Jacob C. Gottschalk

Jacob Gottschalk was the first person to serve as a Mennonite bishop in America.

Life

Gottschalk was born around 1670 in Goch, Germany, the son of Gottschalk Thonis (Theunissen) and Lehntgen Henrichs. In 1701, he received a letter from the church in Goch, permitting him to migrate to Pennsylvania, where he arrived at Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1702. He was elected bishop of the Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse and on August 10, 1702, he became a preacher. He died in May 1763, and his grave is unmarked; however, there is a memorial stone that reads:

"In memory of Bishop Jacob Gottshall 1670-1763 Born in Goch Germany, ordained a bishop in the Germantown Mennonite Church in 1702 and also served the Skippack and Towamencin congregations. He performed the first baptism and conducted the first communion service in the American church in 1708. The Skippack alms audits were signed by him from 1745-1757. He owned a farm of 120 acres which included this church site. Undoubtedly, he is buried here but no marker remains, therefore this marker is erected in memory of this energetic leader."

Ministry

In 1712, he had the Dordrecht Confession of Faith translated into English and printed. [ [http://www.meetinghouse.info/sigdates.html Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust ] ]

In 1725, he met with sixteen other ministers from southeastern Pennsylvania and adopted the Dutch Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith (1632). They also wrote the following endorsement of which he was the first to sign: [Dyck pg. 217]

We the hereunder written Servants of the Word of God, and Elders in the Congregation of the People, called Mennonists, in the Province of Pennsylvania, do acknowledge, and herewith make known, that we do own the foregoing Confession, Apendix, and Menno's Excusation, to be according to our Opinion; and also, have took the same to be wholly ours. In Testimony whereof, and that we believe that same to be good, we have here unto Subscribed our Names.

In 1745, he arranged with the Ephrata Cloister [ [http://www.cob-net.org/cloister.htm Ephrata Cloister ] ] to have them translate from Dutch into German and print Thieleman J. van Braght's 1660 The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs Mirror of Defensless Christians, the work took 15 men three years to finish and in 1749, at 1512 pages, was the largest book printed in America before the Revolutionary War. [ [http://www.ephratacloister.org/news.htm News at the Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA ] ] One of the original volumes is now on display at the Ephrata Cloister.

Notes

References

Dyck, Cornelius J. (1993), Mennonite History 3rd Ed., Herald Press

External links

* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/gottschalk_jacob_1666_ca._1763 Jacob Gottschalk] in "Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online"