Peace Church Memorials Dedicated

hree in Ontario, the Brethren in Christ, , and Ontario Tworked together to remember their ancestors who were witnesses for peace during the War of 1812. On June 10, 2012, three memorials were dedicated. People gathered at the Bertie Church cemetery near Fort Erie on a hot summer afternoon to dedicate the Mennonite Brethren in Christ plaque. (See text below) Many of the same people gathered at Rennie Park in Port Dalhousie (St. Catharines) for the Quaker dedication. Their plaque is part of a peace garden established many years History ago. In the Quaker tradition, the dedication included a significant time of silence. By late afternoon we gathered at First Mennonite Church, Vineland, where the Mennonite plaque is attached to one of the cemetery gateposts. Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, one of the organizations that supported this peace initiative, THE provided refreshments. Jonathan Seiling, the instigator of this Peace Church project, had his new children’s book, Feeding the Neighbouring Enemy available. NEWSLETTER Words on the Brethren in Christ marker: FOR THE To honour the memory of the pioneer Brethren in Christ (Tunker) Anabaptist MENNONITE believers, we establish this marker. Seeking HISTORICAL land grants and exemption from military service, from 1788 onwards, they came to SOCIETY OF Upper : Niagara, York and Waterloo. Because of loyalty to their faith, they ONTARIO courageously objected to military service in the War of 1812-14, based on conscience and scripture. In lieu of service, they paid a militia tax. This non-resistant stance demonstrated their desire to live as part of the Kingdom of VOLUME XXX God. Brethren in Christ now, as then, commit themselves to the non-violent resolution of Leonard Chester of the Brethren in NUMBER 2 conflict. Christ Historical Society participates in the dedication of the marker at the • Bertie cemetery near Fort Erie, Ont. OCTOBER, 2012 • Words on the Quaker stone: ISSN 1192-5515 Since 1660 Quakers have been guided by their Peace Testimony to reject war and practise . In 1793 the government of Upper Canada recognized their right to conscientious objection. During the war of 1812 many Quakers refused to serve in the armed forces or provide material support. “A good end cannot sanctify evil means; The Quaker stone is part of a peace garden in nor must we ever do evil, that Rennie Park, Port Dalhousie. good may come of it…Let us then try what Love will do.” William Penn, 1693

~ Continued on page 3 ~ Page 2 Bus Tour explores Mennonites and the War of 1812 By Barb Draper

hree buses left Kitchener, Ont., on the Tmorning of June 16, 2012. Two were chartered by the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario while the third was arranged by a group from Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church. While the children and some adults from Stirling spent the morning at Ball’s Falls, the Mennonite Historical Society and interested adults from Stirling gathered at Vineland United Mennonite Church to hear Jonathan Seiling’s presentation on “The Mennonite Experience of the War of 1812.” Although the Mennonite presence in the Jonathan Seiling Niagara Peninsula dwindled in the late 19th century, there was a significant concentration of Mennonites living there during the War of 1812. Although the Mennonites of the time did not seem to have great difficulty in claiming conscientious objector status, they were impacted by the many battles fought in the area After the presentation, Jim Bearinger showed us a cannonball that his father found on their farm just west of Kitchener. Although no battles were fought in that locality, Jim has been informed that Mennonites young men sometimes On the bus tour, Gwen Albrecht drove supply wagons and liked to take home a Jim Bearinger displays the examines the stones that make up souvenir. Cannonballs were the souvenir of choice. cannonball found on his farm the pioneer memorial at The First Among the stories heard on the bus tour was many years ago. Mennonite Church, Vineland. that of George Ball, the miller at Ball’s Falls. He was the son of a German Loyalist who fled from the U.S. in 1783 and was married to Catharine Overholt.As a grist-miller his role was deemed an essential service and he was not asked to serve in the army, but his wife was required to billet many soldiers. The farms along the Niagara River south of Chippawa were predominantly Mennonite in those years. Among them was John Miller and his wife, Elizabeth Byer who suffered many losses during the war. After the war they claimed losses for a storehouse broken into in Sept. 1812, their property was plundered by the Americans in 1813 and several buildings were damaged and fences destroyed in 1814. We also heard about Jacob Overholser who was charged as a traitor by his neighbours because they saw him providing assistance to the American army. Although he insisted he was forced to help the Americans, he was convicted as a traitor and died in prison. Included in the tour were two museums, one in Jordan and the other in Port Colborne. At the Jordan museum one panel in the special War of 1812 display was dedicated to Pacifism while the museum in Port Colborne had John The military exemption certificate for John Graybiel says, Graybiel’s military exemption certificate on display. “This is to certify that John Graybiel of the Township of Thank you to Jonathan Seiling for organizing and leading Wainfleet and the County of Lincoln is a Mennonist and a son the tour and to Sam Steiner who shared information of a Mennonist.” It is dated August 31, 1812 and includes the on the second bus. signature of Abraham Hoover. Page 3

