The Formal Establishment of the Congregation While events were taking shape in Essex County,  a congregation  established in Waterloo in 1925 with Rev. Jacob H. Janzen as leader. The congregation had both its own religious seal and its own register. Despite a distance of 180 miles from Waterloo, the Essex County United Mennonite families decided […]

No doubt ever existed among the Mennonite immigrants of that time concerning whether or not they should worship together. “No Sunday without a religious service” had been the watchword before coming to Canada, and the same watchword was to remain in effect. For this reason, smaller and larger worship units appeared almost spontaneously in various […]

The First Places of Employment The Mennonites that came to Essex County seemingly gained their employment at first in two chief area: the Broadwell brickyard at Kingsville and the Jasperson brickyard at Coatsworth. The work at the brickyards was burdensome, since men at that time were doing work done by machines today. In the photograph above, one can see Rev. […]