Joseph Funk (1777-1862) was the grandson of Henry Funk, the first Mennonite bishop in America, and the son of Henry Funk, Jr., founder of the “Funkite” branch of the Mennonite church. The Funks moved to Rockingham County from Berks County, Pa., when Joseph Funk was a child. In 1847 Funk established his own press in what became the village of Singers Glen, where he published his English translations of German Mennonite theological tracts and choral music. Funk also set up singing schools in the village and in other Shenandoah Valley towns, and promoted the patent or shaped note system, which was employed in his own widely used hymnal, Harmonia Sacra. Funk’s simple weatherboarded log house in Singers Glen was built ca. 1810. Its press was located in the loom house nearby, which has since been destroyed.
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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia