60 / Pioneer Mennonite Communities

blind and quite feeble with age and the exposure incident to frontier life, succumbed to an attack of malaria fever a few months later.' '29

Into More Northern Counties

As counties to the west were carved out, Mennonites found their way to them as settlers who were seeking permanent homes. One of the counties where Mennonites planted early communities was that of Ashland which was formed in 1846 from Rithland, Lorain, Huron, and Wayne counties. 30`

Benjamin Brubaker of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was apparently the first settler in this new Mennonite community. He arrived on the frontier with his family of eight children in 1822 or 1823 and purchased a quarter section for each. Ashland County was then an almost solid forest of large timber. Game of all kinds abounded in the forests; the wild hogs that roamed freely were known to be dangerous if threatened. Most of the people lived in huts or cabins though one of Brubaker's sons built a brick house in 1833

or 1834.:"

Brubaker settled near Five Points, a few miles southwest of the present city of Ashland. Other settlers soon followed. Among them were recent immigrants from Germany-the Imhoffs, Ballys, and Hartmans. Families from York, Juniata, Butler, and Fayette counties in Pennsylvania came, as did also families from Virginia and the Ohio counties of Columbiana, Stark, Fairfield, and Wayne.''

Worship services by this early settlement were held in homes until a meetinghouse was erected about a half mile northwest of Five Points on the road leading to Paradise Hill and on land originally owned by Benjamin Brubaker. Ten and twelve years after Brubaker's arrival the settlement had spread eastward and a second meetinghouse was erected in Vermillion Township on the thencalled Mansfield Road.;'

A third meetinghouse was erected by the newer German immigrants who preferred a fellowship more in keeping with their customs and viewpoints. This meetinghouse was located five miles south of Ashland and three miles northwest of Hayesville on the south side of section five, also on the Mansfield Road. This congregation eventually became a member of the General Conference Mennonite Church of North America.;'

John Nusbaum was ordained minister by Jacob Nold of Columbiana County, Ohio. Another preacher to serve the congregation