North Solomon Church of the Brethren (Portis, Kan.)

The history of the Church of the Brethren dates back to the early 18th century German Palatinate region. At that time, the people who eventually became the Church of the Brethren were part of the Pietists and Anabaptists. These separate sects faced persecution at home so they migrated to the British colonies in North America and settled primarily in Pennsylvania. By 1735, all of this group had moved out of the Palatinate region. One important part of this group's doctrine was voluntary removal from "the world" by withdrawing from mainstream society and commerce to escape its corrupting influence. This belief might have its roots in their persecution in Europe. Because of this belief, the Anabaptists, Mennonites, Pennsylvania Deutsche (Dutch), the Fraternity of German Baptists, as well as others, were usually found along the American frontier and as far as possible from established society on the east coast. As American settlement moved westward, members of the Baptist Brethren also moved westward so that they were in the forefront of expansion. Therefore, the Baptist Brethren were among the first to move to the Kansas Territory. The Baptist Brethren Church has gone through several schisms and splits in its history. From the 1850's to the 1880's, the church split into three factions: the ultra-conservatives, the middle-ground conservatives, and the progressives. In 1882 the main church expelled the leader of the progressives, Henry R. Holsinger, and he formed the Brethren Church. By the 1930's more splits had occurred which resulted in a wider range between ultra-conservatives to progressive. Members of the Church of the Brethren first came to the Kansas Territory during the "Bleeding Kansas" days. Their motivation for immigrating was at least partly political: they wanted to help settle the area with free state settlers to gain a majority. Since the slavery status of the future state would be decided by popular sovereignty, the free state settlers wanted to make certain slavery would be abolished in the state.