The Library of Elisabeth Bechtel

They were a family of old Mennonite ministers in the Hereford area of Pennsylvania. Especially John B. Bechtel, Anna Mack's grandfather, had four titles from the 1830’s and before, the earliest being 1745, given nominally to his daughter, Elisabeth Longacre Bechtel (8 February 1852 – 22 April 1885). These, along with New Testaments, Mennonite song books and catechisms of the 1870’s with Elisabeth Bechtel’s inscription, were found in the attic of her daughter Anna (1880-1970) long after both she and her mother had died. Elisabeth's husband’s name, Henry Mack, is stamped in one and two others are inscribed by Anna, but the works from the 1830's contain the names of her mother, father and grandfather. Elisabeth seems to be their common denominator, but some are the professional books of a minister. Considering that other members of the family were also clergy additional books were in the family’s possession. These kept by or for the daughter may be explained by early mortalities in the family. Elisabeth Bechtel herself died prematurely in 1885.

We document this provenance for its own sake, but it leads also to an understanding of the loss of the devotional ways, so has a wider interest. John Bechtel and his wife had eight children, but five died before their parents, including Elisabeth. How then were the books passed down? Elisabeth's mother, Mary, who lived until 1898, left them as a keepsake for her grand daughter, Anna Bechtel Mack, “on her 21st birthday Anna inherited several hundred dollars from her maternal grandmother” (Elizabeth Reiff) . The books slept incognito a hundred years. Left to Anna they were in turn left to her daughter Elizabeth. They were not opened much in that time, those secrets of past owners’ lives.

The most important name in the transmission is John B. Bechtel, who acquired Johann Arndt’s, Wahren Christenthem at the estate sale of his father’s library. He wrote on the first free endpaper in English and German, “Bought at the Sale of my dec’d Father Abm. C. Bechtel Nov the 15th 1861 / John B. Bechtel /paid $1.00 / one of the administrators.” On the paste down his father had written, “Subscriber /Abraham C. Bechtel / January the 26th 1833."

Abraham C. Bechtel (1776 -1861) is not to be confused with his father, minister Abraham Bechtel (1749-1815), trustee in 1780 for an acre of land given by Henry Stauffer for the Colebrookdale meetinghouse (Wenger, 251, 121). Abraham C. 's brother, Bishop John C. (Clemens) Bechtel (1779-1843), was also a "preacher at Hereford in 1816 and bishop in 1830" (Wenger, 251) whose son, the above John B. Bechtel (1807-1889), was ordained at Hereford in 1848. To fully account the four generations of Bechtel Mennonite pastors, John B. Bechtel's grandson, Henry G. Bechtel (b. 1878) was ordained a minister at Vincent in 1914.

The Arndt work that Abraham C. subscribed had two parts bound in one, 941 and 232 pages respectively, with 2 copper-engraved title pages and 63 full-page woodcut emblems. It is commonly said to have been the most frequently used devotional book for more than two centuries among Mennonites. Three German editions appeared in Philadelphia and Germantown prior to this one, Ben Franklin’s (1751), Christopher Saur’s (1765) and Johann Georg Ritter's, 1830. In mid 18th century Pennsylvania, Lutheran pastor Muhlenberg said of Arndt’s book, “take hold of the Holy Bible and True Christianity every day" (I, 219).

Regardless of how much of Arndt's views are implicit in Abraham C. Bechtel’s subscription of Wahren Christenthum, the separation between priesthood and laity was slight for Mennonites who expected to be ordained if their name were chosen out of a hat. In this election anyone might serve as much anyone could democratically begin such a union. Most of Bechtel’s family and the community at large would be so inclined. Such views and practices underlay Mennonites claim to peace. So the secret life of a mystic is revealed in owning a book? At least in what we can know, John B. Bechtel was important in sustaining the continuity of Hereford Mennonites. He may be compared with George Clemens Reiff in Skippack who served a like preserving function among Mennonites during the Oberholtzer schism of 1848. Christian Clemmer, who had been the pastor in Hereford, went with Oberholtzer's “New” Mennonites and Bechtel was elected his successor.

