MEM ONITE SETTLEMENT IN THE LOWER FRASER VALLEY 

by 

A l f r e d Henry Siemens 

B.A., University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1956 

A Thesis submitted i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l l m e n t 
of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Master of Arts 

i n the Department of Geography 

We accept this thesis as conforming to the 
required standard 

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 

A p r i l , I 9 6 0 



Abstract 

This study attempts to trace the historical geo-
graphy of Mennonite settlements in the Fraser Valley, to 
single out for analysis significant changes in their struc-
ture and function and to summarize their distinctive charac-
teristics by means of statistics, maps, photos and descrip-
tion. A l l this is to l i f t a segment of one ethnic group 
out of the mosaic of the Canadian population and show what 
has been i t s part in the shaping of the landscape of British 
Columbia^ densely settled southwestern corner. 

fo obtain the necessary historical information 
the relatively few systematic published studies were con-
sulted; but the bulk ©f the information was pieced together 
from interviews of pioneers, newspaper clippings, historical 
accounts by church o f f i c i a l s on anniversary celebrations 
(usually unpublished), personal knowledge of events con-
cerned and other sources. Much of this information was 
placed into i t s historical geographical context for the 
f i r s t time. The statistics necessary for outlining d i s t r i -
bution and structure of the Mennonite population came from 
the listings in the Census of Canada under the classifica-
tion of religious a f f i l i a t i o n , from church records of the 
individual congregations, compilations in Mennonite year** 
books of various kinds, school records as well as from 
estimates given by responsible people in cases where docu-
mented figures were not available. The information so 



obtained was portrayed cartographically by means of dot maps, 
an isopleth map, a centrogram and a flow diagram. The centro-
gram was of particular interest in that i t showed shifts in 
the center of gravity of the Mennonite population of the 
Fraser Valley which were closely corroborated by economic and 
social currents within the community. The flow diagram was 
used to portray graphically the centrality of the settlement 
of Clearbrook with reference to one c r i t e r i a - i t s attraction 
of young people into the Mennonite high school located there. 
This was supplemented by a discussion of other oriteria of 
centrality for this community, which now represents the most 
important concentration of Mennonites in the Fraser Valley 
and, indeed, i n the whole province. 

The actual settlement forms that have resulted 
from Mennonite occupanoe of the land were considered after 
some aspects of the history of the group had been traced and 
i t s present situation in the Fraser Valley outlined. The 
individual holding, the small nucleatlon, the sizeable Men-
nonite centers of Yarrow and Clearbrook, as well as the 
urban community in Vancouver were described and analysed in 
turn, with a view particularly toward capturing peculiar-
i t i e s , ascertaining the extent of obliteration of former 
characteristics and finding some definite marks of the 
degree of acculturation experienced by the people themselves. 

The principal conclusions of the study are simply 
a substantiation of what i s known more or less accurately 
about the situation of other ethnic groups in our country 



and elsewhere. The Mennonites have retained a considerable 
number of peculiarities up to the present time, and the 
expression of these in the nature of their settlement has 
been the main concern of this paper. The cultural and economic 
changes,however,that are sweeping a l l segments of the popu-
lation toward farm rationalization and urbanization, are 
affecting them as well. In many cases the only peculiarities 
that persist are theological. Under these circumstances a 
recurrence of a traditional group response such as mass 
migration or even traditional individual responses like the 
preservation of the German language in the home are d i f f i c u l t 
to envisage for the immediate future. 



.'.J 

In presenting t h i s thesis i n p a r t i a l fulfilment of 

the requirements for an advanced degree at the University 

of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the Library s h a l l make 

i t freely available for reference and study. I further 

agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis 

for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my 

Department or by his representatives. It i s understood 

that copying or publication of this thesis for f i n a n c i a l 

gain s h a l l not be allowed without my written permission. 

Department of Geography , 

The University of British.Columbia, 
Vancouver 8, Canada. 
Date Feb. 27, I960 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The author g r a t e f u l l y acknowledges the continuous 

interest, frequent advice and careful c r i t i c i s m offered 

throughout the preparation of this thesis by the head of the 

Department of Geography, Dr. J. L. Robinson, and the thesis 

adviser, Dr. R. I. Ruggles. He i s especially indebted, also, 

to Mr. Herbert Klassen for allowing free access to his l i b r a r y 

i n Abbotsford and to Rev. P. R. Toews of Vancouver for the 

use of numerous books from his l i b r a r y . Many people kindly 

contributed information and of these Mr. J. C. Krause of 

Yarrow, Mr. Dick Rempel of Mission and Rev. J. B. Wiens of 

Vancouver deserve special thanks. The appreciation shown 

by many leaders i n the community, p a r t i c u l a r l y the faculty 

of the Mennonite Educational Institute, was a r e a l encouragement. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 
I INTRODUCTION 1 

.II EARLY HISTORY OF THE MENNONITES 7 
Anabaptism 7 
Ethnic O r i g i n 8 
Establishment and U n i f i c a t i o n 11 

Settlement on the V i s t u l a Delta 
of Poland 12 
Settlement i n Russia 17 

Movement i n t o Canada 28 
Movement i n t o B r i t i s h . Columbia 33 

III PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FRASER 
VALLEY LOWLANDS 39 

General Features of the T e r r a i n 39 
Climate 40 
Morphology, Vegetation, S o i l Cover and 
A g r i c u l t u r a l Use of Mennonite Settlement 
Areas 42 

F l a t l a n d s from Agassiz to Upper Sutnas 42 
Matsqui 45 
M i s s i o n 45 
Abbotsford 46 
Aldergrove " 47 
Surrey 47 
L u l u I s l a n d 48 



Chapter Page 

IV SEQUENT OCCUPANCE OF THE MENNONITES IN 
THE FRASER VALLEY 50 

Methods of Land Procurement 50 

Periods of Settlement 52 
Pioneer Period 53 
Post-War "Boom" 63 

-Present Period of Centralization and 
Urbanization 67 

V A STATISTICAL DELINEATION OF THE SITUATION 
OF THE MENNONITES IN THE FRASER VALLEY . 70 

Sources 70 

Distributions 74 

Charaeteristics of Mennonite Population 76 

Patterns of Immigration 78 

Concentration 
_ Shifts i n the Center of Gravity of 

the Group 
The Fraserview Mennonite Brethren 
Church - An Example Study 

VI - INTRA-GROUP MOVEMENT PATTERNS 90 

VII SETTLEMENT FORMS 99 

Farm Types 99 

Small Non-Farm Nucleations 104 

Prominent Mennonite Centers 106 

Yarrow * 106 

Clearbrook 115 

Urban Settlement i n Vancouver 125 



Chapter Page 

VIII CONCLUSIONS 133 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 142 

APPENDICES 

A. Table XV 

B. Table XVI 

C. Table XVII 

D. Suggestions for Further Research 

E. Photographic Supplement 



LIST OF MAPS 

Page 
1. Locations! Map for Mennonite Settlement in 

Poland and Prussia . . . . . . . . . . 10 
2. Mennonite Settlement in Southern European Russia 

Before 1930 . . 19 
3. Source of Migrants into British Columbia . . . . 34 
4. Church Tributary Regions and the Movement of the 

Center of Gravity from 1940 to 1958 36 
5. Locational Map of the Lower Fraser Valley . . . 36a 
6. Glacial Deposition in the Eastern Part of the 

Lower Fraser Valley 49a 
7. Soils of the Eastern Part of the Lower Fraser 

Valley 49b 
8. Loeational Map - Abbotsford and Vicinity . . . . 51a 
9. Mennonites in Canada 72 
10. Mennonites in the Lower Fraser Valley 73 
11. Origin of the Students Attending the Mennonite 

Educational Institute 91a 
12. Small Mennonite Centers in the Lower Fraser 

Valley 92a 
13. The Structural Pattern of the Yarrow Settlement 108 
14. The Structural Pattern of the Greendale 

Settlement 113 
15. Land Clearing in the Olearbrook Area 117 
16. Changes in the Structural PaKtern of Olearbrook 118 
17. Concentration of Mennonite Families in 

Southeastern Vancouver 127 
18. Households Associated with Vancouver's Four 

Mennonite Churches 129 



L I S T OF F I G U R E S 

F i g u r e F a c i n g p a g e 

1. M e n n o n i t e B u i l d i n g s i n P r u s s i a . . . . . 1 6 

2 . M e n n o n i t e S e t t l e m e n t i n R u s s i a 2 6 

3 . " D r y - p o i n t " F a r m s 4 4 

4 . M e n n o n i t e S c h o o l s i n t h e F r a s e r V a l l e y . 6 6 

5 . B a r n T y p e s i n t h e F r a s e r V a l l e y . . . . 1 0 0 

6 . A b b o t s f o r d F a r m l a n d 1 0 1 

7 . M e n n o n i t e H o u s e s i n A b b o t s f o r d . . . . . 1 0 2 

8 . T y p i c a l S m a l l Y a r r o w F a r m 1 0 9 

9 . M e n n o n i t e H o u s e s i n Y a r r o w 1 1 0 

1 0 . C l e a r b r o o k a n d S u r r o u n d i n g s 1 1 7 

1 1 . V i e w s o f O l e a x b r o o k 1 1 7 

1 2 . M e n n o n i t e B u i l d i n g s i n O l e a r b r o o k . . . 1 2 0 

1 3 . O l e a r b r o o k ' s C o m m e r c i a l G o r e 1 2 3 

1 4 A & B . M e n n o n i t e C h u r c h e s . 1 2 4 

1 5 . M e n n o n i t e F a r m l a n d A p p e n d i x E 

1 6 A & B . G e n e r a l V i e w s o f F a r m s i n M e n n o n i t e 

S e t t l e m e n t A r e a s • " 

1 7 . S m a l l M e n n o n i t e C e n t e r s . . . . . . 11 

1 8 . P a n o r a m i c V i e w s o f Y a r r o w " 

1 9 . C o m m e r c e a n d I n d u s t r y i n Y a r r o w , . " 



LIST OF TABLES 

Page 

I Mennonites i n Russia 21 

II Basic Climatic Data 41 

III Total of Mennonites i n Sub-divisions of Census 
D i v i s i o n No. 4 - 1951 75-76 

17 Total Numbers of Mennonites i n B. C., 1901-
1951 76 

V Male-Female Breakdown - 1951 77 
VI Immigrants Brought i n under the Auspices of 

the Mennonite Board of Colonization 78 
VII. Origin of Immigrants Brought i n by Mennonite 

Board of Colonization 79 
VIII Destinations of Mennonite Immigrants -

1947-1952 79 

IX C l a s s i f i c a t i o n According to Sex of Immigrants 
Arriving i n 1947-1952 80 

X Ethnic Breakdown i n Census Division No. 4 of 
B r i t i s h Columbia 81 

XI Congregational Origin of Students at the 
Mennonite Educational Institute 1957-58 . . . 93 

XII Commercial Services of Yarrow - 1958 110 

XIII Industries of Yarrow life 
XIV Commercial Services of Clearbrook - 1958 . . . 121-122 

XV Dates of Establishment of Mennonite Churches Appendix 
i n the Fraser Valley A 

XVI A Representative L i s t i n g of Mennonite Family Appendix 
Names as Compiled from Church Directories of B 
Lower Fraser Valley Mennonite Churches 

XVII Membership Totals of Mennonite Churches of the Appendix 
Lower Fraser Valley from 1933 to 1958 . . . . C 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

In the rich, mosaic of Canada's population the 
Mennonites are an intensely colourful and conspicuous part. 
Wherever they have settled the feeling and look of that place 
have become distinctive. In the Fraser Valley of British 
Columbia their presence i s known and their influence f e l t in 
a wide variety of pursuits. Local residents and even visitors 
usually recognize, too, when passing through such places as 
Yarrow or Olearbrook, that certain features of the farm 
holdings, the buildings and indeed the entire nucleations 
are characteristically Mennonite. To describe and analyse 
the nature and peculiarities of these settlements from a 
geographic point of view is the purpose of this study. 

The Mennonites have always tended to regard them-
selves as distinctive primarily on the basis of their 
religious beliefs, and these do set them apart sufficiently 
well so that reasonably accurate statistics may be compiled 
on this basis. 1 Outsiders have often associated them with 
certain cultural complexes as well, but in their own minds 
cultural values have always tended to be indistinguishably 
knitted with the religious. For them, religion has always 
been the point of departure and the end of every consideration 

1 



regarding this l i f e or the next. This springs from a firm 
belief that man should in every aspect of his being allow 
himself to be governed by the Holy Scriptures, and should 
acknowledge himself as responsible to an almighty God. 

In the literature of the Mennonites, particularly 
those groups represented in western Canada, spiritual currents 
have usually been the first considerations dealt with in any 

2 

history of the movement. Devotional aspects of their l i f e 
are heavily stressed and repeatedly linked to quotations 
from the Holy Scriptures. Economic factors are usually 
treated as addenda, and are often evaluated in terms of the 
ethics of the group. The Mennonites have traditionally held 
the belief that frugality, industry and honesty in a l l v 
business dealings should be the outward manifestations of 
their faith. Prosperity, even though diligently sought, is 
considered by them as a blessing of God. These deeply rooted 
attitudes were what made them highly desirable pioneer 
settlers and model citizens in whatever country they happened 
to take up land during the time of their European migrations. 
To some extent their Canadian neighbors are s t i l l able to see 
and appreciate these qualities in them now. 

References have often been made by Canadian Men-
nonite authors and speakers at various occasions to the 
cultural characteristics of their people, but seldom have 
these elements been consciously regarded as cultural. Certain 
foods, household appointments and mannerisms are thought of as 



3 
vaguely belonging to Mennonitism, but the essence of 
Mennonitism is usually considered to be religion. Many s t i l l 
affirm that the Mennonite system of private secondary educ-
ation functions to preserve the use of the German language, 
but in view of actual teaching practises this is largely l i p -
service. The preservation of the traditional Mennonite 
religious position is being more vitally and consciously 
pursued. Literature and music, even though extensively 
appreciated and developed, most often function as media of 
education, worship and edification. Art in the form of 
painting, sculpture and architecture has seldom been treated 
imaginatively for its own sake. 

