Apostolic Christian Genealogy

My interest in the genealogy of the Apostolic Christian families stems from my research of the Strahm and Gerber families which immigrated from Langnau i.E., Switzerland in 1851 and settled in in Adams and Wells Counties, Indiana about 1853. These families were involved in the early beginnings of the Apostolic Christian Church one mile north of Vera Cruz, Indiana (referred to as the Bluffton or Bluffton East Apostolic Christian Church).

By church doctrine, members of the church must marry other members. There is also a tendency for "friends of the church" (attending nonmembers) to marry other "friends". Because the early Apostolic Christian Churches started with only a few families (usually Swiss or German Anabaptist immigrants), relatively few other families have come into the churches, and the marriage tendencies mentioned above, the genealogies of the original families become very intertwined.

As communication between the churches have improved with the general improvements in transportation since the early 1900s, and as members have seen the need to marry outside of their extended families (but still within the church, of course), many marriages have occurred between members of different congregations. These marriages have created many ties between the original families of each of the congregations.

These ties create what I envision as a "Family Web" (rather than Family Tree) of the Apostolic Christian Church.

Bern, Kansas
Bluffton (Old Cem.)
Bluffton (New Cem.)
Cissna Park, Illinois (Old Cem.)
Fairbury, Illinois
Forrest, Illinois
Harper, Kansas
LaCrosse, Indiana (Veterans only)
LaPorte, Indiana
Lester, Iowa
Remington, Indiana
Roanoke, Illinois (New)
Taylor, Missouri
West Bend, Iowa
Wolcott, Indiana

The denominational newsletter is called The Silver Lining. To learn more about this publication, to browse or search online issues, visit my Silver Lining page.

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