News at Masthof Press and Bookstore

Leaders of the Mennonist community are alarmed by the growing ‘war spirit’ and the threat it represents to their historic position as ‘defenseless Christians’. In 1745 they contract with the Ephrata Cloister to translate the Martyrs Mirror from Dutch to German and print copies.In May 1755, as Braddock marches west, thirteen Mennonist elders present a petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly.Excerpts of the Petition are captured in the Fraktur here by Esther Ruth Buy Both My Sons

Chapter 2 of Both My Sons opens with Franklin in Lancaster’s Penn Square. As agent for the British government, he demands that the farmers each ‘cough up’ a wagon and a driver to support General Braddock’s army of 1,300 redcoats Braddock and the redcoats are marching to Ft. Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh, PA) to confront the French and their Native American allies. Buy Both My Sons

Over half of 18th century emigrants to the US could not afford the Atlantic trip, so theycontracted with ship captains, who in turn sold their services at the port of arrival. Greenywalt needs help to record transactions of the land he sells as an agent of Penn’s Secretary (and later Pennsylvania governor), James Logan. Janey Cameron from the Belfast area of Ireland comes to work for him as an indentured servant and becomes mother of one of his two sons. Buy Both My Sons

A key theme of Both My Sons is the emigration of the Swiss-Germans in 1710. Greenywalt is an 18 year old travelling down the Rhine River and across the Atlantic with 28 Mennonist companions to settle in William Penn’s forest. Including the Rhine River portion, trips could take anywhere from three to six months. Greenywalt and the 1710 travelers all have the finances for their passage and food. Many 18th Century emigrants did not. This 3-D painting by Aaron Zook commemorates their trip on the Mary Hope. (courtesy, Lancaster Menn. Hist. Society)   Buy Both My Sons

Both My Sons is a story of family and war in the early Pennsylvania forest, 1755 Greenywalt is a miller from the Kraichgau region of South Germany. In 1710 he and a band of 27 other Mennonists flee war and persecution along the Rhine to make a start in the New World. They set up their cabins in the deep forests of eastern Pennsylvania, along the Pequea Creek in modern Lancaster County. Buy Both My Sons