Ephrata's First Daughter Church: e Bermudian: Neighbors in Gimbsheim, in Ephrata, and Among the People in York County - Paperback

by Tammy Friedrich (Author)

In the mid-eighteenth century, Georg Conrad Beissel, the founder of the semi-monastic Sabbatarian Community in Ephrata, Lancaster Co., Pa., sent a letter to his brother in Germany. The correspondence sparked a spiritual awakening in the town of Gimbsheim. Inspired residents made their way to Pennsylvania, settling in northwestern York County around the Bermudian Creek. Embracing and reflecting Beissel's ideals, they established a church in 1752, developed the land, served their communities, and spread Beissel's beliefs beyond. They were pioneers. They were the Bermudians and this is their story. Families include: Kimmel, Bender, Traub, Shallus, Fahnestock, Lohman, Reiter, Heinrich, Koch, Beissel, Niess, Kobel, Miller, Riess, Pentz, Messerbach, Schmidt, Wahle, Miley, Lehn, and Weber.