Person:Katharina Eicher (1)

Henry Ellenberger was born of Swiss Mennonite stock. The family had been forced to flee as did many others of their faith, from the beautiful Emmethal Valley east of Berne, Switzerland. The Rhein-Pfalz into which they settled was almost as beautiful, as there were fertile valleys framed against the timbered Haardt Mountains. Before them to the east lay the rolling plains leading to the Rhine River valley of Germany. Henry Ellenberger's grandfather, Abraham, lived in Gonnheim, a short distance east of Friedelsheim, near Bad Durkheim. It is thought that he was the pastor of the Mennonite church of Friedelsheim. His father was Christian, a farmer born in 1734 and died December 15, 1808 in Friedelsheim. His mother, the daughter of Christian and Katherina Stauffer, was born 1743 and died November 11, 1803 also in Friedelsheim. Henry was born March 28, 1784 in Friedelsheim As a lad he learned to cultivate the fields and care for livestock of his father's farm. The love of the land was to stay with him all of his life. One of the first tasks when he got to the state of Iowa was to purchase a farm. He seems to have had other talents. In his obituary it was reported that "he loved to write poems." Some of these are printed in this booklet. His broader interests are also evidenced by his election to serve as pastor. Since it is reported that he was one of the first paid pastors in South Germany he must have secured special education for this rote. From the life he lived, the one picture of him, his letters and poems, he gives us the impression of being a sensitive, spiritual leader. He was a kindly, concerned man as shown by his walking 20 miles, when he was 80 years of age to purchase gifts for his grandsons. He must also have been a strong, well organized leader, for at the age of almost 70 he organized the Zion Mennonite Church, of Donnellson, Iowa. Even though he appears to be of slight build he must have been sturdy, for he assumed the full responsibility for preaching in the new church as well as oversight of the West Point, Iowa,Mennonite Church. In this role he was in charge of all the official duties as the only ordained minister of the two churches. When in his eighties, he lived with a widowed daughter and family. Even though he was too blinded to write he asked his daughter to write down the words to his poems. Most of his poems deal with his relation to his God. We do not seem to have much information about Henry Ellenberger's education but in 1812 he was elected as minister of the Friedelsheim and Erpzolsheim Mennonite Churches. In 1808 he married Elizabeth Hertzler of Alsheim, born 1788. He served these two churches until 1824 when he moved to Eppstein. In 1827 his nephew, Jacob Ellenberger, followed him as preacher of the Friedelsheim Church. According to the records Jacob attended the pietistic school in Beuggen, Baden, 1824-1829. As was customary the church had several ministers. Jacob also passed his examination at the normal school Kaiserslautern. Both Henry and Jacob received subsidies from the Amsterdam, Netherlands Mennonite congregation while they were preaching. At Eppstein, Henry Ellenberger also served the Friesenheim congregation. In 1828, his wife, Elizabeth Hertzler, died at the age of 39 years. To them had been born ten children, seven of whom were still living when she passed away. Two children soon followed her in death. On April 29, 1829, he married Katherine nee- Eicher, widow of Jacob Schowalter of Rucheim. She was the daughter of Jacob Eicher who died at Bornheim and his wife, Marie nee Leonard, was born ca. 1805. Both Jacob and Henry Ellenberger were poets. Jacob Ellenberger formulated the Palatine catechism Formularfuch and the hymnal of 1832 and 1854. He also wrote hymn number 296 in the hymnal of the South German Mennonites. Henry continued to write poems throughout his lifetime. Few of them, however, were published until the present time. The nephew of Jacob was also named Jacob Ellenberger. He was born August 2, 1831. He served as minister at Friedelsheim 1881-1901. His outstanding contributions are three volumes of Pictures of Their Lives as Pilgrims, 1878, 1880, 1830 and the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalendar which was founded at his instigation. A number of his pictures and drawings have appeared in Mennonite publications. Henry Ellenberger served the Eppstein Mennonite and Friesenheim Mennonite Churches until T850 when he migrated to the United States. His son, Jacob, had however migrated in 1846. According to the deed recorded in Lee County, Iowa Courthouse, Jacob Ellenberger purchased from J.P. Walker the west one-half of the west one-half of the south-east quarter, section 33, township 69, range 5 and part of the west one-half, southeast fourth of section 17, township 68 range 5, on September 3, 1846 for a sum of $357. In 1849 the Busch Mennonite Church was organized. It was located four miles southwest of West Point, Iowa. Jacob was elected as one of the lay ministers. He performed some of the services within the church. Abraham Schowalter, Jr., reported that his parents had been married by Rev. Jacob Ellenberger. In1850 Henry Ellenberger with his second wife, Katharine and the following children migrated to Lee County, Iowa: Katharine, born May 9, 1809, Abraham born August 5, 1817, Elizabeth born December 26, 1819, Jacob had migrated earlier. He was born October 12, 1821. Barbara born June 27, 1827, however at Eppstein. Heinrich, Jr. decided to remain in Germany. He was born August 10, 1823 at Friedelsheim, the birthplace of the other children. Henry Ellenberger purchased from John Goodling the north one-half, northeast one-fourth, section 30 and part of the west one-half, northeast one-fourth, section 16, township 68, range 6 on March 31, 1851 for $900. This transaction was witnessed by T. Ellenberger. The first section of land was the 80 acres in which the Zion Mennonite Church was to later be located. At one time this area was known as "behind Franklin." On June 2, 1852, it is recorded that he purchased from Mary Everingham lots five and six and ten in the town of West Point, lawa. It is interesting to note that Henry Ellenberger migrated to this country at the advanced age of 67 years having served as pastor of churches in the Palatinate for 38 years. During the summer of 1851 additional Mennonites moved into the immediate area, and the Zion Mennonite Church was organized under the leadership of Rev. Henry Ellenberger. This first meeting was held in the No. 4 school district of Franklin Township three miles north and one mile west of the present town of Donnellson, Iowa. When he had arrived in the fall of 1850 to West Point, where his son was located, he was asked to serve as minister of that church as their lay ministers were not ordained at that time. So it was that in the spring at Pentecost, of 1851, Holy Communion was observed for the first time west of the Mississippi by Mennonite people. Rev. Henry Ellenberger carried on all of the work of the congregation. During the winter of 1851-52 he conducted the first catechism class and held baptism for the Zion congregation May 2, 1852. During the summer of 1852, three additional ministers migrated from the Palatinate to this country. Within the next years these three men were asked to share in the work of the ministry of the Zion Church, with Henry Ellenberger still carrying on as the minister of the West Point church. By that time he had moved to West Point, and therefore it was necessary for him to travel all of the distance to Zion Church to conduct services. He continued active, however, in the work for a number of years. When the school was started in 1853 he took an active part in that and when the new church building was erected in 1854-55 he offered the dedicatory prayer and gave the dedicatory sermon. During this period of time, however, his eyesight continued to fail, so that it became increasingly difficult for him to do any reading and writing. When Henry Ellenberger had served as a minister in Germany, his churches had been members of the South German Mennonite Conference. When he came to the United States, he again served two congregations as he had in Germany. These two congregations worked together in a number of ways. November 5, 1853, they met together and adopted a common constitution. It seemed that in a number of ways these two congregations continued to work together, and in 1859 they were to hold the historic conference at which time resolutions were passed which resulted in the formation of the General Conference Mennonite Church. Due to his advanced age and blindness, Rev. Ellenberger did not take an active part in the formation of the conference. On September 17, 1859, his second wife had passed away at the age of 75. He continued to live in West Point until his son-in-law passed away in 1859. This was Christian Rings who had married his daughter, Elizabeth. While repairing a barn, the wind blew a heavy beam which fell onto Christian, killing him. So Rev. Henry Ellenberger lived with her until his passing on September 26, 1869. Mrs. Mary Ellenberger, the wife of his grandson Christian, related the following incident. At the age of eighty it is reported that even though his eyesight was poor he could still see well enough to walk. On his eightieth birthday he walked from West Point to Donnellson (about 10 miles) where he purchased pocket knives for his four grandsons returning again by foot and presenting these to them. During his lifetime he frequently wrote poems. A few of these have recently come into our possession. They were in the family, apparently coming down through his daughter, Barbara, who married Daniel Rings. Her daughter Katharine married Henry Bentzinger and she in turn gave these poems to her daughter, Anna Faeth, from whom I received them. The poems are included at the end of this paper. These have been translated by Benno Toews, a German professor at Bluffton College, except as noted. At the present time the descendants of the following families in Lee County, Iowa are closely related to Rev. Henry Ellenberger: Henry Bentzingers, Henry Rings, Daniel Kollers, F.H. Krebill and others. When Rev. Ellenberger was living with his daughter, Mrs. Christian Rings, he was blind and unable to work. Furthermore, she did not have much in the way of funds for her two small children. The neighbors came one day and cut wood for them. At that time they lived three miles north of Donnellson on the road where the Union School No. 3 was located. We would say it would be just west of Highway 218 on the south side of the road. All of these poems were written in the German language; therefore the translation does not always capture the beauty of the original expression. We are not certain that all of the poems were written by the Reverend Henry Ellenberger. Some may have been by his grandson, Henry, who likewise wrote poems.