| Notes |
- Per Jeanine Scholz:
According to Philip Mellinger, there are two distinct families....
1. Ulrich Mellinger, Mennonite, and his descendeants, living in the Palatinate beginning in the late 1600s, some came to America later, and;
2. Benedict Mellinger, whose son Johannes has a large family with four sons that came to Pennsylvania in the mid 1700s, most were Reformed/Protestent, and not Mennonite. Benedict, however, was a Mennonite.
Benedict and Hans Ulrich Mellinger were possibly brothers. There may even have been a third brother, William, who left Switzerland in 1653 and came to VA, indicating that perhaps all of the Mellinger brothers left Switzerland at the same time, one to Virginia and two to Germany.
Benedict Mellinge was living in Ruchheim, Germany by 1654, he was still there in the 1690s. Benedict was apparently a Mennonite and from Swtizerland. Benedict was one of seven Palatinate Ministers that signed the letter on 13 March 1694 against Jacob Ammann that served to form the split between the Amish and the Mennonites.
From Goshen College:
A major attempt at reconciliation was made in the second week of March 1694 at a meeting called at Ohnenheim in Alsace at the request of the ministers of the Palatinate, at which both sides were to be represented. Ten men came from Switzerland and seven from the Palatinate, but the number of "Amish" present is now known. When no agreement could be reached, the Amish left the meeting. On the following day the Swiss ministers decided to agree with the Palatines and drafted a joint statement giving the reasons why they could not agree with Jacob Ammann, dated March 13, 1694. The list of signers was as follows: For the Swiss, Hans Reist, Peter Habegger, Ulrich Falb, Niklaus Baltzli, Peter Geiger, Dursch Rohrer, Jakob Schwartz, Daniel Grimmstettler, Ulrich Blatzey: for the Palantines, Jakob gut, Hans Gut, Peter Zolfinger, Christian Holi, BENEDIKT MELLINGER, Hans Heinrich Bar, Hans Rudi Nageli.
From Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers of South-Eastern Pennsylvania by Frank Eshleman 1917:
1693--Origin of the Amish Mennonites.
"This year there was a division among the congregations of Mennonites in Berne. A faction of them followed Jacob Ammon, and the remainder remained under the leadership of Hans Reist. The factions were known as the Amish and Reist factions. The parting was quite bitter: each party putting the other under the ban.
The Reist party were the Emmenthalers--that is, their stronghold was in the Thal or valley of the Emmen creek, which lies a short distance northeast of Berne. They held that there should be no emigration or at any rate that they should neither emigrate nor mix with the Amish, who were the Oberlanders (they lived on the Ober or upland regions in Switzerland.) "
From Goshen College:
"From the original documents which have been preserved, it is clear that Jakob Ammann's attempt to force the elders in the Emmental to accept the Meidung (the shunning or avoidance of excommunicated persons) was the chief if not full cause of the division."
As a result of the disagreement, Ammann excommunicated Reist and others. At the end of the meeting, after refusal to accept the meidung by several others, the Ammann party left the building without shaking hands and started their own meeting nearby.
From Goshen College:
"Various attmept swere made by both ministers and lay members to persuade Jakob Ammann to recall his hasty action of excommunication but to no avail. The Palatinate ministers wrote a letter to the Amish asking them to seek a reconciliation.
A major attempt at reconcilation was made in the second week of March 1694 at a meeting called at Ohnenheim in Alsace at the request of the ministers of the Palatinate, at which both sides were to be represented. Ten men came from Switzerland and seven from the Palatinate, but the number of "Amish" present is not known. The Palatines begged the Amish not to continue acting so rashly, but the Amish insisted that the opposing side accept their 3 major points of disagreement. When no agreement could be reached the Amish left the meeting. The following day, the Swiss ministers agreed with the Palatinates and drafted a joint statement giving their reasons for not agreeing with Jakob Ammann, dated Margh 13, 1694, it was signed by BENEDIKT MELLINGER among others. The opposing Palatine ministers were placed under the ban by Jakob Ammann, it is assumed that included among those who were excommunicated was BENEDICT MELLINGER.
Various attempts at reconcilation were undertaken between 1694 and 1698, both by correspondance and in meetings, but all failed. The Amish finally decided they had been too rash with their use of the ban, and accordingly placed themselves under the ban (probably in 1698.)"
From Historic Background and Annals of the Swiss and German Pioneer Settlers of South-Eastern Pennsylvania by Frank Eshleman 1917:
"There are manuscripts upon the division and the discussion resulting from it at the time, in the library of the Reist Mennonites in the Emmenthal or valley. These documents among others, consist of:
A declaration by the servants, elders and deacons from the Palatinate and from Switzerland, who adhered to the Reist faction and who called themselves, "such as can not be in accord with Jacob Ammon, and therefore, his opponents," containing considerable doctrinal controversy. This is signed by those Reist Mennonites who are mentioned in an earlier letter and also by Hans Reist, BENEDICT MELLINGER as well as 4 others from the Palatinate."
Though Ruchheim was "in the Palatinate," it formally fell outside the jurisdiction of the ruler of the Palatinate. Therefore, there was no Mennonite census records that included Ruchheim. This means that many Mennonite Mellinger ancestors at Ruchheim were unaccounted for.
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Abt 1630 - Abt 1701 (~ 71 years)
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