Peace Church...continued Words on the Mennonite plaque: During the War of 1812 the Mennonite congregation meeting on this site included members who followed their conscience and refused to serve in the military. Other Mennonite settlements in Niagara, Rainham, Markham and Waterloo faced the same issue at that time. As members of a historic peace church, Mennonites believe that Jesus taught and lived love of enemies, and that following his example does not allow taking up arms. In 1793 the government of Upper Canada had recognized the right of Mennonites, Quakers and Brethren in Christ to be Conscientious Objectors to war; the War of 1812 was the first testing ground of this right. The Prince of Peace is Jesus Christ... True Christians do not know vengeance. They are the children of peace. Their hearts overflow with peace. Their mouths speak peace, The Mennonite plaque is on a cemetery gatepost at and they walk in the way of peace. The First Mennonite Church, Vineland. - , Reply to False Accusations, 1552 The Changing Culture of Old Colony Mennonites By Kerry Fast Kerry Fast recently completed a PhD at challenge that comes through The entry, “Sommerfeld the Centre for the Study of Religion at contact with the other religious Mennonites,” (a group similar to Old the University of Toronto. She has done groups and the outside culture was Colony Mennonites) was written by significant research among Low German- neutralized. Contact with the German Harold S. Bender: “The complete cut-off speaking Mennonites. culture from which the Old Colony from outside cultural influences … had Mennonites stemmed was completely its inevitable consequence in intellectual n the 1959 edition of the Mennonite lost, and contacts with the new and cultural stagnation.” Bender IEncyclopedia, Cornelius Krahn wrote environment were not permitted. goes on to claim that the Sommerfeld the following under the heading of “Old Thus in the attempt to retain the Mennonites are “in a complete bondage Colony Mennonites”: Mennonite heritage the group to dead tradition, [which has] resulted in In the total pattern of Mennonite deprived itself of the challenges serious spiritual stagnation. The focus history [Old Colony Mennonites] and influences which come through of all concern on preservation of the could be compared in some respects contact with other groups. Even the Plattdeutsch and the old outward customs with the Kleine Gemeinde of the best concept of the Christian church produced regrettable results in many Molotschna, the , or the cannot be realized in a vacuum. places.” , although more conservative New stimulations and a challenge of and culturally retarded than any of thoughts and practices by opposing What is Culture? these. … Not only was the contact forces and a revitalization through These quotations are dated. We raise our with the outside world reduced contact with like-minded groups is as eyebrows and squirm a little when we to bare necessities, but also the important as a sound basic concept. hear the words “cultural retardation,” ~ Continued on page 4 ~

Ontario Mennonite History is published semi-annually by the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario, University College, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G6, and distributed to all members of the Society. It is distributed free of charge to public libraries and school libraries in Ontario, upon request. Editor: Barb Draper Editorial Committee: Linda Huebert Hecht (Chair), Marion Roes, Bethany Leis, Herb Schultz Financial assistance from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Culture is gratefully acknowledged. Inquiries, articles, book notices or news items should be directed to the Editor, Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario c/o Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G6 TEL. 519-885-0220, FAX 519-885-0014 Page 4 but we are left with little doubt as to the editorial position of the Mennonite Encyclopedia (Harold S. Bender was the Editor of the Mennonite Encyclopedia and Cornelius Krahn the Assistant Editor). According to these entries, there is a right culture and a wrong culture. Or to give it more nuance, there is a constructive way in which to shape culture and a destructive way to do it. In the opinion of Bender and Krahn, Old Colony and Sommerfelder Mennonites have definitely chosen a self-destructive path. But these quotations also have a surprisingly refreshing view of culture and its dynamic properties. In the entry on Old Colony Mennonites, Krahn lays out the two Interior of the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Aylmer. articulating components in culture. (Mennonite Archives of Ontario photo). First is a vigorous engagement with years.”(www.gameo.org, “The Mennonite by Mennonites from Latin America external forces. As Krahn writes, “new Encyclopedia”). who migrate to Ontario. Old Colony stimulations and a challenge of thoughts The shift that was embodied in Mennonites are the largest group within and practices by opposing forces.” the publication of the Encyclopedia the Dietsche; Sommerfelder, Kleine Second is embracing internal forces, required a re-thinking of Mennonite Gemeinde and Reinlander are other i.e. a grounding or support in what is engagement with modernity. When the significant groups.) familiar. He describes this as, “contact editors of the Encyclopedia described On the one hand there is a with like-minded groups” and “a sound traditional Mennonite groups, they were temptation to evaluate those who are basic concept” of what it means to be also exposing their own cultural project. different, those Mennonite groups Mennonite. Old Colony and Sommerfeld With a solid base on which to stand and that have rejected modernism, by our Mennonites, according to Krahn and “like-minded groups” to offer support, standards, by experiences, by our Bender, have focused only on the latter Mennonites in Canada and the United values. For Bender and Krahn, because and have failed to engage external forces, States would have the grounding to engaging modernism was the context in to their detriment. vigorously engage modernity and yet not which they shaped their understanding That Krahn and Bender would abandon Mennonitism. of what Mennonites should be, those describe traditional Mennonite groups It is clear in the Mennonite Mennonite groups that pursued a in this fashion should not surprise us. Encyclopedia entries that Old Colony different relationship with modernism, They were at the forefront of engaging and Sommerfeld Mennonites are deemed were deemed culturally irrelevant, to use modernism in a way Mennonites to have failed because they retreated a more contemporary assessment than had not done prior to mid-twentieth from modernism rather than entered “culturally