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1548 FROSCHAUER GERMAN BIBLE
By Dennis Stoesz
This Bible was printed in 1548 by Christoph Froschauer in Zurich, Switzerland. Bibles printed by Froschauer were popular because of the clear type, pictorial decoration and popular language. This particular Froschauer Bible is in quarto format and does not include illustrations. It does contain family records and quite a few handwritten notes by the Christner family and by others who owned it through the years.
Family tradition holds that this Bible was brought from Switzerland to the United States in 1769 by Veronica Shantz (1751-1833). Veronica married John H. Christner (born 1732) in 1773, whom she met in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Records of the births of their nine children, starting with Christian who was born in 1774, are found in the Bible. It is uncertain who all the owners of the Bible have been in subsequent generations. One family record indicates that the Bible was owned by Verda Brant Herboldheimer who was a granddaughter of Rena Christner. Another family story says the Bible was thrown into a fire at one point, but that a girl rescued it. From notes in the Bible itself, we know that Levi D. Christner (1897-1984) of Wolcottville, Indiana, purchased it in 1930 for ten dollars. In 1971, he donated the Bible and some personal papers to the Archives so they would be safeguarded and available to the broader community. This material was placed in a personal archives collection.
In spring 2000, Diane Christner, Newark, Delaware, and E. Wayne Christner, Boardman, Ohio, became interested in the existence of this Bible. E. Wayne Christner had done some research on the Christner family and on the Bible, but wanted to learn more. A decision was made at the archives to photograph parts of it in order to make it more accessible to the public and to encourage a fuller story to be written about it..
The eighty-seven photographs taken were placed in an album and are arranged as they were taken, beginning at the front. Special attention was paid to photographing title pages, and any pages that had handwritten notes on them. Some notes were dated as early as 1617. One note in 1698 indicates that Hanss Jacob Gass received this Bible from his father-in-law, Martin Zeller.
E. Wayne Christner was able to use these photographs to compile further documentation on the Christner family and on the Bible. Hopefully, people will continue to research the story of this Bible and the family names contained in it. It may also tell the broader story of the various Anabaptist, Amish, Mennonite and other Christian churches from the sixteenth century through to the present to which the owners of the Bible belonged.
The Archives recently transferred the 1548 Froschauer Bible, the set of related photographs, and The Christners by E. Wayne Christner (August 15, 2000) to the Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College, which houses selected family Bibles and many genealogy books. Documentation for this article comes from those sources mentioned above, from notes by Joe Springer, curator at the Mennonite Historical Library, and from documents found in the Levi D. Christner (1897-1984) archives collection.
Dennis Stoesz has served as archivist since 1989.
Mennonite Historical Bulletin, October 2000