiss Brethren.

During the sixteenth century, the Mennonites and other Anabaptists were relentlessly persecuted. By the seventeenth century, some of them joined the state church in Switzerland and persuaded the authorities to relent in their attacks. The Mennonites outside the state church were divided on whether to remain in communion with their brothers within the state church, and this led to a split. Those against remaining in communion with them became known as the Amish, after their founder Jacob Amman. Those who remained in communion with them retained the name Mennonite

A few Dutch Mennonites began the immigration to America in 1683, followed by a larger immigration of Swiss-German Mennonites beginning in 1707. In the 1870s Dutch Mennonites, who had settled in the German Kingdom of Prussia and then Russia, moved to the United States and Canada where they became known as Russian Mennonites.  Many Mennonites settled in Pennsylvania. Large numbers immigrated further into Ontario Canada especially Waterloo County

My Mennonite ancestors who came to Ontario Canada were Burkholder, Gingrich, and Hunsicker

• Burkholder Mennonite Genealogy - Ancestry of Jacob Burkholder of Hamilton Ontario (Switzerland to Pennsylvania to Ontario)
• Gingrich Mennonite Genealogy - Gingrich Family, Switzerland to Pennsylvania to Ontario
• Hunsicker Mennonite Genealogy - Hunsicker, Hunsecker, Hunsiker, Hunziger, Huntzinger and Hunsucker families of Switzlerland 

You may find the following links of help in your own research for your Mennonite ancestors

Mennonite Ships Passenger Lists
Mennonites to Canada
Mennonite Family Trees
Historical Mennonite Overview

Who Do You Think You Are? With Katey Sagal

 Be sure to watch this Sunday’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring actress Katey Sagal

Katey Sagal and Dr. Kara Dixon-Vuic
an Associate Professor of History
at the Texas Christian University

Katey Sagal lost her parents at a young age and has no family to fill in the blanks of her ancestry. She goes on a journey to understand her beloved mother’s life as a performer for the USO during World War II, and gets emotional connecting for the first time with the only person she’s met who knew her mother when she was young. 

Then she digs deep into her roots, uncovering a surprising link to early American Amish settlers, and discovers the shocking story of a fierce attack her ancestors endured. She finds her family torn apart and struggling to reconnect after years of separation, which challenges her own morals on motherhood.

The two-time Emmy nominated series WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? returns this spring to follow more of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees.
 
Ancestry.com, the leading family history company, is teaming up again with TLC as a sponsor of the upcoming season. As part of the show sponsorship, Ancestry provides exhaustive family history research on each of the featured celebrities to help make discoveries possible and build out the story of each episode.
The series is produced for TLC by Shed Media and Is or Isn’t Entertainment, and is based on an original format created by Wall to Wall Media and Alex Graham. More information can be found at TLC.com/WDYTYA. ‘Like’ Who Do You Think You Are? on Facebook.com/WDYTYA and follow @WDYTYA on Twitter.
Image credit: TLC