retarded.” century. It was their generation that into it. The critique of Old Colony Culture, according to these entries, is moved Mennonite groups in Canada and Sommerfeld Mennonites sounds dynamic and flowing, filled with vitality, and the out of their more like a justification for engaging constantly engaging its surroundings, not agrarian communities and into “the and participating in modernism than static and definable. Culture is dynamic; world” through urbanization and higher like a realistic assessment of how why it develops and changes as people interact education. The four-volume Mennonite these groups engage or do not engage with each other and as they live their Encyclopedia was in itself a project to modernism. lives within the structures around them. this end. Even though the assessment of Old It is continually being formed as people As Rachel Waltner Goossen writes Colony and Sommerfeld Mennonite interact with each other, as they attend about the impact of the encyclopedia, culture as laid out in the Mennonite church, as they raise their families, “[s]ome contemporary scholars Encyclopedia entries is dated, the entries move from Ontario to Alberta or back to suggested that the Encyclopedia enabled do point to two opposing views of culture , as they find employment, or as Mennonites to establish themselves that persist today in how the Dietsche are they go grocery shopping. as a mainline Protestant church understood and apprehended. (Dietsch/ While I appreciate the view of body during the post World War II Dietsche is the term used for themselves culture in the abstract that the Mennonite Page 5 Encyclopedia entries portray, what they have lived in Latin America, their is dynamic as people make choices as fail to acknowledge is that Old Colony numbers have increased dramatically. they live their lives. Culture becomes and Sommerfeld Mennonites have Ever in search of more land so that they less what clothes they wear, how their engaged the external force of modernity can perpetuate their preferred agrarian churches are structured, what they throughout their history. They have not lifestyle, they have established colonies believe, and more how they interact with absorbed modernity; instead they have throughout Mexico, in , , these facets of their lives. This will not chosen to challenge it. , and Argentina. help us arrive at a definitive description Their engagement with modernity of Dietsche culture or religion, but it A brief history and its amenities is a constant matter will help us to see that Mennonites from Old Colony Mennonites were one of of self-identity; some colonies have Latin America are finding ways to make several Mennonite groups that moved embraced some aspects of modernity meaningful lives and communities for from the Canadian prairies to Mexico and while others work hard to keep it at bay, themselves. Paraguay in the early twentieth century particularly electricity and vehicles. in an effort to preserve their religious Initially each colony was a separate Justina Loewen freedoms. The memory of Canada’s ecclesiastical entity and most were Old Justina Loewen was born in Mexico on mandatory conscription during WWI was Colony. In the last twenty years or so, due Durango colony. Durango is one of the still fresh in the minds of this pacifist to aggressive mission efforts by various original four colonies established in the group when, in 1916, Canada brought in evangelical church groups, mostly 1920s. It is, by all accounts, bursting new school laws which only heightened Mennonite ones, and a move towards at the seams. “Durango is very full, their unease about living in Canadian modernity by colonies, many colonies very full,” Justina said. When Justina society. Mennonite private schools were now support a variety of churches. and John were married, there was no closed and attendance at provincially Mennonites began returning to possibility of owning enough land to accredited schools was enforced. Canada as soon as they arrived in support themselves as farmers. But when No amount of lobbying and Mexico but initially they returned to Durango colony decided to purchase land resistance on the part of Mennonites their communities of origin in Manitoba in Paraguay, Justina’s parents, and by altered the resolve of the Canadian and Saskatchewan. In the mid-1950s, extension Justina and John, were unable government to standardize education. following a period of drought in northern to take advantage of this new venture As a result, those Mennonites most Mexico that had devastating effects on because they lacked the resources to committed to preserving their values colony life, Mennonites began arriving in buy land on the new colony in Paraguay. and lifestyle looked elsewhere to settle. Ontario where seasonal agricultural work For Justina, she and her family were Most Old Colony Mennonites and some provided much-needed cash for families. caught up in an experience filled with Sommerfelder moved to Mexico, while Initially they came as seasonal contradictions: other Sommerfelder left for Paraguay. workers and returned to Mexico for We got married, had children; we Beginning in 1922 approximately winter, but gradually they stayed on. By were taught that we should have 7,000 Mennonites, immigrated to 1960 there was a stable enough presence children, we shouldn’t use birth Mexico, primarily from Manitoba and of Mennonites from Mexico in Ontario control … They were a gift from Saskatchewan. In Mexico, Mennonites to form the first Old Colony church. The God. … That’s what we wanted, but purchased and settled on four large steady flow of Mennonites to Ontario there wasn’t land. Why didn’t [the tracts of land known as colonies. Here, has not ceased. While the Old Colony colony leaders] make it possible following the biblical injunction to be in church is the largest church group in for their people could stay there the world but not of it, they established Ontario, Mennonites from Mexico (and [in Mexico]? But they didn’t, themselves as distinct societies, separated by now also from Bolivia and Paraguay) they didn’t look after the need [for from society around them. attend a wide variety of churches, mostly more land]. At one point land was Each colony was divided