David B. Martin: Pioneer of Mennonite Orthodoxy

David Bauman Martin (1838-1920), ancestor of many Old Order Mennonites in Ontario, Canada, was also the progenitor of what we today refer to as Mennonite orthodoxy, a movement which had its formal genesis in the mid 20th century. Indeed there today exists two branches of the Orthodox Mennonite Church in Ontario, churches created by his descendants.

Of the descendants of David B. Martin today, three are recognized leaders of Mennonite orthodoxy. Indeed, the movement may not exist today at all if Martin and his family had not taken a stand a century ago in 1917.

Family History

David B. Martin, born September 2, 1838, in Waterloo County, Upper Canada (now Ontario), was the son of Mennomite pioneer Jacob G. Martin and Esther Bauman. Jacob, born March 22, 1811, was only 9 years old when he emigrated with his family to the British province of Upper Canada, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

See Also

Orthodox Mennonite Church, Huron County

Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites

Bibliography

Peter Hoover: A Record of the Ancestors and Descendants of David B. Martin, 1838-1920, Wallenstein, Ontario (no date).

Donald Martin: Old Order Mennonites of Ontario: Gelassenheit, Discipleship, Brotherhood, Pandora Press, Kitchener, Ontario, 2003.

Amos Sherk: Unpublished History of the David Martin and Orthodox Mennonites, (Primary Source), no date.