Notice: Meeting Cancelled for September 2021

We regret to announce that the annual meeting of the Casselman Historians, scheduled for September 17 and 18, 2021, is cancelled.  The extent and effect of the COVID virus infections locally and nationally seems to call for cancellation of the meeting. The research of the planned speakers will be represented in upcoming issues of The Historian paper. Please let others you know who were planning to go about the cancelation. Hopefully we will be together again next year. – David I. Miller, on behalf of the Casselman Historian’s committee, Sept. 10, 2021.

Before it was Goodwill Mennonite Home

The history of the Children’s Home near Grantsville, Maryland, is featured in the April and July 2021 issues of The Historians bulletin. See the article titles below. And for a few weeks, you can assess the two issues even without a membership.

The Historian, April 2021
“The Home”: The Monument on the Hill: A conversation with James L. Yoder on the origin and purpose of the original building at Goodwill Mennonite Home, Dorsey Hotel Rd., north of Grantsville, Maryland. Interview and annotation by David I. Miller.

THREE HISTORIC NEWSPAPER ARTICLES CHRONICLE THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHILDREN’S HOME
The first, from the Meyersdale Republican, is from Aug. 20, 1914. The second, from The Republican (Oakland, Md.) by J.B.Miller, is from Sept. 16, 1915. The third, also from the Meyersdale Republican, is from May 4, 1916

The Historian, July 2021
Noah’s Dilemma and Decision, by David I. Miller
The Letter of Noah Brennaman to C. W. Bender
Noah’s Appointment and the Board (including minutes from the 1913 meeting), by David I. Miller
Two Pandemics Compared — 1918 and 2020, Part II, by Gertrude Slabach
In Memoriam: Laban Peachey (1927 – 2021)

Next Annual Meeting of the Casselman Historians (Friday evening & Saturday, Sept. 17 & 18, 2021)

The 2021 annual meeting or the Casselman Historians is scheduled for September 17 and 18, 2021, at the  Maple Glen Mennonite church. The focus of this meeting goes back one-hundred years in recognition of the founding of MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) and the successive decades of involvement of the Mennonite and Amish churches of the Casselman Valley in MCC relief ministries.

Speakers include Kenneth Sensenig of MCC-East Coast. Local speakers will be working on local memories and documentation on activities during the time of post-World War II relief efforts. Relief efforts included food-canning and preparing clothing and bedding by sewing circles for shipment abroad. Young men participated in restoration work in war-torn Europe through the MCC Pax program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the centennial recognition of the 1920 founding of MCC was postponed a year. See the next issues of The Historian for further information.

Membership/Subscription Update
Check your expiration date by your name on the address label. If this is your final issue, find a card enclosed for renewal. The following options are available:

Membership includes subscription to The Historian ($15 value) and subscription to Mennonite Family History ($25 value). Rate: $30 one year or $80 three years.

Subscription only brings The Historian to your mail box each quarter. Rate: $15/yr. or $40 for three years.

For membership with subscription or for subscription only (new or renewal) send, with card if available, your choice of option, address, and check  to The Casselman Historians, P.O. Box 591, Grantsville, MD 21536.

The benefits of membership: (1) subscription to The Historian, (2) subscription to the quarterly Mennonite Family History, (3) free use of the archives by appointment, (4) voting privileges at business meetings, and (5) satisfaction in supporting the cause.

For on-line membership/subscription, go to casslemanhistorians@wordpress.com