Our Immigrant Heritage: Bean

Written by Forrest Moyer on April 5, 2017

This series of posts highlights families descended from 18th-century Mennonite immigrants to eastern Pennsylvania, in connection with the MHC’s exhibit Opportunity & Conscience: Mennonite Immigration to Pennsylvania, on display through March 31, 2018. The stories reflect the enrichment brought to communities over centuries by the descendants of immigrants.

There are two Mennonite Bean families, one descended from John Bean (Johannes Biehn), immigrant of 1709 who settled in Worcester Township, Montgomery County; and the other from John Bean who immigrated thirty years

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“Going to meeting” at Souderton, 1883-1902

Written by Forrest Moyer on February 8, 2017
Mennonite Heritage Center, Harleysville

Souderton Mennonite Meetinghouse, circa 1910

Another article from the first year of the MHEP Newsletter  features entries from the diary of William S. Hemsing (1866-1940) about his experiences at Souderton Mennonite Church. The full diary, subtitled An Intimate Look at Souderton, Pennsylvania, was published by Union National Bank in 1987 and is available to purchase in the Mennonite Heritage Center library for $8.00.

William Souder Hemsing, later to be Burgess of Souderton, was a teenage teller in the Union National Bank of

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