Heinrich Funck

Heinrich Funck (c. 1697-1760), was the first Mennonite bishop in America and an author. He is the father of Henry Funk and grandfather of Joseph Funk and of the original owner of the historic Jacob Funk House and Barn.

Funck was born in Germany in 1697 and is a descendant of Swiss Mennonites who were expelled from Bern in the 17th Century because of their religious beliefs.^[1]

Funck arrived in Philadelphia in 1717 with his family, his best friend, Dielman Kolb, who became an early Mennonite minister in Pennsylvania, and other Mennonite leaders seeking a place to freely practice their religion.^[2]

Funck settled in Franconia, Pennsylvania, and married Anne Meyer in about 1720. They had 10 children.^[2]

Funck wrote two books, "Ein Spiegel der Taufe (A Mirror of Baptism)," published in 1744, and "Eine Restitution, Oder eine Erklaerung einiger Haupt-puncten des Gesetzes (Restitution, or an Explanation of Several Principal Points of the Law)," published by his children in 1763.

He died in 1760 and was buried in the Delp Burying Ground in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. A memorial gravestone there lists him as Henry Funk.^[3]

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