Home1815 Edition

TUNKERS

Volume 20 · 106 words · 1815 Edition

a religious sect of Baptists in Pennsylvania, so called from the word tunker, to put a morrel in sauce. They are also called tumblers, because in performing baptism they plunge the person into the water with the head first. As the Germans found the letters t and b like d and p, the words tunkers and tumblers, have been sometimes written dunkers and dumplers. Their church government and discipline are the same with those of the English Baptists, except that every brother is allowed to speak in the congregation, and the best speaker is usually ordained to be their minister. They are a harmless, well-meaning people.