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- Son of Benjamin Landis & Nancy Anna Long-Hershey & husband of Salome Zavitz-Hershey
BERTIE Township (WELLAND COUNTY, ONTARIO, CANADA)
Bertie Township, Ontario, the center of a now extinct Mennonite Church Settlement, called the Bertie Congregation Throught most of its history. Into this settlement lying west of Buffalo across the Niagara River in Ontario, Mennonites mograted from Eastern Pennsylvania as early as 1788. The main center of worship was a church one mile east of Sherkston. Property deeded in 1828 from that time served for church building and Cemetery purposes. The first church was a log building which about 30 years. By 1860 the log meetinghouse had been replaced by a brick church, which served during the greater period of strength and decline. In 1916 another church was erected on the same grounds and from it dated a rivival of interest and attendance for more than a decade, when decline again set in. In 1931 the Mennonites sold this Bertie Church to the Brethren in Christ with burial privileges reserved for the Mennonite families and their descendants.
The first Leader of the Bertie Congregation was preacher George Zavitz, son of pioneer Jacob Zavitz who came to Canada in 1788. Other preachers during the succeeding years were John Zavitz (1798 to 1872), John B. Hershey (1816-1904), Benjamin Hershey (1826 to 1888), Christian Hershey (1768 to 1845), Nelson Michael (1843 to 1923), Howard Stevanus, Noah Hunsberger, and Simon Martin. Bishop John Lapp of Clarence, New York made a definite contribution to thehe strenght and life of this church by visits and oversight. In 1865 he made a conference-wide appeal in behalf of the ministerial need of the congregation.
Among the reasons for varying strenght and loss was the problem of leadership and the problem of language. Bertie had a few strong leaders able to promote harmony and growth. Others were less capable and a few definitely in incapable. Schism had its part and some leaders were interested in other groups and organizations. The General Conference Mennonites had a congregation for a time in the northern part of the township. The United Brethren Church took rise and grew in strength while the Mennonites hesitated on the use of Englis Language. The Brethren in Christ (Tunker, River Brethren) had their strong leader for Ontario in this area. And so the Mennonite Church in its hundred years in Bertie Township experienced more loss than growth, until eventually all Mennonites families have withdrawn, or become absorbed in other local organizations.
The following is from Niagara Genalogy-Bertie Township
DR. JOHN B. HERSHEY was born in the township of Bertie in 1816. His father Benjamin, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was born Nov. 14th, 1776, came to Canada with the grandfather of our subject-also named Benjamin-in 1795, who brought with him his family of five sons named Christian, Abram, Henry and John and settled on the Niagara River, about four miles below the International Bridge. The ancestry dates back to Switzerland, where in 1702, Andrew Hershey was born. He had to leave his native land on account of being persecuted for his religion. This noble young man, not being willing to forego his convictions of conscience, chose rather to leave his native land and for a time took up his abode on the banks of the River Rhine, in France. From there, in 1719, he came to America and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where, for two or three generations, the descendants lived. In 1795, as previously stated, Benjamin, the Grandfather, immigrated to Canada, bringing with him his family of five sons. Dr. John B. our subject, is largely self-educated, and from extensive reading and close application to study he qualified himself for the practice of curing the disease of cancer. His success in this direction has gained for him wide populatity, so much so that people from different Dtates and Canada are continually consulting him in regard to that dread disease. His son, John B. Hershey, educated in the institutions of Canada and the United States, recieved his license to practice medicine and is now located in the City of Buffalo. He is associated with his father in the special treatment of cancer.
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1816 - 1904 (88 years)
