Old Order daughter communities not sustainable before 1960s Ontario By Barb Draper t the fall meeting of the Mennonite to help those who moved by establishing Mennonite AHistorical Society of Ontario, held congregations, but in the smaller, distant at Floradale Mennonite Church on Oct. communities, services were infrequent 24, 2015, Clare Frey talked about the and some families began attending other History history of the Mennonite community denominations. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, The Great Awakening with its explaining why there was so little growth emotional religion had significant in the Old Order community before the impact on Mennonite churches in THE 1960s. Clare is a minister and historian Ontario, especially in the outlying in the Markham-Waterloo Mennonite areas. Clare pointed to the example of NEWSLETTER Conference and enjoys collecting the community in Wallace Township FOR THE information about other conservative in northern Perth County. In 1869 his groups. In talking about the Old Order great-great-grandfather was ordained MENNONITE communities in Ontario, he includes as a deacon in that remote community, the Old Order Mennonites, the David only to find the community dividing HISTORICAL Martins, the Orthodox Mennonites, who between traditionalists and progressives are all horse-and-buggy groups, as well a few years later. The meetinghouse SOCIETY OF as the Markham-Waterloo Conference. went with the progressive group so the There has been a lot of growth traditionalists built a new building in ONTARIO among Old Order Mennonites since the Kurtzville. The traditionalist community 1960s. This is not unique to Ontario. In did not proper and Clare’s ancestor Pennsylvania, 60 years ago, the horse- moved back to the Waterloo area in 1884. and-buggy Mennonites of Lancaster A church division is something County were all within that county. By like a tug-of-war, said Clare. When the VOLUME XXXIV 2012 they had spread so much that only rope breaks, both ends go flying. In the NUMBER 1 about a third remained in Lancaster church after a split, both groups tend County. • to move in the direction that they had By the 1880s, Mennonites had been pulling for. When the Old Order JUNE, 2016 spread throughout southern Ontario. Mennonite Church was created after the • People were moving in search of land to split in 1889, they moved in an ultra- ISSN 1192-5515 new communities and the church tried conservative direction. South Peel (built in 1901 west of Wallenstein), was the only new Old Order Mennonite congregation between 1889 and the 1950s. The meetinghouse was rebuilt in 1997. ~ Continued on page 2 ~ Page 2 At the beginning of the Old Order in a viable community and not Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference church in 1889, they had 15 places of strike out to build new settlements. meetinghouses in 2015 worship. There were four in the north- Many people left the Old Martins (north Waterloo) 1830s Waterloo area, four in the Markham area, Order Mennonites between 1915 two in the Vineland area, two in the Zurich Elmira (Elmira) 1850s and 1940. The David Martin North Woolwich (Floradale) 1850s area, two in Cayuga and one just across people left in 1917 due to their ---- the border in New York State. Except for Montrose (West Montrose) 1950 concern that the Old Orders were Goshen (Drayton) 1955 the four in the Waterloo area, they have not strict enough. In the 1920s and Brotherston (Listowel) 1974 all gone extinct. Some of these places of 30s many left to attend Ontario Fairhaven (Millbank) 1975 worship didn’t even make it to 1900. Beachburg (Ottawa Valley) 1980 Conference churches or the new Mapleview (Alma) 1982 The first half of the twentieth century Bible Chapel in Hawkesville. In Minto Grove (Harriston) 2007 was a time of moving toward the core, 1930, the Old Order groups in North Haven (New Liskeard) 2010 Meadowside (Conn) 2011 toward the centre, rather than moving out Markham and Rainham/Cayuga into new communities. This happened in stopped affiliating with the Old Pennsylvania and other communities as Order group in Waterloo and then well as in Ontario. A mentality developed in 1939 the Old Order church in the the idea of having each congregation that it was dangerous to move too far Waterloo area divided with the formation meet only every other week so that the away. Faithfulness meant staying close to of the Markham-Waterloo Mennonite ministers and lay people can be visitors home. Conference. at other meetinghouses. Since the 1990s, In the 1880s a group of traditionalists By the 1960s the first Old Order many congregations have been divided from Ontario moved to May City, Iowa. families took a new step and moved to so that two smaller congregations use the They had become impatient with the the Mount Forest area. Many