Wallace Township in Perth County, Ontario began to be settled in the mid-nineteenth century. As farms were cheaper than in Waterloo County, about ten Mennonite families from Waterloo County moved there from 1864-1869. Ministers from Waterloo conducted services in homes every eight weeks from 1865-1867, and thereafter every four weeks.
Montezuma Brothers obtained the six acre triangle, then known as “The Gore” on the sixth line of Wallace from the Crown in April 1867. Soon he donated one acre of this land to the Mennonite congregation for a meeting house and cemetery. Thus this location was called Brotherston. The first burials took place before the meetinghouse was built in 1871. The first structure was a rather crude frame building with board siding.
The first resident minister for this congregation was Isaac Weber who had been ordained in 1869. Levi P. Martin was ordained deacon at the same time. Levi's wife died 25 December 1869 and was the first adult to be buried in the Brotherston Cemetery. A child had been buried there in 1867.
Early family names included Kurtz, Snyder, Bowman, Schuk, Shoemaker, Knipe, Hood, Denny, Martin, Loggins, Karges, Reichard, Shaus, and Brothers.
At the height of the community from 1869-1875 there were about fifty members. However half of the congregation began to affiliate with the "New Mennonite" movement. The more conservative faction separated from the “New” Mennonites, but shared the meetinghouse for a short time. When the New Mennonites claimed the building and installed lights and built a shed for the horses, the conservative group ceased using the building and held services in homes until another meetinghouse was built in 1882 in the neighboring village of Kurtzville.
In spring 1993 the congregation decided to demolish the deteriorating structure and to erect a new one on the same site.
Other pictures of the church have been posted at our YaBB, under
Photographs. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to
Source: The Mennonite Historical Society of Canada Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to