©Mennonite Heritage Centre 2003-2010
Last updated 21 March 2012

Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Vineland United Mennonite Church

Retrieval numbers: Volumes 15, 16, 2425, 2659, 3813, 4686, 5321.

Title: Vineland United Mennonite Church fonds
Dates: 1957-1958, 1965-2007
Extent: 62 cm of textual records
Repository: Mennonite Heritage Centre Archives

Historical note

The Vineland United Mennonite Church was founded in 1936 in Ontario by Russian Mennonite immigrants who had begun to settle in the area as early as 1924. They were sponsored by the First Mennonite Church in Vineland. The language barrier was an incentive to have their own worship services. The United Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren families worshipped together these first years in private homes and rented facilities and were connected to the Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite Church. In 1927 they acquired a saw mill which they converted into a meeting house. In 1934 the Mennonite Brethren families decided to form their own congregation in Beamsville. In 1935 they built a new meeting house. It was in the 1930s that two other groups affiliated with Waterloo became independent congregations. They were in Port Rowan and Virgil. In 1936 there were 135 charter members. In 1945 the membership was 243 and in 1952 it was 292. In 1953 they were part of a number of Mennonite congregations to found a senior citizens home which was built in Vineland. In 1957 they built a larger meeting house near the Senior citizens home. In 1961 the membership was 382. In 1980 the membership was 426 and in 2000 it stood at 351. The leaders of the congregation were: Johann Wichert (1927-1983), Nikolas Fransen (1929-1995), Abram Epp (1931-1944), Dietrich Koop (1931-1944), Cornelius Neufeld (1929-1938), Abram Harder (1934-1973), Dietrich Sawatzky (1938-1946), A.A. Peters (1936-1952), Johann Neufeld (1955-1990), Jacob Fransen (1961- ), J.K. Klassen (1965-1973), Henry H. Epp (1974-1976), Otto Giesbrecht (1981-1995), Peter Retzlaff (1985-1991), David Brubacher (1991-2000), Marvin Friesen (2001-     ).

Scope and content note

This fonds contains bulletins (1958, 1965-2002), constitution (1960), programmes (1965-1977), annual and other reports (1965-1993), directories (1966-2007), newsletters (1970-1997), correspondence (1974-1977), minutes (1978-1990), and a 25th anniversary history booklet. The records pertain to the development of the Mennonite congregation in Vineland, Ontario since 1965.

Index terms

Subject terms

Vineland United Mennonite Church

Creators

Vineland United Mennonite Church

Adjunct descriptive data

Finding aids

Inventory file list available.

Notes

Restrictions on access

No restrictions on access.

Other notes

Textual records have been deposited by the congregation on a regular basis at the Mennonite Heritage Centre. Described by Bert Friesen 8 August 2002.

Vineland United Mennonite Church fonds file list:

Volume 15

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church Building dedication program (1957),  bulletins (1958)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church constitution (1960), 25th anniversary book (1961)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1965), Bible conference/study programme (1965), MCC (Ontario) report (1965)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1966), directory (1966)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1967)
  6. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1968), directory (1968)
  7. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1969), directory (1969)
  8. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1970), highlights of the Ontario conference sessions (1970); Financial statements (1970)
  9. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1971), congregational minutes (1971)
  10. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1972)
  11. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1973)
  12. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1974), MCC (Ontario) correspondence (1974), congregational minutes (1974)

 Volume 16

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1975), congregational directory (1975), annual reports (1975)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1976), annual reports (1976)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1977), correspondence (1977), Bible conference/study programme (1977), congregational filing code (1977), annual reports (1977)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1978), directory (1978), congregational meeting minutes (1978)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1979), annual reports (1979)
  6. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1980),  annual reports (1980)
  7. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1981), directory (1981), annual reports (1981)
  8. Vineland United Mennonite Church newsletters (1976-1979)

Volume 2425

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1982)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1983)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1984)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1985)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1986), annual reports (1986)
  6. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1987), annual reports (1987)

Volume 2659

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1988), congregational meeting minutes (1988), annual reports (1988)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1989)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1990), congregational meeting minutes (1990), annual reports (1990), directory (1990)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1991), annual reports (1991)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1992), directory (1992)

Volume 3813

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1993), annual reports (1993)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1994), directory (1994)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1995)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1996), directory (1996)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1997)

Volume 4686

  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1998), directory (1998)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (1999)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (2000), directory (2000)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins (2001)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church bulletins [incomplete] (2002), directory (2002)
  6. Vineland United Mennonite Church directory (2005), directory (2007)
Volume 5321
  1. Vineland United Mennonite Church Newsletter (1970-1975)
  2. Vineland United Mennonite Church Newsletter (1976-1981)
  3. Vineland United Mennonite Church Newsletter (1982-1987)
  4. Vineland United Mennonite Church Views from the Vineyard [newsletter] (1988-1991)
  5. Vineland United Mennonite Church Good News [newsletter] (1991-1997)
  6. Vineland United Mennonite Church Telephone Directory (2009)
  7. Vineland United Mennonite Church Telephone Directory (2012)