Book review by Charles T. Eby.
Tennessee John Stoltzfus: Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters. Edited and annotated by Paton Yoder. Translated by Noah G. Good. Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 1987

Eby, Charles T.

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Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU History Faculty Publications History 7-1988 Tennessee John Stoltzfus: Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters (Book Review) Charles T. Eby Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/his_fac  Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, and the United States History Commons 1988 BOOK REVIEWS 459between Richard Allen (1760-1831) and Martin Delany (1812-1885), twoinfluential blacks; and studies of Isaac Leeser (1806-1868), a Jewish leader,and Katharine Mary Drexel (1858-1955) and three Catholic intellectualsof Philadelphia.Abundant documentation accompanies each essay, and the value of thecollection is enhanced by a good index. The book is especially recommendedfor public and undergraduate college libraries.Ursinus College KEITH J. HARDMANTennessee John Stoltzfus: Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters.Edited and annotated by PATON YODER. Translated by NOAH G.GOOD. (Lancaster: Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 1987.296p. Maps, index. $24.95.)Designed to be a companion piece to his previous biography of this Amishfigure, Eine Wurzel: Tennessee John Stoltzfus (Lititz, 1979), Paton Yoder'srecent contribution to the Stoltzfus saga sheds a number of valuable insightsinto the life of nineteenth-century Amish communities in eastern and westernPennsylvania as well as Tennessee. This work was specifically prompted bythe discovery of new caches of primary materials (e.g., the Lydia andChristian Mast collections) related to Stoltzfus's world. This new infor-mation, Yoder argues, further illuminates this influential minister's role inseveral important aspects of Amish religious life—annual churchwide min-ister meetings, the early organization of the Amish church in Tennessee,and Stoltzfus's involvement in the so-called Great Schism between the houseAmish and the meetinghouse Amish beginning in the 1850s and ending inthe 1870s. In addition, the new materials add details on the migration ofan Amish family, Stoltzfus's family relationships, especially with his sons,and the final days of his life.An intriguing story of Amish church relations emerges in the first halfof this collection. For me, this aspect was particularly engrossing becausemy initial work as a historian was focused on the origins of Anabaptism inthe lower Rhineland. At Wismar in 1546 the various Anabaptist congre-gations held a meeting in hopes of reaching a reconciliation on their variousdifferences. The last minister to speak at this conference was one of thegreat forebearers of the Amish faith, Menno Simons. The essence of hissermon was that despite the differences between their various positions, theAnabaptists must remain united in common brotherhood. Simons's admo-nition was ignored then, and it seems that in the nineteenth century theAmish still had not heeded the value of his words. From the letters in460 BOOK REVIEWS JulyYoder's book, it appears that there were no consequential theological issuesat stake in the Great Schism; rather, revisions in traditional church practicessurface as the divisive force. Baptism by immersion, the establishment ofSunday schools, and the growing use of meetinghouses among the westernPennsylvania Amish congregations hardly were radical. But they were per-ceived as such and soundly condemned by the more conservatively rootedgroups in Lancaster County. Curiously, Tennessee John Stoltzfus, whoseearlier letters counseled a peaceful settlement of these concerns through theuse of a churchwide ministers' meeting, finally voted to sever the fellowshipwith the western communities.The personal reminiscences of Tennessee John, his family, and his friendscomprise the second half of Yoder's collection and reveal the values of rurallife. Their letters are filled with references to hard work, industry, goodhealth, farm animals, and the land. The documents also offer glimpses ofthe world from which the Amish could not completely escape. Events andfigures such as the Civil War, Presidents Andrew Jackson and U.S. Grant,the Ku Klux Klan, and even the witnessing of a public hanging make theirpresence known in the world of the Amish. The often rambling remarksof Jacob Stoltzfus, a grandson of Tennessee John, written in his ninetiesbetween 1942-1943, were particularly arresting and humorous. Yet, Yoder'sinclusion of many other letters besides those of Tennessee John Stoltzfus,in what he termed "a shirttail approach," makes it hard to distinguish thereal John Stoltzfus amid the maze of unrelated letters.Overall, Yoder's work clarifes several significant facets of nineteenth-century Amish life. Yoder's understanding of and sensitivity to Stoltzfusand the circumstances under which these letters were composed are im-pressive. Indeed, without many of Yoder's extensive prefatory remarks, onecould easily misunderstand the meaning and context of a particular docu-ment. Paton Yoder's addition to his study of Tennessee John Stoltzfusprovides valuable insights and depth into our understanding of Amishreligious and family life and its role in Pennsylvania history.Sacred Heart University CHARLES T. EBYThe Immigrant Church and Community: Pittsburgh's Slovak Catholics andLutherans, 1880-1915. By J U N E GRANATIR ALEXANDER. (Pittsburgh:University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987. xxii, 198p. Tables, appendix,bibliographical essay, index. $28.95.)Though Slovaks—natives of Hungary's northern provinces—did notmake up a large percentage of the mass immigration of the late nineteenth

Tennessee John Stoltzfus: Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters (Book Review)

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Tennessee John Stoltzfus: Amish Church-Related Documents and Family Letters (Book Review)

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