into Mennonite and some do not attend at bought in Paraguay but my parents, villages in which individual family all. Alberta and Manitoba have also they weren’t rich, I think just rich units lived and farmed. Each village become an attractive destination for many people could move there ... The poor had a school and churches were Mennonites from Latin America, as have weren’t helped. spread throughout the colony. The Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Justina wanted children, but Justina civic governance of the colony was and John were left with a contradiction looked after by the elected Vorsteher. Three Stories of their own. For them, the most viable The spiritual needs of the colony were Three women have gone from Mexico option became to move to Ontario where attended to by the Aeltesta (Bishop) to Ontario, each on a unique route not they could make a decent living. But this assisted by lay ministers and a deacon. only geographically, but also culturally could only be done by contravening the In the ninety years that Mennonites and religiously. The Dietsche culture wishes of her parents who wanted her Page 6 to stay in Mexico. Her parents’ wishes of the Paraguayan colony wanted to stay worked in Canada when in fact they did were not only based on a desire to have true to their commitment to remain anti- not. But there was also a more subtle their children nearby. Canada was the modern and so established a new colony shunning at work that Justina sensed. The land which Old Colony . consequences of their move to Ontario had abandoned in pursuit of a godly On this colony the Loewens were haunted them. life. For Mennonites to return, meant, able to purchase land. Justina and her We were looked at suspiciously, at some level, a judgment on the initial family, although accustomed to a more ‘what do they want here? They’re immigration to Mexico and the ideals that modern life in Ontario, were willing to different. They’ve been in that it stood for: embrace the more demanding lifestyle [place, that godless] country where Well, we had been taught that we that was expected of them in Bolivia. we weren’t supposed to be.’ We weren’t supposed to return to where “We wore clothing exactly like never felt as if we fit in. And they our grandparents, our parents had everyone else, we really changed. And didn’t assist us. We asked for some moved from [literally: removed us it wasn’t difficult, that’s wasn’t the most land, they were opening up some from], well, my parents were perhaps difficult thing. We could adjust ourselves land, we asked if we could have two, three years, six years old when to the climate, the clothing, everything, some of that land, we really wanted they moved from Saskatoon, that’s also to horse and buggy. No problem.” some, we lived on a very small plot where they were born, to Mexico. I But in spite of their willingness not and we wanted more. We noticed that was taught that we weren’t supposed only to accommodate themselves, but to they helped others, they helped with to return [to Canada]; they had embrace colony expectations, Justina’s the clearing, with a cat, they didn’t moved from there and we weren’t family encountered a kind of difference have to pay because they were poor. supposed to return. But because there that made staying in Bolivia difficult. We also approached [the colony] and wasn’t land [on Durango], people When the colony purchased more land asked if we could be helped as well. just didn’t have land, there wasn’t and worked to clear it so that families “If you have money, then we’ll do it work, people were returning anyway. could have an adequate supply of land, for you but not otherwise.” … I feel bad about this. My parents the Loewens were not entitled to benefit In the face of this rejection, things instructed us, don’t, you’re not from this aid. They needed assistance got so desperate for Justina’s family supposed to. … but we did anyway. because their cotton had rotted, but they that they turned to her husband’s former I worry about that, we didn’t obey, were told that that they would have to employer in Ontario who had offered we didn’t do as they taught us, pay for any work that was done on their assistance if they would ever need it. He but we had to! We also wanted to behalf because they were not entitled lent them the money for airline tickets to provide for our family [literally: we to assistance. According to Justina, Ontario. Eventually the Loewens moved wanted to run our family] … Did we this was because everyone assumed to Alberta which is where I spoke with do the right thing? They told us not that they had money because they had her. to, but we did. It’s confusing, isn’t it? Twenty years after initially moving to Ontario, Justina is still not reconciled to her family’s decision to move to Canada, even though she knows they had little choice. After living in Ontario for eight years, Justina and John had the opportunity to move to Bolivia, to a colony called Durango. Here they hoped to establish the kind of life they had eschewed by moving to Ontario, a life in which they could be self-sufficient, raise their family in a village and on a colony with like-minded people. This Durango in Bolivia was founded by members of the colony Durango in Paraguay (which is a daughter colony of the one Justina grew up in in Mexico) when Old Colony Mennonite Church in Crosshill. Built in 1888, the building was a the Paraguayan colony began to allow Presbyterian Church until 1949 when it was purchased by Crosshill Mennonite Church. vehicles, and electricity. Some members It was purchased by the Old Colony in 2006 when Crosshill moved to its new location. Page 7 Justina’s life has brought changes The police come to [the ministers] children to move?’ ‘Well,’ my parents in how she understands her religiosity. and they remind them of the fact that we said, both of them said, ‘what are we She has had to make adjustments and don’t work on Sundays—the farmers supposed to do? We can’t help them accommodations in the various places here would probably like us to do but we out.’