Advance Comment
The Merging


"Mumaw has produced a family treasure, one not to be measured by financial worth. Rare is the person who can make the mighty leap from the present day to an ancestor nine generations and 370 years earlier—and have information of his incarceration for his faith in an old castle—then build that bridge from Anabaptism to current American Mennonitism. Did the process of fleeing persecution from Switzerland to the Palatinate and finally to America unconsciously generate a wanderlust? Even here in America the generations kept moving from one community to another, seeking fellow believers, a new start, looking for that place God tells them to settle. Finally, the Mennonite woman and Amish Mennonite man meet, form a union and a family, and stay settled.

"The author communicates sensitively and well. This is the stuff of local history, of nearby history, of everyday faith and life, as she described her childhood. It triggered long-forgotten memories of the one-room country school and farm life this reader experienced. But it is much more than a pleasant jaunt down memory's lane. Alongside happy family living, we observe how fire, illness, death, and church problems looked to an observant child, who is now a senior saint possessing a keen memory and a flair for writing."
—James O. Lehman, Director of Libraries Emeritus, Eastern Mennonite University, Archivist and Local Historian

"Mumaw began writing her family story to help nieces and nephews keep the memory alive. Although disclaiming historical training, she carefully and unobtrusively signals both the oral and written sources and her own creative musings which shape the narrative. Here is a specific story of family roots traced from generation to generation. Through this telling of one family’s particular experiences of themes common across our many families, we are all invited to share in the reunion.
—Nate Yoder, Associate Professor of Church History, Eastern Mennonite Seminary

"Like a housewife in the garden picking the best fruit, Mumaw has filled her basket of memories with forward-looking stories of her Anabaptist ancestors, poignant tales of family wanderings, deaths and illnesses and delightful vignettes of her own childhood. She adds photographs and genealogies to garnish her rich harvest."
—Katie Funk Wiebe, Professor Emerita of Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas


The Merging orders:


 
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09/08/00