HISTORY OF KREIDER FAMILY FROM THE PEN OF REV. J.G. FRANCIS

(Continued from Monday)

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NOTE - Type was misplaced at the end of the article on Monday, so that the record of Mary Kreider Funk was inserted before the records of her brother David Kreider, Sr., were completed. The remaining Funk records are herewith inserted, after which the records of David, Sr., are resumed.

Jacob, as stated, was a farmer on the Funk estate west of Lebanon, but later retired in Lebanon. He was previously married to Sarah Bowman by whom he had a son Josiah, one of the most prominent of Lebanon county's attorneys. Jacob by his second wife, Mary Kreider, had the following children:

JOSEPH WEST OF ROCHERTY.

Joseph Kreider, second son and third child of Jacob, son of Jacob, son of John the settler on Snitz Creek, as we have seen, was born in 1805 and died in 1891, aged 86 years. Joseph was married in 1825 to Elizabeth (Sept. 6, 1806 - Nov. 11, 1879) daughter of Henry Ellenberger (1777-1838) and Elizabeth Kreider (1776-1839), daughter of Michael Kreider who settled on his father John's land above Cleona. Both Joseph and his wife are buried at Gingrich's Mennonite meeting house, southwest of Lebanon; and were members of the Mennonite meeting house, southwest of Lebanon; and were members of the Mennonite church. Joseph was a farmer, having received a farm in Lebanon township from his father, doubtless the farm on which he lived west of Rocherty. They had 2 children:

MICHAEL OF SNITZ CREEK

Michael was the third and youngest son of Jacob Kreider, Jr. To him the father gave the homestead. It seemed a habit with these old Kreiders to give the homestead to the youngest son. John the settler, gave the homestead to his youngest son Henry, the martyr. Jacob, the son of John the settler, gave his homestead to his youngest son Henry. And now Jacob of the third generation gives his homestead to his youngest son Michael. David's youngest son also has the homestead, but he bought it.

Michael Kreider was married to Anna Ellenberger, sister to the wife of Michael's brother Joseph. Anna was born Sept. 6, 1808, and died Mar. 30, 1881. She and her husband were Mennonites and are buried in the cemetery of Gingrich Mennonite meeting house. This is the Michael whose farm ran by the large black oak tree. See The News of June 5. The black oak was not the only victim of the storm in this neighborhood. The Reigert farm to the west, which had become Kreider, lost its barn by a storm, and about twenty years ago the barn on Michael's farm was destroyed by lightning. The old part of the farm house was doubtless the original house here built by or for Michael's father, Jacob, Jr. Michael built an addition to this old house; and in 1864, when Josiah his youngest child was of age, he built the other house for himself. Michael Kreider had three children:

CATHARINE KREIDER MUMMA

Catharine Kreider, daughter of Jacob, Jr., of Snitz Creek, married Isaac Mumma, b. in 1809. He was a farmer near Campbelltown and later retired in Campbelltown. They were Mennonites. Isaac was a large, well proportioned man. He stood six feet in height and weighed 240 pounds. His wife had the same weight. He was reputed in his day to be the strongest man in Lebanon county. He would take one barrel of flour and [stand] it on another. Then he would lift the third barrel and stand it on the second one. It was a puzzle to an ordinary man how to get the uppermost barrel back on the floor.

In the autumn of 1732 Lenhart Mumma arrived in the Pequea settlement of the Mennonites. Whether he was the ancestor of the Lebanon county Mummas we know not. Mummas went from Lancaster county down into the Valley of Virginia. Elder Benj. Franklin Moomaw (as it is there spelled) of near Roanoke, Virginia, was a leader among the Brethren of the South, and through his efforts largely the Southern Congress exempted the Brethren, with the payment of a $500 tax, from military service. But on the battlefield he was an angel of mercy to the wounded soldier whether clad in blue or gray. His biographer says the name is French. Not a few French were found among the Mennonites. The Forney family is also of French origin and Mennonite.

John Mumma on August 23, 1746, received a warrant for 100 acres of land in Lebanon township. This land joined the present farm of John Henry Gingrich, at Mt. Pleasant. Michael Bachman had bought over 400 acres here in 1740, and in 1747 sold about one-half of it to Yost Gingrich. The survey states that Gingrich's land ran by land of Jacob Mumma. But what became of Mumma homestead was some distance farther west. The Burkholders and the Mummas united in laying out a cemetery on the line between the farms of each, the Mummas being to the west, farm now owned by Peter Shenk, of Campbelltown. This cemetery, so densely overgrown as to be almost impenetrable, however, yielded up some secrets to our efforts. The following inscriptions we could read:

The first Jacob was likely the son if not the grandson, of the settler.

Isaac Mumma, m. Catharine Kreider, was born April 10, 1809, and died Oct. 20, 1894. They are buried in the United Christian cemetery in Campbelltown. They had the following children:

SUSANNA KREIDER LANDIS

Susanna Kreider, the seventh child and fourth daughter of Jacob Kreider, Jr., of Snitz Creek; married John Landis, son of Henry Landis, a Mennonite preacher. The Landises have ever been one of the most numerous and a leading Lancaster county family. John was a cattle dealer and farmer north of Palmyra. He owned and operated the large stone quarries now operated by Bradley of Philadelphia. John and Susanna were member of the United Brethren. They had 5 children:

The Landis records were received largely from the immediate families.

ANNA KREIDER IMBODEN

After the Revolution and after we had made a final adjustment with Great Britain in the War of 1812, the country began to develop, to take on new life. In the church the Sunday school, direct study of God's Word for all, breaking the shackles of undue human authority in catechetical instruction, demanding direct touch with God's thoughts on an equal footing for all Brethrenism was gaining the victory of self-assertion. A necessary accompaniment of this free access to God's Word, without any man's views read in, was the church paper, an open forum of free discussion, a toleration for the other man's view. It was never intended by the Creator that man should live unto himself, and no man can stand faultless in the truth till he has duly considered the viewpoint of his fellows. Brethrenism had been born in Germany, but had been forced out in its entirety. The Mennonite with his detestation for infant baptism and the Quaker with his inner light were essential accompaniments of this Brethrenism, the purest religion that ever entered Pennsylvania, God's holy of holies on the American continent. In other words, it was the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion. But strange to say, these people got their eyes off the Lamb and began to put their religion in their customs, their dress, etc. And stranger still, the Brethren evolved from the most enlightened Protestantism of Germany, borrowed Quaker and Mennonite customs and lodged their religion therein.

But why all this in an introduction to a sketch of Anna Kreider Imboden? Because even among the Mennonites there was a life that would not be denied participation in the development of this, their beloved country, their divine inheritance. And rather than be denied that right they affiliated with or helped organize churches where they could have it. But place not all the blame on the Mennonite; nay, nor the chief blame on the Mennonite himself, for in Switzerland, the church, and not the Roman Church either, stirred up the civil authority to persecute the Mennonite, even unto death. Little wonder that you cannot persuade him that the Christian has part in civil rule, yea that civil rule belongs to him alone, and that no one but a Christian has a right to sit on the seat of any civil authority, that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. In short, the Mennonite Kreiders married the Lutheran Imbodens, and we are told they got along peaceably together.

Anna (Nancy) Kreider afore, married Samuel Imboden (June 24, 1807 - Aug. 15, 1875), farmer a mile east of Campbelltown; she Mennonite, he Lutheran; 4 children: