The First Amish Settlement

Photo by contributor Mona Albano - Posted June, 2005

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted June, 2011

Plaque Location

The Region of Waterloo
The Township of Wilmot
In Baden, at the southeast corner of
Snyder's Road West and Nafziger Road

Coordinates: N 43 23.969 W 80 41.766

Plaque Text

In 1822 Christian Nafziger, an Amish Mennonite from Munich, Germany, came to Upper Canada to find land on which to settle some 70 German families. With the assistance of a group of Mennonites headed by Jacob Erb, who had settled nearby, a petition was made to the government for land here in present-day Wilmot Township. Surveyed two years later by John Goessman, this "German Block" was peopled primarily by Amish from Europe. In 1824-25 Bishop John Stoltzfus of Pennsylvania organized the first congregation and ordained as ministers John Brenneman and Joseph Goldschmidt. Services were held in the homes of members until 1884 when a simple frame meeting house, which served until 1946, was erected near this site.

Related Ontario plaques
Abraham Erb 1772-1830
First Mennonite Settlement

More
Information

More
Settlements

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