Purely social activities have often been looked on 
by many within the Mennonite groups we will be dealing with 
in this study as rather illegitimate. Friendly banter, group 
games and other amusements seem to them to be unjustifiable 
unless they are an introduction to something more serious, 
or are at least introduced by properly pious remarks and ended 
by prayer. Undeniably, many activities classed as "fellow-
ship" have fulfilled essentially social needs within the con-
gregations. 

This overall desire to place everything in very close 
relationship to one's religious beliefs is doubtlessly laud-
atory on the one hand, but i t does lead now — even as i t 
has done ever since the beginning of the Anabaptist movement — 
to fruitless divisions within churches on problems regarding 



acceptable behavior. The question remains, however, whether 
i t is possible to maintain the identity of a group at a l l 
under the pressures and leveling influences of modern existence 
without the cement of common religious beliefs. 

As more and more Mennonites have moved into urban 
areas and as higher education has become accessible and 
acceptable to a growing number of their young people, new views 
of Mennonitism have been taken, sometimes non-religious, but 
not necessarily anti-religious. This trend has increased as 
individuals have gone into endeavours other than those which 
the group usually expected its better-educated members to 
enter. In addition to the traditional theology, medicine, 
nursing, education, history and languages, Mennonites are 
now seeking out such fields as commerce, sociology, political 
science, international studies, pure and applied sciences 
and many more. New and interesting views of Mennonitism have 
also been developed by outsiders who have been keenly sym-
pathetic with the aims and customs of the movement or who 
have seen in i t an object of worthwhile research. The excel-
lent sociological study of the Mennonites of Manitoba by 
E. K. Francis,3 the discussion of pioneer Mennonite settle-
ment in Western Canada by C. Dawson4 and others undoubtedly 
were written with either or both of these motives. As 
Mennonitism is viewed increasingly' from a non-religious or 
extra-group position new relationships within itself and 
between i t and the non-Mennonite population become more 
apparent. 



5 

In this study, as already noted, the viewpoint is 
geographical and the focus i s on settlement patterns. New 
rural and urban groupings, movements between them and the 
retention or abandonment of traditional features are dealt 
with. Distinguishing characteristics of the Mennonite people 
themselves are discussed, their distributions, relationships 
amongst themselves and relationships to non-Mennonites — 
particularly i n as far as a l l of this may be areally delin-
eated. Conclusions are then drawn regarding a number of 
trends i n the community and the evidence that exists for 
advanced assimilation. The study ends with suggestions for 
further research along geographical as well as historical lines. 

A number of procedures useful i n a geographical 
study of this type have been applied. A historical geograph-
i c a l analysis of settlement patterns and other conditions 
prevailing at significant periods i n the history of the group 
is undertaken. The information for this was derived from 
literary research and the interviewing of pioneers. Data on 
the distribution of Mennonites i n Canada, and more specifi-
cally i n the Fraser Valley, were obtained from the Census of 
Canada-1951 and church statistics. They are portrayed carto-
graphically and also diseussed i n the text. Field observation 
during excursions and a considerable period of residence in 
the area provided the information for the mapping and dis-
cussion of the structure and function of present Mennonite 
settlement. Photographs and sketches supplement the maps in 
illustrating the ideas developed. 



6 

Footnotes and References 

1 The Census of Canada-1951 l i s t s information on 
Religious Denominations of Canada in Tables 37-43 of 
Volume I. 

2 The following are examples of this type of an 
approach: A. H. Unruh, Die Gesehffite der Mennoniten 
Brddergemeinde. Winnipeg, Christian Press, 1955; 
H. J. Willms, Die Sued-Abbotsford Ansiedlung. Yarrow, 
B. C , Columbia Press, 1956. 

3 E. K. Francis, In Search of Utopia; the Mennonites 
of Manitoba. Altona, Manitoba, D. W. Friesen, 1955. 

4 C. A. Dawson, Group Settlement. Ethnic Communities 
i n Western Canada. Toronto. MacMillan, 1936, vol. VII. 



CHAPTER II 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE MENNONITES 

Anabaptism 

After the reformers of the early sixteenth century 
had made their pronouncements against Catholicism and esta-
blished new ehurches that soon became, in their own right, 
institutionalized, and involved to greater or lesser extents 
i n alliances with secular powers, there were those who pro-
tested against an 11incomplete protestantism". These people 
became known as "Anabaptists", or those who denied the 
efficacy of infant baptism and otherwise challenged the 
practises of the reformed churches. Their protests brought 
them persecution| and i t became necessary for many to seek 
refuge i n neighbouring countries, wherever rulers allowed 
them at least some measure of religious freedom. 

The Anabaptist movement, that had begun i n 1525 i n 
Switzerland, gradually spread northward, down the Rhine and 
into the Netherlands. It was propagated through the work of 
missionaries expressly sent for that purpose, as well as 
through the influence of displaced'persons. 

The followers of Menno Simons, an itinerant mis-
sionary and evangelist who worked throughout North Central 

7 



8 

Europe, were those who f i r s t became known as "Mennonites". 
This t i t l e has since then come to be used for numerous other 
groups who were of similar religious persuasion, yet were 
of various ethnic backgrounds, and thus has replaced the term, 
"Anabaptist" almost entirely. Mennonitism, as i t was i n i t -
iated i n the Netherlands and Northwest Germany, is the chief 
concern of this paper — in contrast to the Mennonitism that 
emanated directly from Switzerland, Austria and what is now 
Southwest Germany. The "Hutterites", who live near some 
Mennonite settlements i n the Prairies and who have often been 
confused with Mennonites, are members of a movement begun 
within original Mennonitism by one Jacob Hutter in the Tyrol 
and Moravia early in the sixteenth century, and thus do not 
come into the area of this study. 

Ethnic Origin 

The ethnic origin of the Mennonites who l e f t the 
Netherlands and began a succession of migrations that at last 
brought them into Western Canada, is very d i f f i c u l t to esta-
blish. The problem has been explored by many Mennonite 
leaders, particularly during times of war when i t was highly 
important whether one was to be classed as German or not. 
A very careful study of the problem was carried out i n the 
years just prior to World War II by Dr. B. H. Unruh of 
Karlsruhe, Germany.1 Dr. E. K. Francis, in his book on the 
Mennonites of Manitoba, concurs with him in many of his 
conclusions.2 Dr. Unruh points out that i t is impossible to 



ascertain whether the strain of Mennonitism with which we 
are concerned here i s either German or Dutch; hut that i t 
had i t s origin i n a thorough mixture of both elements. To 
establish this, he believes, one must consider where the 
earliest Mennonite refugees, who began the later movement 
eastward into the delta lands of the Vistula River, came from. 
This appears to have been Friesland, a country along the 
northern coast of present Germany, just southwest of what i s 
now Denmark; which was the f i r s t gathering place of refugees 
from religious persecution i n surrounding lands. As i t hap-
pened, there was a ruler there who tolerated religious dif-
ferences and allowed victims of persecution to take refuge 
i n his realm. The refugees came from Dutch territory and 
also from those fragmented states that must be considered as 
antecedent to parts of present Germany. Sources for the 
documentation of this turbulent formative period in the 
history of the group are very meager and hence the proportions 
of the Dutch to the German elements w i l l probably never be 
f u l l y known. 

When opportunities for the acquisition of land i n 
what was to become West Prussia opened up for the Mennonites 
during the I530»s, many l e f t their temporary homes and 
migrated eastward i n small groups. The cultural orientation 
of these new settlers i n the Vistula Delta was, during the 
f i r s t two hundred years of their stay there, largely toward 
Holland and the Dutch language. Then a gradual shift toward 
the German language set in, with Low German adopted as the 



M A P I. ~~~ A. S I E M E N S 



11 

language of common intercourse and eventually High German as 
the language of worship and education. Germanization in-
creased markedly after the partition of Poland i n 1772 and 
the allotment of the Vistula Delta to Prussia. In time German 
came to be regarded as the "Mother Tongue", an attitude that 
prevails to the present day i n the settlements of the 
descendants of these Mennonites, wherever they may be located. 

It i s to be expected, therefore, that i n the complex 
of cultural traits exhibited by these people both Dutch and 
German features may be found in various combinations. Added 
to this may be variants such as those supplied by the Men-
nonites of Polish background, with their interestingly 
accented German. A l l have been fused into a f a i r l y unique 
whole under the effects of compact settlement in relative 
isolation and the unifying influence of strong religious 
ideals. The result has been an ethnic group, with i t s distinct 
cultural heritage and body of well developed characteristic 
traits.3 

Establishment and Unification 

In the further consideration of the history of this 
group, particular attention w i l l be given to two periods in 
their successive movements and settlement: that of their 
establishment and unification after 1550 i n the lands of the 
Vistula Delta, and the time spent by emigres from there, and 
their descendants, i n Russia after 1790. During these two 
periods many characteristic elements were developed, including 



certain settlement forms -
concerned here. 

12 

with which we are primarily 

Settlement on the Vistula Delta of Poland 

In the years 154-7-50 groups of Mennonite families 
began to settle around Danzig, Elbing and Konigsberg on the 
poorly drained, brush-overgrown deltaic lands of the Vistula, 
i t s distributary the logat, and other smaller rivers. Later 
their settlements were to spread up the river past Marienburg, 
as far as the present city of Torun (Map 1 ) . Although Poland 
was o f f i c i a l l y Catholic In religion, some parts of i t had been 
affected by the Reformation, and other areas had sufficiently 
tolerant rulers, so that a good measure of religious freedom 
could be offered these Incoming settlers. Moreover, the 
s k i l l s in drainage and cultivation of land below sea level 
that the Mennonites had achieved in their former coastal 
homelands, together with their industrious nature and close, 
well-ordered social organization, made them sought after by 
landowners In the coastal lowlands of Poland for the drainage 
and settlement of their lands. The fact that they had such 
economic contributions to make for some time persuaded many 
administrators to overlook differences that did arise in 
religious affairs. The environment that the settlers now 
found themselves i n was physically rigorous. The climate of 
the area Is essentially a northerly continental one, with 
several months a year below 32°F. in mean temperature and 
only approximately one month with a mean over 68*F. A mean 
annual r a i n f a l l of some 20 - 30 inches may be expected, and 



13 

a period of snowfall lasting approximately twenty days. 
The land i t s e l f , of course, was marshy and overgrown with 
tangled vegetation. Such conditions made harsh demands on 
the settlers, and also exacted a terrible t o l l of l i f e in 
the f i r s t years — chiefly because of the raging "marsh fever". 

The Mennonites facilitated the actual acquisition 
of the land by banding together into leasing organizations 
and thus contracting for land with the Polish king, individual 
landed barons and even princes of the Catholic church. These 
associations became the bases for village communities. They 
paid their rent as one unit and were held communally respon-
sible for the drainage of their holdings. The land complex 
held by such a community was also an interesting physical 
entity, because i t usually occupied a separate "height" of 
land and was enclosed by i t s own dyke. 

The drainage process was a complicated one. Plots 
of marshy bottom lands would f i r s t be dyked from the sea and 
then surrounded by side channels. The surface of these plots 
would be given a slight slope to one corner to facilitate 
run-off, and then windmills would be set up to pump out the 
water. It required the work of several generations to bring 
the land into full-scale cultivation. The f i r s t use of the 
land was usually for meadow and pastureland, supporting a 
dairy Industry. After a period of this type of activity, 
eereal cultivation could be begun. 

The villages that were laid out on this land took a 



1 4 

form that i s probably most accurately described as a "Deich-
hufendorf." This village type was a variation of the 
"Reihendorf", derived partly from the "Marschhufendorf" of the 
marshes of Northwest Germany, which had the dyke as the main 
thoroughfare of the village, and partly from the North-
European Forest Tillage ("Waldhufendorf"), that featured a 
straight central roadway and cleared plots stretching back on 
either side. A "Reihendorf" had a typical cross-sectional 
sequence of a stream or eanal, a dyke with a street on top of 
i t , the eomplex of buildings and yard ("Hof"), the fields, 
and then a canal at the rear boundary. Eaeh family had i t s 
own "Hof" and plot of land extending back of the waterway and 
dyke. 

Deltaic lands were soon f u l l y taken up, and young 
couples, as well as new immigrants, began settling on scattered 
parcels upstream along the Vistula's lowlands. They acquired 
these properties by purchase from individual land owners, 
often Teutonic Knights, and established on them "Einzelhofe", 
or individual farmsteads. 

The buildings that were to be found on the village 
farmsteads as well as the isolated farms were always of a 
simple, solid and orderly kind. Since each farmyard, built 
on land below sea level, had to be laid out on a raised 
earthern mound called a "Werft" i t was kept as compact as 
possible. Hence the house, barn and storage quarters were 
assembled under one roof into a "Reihenhof". Such a farmyard 



15 

found on isolated farmsteads as well as on the village 
properties, stood i n contrast to those laid out earlier 
under the settlement schemes of the Teutonic Knights, i n 
which the various components of the farm were housed i n 
separate buildings. 

There were variations on the simple "Reihenhof", 
however, and usually they increased in complexity with the 
increase i n size of the holding and the prosperity of i t s 
holder. A l l of them were designed, however, to provide a 
maximum of shelter on a minimum of "Werft" surface space. 
The "Reihenhof" appeared usually on holdings up to forty-
five acres in extent. A "Winkelhof" was found on farms of 
between 50 - 125 acres. It featured an "L" shaped building 
with i t s two wings aligned along the two sides of the "Werft". 
On farms of over 125 acres a "Kreuzhof" appeared, with i t s 
cruciform building designed so that the living quarters and 
storage spaee ran one way and the stables crossed this at 
right angles. Such a building reduced the distance of feed 
haulage to a minimum, a consideration that is s t i l l highly 
important i n the design of modern barns. 