… All they said was that they she has lived. She lived in Bolivia on don’t, that’s how we have it, we don’t could see that it was very difficult for a colony that was less progressive than work on Sundays—and yet the police us in Paraguay and if we can make a what she was used to and it ended any have to work on our behalf! … They go out of it in [Ontario] they saw no possibility of her family living on a have to work because of what we do. reason for us not to move. Mennonite colony which would have They have to go out, they get called [to Her older sister however, was not undone the transgression she committed these bunches], here’s a big disturbance, so accommodating. “If you move to against her parents. Living in Canada trouble.” The police say to the ministers, Canada,” she warned Marie, “do not exposed her to the opposite end of the “Then we have to take the call and sort it consider me to be your sister any longer.” spectrum, to the more progressive forms out. We have to work on your behalf.” Marie was warned about the dangers of the Old Colony church. She described The tables have been turned. The of Canada. One woman said, “You’re the changes within herself that she world, the very world which her parents moving there? Be very careful or you experienced as she moved from Mexico wanted her to shun, in this instance and your husband be separated in a few to Ontario to Alberta. embodied in the RCMP, is pointing out months.” Another woman warned her “In Ontario the [Old Colony] church, the inconsistencies within the Dietsche. that Satan was sitting on every rooftop in well it wasn’t like we were used to in The irony of this is not lost on Justina. Canada waiting to destroy the marriage Mexico, it was different. They called Justina’s desire to be separate from inside. This was an image almost too themselves Old Colony and we joined “the world” has been important whether awful for Marie to contemplate, but she that church.” Justina found it more she lived in Mexico, Bolivia, Ontario had to admit that there was some truth progressive than what they were used to or Alberta. In Bolivia she was unable to to these warnings. Marie has met several in Mexico, for example she mentioned realize her dream of village and colony women here in her English classes who they had a PA system. When they moved life for her family. Instead, she developed have separated from their husbands. In to Alberta, they encountered another form ways to live out her beliefs in Canada fact, one of Marie’s sisters has separated of the Old Colony church. “We lived that would not be possible in Mexico because of domestic violence. in Ontario too long with our children,” or Bolivia, but always in the shadow Marie was unsettled about her she acknowledged. They became too of her decision to move to Canada in sister’s separation. On the one hand, accustomed to the more modern ways spite of her parents’ teaching. She has Marie acknowledges how difficult her of the Ontario Old Colony church and had to rethink her relationship to the sister’s situation is: “If I would have the Alberta Old Colony church just world in Alberta. This is creative cultural to live with the burden she carried, I too restrictive. So now in Alberta the formation. don’t know that I could that. My mother Loewens attend the more progressive says this all the time, if you haven’t Sommerfelder Church which is more like Maria Heide experienced it, you can’t judge.” But the Ontario Old Colony church. Marie Heide also grew up in Mexico, but on the other hand, Marie doesn’t want In Alberta, Justina has encountered her family moved to Paraguay when she to acknowledge that separation is an another expression of difference that has was sixteen years old because the colony acceptable alternative. “I still think it made her re-think about her commitment in Mexico was modernizing. Colony Rio takes more than one person to cause the to living a non-conformist life. When Verde in Paraguay offered her family the conflict.” young Mennonites get together on opportunity to retain their desire to shun Unable to resolve the contradiction Sunday afternoons, her children included, the modernizing appeal of the world. Marie feels about her sister’s separation, to attend parties, or bunches as they are Once married, Marie, like Justina, she holds the different approaches within called, there are times when things get had to face the conundrum of choosing herself. This balancing act allows Marie out of hand and the RCMP (police) are between making a decent living in to give her sister the latitude to separate called in. In southern Alberta, community Canada and staying faithful to the and to remain committed to the belief services including the RCMP, educators teachings of the Old Colony church she that marriages should not be dissolved. In and health professionals are aggressively grew up in. Unlike Justina, her parents this way she can be faithful to what she engaging the Mennonite community, did not oppose their move to Ontario; knows to be right and yet find it possible including addressing bunches and talking they spared her the heartache that Justina to live in Canada where, she believes, with church leaders. The RCMP have lived with. In fact, Marie received a Satan threatens in ways he does not in pointed out a contradiction between blessing of sorts from them: Paraguay. Mennonite teaching and practice that There were some people that scolded More recently, Marie was makes Justina squirm a little. my parents. ‘How can you allow your condemned for sending her children to Page 8 evangelicalism but maintain a teaching of non-conformity, though not as regimented as the Old Colony. When the Bueckerts moved to Kansas, they initially attended a non- Mennonite church at the invitation of her husband’s boss. Elisabeth found the evangelical aspects of this church appealing. She described the ritual of healing prayer that was available for anyone. At the front of the church several people, including the pastor, gathered around the person in need and prayed. She liked that they put their hands on the person in need and she and her husband Old Colony Mennonite Church near Drayton. participated. As appealing as this was, The building was constructed by the Berea Mennonite congregation in 1952 and became an Old Colony church in 1991. the Bueckerts wanted to be with fellow Mennonites and began attending an a public