MENNONITE EMIGRATION TO PENNSYLVANIA.
195
Funck,[1] Gillis Kassel,[2] and Dielman Kolb. Not until the 10th of February, 1748, did the “Committee on Foreign
- ↑ Henry Funk, always one of the most able and enterprising of the Mennonite preachers, and long a bishop, settled on the Indian Creek, in Franconia Township, now Montgomery County, in 1719. He was ever faithful and zealous in his work, and did much to advance the interests of his church. He wrote a book upon baptism, entitled “Ein Spiegel der Taufe,” published by Saur in 1744, which has passed through at least five editions. A more ambitious effort was the “Erklärung einiger haupt-puncten des Gesetzes,” published after his death by Armbruster, in 1763. This book was reprinted at Biel, Switzerland, in 1844, and at Lancaster, Pa., in 1862, and is much esteemed. He and Dielman Kolb supervised the translation of Van Braght's Martyr's Mirror from the Dutch to the German, and certified to its correctness. Beside these labors, which were all without pecuniary compensation, he was a miller, and acquired a considerable estate. He died about 1760.
- ↑
Yillis Kassel came to Pennsylvania in the year 1727, and was a
preacher at Skippack, and one of the representative men of the
church. His father or grandfather, Yillis Kassel, was also a
Mennonite preacher at Kriesheim in 1665, and wrote a Confession of
Faith and a number of MS. poems, which are now in the possession
of his descendant, the noted antiquary, Abraham H. Cassel. They
describe very vividly the horrible condition of the Rhine country at
that time, and the sufferings of the people of his faith. The
composition was frequently interrupted by such entries as these: “And
now we must flee to Worms,” “In Kriesheim, to which we have
again come home.” From one of them I extract: —
“ Denn es ist bekannt und offenbar. Was Jammer, Elend, und Gefahr Gewesen ist umher im Land Mit Rauben, Plündern, Mord, und Brand. Manch Mensch gebracht in Angst und Noth Geschändeliert auch bis zum Tod. Zerschlagen verhauen manch schoenes Haus, Vielen Leuten die Kleider gezogen aus; Getreid, und Vieh hinweggeführt, Viel Jammer und Klag hat man gehört.” A copy of the first German edition of Menno Simon's Foundation (1575), which belonged to the younger Yillis, and is, so far as known, the only copy in America, is now in my library.