Architecturally, the private and public buildings 
of these people represented a sturdy, straightforward solution 
to their needs. The joined farm building was a simple ridged 
structure with visible "joints" where the house ended and the 
barn began. Exposed gables were often faced with wood down 
to the level of the windows. The walls were a combination of 
wood and masonry, or of masonry alone. The roof was usually 



16 
of thatch, w i t h a wooden ridge cap. Hedges, or p i c k e t 
fences, a n e c e s s i t y i n a v i l l a g e community, were u s u a l l y l a i d 
out n e a t l y and s t u r d i l y around every "Hof" (Figure 1). 

The main p u b l i c b u i l d i n g of the group, the church, 
was a simple ridged s t r u c t u r e of the same s t y l e and materials 
as the p r i v a t e homes, without a tower or other d i s t i n g u i s h i n g 
feature of any k i n d . This form, of course, r e s u l t e d from the 
d e s i r e of the group f o r utmost s i m p l i c i t y i n matters of 
r e l i g i o n . I t was not designed to i n s p i r e any p a r t i c u l a r 
emotion or to be the s e t t i n g f o r any r i t u a l , but simply to 
serve as a meeting house where one sang, heard a sermon and 
meditated on God. 

During the e a r l y period of residence i n the V i s t u l a 
Lowlands the Mennonites adopted c e r t a i n i n s t i t u t i o n s that were 
to c h a r a c t e r i z e t h e i r settlements f o r some time to come. 
Communal f i r e insurance was organized, with the p r o v i s i o n that 
a premium was to be l e v i e d on every member of the a s s o c i a t i o n 
a f t e r a d i s a s t e r occurred to any one of the members, and t h i s 
to be commensurate w i t h the extent of the l o s s and the 
assessment of each member. Later t h i s was changed to a system 
of r e g u l a r l y - p a i d premiums. A type of t r u s t company f o r the 
d e s t i t u t e and orphaned, c a l l e d a "Waisenamt", probably 
orginated at t h i s time as w e l l . Later, i t came to serve as 
a sort of investment agency too. Communal government was by 
elected o f f i c e r s , i n c l u d i n g a reeve or "Schultze" and h i s 
c o u n c i l l o r s . This was f u r t h e r developed i n Russia and even 



Figure 1. Mennonite Buildings in Prussia 
a. A farm house including barns and living quarters in 

one building. 
b. A farm house in the shape of an "L" (Winkelhof). 
c. A church built in l 6 l 8 „ 
d. A more pretentious church, built later than the one 

on picture c. 
From H. Wiebe, Das Sledlungswerk Niederlandischer Mennonlten 

Weichseltalm, 1952• 



I 
I 17 

carried over into Manitoba and Mexico. 

After the partition of Poland and the inclusion of 
the Vistula Delta into the province of West Prussia a number 
of severe d i f f i c u l t i e s arose for the Mennonites. The ruler, 
Frederick II, had formally confirmed the privileged status 
of the Mennonites and allowed them the right of exemption from 
military service. In practise, however, pressures were soon 
exerted on them from various quarters as a consequence of 
these privileges. The surrounding populace resented their 
freedom from military service particularly. What was worse, 
however, was that Frederick II issued edicts in 1789 and 1801 
that prohibited further acquisition of land by the Mennonites. 
This came at a time of marked population growth and expansion 
within Mennonite settlements. Young couples, and otherwise 
unlanded Mennonites i n large numbers began making plans for 
emigration. 

Settlement i n Russia 

During this time of unrest the invitations of 
Catharine II of Russia, already made in 1762 and 1763> became 
attractive to the landless along the Vistula. A legal frame-
work had been laid down by the Russian government for large 
scale immigration. It provided a regulation of influx and 
support en route, laid down in great detail the economic, 
p o l i t i c a l and social organization under which immigrants were 
expected to live and, what was very important, stipulated a 
separation of the immigrant communities from the native 



I — 

18 
communities. A l l this was done in a s p i r i t of "humane 
enlightenment" and was quite in accord with the most pro-
gressive attitudes of rulers in that time. To the Mennonites 
of Poland, specific promises of religious freedom, exemption 
from military service and the taking of oaths, as well as 
grants of 175 acres of land per family, had been made. 

Southern European Russia, where most of the incoming 
settlers were to find their new home, was quite an advantageous 
settlement site. Drainage was no problem, neither was the 
clearing of land. The terrain was relatively f l a t , with only 
low rolling h i l l s in some places. Steppe vegetation prevailed 
over most of the area to be occupied by the Mennonites, and 
good rich Chernozem and Chestnut soils promised abundant crops. 

The climate there i s continental, having a con-
siderable number of cold days every year. The number of days 
with a mean daily temperature of less than 32°F. increases 
from thirty i n southern European Russia to ninety in the 
vicinity of Kiev. A continental climate, of course, has many 
days every year that go to the other extreme in their temper-
ature. In the Crimea they have some ninety days i n a year 
that have a mean daily temperature of more than 68°'F. This 
decreases to sixty near Kiev. Rainfall is usually between 
sixteen and twenty-four inches annually and approximately 
forty days of snowfall may be expected. On the whole, climatic 
conditions were more amenable on the steppes than they had 
been on the Vistula delta. 



A . S I E M E N S 



20 

In 1787, then, the f i r s t Mennonite "locators" 
visited the Ukraine. They selected a f e r t i l e plain near 
Berislav on the Dniepr, a locality somewhat similar to the 
delta lands they had known in Poland, as the site for the f i r s t 
settlement (Map 2 ) . Due to d i f f i c u l t i e s the Russians were 
having with the Turks in the area, however, the f i r s t actual 
settlement was made in 1789 on rolling, less f e r t i l e land 
near the Chortiza River, a tributary of the Dniepr. 

In I803 and succeeding years, Mennonites settled 
on a plain near the l i t t l e Molotschna River that flowed Into 
the Sea of Azov. Two multi-village colonies, known as Chortiza 
and Molotschna, became the largest concentrations of Men-
nonites in Russia. Other smaller settlements, such as those 
in the provinces of Saratov and Samara, along the Volga, 
were eventually established. They were populated by immigrants 
from Prussia who continued to come to Russia In larger or 
smaller groups, as well as by landless people finding no place 
in crowded colonies in the f i r s t areas of settlement. 

The totals of Mennonite population in Russia at 
various times are listed in the accompanying table, which 
Includes in i t s figures original entrants, additional 
immigrants and the offspring of both. The fact of a rapidly 
increasing population is largely responsible for expansionist 
tendencies, a good deal of internal'strife and the eventual 
emigration of large numbers of Mennonites to North America. 



Table I 
21 

Mennonites in Russia^" 

1790 1,500 
1815 6,500 
1840 17,500 
1865 37,000 
1890 52,000 
1915 104,000 

The Mennonites brought peasant ideals with them into 
Russia, attaching themselves closely to the land, being 
careful to preserve i t s value and taking pride in economic 
stability and work well done. Of course, they were also intent 
on the preservation of their religious position, which involved 
the establishment of church dominance over the government of 
the community and the education of the young people. Certain 
key doctrines, such as the exhortations to avoid any violence 
and unnecessary involvement with a sinful "world", were to 
be perpetuated. Almost inseparable from these religious 
ideals was the desire to maintain the German language and 
certain Dutch and German cultural traits. Conditions in Russia 
for the Mennonites at f i r s t were such that these things could 
be realized. Indeed, something approaching the Utopia that 
many Mennonites envisaged was established. Unfortunately 
inner anomalies, brotherly strife and an intense pressure on 
the cultivated land -- as well as upheavals in Russian politics 
thwarted the ultimate. 

Local government, l e f t up to the Mennonites almost 



22 

completely, was based on the system of the village commune, 
in which one representative from each landholding family had 
a place. The "Sehultze" was the chairman of the commune, and 
at the same time tax collector and police judge. The chair-
men of a l l village communes came together into a council 
representing the entire colony, as for example the colony of 
Molotschna. An "OberschultzeM presided over this council, 
representing i t i n dealings with the Department of Crown Lands, 
under whose jurisdiction the Mennonite colonies ultimately 
stood. 

In practise the more wealthy and influential 
members of most village communities soon placed themselves in 
the leadership of the church as well as the local government. 
The system of lay ministry allowed those who had time to spare, 
and prestige among the village folk, to occupy the ministerial 
and hence the leading positions of the church. These same 
men, usually land owners of the f i r s t rank, also had a strong 
voice i n local government. Abuses, of course, could not long 
be kept out. Furthermore, the anomaly inherent i n the situ-
ation became f u l l y apparent when policing or law enforcement 
was necessary and the church found i t s e l f i n effect performing 
the function of the "World". The Anabaptist tradition was a 
s t r i c t separation of church and state, a shunning of the 
"world". The result could only be a secularization of the 
church and eventually the emergence of reactionary groups, such 
as the Mennonite Brethren, who decried such secularization. 



23 

The civic institutions upheld by the Mennonites 
in Russia were largely a carry-over from Prussia. Close 
association i n many aspects of l i f e made for common interests 
and communal solutions to problems. Communal f i r e insurance 
was retained and improved. The "Waisenamt" continued to pro-
vide for the destitute and serve more and more as an invest-
ment agency. Granaries were built to store grain for times of 
need and disaster funds were set up. 

Of special importance to the community were the 
laws the Mennonites upheld amongst themselves regarding 
inheritance. The family tract of land was regarded as 
indivisible. It was usually given to the eldest son, who then 
paid off or provided for his siblings. This, of course, was 
the chief cause for the development of a growing landless 
class and the increasing need for daughter colonies. 

From the very beginning elementary schools were set 
up i n each village by the Mennonites themselves, since they 
had been made responsible for their own educational f a c i l i t i e s . 
Even though they were staffed by very poorly trained teachers 
these schools were nevertheless on par with similar schools 
anywhere in Europe and eertainly superior to those of the 
Russians. Under the influence of the wealthy and progressively 
minded Johann Cornies, and the association for the promotion 
of education that he organized In 1820, these schools were 
eventually improved. To them were added, in time, excellent 
secondary schools, known as "Zentralschulen", which were 



24 
designed chiefly to train teachers. From these a number of 
young people continued on in Russian universities or even 
schools in other European countries. 

Economically, the colonies i n i t i a l l y suffered a l l 
the d i f f i c u l t i e s involved in a shift from one environment 
to another. The farmers needed to know how to combat new 
pests, provide for the occasional drought and, above a l l , 
find the most advantageous combination of crops. General 
farming, with an emphasis on cattle and sheep, was practised 
in the early years. Then, gradually, cash crops such as flax, 
tobaeco, fruits and vegetables were introduced. The s i l k 
industry promised well for a time and numerous mulberry trees 
were planted. With the opening of a seaport, Berdiansk, on 
the Black Sea in the l830's, wheat-growing began to replace 
sheep, s i l k and other crops. 

Early implements were crude, requiring very much 
hand labour. As soon as possible, machines were introduced. 
Eventually a number of Mennonite implement factories were 
established, which became the most significant industries 
carried on amongst the group. Individual artisans in each 
village provided most of the hardware, tools and other goods 
the people needed but could not conveniently import. 

Improvements of seeds, stocks, methods and materials 
proved as laborious there as amongst any other peasant group, 
and may be attributed largely to the energy and imagination of 
Johann Cornies and other model farmers who provided leadership 



25 

during the f i r s t half of the nineteenth century in economic 
as well as cultural f i e l d s . 

Eventually a considerable degree of material pro-
sperity developed amongst the Mennonites, which was to pro-
vide a reasonably good l i f e for most of them until the 
disruptive forces of liberalization, war and revolution broke 
over the colonies and their way of l i f e . 

The settlement forms resulting from the Mennonite 
way of l i f e i n Russia again showed a close relationship to 
what had been adopted earlier i n other environments, but also 
included some new innovations. 

For the sake of security against marauding Russian 
neighbours, i n i t i a l l y , and then also for purpose of unity in 
religious, economic and social affairs, close habitat, based 
on Dutch and German forms already mentioned, with surrounding 
open fields modelled on the Russian "Mir" system, was the 
form of settlement used predominantly in the layout of 
Russian Mennonite colonies. Even though drainage or the 
clearing cf forests were no longer the basic problems of 
agriculture, as they had been in North-Central Europe, the 
village tracts were s t i l l divided into rows of individual 
holdings on either side of a main street. Each holding con-
sisted of a total of some 175 acres- granted to one family in 
permanent usufruct as well as the right of access to a common 
meadow at one end of the village. Once a homestead had been 
established i t usually presented a sequence outward from the 



26 
main street, of a front hedge or fence, a row of trees, a 
flower garden, the complex of buildings, a vegetable garden 
and fields, which might or might not be located immediately 
behind the farmyard. Such a village, a "Strassendorf" in 
the best sense of the term, stood in contrast to the encamp-
ment of nomadic Nogatsi tribesmen or the Irregular "Haufendorf" 
that might be found i n surrounding areas occupied by Russians. 

Numbers of Mennonite villages would be strung in 
"paternoster" fashion along main roads, each one bearing an 
idealized German name such as "Rosenthal" (Valley of Roses), 
"Schonwiese" (Beautiful Meadows), "Waldheim" (Home in the 
Woods), "Blumenfeld" (Field of Flowers) or one of many others. 
These names reflected an intense appreciation of the beauties 
of a rural environment, and were, undoubtedly, wistful refer-
ences to a homeland the Mennonites had once known in North-
Central Europe. They were retained by groups of the most 
orthodox of Mennonites when they l e f t Russia in the l870's to 
establish new colonies in Manitoba, and were even taken by 
these same groups from there to Mexico. Mennonites migrating 
directly from Russia to Latin America before World War II and 
those going there later as refugees out of a war-torn Germany 
also graced many a hostile Paraguayan or Argentinian landscape 
with these nostalgic names. 

The buildings erected by the Mennonites in Russia re-
sembled those they had known in West Prussia (Figure 2). The 
farm buildings were again often joined under one roof, in such 
forms as the "Reihenhof", the "Winkelhof" or the "Kreuzhof". 