school by a woman who had vehicles. Now the colony in Paraguay EMMC church which was a two-hour joined the Conservative Mennonite where she grew up is also beginning to drive away. church. “If you send your children to a allow vehicles. “You know, it made no When they moved to Ontario, they public school, you can be assured that sense to me that my parents moved from attended an EMMC church but this did their souls will not make it to heaven,” Mexico because of pickups,” she says. not satisfy their desire for familiarity she was told. “As far as I’m concerned, if you are and continuity with their past in Marie and Wilhelm could have opted careful with how you use a vehicle, they Mexico. In spite of their turn towards for the Old Colony school, but paying won’t cause any problems.” For Marie it evangelicalism, the Bueckerts wanted tuition would mean the Heides would is no longer the individual things that are to be a part of a church that shared their not have been able to purchase their right or wrong, vehicles, electricity, TVs, Old Colony roots. They started attending own property. It was one or the other. or public school. It is your attitude and the Old Colony church again and even Many families would envy Marie’s. To how you use these things that determines though they were late the first Sunday raise a family on a large rural property whether or not they will harm you. Living because they couldn’t locate the church, is as close as most families can get to in Ontario, in the face of contradictions they immediately felt at home. This was a their dream of village life on a colony and choices, she has had to re-think her church that resonated with their roots. and even this eludes most families who ideals of marriage and family and her Elisabeth is very conscious of the have moved to Ontario. Having chosen relationship with “the world.” This is religious shift she made by embracing to purchase property, Marie now has to creative cultural formation. evangelicalism. What she likes best, is live with the fact that her children watch hearing about “coming to Jesus,” and television at school. In exchange she has Elisabeth Bueckert “accepting Jesus into your heart.” She has the satisfaction of teaching her children Elisabeth Bueckert grew up in Mexico integrated an evangelical understanding of to garden. She monitors what her children and like Justina and Marie has moved conversion into her religiosity. are exposed to and looks through their frequently throughout her life. She and Elisabeth is less concerned about bags when they come home from school. her husband moved to Kansas where differences and contradictions than She knows from her own experience they lived for several years and then they Marie. She can be evangelical and Old in English classes where she regularly moved back to Mexico. They then came Colony. She can pursue her desire to be encounters things that do not mesh with to Ontario but returned to Mexico. Now a part of the church of her childhood and her worldview that Ontario is a different they have returned to Ontario and have yet raise her children in ways foreign to world than the one she grew up in and settled here permanently. those she was raised with. Elisabeth has that it requires a different way of being in Elisabeth’s church experience has found that multiplicity enriches her life. relationship to the world. been more varied than either Justina’s or In the face of all the judgments she Marie’s. She grew up in the Old Colony Conclusion has encountered, Marie has worked out a church and got married there but then In recounting of the stories of Elisabeth, different relationship with the world. Her she and her husband began attending the Marie and Justina I have tried to illustrate family moved from Mexico to Paraguay Kleine Gemeinde church. The Kleine how Mennonites from Latin America because the Mexican colony was allowing Gemeinde have been influenced by create culture. They have brought Page 9 their own histories to bear wherever fluid as the people who make up that dreams, desires, or fears.” (Between they have lived and the histories they culture, we cannot stand at a distance and Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds have encountered have in turn, shaped identify, evaluate, encapsulate who and People Make and the Scholars who Study them. Perhaps these changes are not what these Mennonites are. To understand Them. Princeton University Press, 2005, perceptible; institutions, ideals, habits, them and ourselves, we need to step into 8). I hope, in some small way, I have and patterns of behavior are often slow to proximity with them, and take seriously done that with this presentation. change, but they are not static. why they live and act as they do. The Mennonite Encyclopedia entries As Robert Orsi has written, “It is This presentation uses material from are wrong in their assessment that Old chastening and liberating to stand in the research project, “Homemakers Colony Mennonites, and other groups an attitude of disciplined openness and across Borders” of which Luann Good like them, are culturally and religiously attentiveness before a religious practice Gingerich of the School of Social Work stagnant. They are not. If we take or [group] of another era or culture on at York University is the principal seriously that culture is as dynamic and which we do not impose our wishes, investigator. MCC Ontario’s work with the Low German population By Lily Hiebert-Rempel

