Origin of German Johns in America
The Dunkers of Germany (1)
The information that follows is derived from
Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia™ and
pertains to the location and history of the
Palatinate area of Germany and to the early
formation of the Church of The Brethren also
known as the Dunkers or Dunkards and sometimes
the German Baptist Church. It appears that in
this area there lived people who bore the surname
John or Johns or perhaps the names were used
interchangeably. The John or Johns names may have
been derived from the German Jahn or Johan. I am
not sure whether the name spelled John or Johns
actually existed in Germany or whether the German
version was anglicized when the Dunkers
immigrated to America in 1719-1729. It is also
interesting to note that in early times ca. AD
600 this part of Germany was occupied by barbaric
tribes known as the Angles and the Saxons who
invaded the British Isles and conquered the Celts
who had lived there from some prehistoric time.
This intermixture of Germanic tribes resulted in
the formation of the English Language and the
basis for present day people of English, Welsh,
Irish and Scottish descent being termed Anglo-Saxon.
Church of the Brethren
Church of the Brethren, one of the historic
"peace churches" in the United States.
It is of German Pietistic-Anabaptist background
and shares many Baptist characteristics. Members
of the church are known also as Dunkers or
Dunkards (from German tunken, "to dip"),
because of their baptismal ceremony. During this
ceremony the believer is dipped three times, face
forward, once at the mention of each name of the
Trinity, according to the baptismal formula in
Matthew 28:19.
Origin
The Dunker movement was an offshoot of the
German Pietist movement of the late 17th century.
The first Dunker congregation was organized at
Schwartzenau, Germany (now in North Rhine-Westphalia),
in 1708. Persecuted by the state church in
Germany, the Dunkers immigrated to America from
1719 to 1729. Their first church in what is now
the United States was organized in 1723. The
Dunkers are most numerous in Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,
Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota.
Many of them are farmers. In recent years the
denomination has expanded to include many
prosperous city churches. The denomination
supports a number of colleges, notably Ashland
College, at Ashland, Ohio.
Doctrine and Organization
In doctrine the Brethren adhere to the New
Testament and accept no creeds. They hold the
Bible to be the inspired and infallible word of
God and accept the New Testament as their only
rule of faith and practice. They believe in the
Trinity, in the divinity of Christ, in the Holy
Spirit, and in future rewards and punishments.
Faith, repentance, and baptism are held to be the
conditions of salvation. In practice the Brethren
closely follow the teachings of the Bible and
observe the primitive simplicity of the Apostolic
church.
At the basis of their belief is a commitment
to peace. They enjoin plainness of dress, settle
difficulties among themselves without civil law,
affirm instead of taking oath, oppose secret
societies, and advise against the use of tobacco
and the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicants.
As early as 1782 the Brethren prohibited slavery
and vehemently denounced the slave trade. A
traditional ban on participation in politics has
been relaxed somewhat in recent years.
The Eucharist is celebrated in the evening,
after the serving of a simple common meal. Before
this meal the ordinance of foot washing is
observed, and afterward the members extend the
right hand of fellowship and exchange the kiss of
peace. Bishops (or elders), ministers, and
deacons are elected by the congregations.
Congregations are organized into state districts;
both units elect delegates to the annual
conference.
Later History
In 1881-83 the church lost about 8000 members
by a division in its ranks; the split resulted in
the secession of two parties, known as the Old-Order
and Progressive Brethren. The former group
objected to the attention the church was paying
to educational, missionary, and Sunday school
work, and the latter insisted that the church was
too conservative. After several years of
contention these parties withdrew from the parent
church and formed separate organizations. The
parent church is known today as the Church of the
Brethren (Conservative Dunkers) and according to
recent statistics has 172,115 members in 1061
congregations.
The Progressive Brethren divided again in 1939.
According to the latest available statistics, one
group, the Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio) has 15,082
members in 122 churches; the second group, the
National Fellowship of Brethren churches, has 34,000
members in more than 275 churches. Another Dunker
sect is composed of the Seventh Day Baptists (German).
Palatinate, in German history, name of two
imperial regions not related geographically, the
western Rhenish, or Lower Palatinate (German
Rheinpfalz or Niederpfalz) and the Upper
Palatinate (German Oberpfalz) of northeastern
Bavaria. The Rhenish Palatinate, which
historically comprised territory for the most
part west of the Rhine River in central Germany,
was in 1947 incorporated into the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
in West Germany (now part of Rhine-Pflaz, Germany).
The Rhenish
Palatinate region is bordered to the
south-west by the land area of Alsace-Lorraine,
France. The Upper, or Bavarian Palatinate is the
region west of Bohemia and north of the Danube
River. The name Palatinate is derived from the
ancient and medieval office of Count Palatine, a
nobleman who held judicial powers and had charge
of the various imperial castles where Holy Roman
emperors stayed while traveling; hence the term
became associated with the districts where the
counts palatine were sovereign representatives.
North Rhine
North Rhine-Westphalia, state in west central
Germany, bounded on the north and northeast by
the state of Lower Saxony, on the east by the
state of Hesse, on the south by the State of
Rhineland-Palatinate, and on the west by Belgium
and the Netherlands. Düsseldorf is the capital.
Other important cities are Essen, Cologne,
Dortmund, and Bonn, the German administrative
capital. The northwestern part of the state is a
lowland, which rises in the northeast into the
hilly Teutoburger Wald. The eastern, southern,
and western parts are rolling uplands, which in
the west reach an elevation of 800 m (2625 ft).
The uplands are cut by a series of valleys-namely,
the Rhine, Ruhr, and Möhne. The Rhine, Ems, and
Weser rivers, the main rivers in the state, flow
in a southern to northern direction. Area, 34,069
sq. km. (13,154 sq. mi.); population (1990
estimate) 17,349,700.
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