NEWSLETTER

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SERVING THE GREATER LIVINGSTON COUNTY AREA

NUMBER 9 - SEPT. 2001

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FAIRBURY BLADE

MAY 29, 1908

THE AMISH PEOPLE

THE MUCH ADVERTISED SUIT, ISCH VS. WITZIG, WHICH IT WAS GIVEN OUT IN THE PEORIA PAPERS, WAS SURE TO BE THIS TERM OF COURT, HAS AGAIN FAILED TO MATERIALIZE. THE SUIT WAS BROUGHT BY ISCH AGAINST REV. WITZIG OF THE AMISH CHURCH, ISCH CLAIMING HE HAD BEEN PUT OUT OF THE CHURCH BY WITZIG AND AFTERWARDS PREVENTED FROM EARNING HIS LIVING BY THE PERSECUTIONS OF WITZIG. NOT ONLY IS WITZIG ACCUSED OF THIS, BUT A NUMBER OF OTHER ELDERS OF THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH ARE CLAIMED TO HAVE ASSISTED HIM. LAST WEEK A PAGE ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE PEORIA STAR DEALING WITH THE MATTER IN PART AND WITH THE AMISH PEOPLE, THEIR BELIEFS AND PERSONAL LIFE IN GENERAL.

WHAT THE PERSONAL HABITS OF THE AMISH HAVE TO DO WITH THE LAW SUIT OF ISCH VS. WITZIG IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE. THE SUIT WILL BE DECIDED ACCORDING TO ITS MERITS IF IT IS EVER BROUGHT TO TRIAL AND IT IS MERELY A MATTER BETWEEN MESSRS. WITZIG AND ISCH. THE ARTICLE IN QUESTION WAS A REFLECTION UPON THE CHURCH AND UPON SOME OF THE CHURCH MEMBERS.

IN THIS COUNTRY MAN IS PERMITTED TO WORSHIP GOD AS HE SEES FIT AND THERE IS PERHAPS NO MORE DEVOUT CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA THAN THE AMISH PEOPLE. IT IS DOUBTFUL IF THERE COULD BE FOUND A CHURCH OF ANY DENOMINATION IN THE COUNTRY EVERY MEMBER OF WHICH IS PERFECT, BUT NO CHURCH IS MORE STRICT IN ENFORCING ITS DISCIPLINE THAN THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH. IF A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH IS FOUND UNWORTHY AND PERSISTS IN DOING THE THINGS HE SHOULD NOT DO AFTER HE HAS BEEN WARNED SUFFICIENTLY THEN HE IS DROPPED FROM THE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. IF HE REPENTS AND PROVES HIS REPENTANCE IS SINCERE HE IS TAKEN BACK INTO THE CHURCH. AND WHAT GOOD ARE CHURCH RULES IF THEY ARE NOT TO BE OBEYED AND WHAT GOOD COULD CHURCHES ACCOMPLISH UPON THE HABITS AND ACTS OF THEIR MEMBERS?

THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF AMISH PEOPLE IN THIS LOCALITY. THEY HAVE A LARGE CHURCH HERE AND ALSO ONE SOUTH OF TOWN. THEY ARE A LAW ABIDING, PEACE LOVING PEOPLE WHO WILL GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO AVOID TROUBLE. MANY OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE LIVED AMONG US FOR OVER A QUARTER OF A CENTURY; HONEST, HARD WORKING, FRUGAL PEOPLE, LIBERAL IN THEIR CHARITIES AND HELPING ONE ANOTHER WHENEVER HELP IS NEEDED. THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN LIVING BEYOND THEIR MEANS OR INCOME, BUT WHEN THEY HAVE ARRIVED PERMIT THEY DESIRE. MANY OF THEM LIVE IN BEAUTIFUL HOMES WITH SURROUNDINGS AS WELL KEPT AS ANY IN THE CITY. AS CITIZENS THEY BY THEIR PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ACTS MAKE THEMSELVES DESIRABLE TO ANY COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY LIVE. WE KNOW BUT LITTLE OF THEIR CHURCH RULES, BUT WE DO KNOW THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN THIS CITY ARE HONEST AND CAPABLE CITIZENS AND CONSISTENT CHRISTIANS AND ANY ATTEMPT TO SMURCH THEM AS A PEOPLE AND A CHURCH BECAUSE ONE MAN IS CLAIMED TO HAVE INJURED ANOTHER BY OVER ZEALOUS EFFORTS IN CHURCH WORK IS AN INJUSTICE.

