North America (United States and Canada)

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United States and Canada
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United States and Canada: Wikimedia Commons, 2007

Number of Anabaptist Related Groups Formally Associated with MWC

36 (2006)

In North America both the United States and Canada have several Anabaptist-related groups. The first Anabaptists in North America were Dutch "Menists" who came to New York as early as 1644. The first Anabaptist groups to settle permanently in North America were Mennonites who came from the Lower Rhine and Hamburg and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Major immigration began from 1707-1710, as Mennonites came from the Palatinate and Switzerland and settled northwest of Philadelphia. The French and Indian War (1756-1763) stopped Mennonite immigration from Europe for several years.[1]

As eastern Pennsylvania begin to fill with immigrants, the next major Anabaptist immigration to North America occurred from 1815-1860 when Amish from Alsace, Bavaria, and Hesse came to Indiana and Ohio.[1]

Internal migration from eastern Pennsylvania to Ontario from 1785-1840 established a Mennonite presence in Canada. From 1874-1880, a major wave of Mennonite immigrants from Russia arrived in the western United States and Canada. Later immigrant Mennonite groups from Russia who came to North America, especially from 1922-1925, went almost exclusively to Canada.[1]

Countries with Anabaptist-Related Groups

Other Regions

Click on the links below to learn about Anabaptist-related groups in other parts of the world:

Electronic Resources

Annotated Bibliography

This encyclopedia article gives a brief history of Anabaptist immigration to and settlement in North America. While dated, the article aptly describes how Anabaptist-related groups came to North America. Of note on the article site is a table outlining Anabaptist population by group in the United States and Canada both in 1956 and 2006.

Archives and Libraries

The MHL is a research level library located on Goshen College's campus in Goshen, Indiana that collects printed texts and images on topics related to the Radical Reformation, including the Anabaptists, Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish and various related groups. The MHL has many resources on Mennonite groups in the United States and Canada. To contact the MHL email mhl@goshen.edu or call (574) 535-7418.
  • There are many archives and libraries throughout the United States and Canada specific to individual Anabaptist-related groups. To learn more about these archives and libraries check out article pages for specific Anabaptist-related groups in the United States or Canada.

External Links

North America on Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

Citations

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Harold S. Bender, "North America," Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. (1957) http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/N676.html/ (accessed 24 June 2009).