Kreider (Kreiter, Greider), a Mennonite family which migrated from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania in the early 18th century. Jacob Kreider (d. 1751) came in 1716 to Lancaster County, settling south of the city of Lancaster. The family spread from Lancaster County to a few other communities in Ohio (Wadsworth), Indiana (Elkhart Co.), Illinois (Sterling), and Missouri (Palmyra). A number of ordained men have borne the name. In the Lancaster Conference (MC) there were Tobias (d. 1791), deacon at Mellinger's; Tobias, preacher at the same place 1847-64; Frank (1868- ), preacher at East Petersburg since 1908. Jacob M. Greider (1835- 1931) was a prominent deacon at Salunga. Jacob's brother, Bishop John M. Greider (1823-91), served as bishop 1872-91 in the Med way church, Montgomery Co., Ohio. Daniel Kreider (1782-1860) served as a minister, first in York Co., Ont., from about 1825 on, then moved to Wadsworth, Ohio, where a relative, Jonas M. Kreider (1857-1933), was a long-rime preacher. One of the latter's grandsons, Robert (1919- ), served as preacher in the same congregation since 1943; and another, Carl, is serving as dean of Goshen College 1944- . Amos E. Kreider, a prominent minister in the General Conference Mennonite Church, came from the Sterling, 111., congregation (MC). His son Robert is dean of Bluffton College 1954- Bishop J. M. Kreider (1869-1946) was a long-time minister (MC) in northeastern Missouri, preacher from 1898 and bishop from 1912 to his death. His son John F. (deacon since 1928) and grandson Harold (preacher since 1950) serve the same district. H.S.B.

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