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FAIRBURY BLADE

MAY 7, 1909

ISCH - WITZIG SUIT SETTLED

THE ISCH - WITZIG LAW SUIT WHICH HAS ATTRACTED SO MUCH ATTENTION THRUOUT THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, AND PARTICULARLY THIS SECTION WHERE ALL PARTIES ARE KNOWN, HAS BEEN SETTLED. THE CASE IS A REMARKABLE ONE. RUDOLPH ISCH, OF PEORIA, WAS AT ONE TIME A MEMBER OF THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH AT MORTON. FOR SOME REASON HE LOST HIS MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH AND SEVERAL YEARS ELAPSED BEFORE HE BROUGHT SUIT FOR DAMAGES AGAINST ELDERS WITZIG, MONGOLD, SCHNEIDER, GERBER, RAPP AND SCHMIDT, OF THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH FOR $50,000. THE SUIT WAS FILED TWO YEARS AGO AND ISCH IN HIS DECLARATION ALLEGED THAT THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH HAD CONSPIRED TO RUIN HIS BUSINESS AND HIS TRADE. WHEN THE CASE WENT TO TRIAL MARCH 23, THE JUDGE KNOCKED OUT SEVERAL COUNTS OF THE ISCH DECLARATION. THE TRIAL LASTED SEVERAL DAYS AND WHEN GIVEN TO THE JURY, THE JUDGE IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS ORDERED THE JURY TO BRING IN VERDICTS OF NOT GUILTY AGAINST ELDERS GERBER, RAPP AND SCHNEIDER. THE JURY DID THIS AND ALSO IGNORED ELDER SCHMIDT IN ITS FINDING, BUT THEY RETURNED A VERDICT OF $1,000 AGAINST ELDER WITZIG AND ELDER MONGOLD.

ARGUMENTS WERE MADE LAST THURSDAY FOR A NEW TRIAL, BUT WERE OVERRULED BY THE JUDGE AND PREPARATION WERE BEING MADE BY MR. CAMERON ATTORNEY FOR WITZIG ____ FOR AN APPEAL, BUT THEY, HOWEVER, DECIDED TO SETTLE THE MATTER WITHOUT FURTHER FIGHTING IN THE COURTS, AND TUESDAY MORNING JOHN SCHNEIDER, JR., OF PEORIA, HANDED JOSEPH A WIEL, ATTORNEY FOR ISCH, A CHECK FOR $1,000 AND ALSO PAID THE COURT COSTS, AMOUNTING TO $261.93.

IN THE OPINION OF MANY WHO HEARD THE TESTIMONY IN THE TRIAL THE ELDERS HAD AN EXCELLENT CHANCE TO _____ THEY HAD AGREED TO AN APPEAL, BUT THE AMISH ARE OF A PEACEFUL DISPOSITION AND THEY PROBABLY FIGURED THAT EVEN IF THEY BEAT ISCH MIGHT AMOUNT AS MUCH AS THE VERDICT.

THE TWO ELDERS IN THE CENTER OF THE CONTROVERSY

FAIRBURY BLADE

NOV. 12, 1912

REV. WITZIG DEAD

REV. R. WITZIG , ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY KNOWN MINISTERS IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS, DIED AT 7 O’CLOCK MONDAY MORNING AT HIS HOME IN GRIDLEY. HE HAD BEEN ILL FOR SEVERAL MONTHS WITH KIDNEY TROUBLE AND FOR SEVERAL WEEKS HIS CONDITION HAD BEEN CRITICAL.