Lily Hiebert Rempel is the Low German permanent resident status. Bill Janzen assistance used by grassroots community Program Coordinator at Mennonite worked tirelessly with politicians and organizations to provide assistance for Central Committee Ontario. Citizenship and Immigration officials to high-risk young families. MCC Ontario expand the criteria for legal status for the holds the contract with Public Health hen the Low Germans first Low Germans. Most of MCCO’s direct Agency Canada and disburses funds Wstarted to arrive in Ontario, the services have been assisting newcomers to four sites that offer family support: established Mennonites in Ontario who to obtain government documentation. Aylmer, Norfolk, St Jacobs and Chatham. were fluent in the Low German language Direct services such as assistance in These programs have grown considerably assisted the newcomers. During the applying for citizenship, immigration, but the funding has not. MCC Ontario 1970s larger numbers were arriving and OHIP, birth certificates, or has also received financial assistance moving into areas where no established Employment Insurance are still from Citizenship and Immigration Mennonites were living. Mennonite carried out in the Leamington and Canada and from the Central Committee (MCC) Ontario Chatham areas. The Leamington Ministry of received numerous requests to become Mennonite churches (including involved and after discussions and a the Low German churches) study, MCC Ontario opened an office in are financially contributing Aylmer, Ontario. to a position that provides During the first year, MCC Ontario these direct services to Low primarily assisted families in obtaining German people. Especially legal status either by applying for in Chatham-Kent where permanent resident status or Canadian there is no established citizenships. MCCO also had two nurses, Mennonite network, local serving on a volunteer basis, one in service agencies look Aylmer and one in Leamington, who to the MCC Chatham addressed some emerging health needs. office for help with After this first year MCC no longer language barriers. provided direct health care services. MCC has (See Build Up One Another: The Work applied for a variety William Janzen of MCCO with the Mennonites from of government collected the Mexico in Ontario 1977-1997 by William grants. Since stories of MCC Janzen, 1998, MCCO) 1993, Health Ontario’s work Most of the Low German work has and Welfare, now with Low German centered around documentation—helping the Public Health Agency Mennonites people acquire Canadian citizenship or of Canada, has been granting financial between 1977 and 1997. Page 10 Training Colleges and Universities. County, Waterloo Region, and also Old colony leadership has indicated Six or seven years ago, MCCO in Huron County. MCC Ontario has that their relationships with CAS are created a new position (Low German been involved with these programs in a more collegial and CAS has indicated Program Coordinator) as it moved from supportive role for the past 4-plus years. that the church leadership is helpful providing direct services to playing a Niagara Region has a growing number of in encouraging family members to networking/coordination role. MCCO Low Germans and MCCO has received cooperate and fulfill their end of wants to assist churches and agencies requests to assist with organizing services the agreement. Mutual respect and who deliver the services. The intention in this area. To date we have not been cooperation is growing. The hope is that is to build a strong relationship with able to respond to this request. these protocols will become common the Low German leaders and to Building trust and collaborating practice in all areas. build capacity within Low German on joint projects is a very slow process. While working as a public health communities and within community Inter-Mennonite dialogue is challenging. nurse I started organizing information- agencies to respond appropriately to Old Colony Church leaders, trying to sharing days for service providers such newcomer needs. balance their work, pastoral calling as nurses, social workers, and teachers. The former Aylmer MCC office has and home life find evening meetings The first networking conference was grown into an independent charitable challenging. held in April, 1996 with about 20 people organization called Mennonite The St Thomas and Elgin County attending; in more recent years we Community Services, providing Family and Children’s Services has have had between 220 and 340. These employment, settlement and family created an agreement with the Old conferences have been very effective in support services. They also operate a Colony leadership with a protocol that providing culturally sensitive information MCC thrift store and Low German radio guides how their workers will deal and have helped non-Mennonites and programming that is now also available with a family that has been referred to Mennonites gain a better understanding on the internet. the Children’s Aid Society and they of the diversity that exists within the When MennoHomes was building are engaging with the Old Colony Mennonite fold. affordable rental housing in the village of leadership in resolving family concerns. This past year MCCO created a Wellesley in 2009, MCCO’s partnership Elgin-St Thomas has not apprehended series of web pages to provide resources helped bridge many connections with any children since this agreement was for people working with Low Germans. It local service providers and also with the made. After several years and numerous provides information about their faith and Old Colony leadership. meetings, a similar arrangement was their way of life. Check it out at mcco.ca/ Since the 1990s, Low Germans worked out with Children’s Aid in openingdoors. are living in Perth County, Wellington Leamington. New Books

Feeding the Neighbouring Enemy: Mennonite Danforth Mennonite Church: Women in Niagara during the War of 1812. Celebrating 100 Years of God’s Grace. Jonathan Seiling, illustrations by Cynthia Disimone. Danforth Mennonite Church, 2012, 96 pages. 2012, 28 pages. Although there is some text, the glossy Jonathan Seiling spent a lot of time researching pages of this book primarily contain a pictorial the role of Mennonites in the War of 1812. This history of the Danforth Mennonite Mission in illustrated children’s book is a succinct collection Toronto. There is a wide collection of photos of stories about how Mennonites living in the through the decades. The book is available from Niagara Peninsula during the war responded to the the church at 2174 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, conflict around them. Copies are available at www. ON M4C 1K3. gelassenheitpublications.ca. Page 11 Old Order letter collection a valuable link to the past Over Mountains and Valleys: BOOK REVIEW: Letters Received by Bishop Christian Reesor of Markham By Levi M. Frey George Reesor ed. Pennsylvania German Folklore Society of Ontario, 2009.

