Beissel, Johann Conrad

Beissel, Johann Conrad, a German minister, was born at Eberbach, in the Palatinate, in 1690. He studied at Halle, but, having joined the Dunkers, was obliged to remove to America, and came to Pennsylvania in 1720. He there became the founder of a religious community at Ephrata, Lancaster Co., over which he presided about thirty years. He established the new sect of Seventh-day Dunkers or German Seventh-day Baptists. Among his publications are hymn-books in German and Latin, and ninety-nine mystical oracles. He died at Ephrata in 1768.