THE DECEASED WAS BORN IN UHRZIESEN, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, SEPTEMBER 13, 1833. HE WAS MARRIED IN GERMANY TO MARY HUBER AND TO THEM SEVEN CHILDREN WERE BORN, SIX OF WHOM, WITH THE WIDOW, SURVIVE. THEY ARE: RUDOLPH, EMIL, JOHN, FRED AND MISSES LIZZIE AND SOPHIA, AT HOME. MR. WITZIG FOR MANY YEARS HAS BEEN PASTOR OF THE GERMAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH AT GRIDLEY, AND ONE OF THE PROMINENT ELDERS OF THE CHURCH IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE FUNERAL WAS HELD FROM THE CHURCH THURSDAY AT 10 A. M. AND INTERMENT WAS MADE IN THE GRIDLEY CEMETERY. THE SERVICES WERE ATTENDED BY A LARGE CONCOURSE OF PEOPLE, FOR THE DECEASED WAS LOVED AND RESPECTED. A LARGE NUMBER WENT TO GRIDLEY FROM THIS CITY AND OVER 300 CAME FROM EUREKA, MORTON, ROANOKE AND OTHER WESTERN POINTS.

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GRIDLEY ADVANCE

APR. 24, 1930

MICHAEL MANGOLD RITES YESTERDAY

ELDER OF APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH DIED SATURDAY OF PNEUMONIA

OBSEQUIES AT ROANOKE

MANY GRIDLEY PEOPLE ATTEND SERVICES HELD AT THE PRAIRIE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH

MANY MEMBERS OF THE GRIDLEY APOSOTLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH WENT TO ROANOKE YESTERDAY MORNING TO ATTEND THE FUNERAL SERVICES FOR THEIR BELOVED ELDER, MICHAEL MANGOLD, WHICH WERE HELD AT THE PRAIRIE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH, NEAR THAT PLACE, AT 10 O'CLOCK. ELDER MANGOLD DIED ON SATURDAY AFTER AN ILLNESS OF ONLY A FEW DAYS, THE DISSOLUTION BEING DUE TO PNEUMONIA. HIS DEATH WAS A GREAT SHOCK IN EVERY COMMUNITY WHERE HE WAS KNOWN.

REV. MANGOLD WAS BORN IN ALSACE-LORRAINE, FRANCE, ON APRIL 6, 1859, AND CAME TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1870, SINCE WHICH TIME HE HAD RESIDED AT ROANOKE. HE MARRIED IN 1883 TO MISS LYDIA HARTMAN, WHO SURVIVES, WITH THREE SONS, EZRA, JOHN AND DAVID MANGOLD, ALL OF ROANOKE. THERE ARE ELEVEN GRANDCHILDREN. TWO SISTERS ARE LIVING, MRS. WILLIAM YERGLER, OF CISSNA PARK, AND MRS. CHRIS GRAMM, OF GRIDLEY. THE LATE DANIEL MANGOLD, OF GRIDLEY, WAS A BROTHER.

REV. MANGOLD WAS AN ELDER OF THE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH FOR A PERIOD OF THIRTY YEARS. THE CHURCHES OF THIS DENOMINATION OF WHICH HE WAS THE ELDER ARE LOCATED AT ROANOKE, GRIDLEY AND MACKINAW DELLS, ALL IN ILLINOIS; OAKVILLE, IOWA; FRANCESVILLE, INDIANA, AND WEST QUINCY, MISSOURI. HE WAS ONE OF THE LEADING ELDERS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. THE MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH NOT ONLY REGARDED HIM WITH HIGH ESTEEM, BUT HAD GREAT AFFECTION FOR HIM.

THE CHURCH LEADERS IN THE TRIAL

ELDER RUDOLPH WITZIG (GRIDLEY, IL.) 1833 - 1912

ELDER MICHAEL MANGOLD (ROANOKE, IL.) 1859 - 1930

ELDER CHRISTIAN GERBER (SOUTH SIDE CHURCH) 1947 - 1910

ELDER ANDREW RAPP (MORTON, IL.) 1852 - 1911

ASSISTANT ELDER JOHN W. SCHMIDT (ROANOKE, IL.) 1844 - 1939

MINISTER JOHN W. SCHNEIDER (PEORIA, IL.)