The story of this pioneer home, located at 4713 Wengers Mill Road, begins with Michael Kauffman (1714-1788), believed to be a very early Mennonite Minister in Page County, who in 1758, at the time of serious attacks from Native Americans, returned to Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his family. Around 1765 he returned to Virginia, settling in the Linville Creek area, thereby becoming the first Mennonite minister in Rockingham County.
It is likely that it was Michael’s son, David (1747-1815), who built the house and perhaps his father, Michael (1714-1788), lived with his son at Mannheim when he returned to Virginia. The National Register documentation indicates the house was built in 1788, the year in which Michael died in December at age 74. The next generation of Kauffmans who lived at Mannheim was David’s son, Samuel L. Coffman (1784-1841). Samuel L. Coffman was a man of public affairs and a member of the 1829 Constitutional Convention in Richmond.
It was while Samuel L. Coffman (1784-1841), the grandson of Minister Michael Kauffman (1714-1788), lived at Mannheim, that slavery crept into the family around 1830. The 1850 census shows Samuel Coffman’s son, Dewitt, living at Mannheim and owning 13 slaves. Some sources indicate that slave trading occurred on this estate.
Sources
- Adapted from the article “‘Mannheim’ on Wengers Mill Road and the Slave Trade” by James Lehman, Shenandoah Mennonite Historian, Fall 2005.