Upper Barton Creek

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Upper Barton Creek
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Upper Barton Creek
Coordinates: 17°06′00″N88°56′24″W / 17.1000°N 88.9400°W / 17.1000; -88.9400 Coordinates: 17°06′00″N88°56′24″W / 17.1000°N 88.9400°W / 17.1000; -88.9400
Country Flag of Belize.svg  Belize
District Cayo District
Population
 (2010)
  Total380
Time zone UTC-6 (Central)
Climate Am

Upper Barton Creek is a mixed Mennonite settlement and expats in Cayo District in Belize in the area of the Barton Creek. The Mennonites in Upper Barton Creek are ethnic Mennonites of the Noah Hoover group.

Upper Barton Creek use to be a unique settlement of reformers from different Anabaptist backgrounds, who wanted to create a Mennonite community free of modernistic trends and in nonconformity to the world to live a simple Christian life. It was established in 1969 by Plautdietsch-speaking "Russian" Mennonites mostly from Spanish Lookout and later also from Shipyard in Belize, and Pennsylvania German-speaking families from Old Order Mennonite and Amish backgrounds, who originally came from the US and settled first in Pilgrimage Valley. [1] In the founding of Upper Barton Creek three men and their families were very important, two of them came from Pilgrimage Valley and one from Spanish Lookout.

Following their Ordnung the Mennonites of Upper Barton Creek at one time did not own any equipment with motors, including cars, nor do they use electricity. A saw mill there was powered by horses. However after 2017 these Mennonites moved to center vill and more progressive Mennonites from Canada have moved in .. [2] They farm with horses on a small scale, producing vegetables, fruit, cattle, honey, fruit trees etc. They practice strict church discipline. Both men and women dress Plain similar to Old Order Mennonites and Amish with men wearing beards. There is no education above elementary school. [3] The Mennonites of Upper Barton Creek are counted to the Noah Hoover group, which originally is from central Pennsylvania. [4]

Daughter colonies of Upper Barton Creek are Springfield and Pine Hill. [5] In 1980 the total population was 60, in 1988 the total population was 157 including 45 church members and 2 ministers. [3] In 2010 it had a population of 380, with an average household size of 7, reflecting the family-oriented conservative Mennonite culture. [6]

Literature

Related Research Articles

Mennonites Anabaptist groups originating in Western Europe

Mennonites are members of certain Christian groups belonging to the church communities of Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders, with the early teachings of the Mennonites founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus, which the original Anabaptist followers held with great conviction, despite persecution by various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. Mennonite beliefs were codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith in 1632, which affirmed "the baptism of believers only, the washing of the feet as a symbol of servanthood, church discipline, the shunning of the excommunicated, the non-swearing of oaths, marriage within the same church, strict nonresistance, and in general, more emphasis on true Christianity involving being Christian and obeying Christ".

Shipyard, Belize Place in Orange Walk District, Belize

Shipyard, also called Shipyard Colony, is a Mennonite settlement that is also an administrative village in the Orange Walk District of Belize.

Spanish Lookout Place in Cayo District, Belize

Spanish Lookout is a settlement in the Cayo District of Belize in Central America. According to the 2010 census, Spanish Lookout had a population of 2,253 people in 482 households. Spanish Lookout is a community of Mennonites.

Horse and buggy

A horse and buggy or horse and carriage refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses. Also called a roadster or a trap, it was made with two wheels in England and the United States. It had a folding or falling top.

Old Order Mennonite

Old Order Mennonites form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, who still drive a horse and buggy rather than cars, wear very conservative and modest dress plainly and who have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion.

Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church

The Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church, also called Wenger Mennonites, is the largest Old Order Mennonite group to use horse-drawn carriages for transportation. Along with the automobile, they reject many modern conveniences, while allowing electricity in their homes and steel-wheeled tractors to till the fields. Initially concentrated in eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, their numbers had grown to 22,305 people resided in eight other states as of 2015. They share the pulpit with the Ontario Mennonite Conference but have some differences in Ordnung.

Amish Group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships

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Old Colony Mennonites Part of the Russian Mennonite movement

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Barton Creek (Belize)

Barton Creek is the name of a small river and the area it flows through in Cayo District, Belize. The river is a right tributary of Belize River. In the area with this name there are two Mennonite settlements: Lower and Upper Barton Creek. Both are settlements of very conservative Mennonites in Belize. Barton Creek Cave can also be found here.


Springfield is a Mennonite village in Cayo District, Belize, some 15 km south of the capital Belmopan.

The Noah Hoover Mennonites, called "Old Order Mennonite Church (Hoover)" by the Mennonite World Conference, and sometimes called "Scottsville Mennonites”, are a group of very plain Old Order Mennonites that originally came from the Stauffer Mennonites and later merged with several other groups. Today it is seen as an independent branch of Old Order Mennonites. The group differs from other Old Order Mennonites by having settlements outside the US and Canada and by attracting new members from other groups on a larger scale. They have more restrictions on modern technology than all other Old Order Mennonite groups. They are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional.

Pilgrimage Valley is a small Mennonite settlement in Cayo District, Belize, some 5 km east of San Ignacio.

Pine Hill is a Mennonite village in Toledo District, Belize, some 15 km north of the district capital Punta Gorda.

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The "Christian Communities" were Christian intentional communities with an Anabaptist worldview, founded and led by Elmo Stoll, a former Old Order Amish bishop. They were founded in 1990 and disbanded some two years after Stoll's early death in 1998. At the time of Stoll's death there were five "Christian Communities", four in the U.S. and one in Canada. G.C. Waldrep calls them "perhaps the most important "para-Amish" group".

Believers in Christ is a Plain horse-and-buggy Anabaptist Christian community at Cane Creek, Lobelville, Tennessee, that is rather intentional than traditional. They are sometimes seen as either Amish or Old Order Mennonite. G. C. Waldrep classifies them as "para-Amish". Among Anabaptists the community is often simply called "Lobelville".

A Seeker is a person likely to join an Old Order Anabaptist community, like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren or the Old Order River Brethren. Among the 500,000 members of such communities in the United States there are only an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 outsiders who have joined them.

References

  1. Friesen, Heinrich P. "Upper Barton Creek Colony (Belize). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 9 Oct 2014.
  2. YouTube: Horse powered saw mill, Belize
  3. 1 2 Friesen, Heinrich P. "Upper Barton Creek Colony (Belize)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 9 Oct 2014.
  4. "Altkolonier-Mennoniten in Belize". Taeufergeschichte.net. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  5. "Carel Roessingh: Mennonites communities in Belize, 2007" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  6. "Population Data – Census 2010". Statistical Institute of Belize. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.