A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

a homo in the New World — a haven of rest from the religious and economic oppression in Western Europe. Although the first Mennonite immigrants who founded Germantown (now a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa.) in 1683 were of Dutch ethnic origin from the city of Krefeld in Northwest Germany, the larger groups that settled in Pennsylvania and Virginia at the beginning of the eighteenth century were of Swiss-German background, coming to America from the Palatinate in (iermany and from Switzerland. By the 1870's these original settlements had expanded westward to the states of Ohio, Indiana, 1 llinois, and Iowa. It is highly improbable that the migration of eighteen thousand Mennonites from Russia to the United States and Canada in the 1870's would have been practically possible if there had not been concerned Mennonite churches on this side of the Atlantic. Farlier (in chapter six), it has been pointed out that Cornelius Jansen, who championed the cause of emigration to America in Russia, established contacts with British and United States officials and Mennonite leaders in preparation for the mass exodus of Mennonites from the Ukraine. Two men with whom Jansen corresponded and who gave outstanding leadership throughout the period of immigration and resettlement were John F. Funk (1835-1930) of Elkhart, Indiana, and Christian Krehbiel (1832-1909) of Summerfield, Illinois.' As editor of l)cr Herald der Wahrheit and its English counterpart, The Herald of Truth, Funk was in an especially favorable position to disseminate information about the plight of the Mennonites in Russia during the I87()'s and to aid the immigrants upon their arrival in the United States. In a November, 1872, issue of The Herald of Truth, Funk appeals to the 129 130 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH members of the (Old) Mennonite Church to demonstrate the spirit of a true Christian brotherhood: "Our church," he writes, ". . . ought to think seriously over this matter, the new relations into which it will bring us; the liberality and generosity it will require of us ... a helping hand, information, and a kind of fraternal feeling towards them . . . our sympathies and our prayers. Let the Church not be behind in good works and good words, and a friendly welcome, with willing hearts if need be." 2 Krehbiel was an active leader in the Western District Conference (General Conference Mennonite Church) and promoted the cause of the Russian brethren in his constituency. Representatives of the two major Mennonite bodies met on December 2, 1873, to form the "Board of Guardians," anticipating the organization of the MCC fifty years later. 3 Once organized the committee decided to negotiate with the railroads to obtain the most favorable terms, speed up the collection of gifts and loans, and to assist the immigrants in the selection of suitable settlement sites. The ultimate success of the whole venture must be attributed, next to G