ost of us enjoy, to a greater or in Over Mountains and Valleys. Many is bound to think that he must have been Mlesser degree, listening to older of them were in the old Gothic script, a rich mine of good advice when one people talk about bygone days and things. with local dialects and poor spellings. analyzes the source of his letters. They Some of us Mennonites especially enjoy Translators had to be found and came from a wide range geographically, the stories which pertain to bygone times commissioned. Letters were sorted by and a wide range of personalities and in the life of the church. author. It was a daunting task! viewpoints. His advice was obviously Unfortunately, most of the historical The result of the labours of George valued, because sometimes he received accounts which we have access to are and his many friends is a worthy tome, letters from people on both sides of a biased. Those stories which Grandpa tells a valuable addition to the library of the controversy. are biased by years and by the fact that serious student of Mennonite history. It is This letter collection is one of very all we hear is what one person observed not as much a historical reference book few primary sources of 19th century Old from whatever vantage point he had as it is a look at the day-to-day life and Order viewpoints. Through great effort, access to at that point in time. A story thought patterns of the Mennonites of George Reesor has provided us with an coming from a book may be researched that time. One finds nuggets of important extremely valuable link to the past. from more sources, but it still contains historical information buried in accounts an element of the opinion of the author. of mundane living. We are left to draw our own conclusions There is another as to the accuracy of these observations exciting angle to because we do not have the advantage of this project for having intimate knowledge of the time some of us, one period in question. which George may Unless, like George Reesor, we not have realized. chance upon a clear window into the Some of those letters past! were written by our When George received the old great-grandfathers! wooden box from his sister Ruth, he They are the only did not yet realize what a treasure it connection of that contained. To her it was a box of old type which we have letters which she couldn’t read anyway, to some of those purchased years before at Grandfather’s old men, those men auction sale because of the stamps whom we read about on the envelopes. She never did get and hear about when around to throwing away the box and church history is its contents, probably because of that re-told. (unconscious?) sense of connection to Would it not be the past, the seductiveness of nostalgia. interesting if some To George, the 477 letters written by his of us found boxes great-grandfather’s friends became an of old letters in our obsession, a previously-undiscovered attics—letters which window into the past, glimpses of life as Christian Reesor a Mennonite bishop in the 1800s. wrote in response to George Reesor spent the next eight friends who asked years preparing the letters for publication for his advice? One Page 12 Summer in the Archives Going to school, recalling escapes, remembering a life!

By Laureen Harder-Gissing, Archivist

What a summer in the archives! Several small but treasured records of Mennonite history were added to our collection:

Going to school: John E. Brubacher copy book from John E. Brubacher’s (1822-1902) Aschooldays was donated by relative Kevin Ann Reinhart on behalf of the family. Brubacher recorded mathematical formulas and problems, notes on time, weights, measures, currency, and financial transactions, and penmanship exercises. Brubacher indicates that his teacher was Elias Eby, and that he went to school for 50 days in 1843-1844.

Recalling escapes: Katharina Duerksen, Maria Loetkemann, Gerhard Wiebe atharina Duerksen was the wife of an estate manager in Kthe Terek settlement in 1908 when her husband’s employer, Hermann Neufeld, was kidnapped by bandits and held for two weeks. In 1950 in Paraguay, Katharina recounted the incident to schoolteacher Maria Loetkemann, who wrote it out in 15 typed pages. The original manuscript has been donated to the archives by Loetkemann’s nephew, Arnold Neufeldt-Fast. Gerhard Wiebe, his wife Agatha and their three children were able, through a series of fortunate events, to obtain A page from John E. Brubacher’s copybook. permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union and join other Wiebe family members on Pelee Island, Ontario in 1933. In a letter to his family, Gerhard relates anecdotes of life during the famine of 1932-33, describes a trip to Odessa and through former Mennonite villages, and recounts his emigration story. The manuscript was originally obtained by Frank H. Epp while researching his “Mennonites in Canada” series.

Remembering a life: Barbara Davis Hoover (1821-1900) arbara Davis was born in Alsace, France, in 1821 and Bcame to Canada with her parents at age nine. She married Benjamin Hoover of Rainham, Ontario in 1838; the couple had six children. A brief note written by Noah Stauffer (minister) to A close-up from John E. Brubacher’s copybook. read at her funeral was saved by Lorna Bergey for the archives. Together with her obituary, these brief documents give small hints, but leave much to the imagination regarding the life of an Alsatian-Ontario Mennonite woman.