people were same meetinghouse on alternate weeks. traditionalist-progressive struggle in skeptical, but today that community has Each year, a booklet is printed that shows the Mennonite church and were zealous five meetinghouses. As the Old Order where services will be held on a given about being plain. They moved to a church has grown, it has had to change. Sunday. completely new community, hoping to As a district grows too large for one Clare commented that these new build a pure church. But in the end the bishop to handle, then it needs to be communities are not planned by the settlement only lasted a short time and divided into more than one bishop district. ministers or church leaders. Rather when it was extinct by the early 1900s. Those As the group has become larger a viable community is established with who had been influenced by this Iowa they have worked to maintain a balance several families, then the church leaders migration were very negative about between the congregation and the larger organize a congregation with a minister the idea of new settlements and that community. They have maintained and deacon. reinforced the idea that you should stay Maintaining Community in new locations By Amsey Martin he map of the communities of the Old Order Mennonite The Old Order Mennonite Church was first established in TChurch in Ontario (see map of Old Order communities, 1889 when Bishop Abraham Martin led a group away from the page 3) shows that communities beyond the original one in mainstream Mennonite Church. In 1901, the South Peel church Waterloo have all begun since 1967. The communities of was built on what was then the western edge of the Old Order Teeswater and Dunnville did not survive long-term. Mennonite community. Today, the Old Order community has The newest community is in Matheson in northern Ontario, expanded so far west geographically that South Peel is slightly a new venture begun in 2013. Starting a community that far on the eastern half of the Waterloo-Wellington-Perth settlement. away from the rest of us is a new challenge, a test. The bears No new church buildings were erected from the time of and moose are interesting, but the climate is a challenge. The South Peel in 1901 until Olivet in 1955. By 1962 Linwood was move from Waterloo to Matheson, in distance, is comparable to built and Winterbourne in 1965. In 1972 the first meetinghouse the move 200 years ago, from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada. in the Mount Forest area was built at Spring Creek. The first The chart listing when church buildings were first built meetinghouse beyond the Waterloo or Mount Forest areas was in the various settlements shows how much building has Northbend, built in 1998 in the Chesley area. been going on in recent years. Actually, Elmadale, the last Why was there no need for more meetinghouses between meetinghouse listed for the Waterloo settlement has not yet been 1901 and 1955? Let’s explore some possible reasons. There built. We’ve run into a stone wall with the local council, but it is was a split in 1917 when the David Martin people left the Old a complete community with ordained ministry. Order church and started their own. (Today they are officially Page 3 Old Order Old Order congregations/meetinghouses Communities in Waterloo-Wellington Mount Forest Other Perth Ontario, 2015 1900 South Peel (1901) 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 Olivet (1955) 1960 Linwood (1962) Winterbourne (1965) 1970 Spring Creek (1972) Weaverland (1976) 1980 Farewell (1979) Cedarview (1981) 1990 Klearview (1990) Northbend (1998) Chesley 2000 Creekbank (2000) Westdale (1997) Martinfield (1998) Kinloss Mapleton (2008) Riverdale (2003) Hillside (2005) Chesley 2010 Martindale (2010) Langside (2007) Kinloss Elmadale (2013) Valleyview (2009)Lindsay White Pine (2009) Massey Lee Valley (2010) Massey Clover Valley (2011) Kinloss Taylor (2014) Matheson known as the Independent Old Order Mennonites.) And then in Why did the church mushroom so much in the last half the 1930s many people left the Old Orders and joined the Bible of the twentieth century? One reason they stayed, I believe, Chapel or Plymouth Brethren. Their meetings were held in is leadership. By the 1950s and 60s, the leadership of the Old Hawkesville. Order Mennonite Church had a strong sense of what it means to The reason for this movement was less cultural and more be a Mennonite; what it means to be Anabaptist; what it means theological. A new way of looking at faith and salvation was to be Old Order; what it means to be plain and separate from introduced and it shook the foundations of the Old Order the world. A few people left because they were unhappy with Mennonite Church. A considerable number of people left to join that type of aggressive leadership, but the church prospered.