OBIT: Moses M. BEACHY, 1946, Niverton, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
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MOSES M. BEACHY

Moses M. Beachy Gathered to His Saintly Father
Widely Known Bishop of Amish Church Stricken By Heart Attack

  Bishop Moses M. Beachy died at his home near Niverton in Elk Lick Township at 
11:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 7, of coronary occlusion.  He had been suffering from 
a heart ailment for about four years, and went to bed as usual on Sunday night.  
About an hour later he told his wife that he could barely get his breath, and 
shortly thereafter he passed away.  He was 71 years, 7 months and 4 days in age 
at his death.
  Bishop Beachy was born in the ancestral Beachy home near Niverton, in which 
several of his children now reside, on December 3, 1874, a son of Manasses and 
Elizabeth (Heddings) Beachy, and has resided all his life near the family 
homestead.  On February 17, 1895, he was married to Miss Lucy S. Miller, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Miller.  To this union, 14 children were born, 
of whom 10 survive, five sons and five daughters.  They are Annie, Amelia, wife 
of Eli Yoder of Fishersville, Va.; Noah, Effie, wife of A. W. Geigley of 
Fairfield, Pa.; Ernest, Milton, Alvin of Bloomington, Ill.; Ruth, wife of Melvin 
Beiler of Grantsville; Irvin and Mary Elizabeth.
  The first Mrs. Beachy died on November 25, 1927, and on November 12, 1928, 
Bishop Beachy was married a second time to Mary Hershberger, daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Emanuel Hershberger of Grantsville.  His second wife also survives, as well 
as 22 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.  Two brothers also survive, Lewis 
of Oakland, Md., and Alvin of Topeka, Indiana.
  In his younger days, Mr. Beachy was a very strong man, and many feats of 
strength are rightfully credited to him.  He could and did tell on some of the 
things he had been able to do, but as he grew older he felt that the exertion of 
performing those feats hastened the heart condition which caused his death.
  Bishop Beachy was always a friendly and Christian man.  He was ordained into 
the ministry of the Amish Mennonite Church, in May 1912, and in Oct. 1913 he was 
raised to bishop.  He often regretted that he had not kept a record of the many 
marriages he had performed, saying that most anyone of his faith he met, was 
likely to be someone for whom he had performed the marriage ceremony.  Just two 
weeks before his death, he performed his last ceremony, uniting Simon Schrock 
and Elsie Yoder.
  Bishop Beachy traveled far and often in the interests of the Amish Mennonite 
Church.  As a result, he was well known in many states, and was known and liked 
by everyone in this vicinity.
  Although he was most devoted to the ministry, he was interested in many 
things, and was a good listener when he had asked concerning anything.  As all 
members of his faith, he regretted the necessity of war, but kept posted as to 
its progress.  The ministry is part of his family, for his father and his 
grandfather before him were bishops, and his son, Alvin, is a minister at 
Bloomington, Ill.
  Funeral services were conducted in the Flag Run Amish Church, Niverton, at 
10:00 a.m. today (Thursday) with a number of ministers participating in the 
service.  Interment in the church cemetery, in charge of William Winterberg, 
Grantsville mortician.

Meyersdale Republican, July 11, 1946