Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church
(Wellesley Amish Mennonite Congregation)
4831 Deborah-Glaister Line, Wellesley, ON N0B 2T0
Begun: 1911
Services of the Wellesley Amish Mennonite congregation are reported to have begun in 1859 when bi-weekly services were held in homes. The first bishop was John Jantzi. A small frame building, which was used primarily as a funeral shelter, may have been erected as early as 1867 on the site of the present cemetery on the 3rd Line. The north halves of lots 11 and 12 were purchased by Leonhard Streicher from Samuel and Margaret McKee in 1869. The next year, on July 11, 1870, Streicher deeded a half acre of property to the Amish Mennonite congregation on which a cemetery and "funeral chapel" were to be located. The chapel was built during the years 1871-1872. Worship services continued to be held in homes, although services at times may have been held in the funeral chapel.
When a larger church building was erected in 1886, some members of the congregation began to hold regular services in it, while other members continued to meet in homes. Members of the latter group, of Old Order Amish, are members today of either the North or South Church District of the Amish Church. The members continue to meet in homes; there are no meeting houses. Those members who met in the church building were led by the bishop Jacob Wagler, Joseph L. Lichti and Christian B. Zehr.
A division occurred later in the group which had continued to meet in the 1886 meeting house. In 1911 or 1912 Jacob F. Lichti (bishop) and John Gascho (deacon) and a number of other families left to form another church. It became known as the Lichti Church, but is now known as the Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church. Christian B. Zehr was ordained bishop in the Wellesley congregation after the Lichti group left. Wellesley was sometimes referred to as the Zehr congregation, but it is now known as the Maple View Mennonite Church.
A new meeting house was built by the Lichti congregation about 1912 approximately a half mile to the east of the former meeting house. This frame meeting house is now known as the Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church. The congregation was not affiliated with any other group; there was no Sunday School. A new church was built in 1963. This congregation now has fraternal relations with the Beachy Amish of the United States.
Records:
For information regarding the availability of any early records, please contact the Archivist at Conrad Grebel College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6.
References: Burkholder 1935:230-233; Epp 1974:277; Maple Leaf 1983:94-95; Roth 1993.
Church History: Schultz, Beatrice, Brenda Lichti Knechtel, and Fran Lebold, et al. Maple View Mennonite Church 1859-1984, 1984.
Information excerpted from: Waterloo County Churches, A Research Guide to Churches established before 1900, by Rosemary Willard Ambrose © Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. It is reproduced by permission.
For a complete list of resources mentioned above, please click here.
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Begun: 1911
Services of the Wellesley Amish Mennonite congregation are reported to have begun in 1859 when bi-weekly services were held in homes. The first bishop was John Jantzi. A small frame building, which was used primarily as a funeral shelter, may have been erected as early as 1867 on the site of the present cemetery on the 3rd Line. The north halves of lots 11 and 12 were purchased by Leonhard Streicher from Samuel and Margaret McKee in 1869. The next year, on July 11, 1870, Streicher deeded a half acre of property to the Amish Mennonite congregation on which a cemetery and "funeral chapel" were to be located. The chapel was built during the years 1871-1872. Worship services continued to be held in homes, although services at times may have been held in the funeral chapel.
When a larger church building was erected in 1886, some members of the congregation began to hold regular services in it, while other members continued to meet in homes. Members of the latter group, of Old Order Amish, are members today of either the North or South Church District of the Amish Church. The members continue to meet in homes; there are no meeting houses. Those members who met in the church building were led by the bishop Jacob Wagler, Joseph L. Lichti and Christian B. Zehr.
A division occurred later in the group which had continued to meet in the 1886 meeting house. In 1911 or 1912 Jacob F. Lichti (bishop) and John Gascho (deacon) and a number of other families left to form another church. It became known as the Lichti Church, but is now known as the Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church. Christian B. Zehr was ordained bishop in the Wellesley congregation after the Lichti group left. Wellesley was sometimes referred to as the Zehr congregation, but it is now known as the Maple View Mennonite Church.
A new meeting house was built by the Lichti congregation about 1912 approximately a half mile to the east of the former meeting house. This frame meeting house is now known as the Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church. The congregation was not affiliated with any other group; there was no Sunday School. A new church was built in 1963. This congregation now has fraternal relations with the Beachy Amish of the United States.
Records:
For information regarding the availability of any early records, please contact the Archivist at Conrad Grebel College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6.
References: Burkholder 1935:230-233; Epp 1974:277; Maple Leaf 1983:94-95; Roth 1993.
Church History: Schultz, Beatrice, Brenda Lichti Knechtel, and Fran Lebold, et al. Maple View Mennonite Church 1859-1984, 1984.
Information excerpted from: Waterloo County Churches, A Research Guide to Churches established before 1900, by Rosemary Willard Ambrose © Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. It is reproduced by permission.
For a complete list of resources mentioned above, please click here.
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