THE ANABAPTISTS OF JUNIATA COUNTY A HISTORICAL PROFILE

The Anabaptist story in Juniata County begins with Johannes Kroebiel Jr., a young, ambitious Swiss Mennonite seeking a wider place in the New World. In the 1770s Johannes began to carve a future for his own family and succeeding generations on central Pennsylvania's frontier land. Within the next century, Mennonite, Amish, Brethren, and Brethren-in-Christ groups had growing settlements in the beautiful Juniata Valley. Today dozens of Anabaptist congregations of various affiliations have found their home in the rural county and the saga of faith continues. Their story is similar to Anabaptist settlement in other central and western Pennsylvania rural counties.