On 17 January 1852, John B. Bechtel of the Old order, paid to the New $75.00 for its one half interest in the old meetinghouse…” (Good, 19). Bechtel wrote that Clemmer “publicly denounces us from the pulpit as trouble makers and good-for-nothings” (Ruth, 283), but in testimony for a Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Appeal (Samuel H. Landis et al. vs. Henry H. Borneman et al.) (1883), Bechtel conciliates that "the object of the conference is to keep the congregations[s] together and to promote unity of opinion, and if any trouble arises to consider and adjust them" (Wenger, 51-52).

This lot that fell to John B. Bechtel at age 41 in this crisis in 1848 does not prove he had been yearning for the call, but his annotation of Die Wandelnde Seele in 1835 suggests he was perhaps a Mennonite philosopher. There are several different signatures in it, implying group study. His own many signatures and the comment, “a very useful book” signify his interest. The title from the first English translation of 1834 is, The Wandering Soul; or, Dialogues Between the wandering Soul and Adam, Noah, and Simon Cleophas Comprising A History of the World, Sacred and Profane From the Creation Until the Destruction of Jerusalem. Two copies remain among those attic books in German, 1833 and 1834. That of 1833 is heavily inscribed by both Bechtel and his wife Mary.

In fact he has signed it three times, first with wife, Mary L., on the front pastedown in English and in German. Aross from these signatures, on the first free endpaper, he writes with a flourish in both languages, “Wandering Soul / a very useful book.” Turning the page, he signs again in German in pencil on the verso while the recto of the second free endpaper, utterly certain to establish ownership, writes large in English, in ink with a flourish, “John B. Bechtel / February the 13th 1835.”

The Wandering Soul had great popularity among Mennonites. Written in Holland in 1635 by Dutch Mennonite Jan Philips Schabaelje, translated into German, it was published in seven different editions in Pennsylvania from 1767 to 1833. It is cited today in the debate over dispensationalist theology, that is, of the last days. Wandering Soul has even been reissued by Preterists, who hold the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD fulfilled the major part of The Apocalypse of St. John hence that the last days have already occurred. In its fictional account of world history, Wandering Soul supports aspects of preterism concerning Jerusalem as opposed to dispensationalism, an English theology that only began to effect Mennonites after the English revivalism was adopted by Mennonites in the 20th century.

The oldest title in that attic collection is Die Ordnung des Heils nach dem Catechifmo Lutheri. (Bernigeroda, 1745), a technical commentary on Luther’s catechism, with a long preface by Samuel Lau and many contemporary notes in the margins in ink. The Order of Heaven is externally identified three different ways. It is signed on the first free endpaper “Benj. German,” presumably the first owner. There is a book plate on the rear pastedown, “Bibliothek, Pastor G. R. Brobft,” and it is signed in pencil “W. W. Deistler(?). The extensive notes in ink suggest it was used for instruction and that it belonged to a pastor, as indeed the bookplate states, but another bookplate of a Pastor Brobft, on the Lutherifche Kalender of 1875, identifies a “Paftor G. R. Brobft & Co.” a bookseller in Allentown, Pa. (See, Almanacs in the George A. Smathers Libraries Rare Book Collection) but other such calendars exist as early as 1854: Der Lutherische Calender fuer das Jahr 1854


This book certainly could have belonged to Elizabeth Bechtel’s brother in law, Peter Mack, Lutheran pastor at Hummelstown before his premature death in 1879, possibly retrieved by Henry Mack, the dates for this are right, or it too could be from the library of John B. Bechtel.

Wahren Christenthem and Die Wandelnde Seele are landmarks of German pietism much appreciated by Mennonites but not in themselves Mennonite in nature. They represent a mystical-evangelical outlook, the desire for a deeper, more genuine spirituality, much in the air in the 1830s as really almost always among Mennonites who examine every boundary between their faith and the world.

