David B. Martin: Pioneer of Mennonite Orthodoxy

David Bauman Martin (1838-1920), ancestor of many Old Order Mennonites in Ontario, Canada, was also the progenitor of what we today refer to as Mennonite orthodoxy, a movement which had its formal genesis in the mid 20th century. Indeed there today exists two branches of the Orthodox Mennonite Church in Ontario, churches created by his descendants.

Of the descendants of David B. Martin today, three are recognized leaders of Mennonite orthodoxy. Indeed, the movement may not exist today at all if Martin and his family had not taken a stand a century ago in 1917.

Family History

David B. Martin, born September 2, 1838, in Waterloo County, Upper Canada (now Ontario), was the son of Mennonite pioneer Jacob G. Martin and Esther Bauman. Jacob, born March 22, 1811, was only 9 years old when he emigrated with his family to the British province of Upper Canada, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Jacob's father David and his first cousin Peter Martin and their families were descendants of their common grandfather David Martin, an immigrant to Pennsylvania, whose family originated in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland.

Living during a time of many changes among the Mennonites in Waterloo County (now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo), as Jacob Martin grew older he became increasingly concerned about what he considered to be a drift away from their traditional Anabaptist roots. Indeed, his concern led to the publishing of a now rare booklet entitled, "The Little Ship Sailing Against the Wind". This booklet set the tone for what was to unfold among the Mennonites in Ontario over the next several years.

In the latter half of the 1800s, a movement began to preserve Anabaptist traditions in the face of evangelical Protestant influence in the Mennonite church in North America. Opposing a "new order" of things, the "Old Order" Mennonite movement began in ernest in 1872 in Indiana. In Canada, the Old Order Mennonite Church in Ontario began in Waterloo County in 1889. Although Jacob G. Martin died that year, his son David B. Martin embraced the Mennonite traditionalists, becoming an ordained minister among them in 1890. He served the Elmira church for over 10 years, whe in 1901 he became the first minister of the South Peel congregation.

See Also

Orthodox Mennonite Church, Huron County

Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites

Bibliography

Peter Hoover: A Record of the Ancestors and Descendants of David B. Martin, 1838-1920, Wallenstein, Ontario (no date).

Donald Martin: Old Order Mennonites of Ontario: Gelassenheit, Discipleship, Brotherhood, Pandora Press, Kitchener, Ontario, 2003.

Amos Sherk: Unpublished History of the David Martin and Orthodox Mennonites, (Primary Source), no date.