Figure 2. Mennonite Settlement in Russia 
a. Early farm house in Chortitza. b. More modern farm 

house in Chortitza. c. and d. Mennonite churches in the 
Molotschna colony, e. An early village school, f. A newer 
village school, as introduced in many villages by a progressive 
leader, Johann Cornies. g. Typical Mennonite village in South 
Russia (Sketch by J. H. Janzen). h. Mennonite operated steam 
mill. i . Mennonite factory. 

From P. M. Friesen, Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonltische 
Bruderschaft in Russland (1789-1910.). 1911. 



27 
Walls were usually of brick, exposed or finished in plaster; 
roofs were of t i l e or thatch. A l l this reflected, of course, 
the scarcity of wood for building purposes. 

Architecturally, these buildings were the same 
simple, functional solutions to the problem of shelter that 
they had been i n Prussia. The feature of the entire farm 
property that seems to have been a mark of economic status 
and prestige, besides the general size and excellence in the 
construction of the buildings, was the substantial fence or 
wall with i t s main gate that faced the street. Classical 
columns, pediments and various other decorations were used to 
make these fronts as pretentious as possible. 

The village churches also were of the same simple 
basic pattern as they had been i n Prussia, but here they were 
more profusely decorated, each one corresponding to the wealth 
and prestige of the villagers. Then, as is s t i l l too often 
done now i n the building of Mennonite churches, enhancement 
of the building was sought by the addition of unimaginative 
details. Cornices, false columns, pediments over windows, 
buttresses, Gothic and Romanesque windows a l l were used in 
various combinations to beautify a basically monolithic 
building form. Only seldom, as in the case of the large 
ornate church in the village of "Einlage'% was a truncated 
tower added. Spires were never built on Russian Mennonite 
churches. 

The aspect of a wide, tree-shaded main street in 



28 
a typical Mennonite village with substantial and scrupulously 
neat farmyards on either side, together with the solid schools 
and churches, must have been an impressive sight to Russian 
neighbours and particularly visiting government o f f i c i a l s . 

Movement into Canada 

The movement of those Mennonites represented i n 
our study, from their Russian homeland into Canada and 
particularly into British Columbia, transpired in stages over 
a considerable period of time. 

The f i r s t large-scale movement out of Russia into 
Canada took place in 1873-78, but this involved mainly 
conservative members of the group, known as "Old Colony" 
Mennonites. They l e f t Russia to find new settlement areas 
for their growing numbers, as well as to escape the results 
of "Russianization" policies undertaken by the government — 
the most important of which was the abolition of the privilege 
of the exemption from military service. Some 15,000 of them, 
or approximately thirty percent of the total of Mennonites in 
Russia, l e f t during this time. Of these, 7500 came to Canada, 
and the others went to various Latin American countries.6 
Few of these people or their descendants are represented in 
the Mennonite population of the Lower Fraser Valley. 

The "General Conference" and "Mennonite Brethren" 
people, the chief concern of this thesis, began arriving in 
Canada in large numbers during the 1920's. They were escaping 



the terrors of post-war and post-revolution years i n Russia. 
The war had brought devastating army advances through the 
colonies. The revolution had unleashed various raiding, 
k i l l i n g bands who terrorized the colonies. Religious freedom 
and the special civic privileges rooted i n the magnanimous 
terms of the charter given to the Mennonites by the Empress 
Catharine II had been swept away. Families had been dis-
persed by the banishment of many men into Siberian work 
camps. The stable village properties had been pillaged and 
burnt in orgies of vented resentment by Russians who had 
watched too long while their Mennonite neighbours prospered. 
The only way out was emigration. 

In Canada, Mennonites were well aware of the plight 
of their "brethren" in Russia. A "Canadian Mennonite Board 
of Colonization" was organized with the co-operation of a l l 
Mennonite groups i n the country, and this body entered into 
negotiations with the Canadian government for permission to 
bring these unfortunates into Canada. Permission was granted, 
with the stipulation that the settlers should remain, for a 
time at least, as farmers on the land. 

Money needed to be found to finance the venture, 
because most of the Mennonites coming from Russia had been 
impoverished by robbery, excessive charges on every hand and 
a poor market in which to dispose of their holdings. The 
Canadian Pacific Railway Company proved willing to enter 
into a contract with the Board of Colonization to provide 
passage for the immigrants on a long-term loan basis. The 



30 

collection of funds for the repayment of this loan, signed 
for by the president of the Board, Mr. David Toews, subsequently 
became a very important concern of the leadership of the 
Mennonites, but i t was duly accomplished. 

The movement out of Russia began in the early 
twenties and continued as a sizeable exodus until 1929, during 
which time some 21,000 Mennonites entered Canada.7 As more 
and more of these people l e f t Russia, however, emigration 
permission became harder and harder to obtain, until f i n a l l y 
the only possibility of exit was by secret flight across the 
border. The headlong escape of some of the country's most 
stable citizens was not a good advertisement for the New Order. 

The f i r s t stop for most of them was Manitoba, where 
many of their "Old Colony" friends and relatives already 
lived. Thus took place the superimposition}for a time,of one 
main strain of Mennonitism upon another. Those arriving 
during the 1920«s became known as "Russlander" and those 
who had been i n the country since 1874 as "Kanadier".® Many 
of the "Russlander", despite war and privation, had received 
at ieast some education beyond the village school level, 
either at the Mennonite high schools and normal schools, or 
in other schools at home and abroad. Most of them, moreover, 
were of comparatively progressive religious persuasion. Then 
too, they had experienced the years of turmoil in early 
twentieth century Russia, which had brought to them the 
necessity for new adjustments regarding military service. 



31 

education and other matters. They had accepted alternative 
service opportunities and had experienced a considerable 
degree of "Russianization" in their schools and other 
institutions. The "Kanadier", by contrast, were decidedly 
backward in their education, ultra-conservative in matters 
of faith and isolated by distances and d i f f i c u l t i e s of 
transportation from the settlements of the outside world. 
Very soon mutual contempt arose between these groups, a 
feeling that has persisted to a great extent up to the present 
time. 

One other differentiation was perpetuated within 
the "Russlander" group i t s e l f , and this must be elaborated 
upon here, for i t is apparent throughout this study. They 
were divided into two main religious "sub-factions", the 
General Conference and the Mennonite Brethren. These two groups 
co-operate in matters of overseas relief work, to a limited 
extent in education and in some other respects. The General 
Conference group might be regarded as slightly more conservative 
in religious matters than the Mennonite Brethren. To the outside 
observer there are only slight differences of doctrine and 
religious observance between them, but these are sufficiently 
important to effect a distinct separation. The present ratio 
within the Fraser Valley is estimated as roughly two-fifths 
General Conference to three-fifths Mennonite Brethren.^ 

From their f i r s t stopover in Manitoba, Mennonites 
of both the General Conference and Mennonite Brethren groups, 



32 

moved f a i r l y soon as individual families or small groups of 
families, westward into Saskatchewan, Alberta and eventually 
British Columbia, as well as eastward into Southwestern 
Ontario,, The pattern was always similar. A few families 
would move into any area where land could be bought under 
agreeable conditions or could be rented. Others would follow, 
joining their friends and relatives from whom they had heard 
about possibilities i n the area. Soon there would be a 
congregation, a church building, and, i f the settlement was 
large enough to support i t , a Mennonite bible or high school. 
Land could not usually be acquired i n completely contiguous 
blocks, as had been possible for the f i r s t Mennonites coming 
into Manitoba, because i t was often necessary to buy land 
from different individual owners. This factor and the almost 
universal use of the grid pattern i n land subdivision made the 
village form of settlement infeasible. Nevertheless, one 
could speak of almost solid Mennonite settlements, achieved 
by a careful buying" up or- renting of nearby plots and a 
gradual displacement of non-Mennonlte neighbours. 

