The Marriage Chain

Endogamy is defined as “the custom of marrying within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe.” Another definition is “the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group.”

There are a number of incidences of this in my family tree. One is the religious heritage that I have from my Levy ancestors, who were members of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. This practice was so prevalent as they tried to maintain their heritage and separation from other ethnic groups who discriminated against them, that nearly every member of that community is in some sort of cousin relationship with me (as evidenced by shared DNA). Other examples in my family tree include my ancestors who lived in many of the towns in colonial Connecticut where the unavailability of transportation led to many marriages between the few families living in the community.

But these examples are all a few hundred years ago, before the advent of ready transportation, public schools, etc. led to the dispersal of families (for example, my siblings and I all live in separate states from CT to CA and one is currently living in Thailand). So is endogamy still something to be looked at? The answer is a resounding yes.

I’d like to document below one such situation in the church I belong to in eastern PA. Here the common connection between the families is not as much the separation from others as with the Ashkenazi Jews, or the small community and limited transportation of those in colonial times, but a common religious background. All of these individuals are personally known by me and all the marriages have taken place in a 10-year window during the 1970s-1980s. Let me list all the connections and then follow with some commentary.

 

The Connections

Sally [Kauffman] Schaeffer (b. 1944)

            1^st cousin via Edgar Kauffman (1886-1982)

David Schlonecker (b. 1950)

            Married (6/3/1972) at Bethel BFC [met at The King’s College]

Roxy Jean Nienhuis (b. 1950)

            Sibling – father was Donald R. Nienhuis (1927-2010)

Ronald Nienhuis (b. 1953)

            Married (5/24/1975) at Bethel BFC [met at The King’s College]

Bonita A. Snydeman (b. 1955)

            Sibling – mother was Bettie [Kratz] [Snydeman] Bruder (1927-2017)

Gary Snydeman (b. 1962)

            Married (1981) at Bethel BFC

Deborah Schaeffer (b. 1962)

            Daughter of

Sally [Kauffman] Schaeffer (above)

 

The Families

There are three families involved in the above chain – Kauffman, Nienhuis, and Snydeman.

Kauffman – Edgar Kauffman was the patriarch of this family. He, most of his children, and most of his grandchildren, attended Bethel Bible Fellowship Church (Bethel BFC) in Emmaus, PA. The Kauffmans and many of their other relatives had lived in the Emmaus area for several generations. Even today, 50 years after the connections documented above, while Edgar and all of his children have passed away, many of his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren continue to attend this same church. There have been a number of marriages of the greater Kauffman family with other families from that same church.

Nienhuis – Donald Nienhuis was from Whidbey Island, WA. After graduating from Western Theological Seminary in 1954, he was a pastor in the Reformed Church of America for 36 years. He served congregations in MT, SD, MI, NJ, FL, and ID. Of importance to this story is that from 1967-1972 he was serving the First Reformed Church in Midland Park, NJ. It was during this period that his children graduated from high school and were entering college.

Snydeman – The Snydeman family were also long-time residents of Emmaus, PA, and attended Bethel BFC. Bettie’s husband, Paul, had passed away in 1973, but she remained a member of that church until her passing in 2017. While still living in the area, none of the Snydeman family are still members of that church.

 

The Percy Crawford Connection

Percy Crawford (1902-1960) was an evangelist and fundamentalist leader. During the early 1930s he started a radio ministry called the Young People’s Church of the Air which was broadcast on 400 stations. In addition, he started two other ministries.

In 1933, Crawford founded Pinebrook Bible Conference (PBC) in East Stroudsburg, PA and he directed it until his passing in 1960. In 1968, the Bible Fellowship denomination (BFC) took over stewardship of Pinebrook. In 1969, the denomination’s educational institution, Berean Bible School, moved to Pinebrook and it was renamed Pinebrook Junior College (PJC). The college remained there until 1976 when it moved to Coopersburg, PA. Young people from the denomination were encouraged to begin their college careers at PJC.

In addition, in 1936, Crawford founded The King’s College (TKC), a Christian liberal arts college. It began in Belmar, NJ, relocated to New Castle, DE in 1941, then to Briarcliff Manor, NY in 1955. Crawford was also the president of this ministry until his passing. It was a relatively small college of only 500 students.

It was because of these Crawford ministries that young people from the BFC were funneled first to PJC, then often encouraged to go to TKC. And because of the proximity of TKC to Midland Park, NJ (a distance of 20 miles “as the crow flies”, but 35 miles by road), that it would have been a natural place for the Nienhuis family to send their college-age children.

 

Commentary

There are three marriages in the above chain. The first is between two individuals who were classmates at TKC. Following graduation in 1972, they married at Bethel BFC (the home church of the groom) because Donald Nienhuis had moved to FL just a few months earlier and he was no longer the pastor of the bride’s former church in NJ. Donald did come up from FL and officiated at the marriage ceremony. The second marriage is also between two students from TKC. Ronald would have first met Bonita at his sister’s wedding when he was one of the groomsmen. They married following his graduation from TKC. The third marriage was between two young people from Bethel BFC who would have grown up together in that church.

Because of the age differences over this collection of connections (younger siblings/cousins by 6, 3, and 7 years) and one marriage between two individuals 2 years apart, there is a total age gap of 18 years – or about one generation – from one end to the other. Thus, the last person in the chain of marriage/relations, Deborah is 18 years younger than her mother who was the first person of the chain.

Yes, endogamy is alive and well!