How authoritative are Mennonite church records?

Question

I've been using the (Landis family) Mennonite church records which look like rolodex cards on Ancestry since that's where the Mennonite records site sent me...is there somewhere that will explain the sources - such as "DKL Jacob Landis 1730 p. 49" or "Fisher Gen. Egeland #6670"?? And why do they have what look like pencil notations on them - are those authoritative at all??

Secondly, is a subscription to GRANDMA worth the price? What can I learn there that I can't find on these Mennonite records and on findagrave (Oh, and I have "the Landis Family of Lancaster County").? 

(This family is an excellent place for me to be working...I'm new to genealogy and it is so well documented...teaching me lots of things I can use with less documented lines in the future!!)

But I do have one Landis/Rohrer family with eight children, three of whom married Landises and two married Rohrers...headaches ahead!! :)

Thank you for your time!!!

Comments

I've also wondered about those Mennonite record cards (for eastern Pennsylvania Mennonites) on Ancestry.com.  I have used them for several ancestors and collateral relatives (possibly including people named Landis). I've concluded that they are derived from a variety of unidentified sources. In a few cases I've found original records (notably including baptisms in non-Mennonite churches -- I don't believe that all of the people on the cards were Mennonites) that confirm or refute data on these cards.

I'm curious to see if anyone can explicate the origins of these cards.

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Here's a link about the Mennonite church cards...

 

https://www.lmhs.org/research/genealogy/genealogy-resources/card-file/

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I am also looking for more info on my grandmothers ancestors that were Mennonite. Many Swiss and German migrants are dead ends but I am still searching.

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Sadly, the website has changed all of it links with its name change (to Mennonite Life). I had bookmarked that link ages ago, so I could pursue annotations on the cards. Now the website is just about useless.

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Katrina, try your old bookmarks in the Wayback Machine on www.archive.org. I entered the link that Pam Smith posted, and I got links to an old version of the page: https://web.archive.org/web/20210418225726/https://www.lmhs.org/research/genealogy/genealogy-resources/card-file/ . The search function can't be archived, but if you bookmarked static pages, they may be in the archive version.

Also, the new domain has a research page at https://mennonitelife.org/research/ that may have the content you are missing.

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Oh, good grief. Thank you so much Ellen.

I spent all day yesterday on another branch of the family, updating links to the Wayback Machine. Yet it never occurred to me to look there for this.

Mennonite Life does have a research page, for members.

Answer 1

Not too familiar with Mennonite records, but church records in general are pretty reliable. Especially if you can see the original record, not just the transcription. (Eliminates transcription errors). Do you have any other source for Mennonite records, besides Ancestry? I would check and see if it jives and maybe find the clue to the sources listed.

You might try to google Mennonite Church records/Also check internet Archives/open library sources. Sometimes you find good surprises. One of my ancestors wrote a definitive text on Middle TN Baptist History.

Comments

The records that Pamela asked about aren't church records. They are images of index cards in a "Mennonite" database on the Ancestry.com website.

Added: The Ancestry.com source citation for these cards reads:

Ancestry.com. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: Genealogical Card File. Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

And there's a description that states "These cards provide vital details on an estimated 800,000 Lancaster County Mennonites and members of related groups."

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But the Mennonite church site is what sent me there! I think they cut a deal so those records could be digitized and accessed!! The records don't seem to be available anywhere else as far as I can tell! But I'd sure like to know who made the little notations on the cards. I have yet to find anything in those records that contradicts the family history I know, at least for Landises....I am about to launch into the Rohrers!!

Thanks for responding!!

Answer 2

I found documentation on this card collection at https://www.lmhs.org/research/genealogy/genealogy-resources/card-file/ . The cards document research done by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society over a period of years.

That linked page includes a list of source abbreviations used on the cards.

Comments

The LMHS website has some potentially valuable members-only online research resources, as well as some free online resources, such as this collection of images of family bibles.

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The family Bibles are FABULOUS!! I found my husband's 4GGrandfather's (David Groff Landis) Bible!! Thank you so much for pointing this out!!

 

Pam

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Great news about that Bible! That collection is very impressive.

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This is so cool! I wish some of my family had been in there!

Answer 3

I am not familiar with the site you mention but I have gotten a lot of information on my Mennonite ancestors (including the Landis and Landes families) from the obituaries at mcusa-archives.org and also from the Mennonite Historians of Eastern PA at mhep.org.  My great-grandmother was a Landis who I was blessed to have actually known.  If I can help you with any specific individuals in the Bucks-Montgomery County area of Eastern PA, send me an email.

Comments

I wasn't aware until today of my large group of Landes/Landis cousins.  I've gone heavily into Mennonites this week, hoping to make more sense of the Ancestry DNA tree "ThruLines" reports where many cousins are brought in as siblings due to errors in others' trees, where the DNA matches remain strong enough that they don't get eliminated automatically.  My direct Mennonite lines end with marriages into Quaker lines from 1830-1850, but many of the DNA matches aren't on such lines.  The PA records lend themselves to top down tree filling, taking in innumerable cousins, much like the DNA ancestor matching.

Answer 4

Hi,

I am unsure of Mennonite record cards on Ancestry. (There is such a thing??) Now I have to go look. :)

But as far as Grandma is concerned, I believe it is well worth it's cost for me. I have found many Mennonite names and ancestors of mine. Almost all of my ancestors are from Canada, having moved to Canada from Russia. There is a wealth of information on there! Having said that, they do quote their sources where available, but like most sources, unless you have the actual records, there is always the chance that they were said, heard, or written wrong. Most of the sources are from the Mennonite church records, so I am not sure how those could be mistakes, but...*shrug*...you never know. But I do love using it for, if nothing else, finding names and dates I can look further into at a later time.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

I believe Ancestry's calling these "Mennonite Vital Records" is a bit disingenuous. As noted in another answer by Ellen Smith these are photos of a card collection held by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society with the title, "Genealogical Card File".  I traced the citation for one of these cards, and it pointed to an article by Grace Showalter in an issue of Pennsylvannia Mennonite Heritage published in 1980.  I bought a copy of that issue to further trace the cites and they lead to a direct communication from Edith Culp Cool to the author, Mrs. Showalter, from 1973.

So, bottom line here is that the "Vital Records" card is just information from Mrs. Cool's tree in 1973.  No offense to the late Mrs. Cool, but this can hardly be considered a primary source.