John Meshullam was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 born Jew. His family was killed on their way to Jerusalem in riots between Turks and Greeks. John as the only surviving sibling inherited the considerable family assets. John then moved to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 to study the German language

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and decided to move to the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

. There he learned to know Joseph Wolff

Joseph Wolff

Joseph Wolff , Jewish Christian missionary, was born at Weilersbach, near Bamberg, Germany. He travelled widely, and was known as the Eccentric Missionary, according to Fitzroy Maclean's Eastern Approaches...

, then missioning for the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews, and converted to Anglican Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. In 1840 he moved with his wife and children to Jerusalem.

Meshullam played a part in establishing the agricultural farm at Artas in 1850 in Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

. In 1850 he leased lands in Artas to the Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 Peter Claaßen (1809–1865) and his brother Isaac (1815–1850) from Tiegen in West Prussia (a part of today's Nowy Dwór Gdański

Nowy Dwór Gdanski

Nowy Dwór Gdański is a town in Poland, capital of Nowy Dwór Gdański County, located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, with 10,123 inhabitants .-Twin towns — Sister cities:Nowy Dwór Gdański is twinned with:-External links:*...

), whose families moved to Artas but left again between 1851 and 1853 for Jaffa

Jaffa

Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

. By the end of 1853 another group of leaseholders around Clorinda S. Minor

Clorinda S. Minor

Clorinda S. Minor was an American woman from Philadelphia who became influenced by William Miller. When his prophecy failed to materialize she decided to set sail for Palestine. She first traveled to Palestine in May 1849 and came to support the experimental farm set up by the Finn family at Artas...

 left too, following a dispute with Meshullam.

Meshullam was buried in Jerusalem and his grave is preserved in the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery, there.