Most of the books of Elizabeth Bechtel’s time and before are in German, but she was literate in English as her father seems to have been. Her signature occurs in German “Elizabeth S. Bechtel” and opposite, in English, “Lizzie S. Bechtel" on successive free end papers, in the German / English New Testament (1870). It seems her father’s family spoke both languages and her husband’s entire ledger is in English.

There are two other testaments. One has no date or marks of any kind. Das Neue Testament. Philadelphia: Georg W. Mentz (J. Howe, stereotyper), 1831 [504pp with plates]. has a name in German written twice on the front free endpaper and is dated, January 1836. There is a blue paper cutout marker at p. 189. George Mentz, the publisher and bookbinder, was not a printer. He used a variety of Philadelphia-based printers to print his books.

All of this collection has been kept for a purpose. Two identical copies of Die Kleine Geistliche Harfe der Kinder Zions (Lancaster, 1870), leather bound with clasps, stand side by side. Zion’s Harfe, (Zion’s Harp) was the Franconia Mennonite Conference hymnal. It had 40 select Psalms in a first section, followed by 474 hymns in a second section under a new title, with some variation in the later editions.

These two copies belonged to Henry Mack and Elizabeth Bechtel, evidently when they were courting. Elizabeth’s is signed “Lizzie L. Bechtel / Feb 11th ’72,” His is stamped with his name “Henry S. Mack.”

Henry was a chorister, his obituary says that he was “active in Mennonite church work for 60 years, serving as chorister and musical director in many churches in this part of the state.” The historian Wenger calls him and his brother, Andrew Mack, choristers since 1860 (120) so obviously he loved music. He led the singing the whole of his life in several different congregations (Wenger, 120). Henry kept their songbooks together all the years after Elizabeth had died.

New testaments and hymn books were standard fare in Mennonite families, as were catechisms. One of the most popular catechisms was the Christliches Gemuths-Gesprach (1869) by Gerhard Roosen. (Lancaster: John Baer’s Sons, 1869). This has been signed on the first free end paper, “Annie B. Mack / Mar 7 1897.

The English translation, Christian Spiritual Conversation (Lancaster, Pa. John Baer’s Sons, 1892.) is also signed, “Annie B Mack. 1897” on the first front free endpaper, A couple of pages are bookmarked, p. 84, on the baptism of small children and p. 292, “On Predestination.” (Cited in Funk )

The titles themselves tell a tale. Another popular devotional in the collection is a dual language German-English translation of Habermann’s Prayers of 1873: MORNING AND EVENING / PRAYERS / FOR EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK / BY / /DR JOHN HABERMANN. (Philadelphia, IG. Kohler, 1873). This is initialed in pencil on the second front free endpaper, “AM,” that is, Annie Mack. If we think that the use of a book tells us something of the user then we note that several pages are dog eared,. Especially notable this way is p. 103, “prayer of a child” in which we see perhaps the wrestling of the young Annie, beset with difficulty with her stepmother yet trying to subdue herself to the good:

“Give me an obedient heart that I many patiently obey, serve and show myself obliging and ready to do every thing which they desire, that is not contrary to the will of God, nor at variance with my soul’s salvation, so that I may receive their blessing and live a long and pleasant life. Protect me against sin and evil society, so that I may not provoke and grieve my parents with hatred, sadness, unfriendliness, contempt, disobedience and stubbornness, so that I may not bring upon myself here on earth both their and thy curse….”

So these books are a window to the past and as we see through them we want to ask further of Elizabeth Bechtel, who lived from 1852 to 1885, whether her love was great enough to live even longer, to leave a testament of herself for future centuries, she for whom otherwise all we know is little else than that she had red hair and was one of 8 children?

John and Mary Bechtel buried five of these eight children, all those whose birth and death dates are known, two at Christmas, but they themselves lived into their eighties. That they both signed their names together in the frontis of Die Wandelnde Seele fifty years before is sheer luck, but more than that. Together the events speak of a great faith and a greater love. These did not fail them, even if they seemed to. How could they have believed that even with the loss of their daughter Elizabeth in 1885 they would be honored more than a century later, that their lives would be remembered and in some measure restored. Unbelievable, that their love for each other would be celebrated at some 150th wedding anniversary.

