Individual Details
Benedict Hershey Senior
(1696 - 29 Jul 1789)
Benedict Hirschi and his wife, Maria, immigrated in 1717 with his parents, Christian and Adelheit Hirschi, and his siblings, Andreas and Anna. He settled along Little Conestoga Creek near Wheatland.
He signed the Mennonite Petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1725 to permit Mennonites to own land and conduct trade. This petition led to the 1729/1730 Naturalization Act to accomplish this goal. Benedict signed the Declaration of Loyalty, a requirement to own land and conduct trade, on 1 April 1728. However, Benedict never completed the process to become a British citizen.
Benedict Hershey was ordained a minister at Rohrerstown by 1719, and as a bishop by 1725. He signed The Christian Confession of Faith of the....Mennonists in 1725. In 1775, in opposition to taking up arms in the Revolutionary War, Benedict sent a declaration of belief to the Pennsylvania Assembly. According to historian John L. Ruth, Benedict's declaration was "the most memorable statement made by the Lancaster Mennonites in their first two centuries."
He signed the Mennonite Petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1725 to permit Mennonites to own land and conduct trade. This petition led to the 1729/1730 Naturalization Act to accomplish this goal. Benedict signed the Declaration of Loyalty, a requirement to own land and conduct trade, on 1 April 1728. However, Benedict never completed the process to become a British citizen.
Benedict Hershey was ordained a minister at Rohrerstown by 1719, and as a bishop by 1725. He signed The Christian Confession of Faith of the....Mennonists in 1725. In 1775, in opposition to taking up arms in the Revolutionary War, Benedict sent a declaration of belief to the Pennsylvania Assembly. According to historian John L. Ruth, Benedict's declaration was "the most memorable statement made by the Lancaster Mennonites in their first two centuries."
Events
| Birth | 1696 | , , Switzerland |  |  | |
| Death | 29 Jul 1789 | , Lancaster, PA | | ||
| Alt name | Benedict Hirschi | ||||
| Alt name | Benz Hersche | ||||
| Alt name | Benjamin Hershey | | |||
| Burial | |
Families
| Spouse | Maria ( - ) |
| Child | Christian "Langen" Hershey Senior (1719 - 1782) |
| Child | Ann Elizabeth Hershey (1724 - 1790) |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Benjamin Hershey Junior (1733 - ) |
| Father | Christian Hirschi Senior (1660 - 1720) |
| Mother | Adelheit "Oade" Scholi (1669 - ) |
| Sibling | Christian Hershey Junior ( - 1745) |
| Sibling | Anna Hershey (1698 - 1754) |
| Sibling | Andreas "Salunga" Hershey (1702 - 1792) |
Notes
Birth
Bentz Hershey may have been born around 1696 in Switzerland.Burial
Bishop Benedict Hirschi, Sr. was buried in the now-defunct cemetery for the first Mennonite Meetinghouse in Lancaster County along Abbeyville Road.Endnotes
1. Oberholtzer, Noah, Jr. "Readers' Ancestry." Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage. Volume 28, Number1 (January 2005), pages 26-29. Contact: 202 East Eby Road, Leola, PA 17540-9508. Telephone: 717-656-8036., page 28.
2. Allan A. Garber, To God Alone The Honor: The Pioneer Mennonite Families of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Morgantown, PA: Mastof Press, 2017), 270.
3. Don Brubaker, "J. Hoffman Hershey Family and Their Legacy: Preserved in family photos, notebooks, voice recordings, and material objects," Pennsyvlania Mennonite Heritage, 43, Number 3 (July 2020): 76.