The tragedies in these lives are all too evident, but what about the triumphs, the enthusiasms, the love? When things look bad, when Elizabeth had died, it was the very darkest. We learn from them that that’s when you most need to find the love and faith to believe it will be all right, because it will be. The unbelievable promise to a thousand generations is partly fulfilled in the ten from now until someone, some family member, stands in your place and remembers you. We learn to be strong in the midst of pain and sorrow. It’s going to be all right. Believe in your children, in yourself, in God.

Postscript

Anna’s family, Bechtels, Longacres, Stauffers, Macks, imbibed pretty deeply from the pietists’ well. Pastors and schoolteachers, they were practical intellectuals, an important glue of the infrastructure. Elizabeth Bechtel’s death diminished this because the reading and thinking that concerned her daughter Anna was of a different sort, for her mother was not there to buffer the child from the difficulties of younger brothers, step mother, farm bother and little schooling. It was in Anna to want education because it was in her family, but her literary remains are sparse. She had few books growing up, although Henry’s Ledger mentions a few schoolbooks, but no fairy tales. Aside from the catechisms of 1897 above there is only an Appleton’s Third Reader, dated Oct 28, 1889.

Anna’s hunger for the life of the mind was evident not only in her conversation of later years but also in the books she got her daughters that tell the story of what she missed. She could not have been more proud when she complained she lost her daughter when she began to read at the age of two, nor done any more to have fostered imaginative delight in her.

Her daughters’ childhood reading included:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “Elizabeth Reiff / June 19, 1917. / From Mrs. Lenters.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. “To Elizabeth / From Mother / Dec. 25, 1917.”

Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper and other Stories. “Dec. 1915. Elizabeth Reiff.”

Raggedy Ann Stories. “Florence M. Reiff.”

A Child’s Garden of Verses. Robert Louis Stevenson. “Florence M. Reiff / 3319 N 15th St.”

Oliver Twist, inscribed “A. Elizabeth Reiff.”

Little Women and Little Men, both inscribed “Elizabeth Reiff.”

Longfellow’s Evangeline.

Aurand’s Collection of Pennsylvania German Stories and Poems.

Yes there is a Pilgrim’s Progress, a Bible given by her grandfather in 1926, but Anna’s attempts to nurture imagination in Elizabeth were more thwarted by that child’s love of the rational than they were for lack of imaginative reading, what she herself called “realism,” giving no quarter to the fantastic or whimsical. Alice fell on fallow ground where William Osler would have flourished. In her last years Elizabeth read Malamud’s The Fixer with pleasure, liked translations of the Aeneid, Tolstoy, Dickens. Her theological exposure, reading and understanding was pretty circumscribed however, an aversion probably gained from her mother’s milk. She hardly knew Wahren Christenthum and Die Wandelnde Seele were even in her attic let alone that they were signed by her ancestors who engaged in their own lively thoughts.

We can trace these books through their holders, Anna Bechtel Mack for instance, whose two uncles, Andrew, a Mennonite and Peter a Lutheran, were both ministers along with her Mennonite Bechtel uncle, grandfather and great grandfather. She was surrounded with clergy. The Bechtels left Anna a small collection of books through her grandmother Mary.

Cited

Johann Arndt. Wahren Christenthem Sechs Bucher vom Wahren Christentum…Nebst DessenParadiesgartliein (Four Books Concerning True Christianity).Philadelphia: Georg W. Mentz und Sohn, 1832.
German/English New Testament. New York: American Bible Society, 1870.
Douglas L. Good. The Growth of a Congregation. A History of the Hereford Mennonite Church. 1988.
The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. Translated by Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein. Camden, Maine: Picton Press. Fortress Press, 1942.
J. C. Wenger. History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference. 1985.
John L. Ruth. Maintaining the Right Fellowship. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984.

Bechtels of Old Mennonite Hereford, PA