On the whole, i t must be realized that shifts 
within the Mennonite population of Western Canada were com-
prised of constant, concurrent movements of individual 
families and small groups, this way and that. The conditions 
conducive to unified mass movements•seemed to have passed 
for them. 



Movement into British Columbia 
33 

Movement into British Columbia took place during 
and after 1928. The triggering action was an advertisement 
by a certain Mr. Eckert in the Winnipeg Free Press inviting 
settlers onto a plot of land at the present site of Yarrow. 
The maritime climate offered relief from the harsh climatic 
conditions of the Prairie Provinces. Land was available; i t 
was reasonably f e r t i l e , and barring the d i f f i c u l t i e s of 
drainage and clearing, easy to work. Once a number of families 
were established at Yarrow, and elsewhere too, others came. 
The volume of movement waxed and waned with economic conditions 
in B. C., but generally It coincided with the westward move-
ment of other segments of the population. (Map 3) 

In a l l their various locations, these Mennonites 
preserved, to a considerable extent, the old traditional 
attachment to the land. Wherever they could they continued 
to farm in the extensive manner.of former times, growing cereal 
crops, raising cattle and the like. Where i t was necessary 
to break away from this, however, as i t was in British Columbia, 
they did so, showing a willingness to adapt and rationalize. 
They l e f t the rural environment for the urban too, where 
necessary. Usually individual members of families, often the 
older g i r l s , had to go to the cities to find employment there, 
in order to augment the meager returns of the farm and to 
help repay the heavy burden of debt that rested on many a 
household. Soon the numbers of Mennonites in the cities grew 



SOURCE OF MIGRANTS 
INTO 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 
1 9 4 1 - 1 9 5 1 

N M I G R A N T S 

O U T M I G R A N T S 

The width of the arrows is proportional'to 
the number of people involved 
100 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 600mi 

' 1 ' I I I l j 

from 
BRITISH C O L U M B I A A T L A S OF R E S O U R C E S 

T 
\ 
3 w 

A. S I E M E N S 



3 5 
to such an extent that urban congregations could be esta-
blished, a trend that brought with i t new conditions and 
problems — as w i l l be discussed later i n this study. 

In considering the movement of Mennonites into 
British Columbia the influx of Mennonite Displaced Persons 
after 1946 must be given special mention. These people had 
come as refugees from Communist Russia, from old Prussian 
lands ceded to the Poles after the war, and elsewhere. They 
had been given temporary asylum i n West Germany and then helped 
by the r e l i e f workers of the Mennonite Central Committee to 
relocate in Canada, Latin America and the United States. 
Usually they came as wards of relatives here, and so were 
quickly scattered among various settlements. They made every 
effort to adjust themselves rapidly to the way of l i f e i n the 
Mennonite communities here, to learn English and to f i t into 
the broader Canadian pattern too. Very many of them soon 
found their way into the cities, where they took any employment 
that could be found until they had mastered the language and 
perhaps attained some professional standing. 

This consideration of the movement of the Mennonites 
from country to country and finally into Western Canada may 
be concluded by noting the total number resident in British 
Columbia's Fraser Valley and outlining roughly where their 
settlements are. In 1958 the total number of Mennonites here 
was estimated to be approximately 1 7 , 0 0 0 . 1 0 Their d i s t r i -
bution may be inferred from the dot map showing the Census of 



PLE RIDGE 

LOCATIONAL MAP OF THE LOWER ERASER V A L L E Y 
BOUNDARIES OF MAJOR DISTRICT M U N I C I P A L I T I E S 

M A I N H I G H W A Y S 

P R I N C I P A L BRIDGES 

PRINCIPAL S T R E E T S iN V A N C O U V E R CITY 
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MAP b A . S I E M E N S 



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37 

Canada listings for 1951 (Map 10) and from the map of church 
tributary regions for 1959 (Map 4 ) . Concentrations existed 
near the towns of Chilliwaek,H Abbotsford, Mission and 
Aldergrove; i n Southeast Vancouver; and in the two Mennonite 
centers of Clearbrook and Yarrow. The physical characteristics 
of each one of these settlement areas w i l l be dealt with in 
the next chapter, and a detailed analysis of sequent occupance, 
distributions, movements, settlement patterns and settlement 
forms w i l l follow in later chapters. 



Footnotes and References 
38 

I B , H. Unruh, "Dutch Backgrounds of Mennonite Migrations 
of the 16th Century to Prussia," Mennonite Quarterly Review, 
10: 173-181, July, 1936. — 

2 E. K. Francis, In Search of Utopia: the Mennonites i n 
Manitoba, Altona, Manitoba, D. W. Friesen, 1955. 

3 "Properly, terms b u i l t upon this root should apply 
exclusively to groups where the r a c i a l bonds and c u l t u r a l 
bonds are so interwoven that the members of the group i t s e l f 
are o r d i n a r i l y unconscious of them, and unspeclalized out-
siders tend to make no d i s t i n c t i o n between them. Such 
groups are the l o g i c a l product of human evolution under 
conditions of r e l a t i v e Isolation and segregation." 
In H. P. F a i r c h i l d , Dictionary of Sociology, New York, 
Philosophical Library, 194-4, p. 109. 

4 A. Ehrt, Das Mennonitentum i n Russland, Berlin, Julius 
Beltz, 1932, p. 51. 

5 The Mennonite search for a Utopia i s the keynote of 
Francis' book. 

6 Francis, op. c i t . , p. 28. 
7 C. Henry Smith, The Story of the Mennonites, Berne, 

Indiana, Mennonite Book Concern, 1945, p. 696. 

8 Francis uses these terms a number of times throughout 
his book. 

9 This estimate was made by Rev. A. A. WIens, secretary 
of the B r i t i s h Columbia o f f i c e of the Mennonite Central 
Committee, i n an interview the author had with him i n 1958. 

1 0 Another estimate made by Mr. WIens i n the interview 
referred to above. 

11 Note: The name of the municipality i s spelled 
"Chllliwhack" on some maps, as differentiated from the name 
of the town which is spelled without the "h". In this thesis, 
however, both names w i l l be spelled without the extra "h". 



CHAPTER III 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FRASER VALLEY LOWLANDS 

The area under particular consideration in this 
study, the Lower Fraser Valley, begins at Hope and extends 
some ninety-five miles westward to the extremities of the 
delta of the Fraser River. It is f a i r l y uniform in climate, 
but varies considerably in i t s array of land forms, veget-
ation and soils. Therefore each of the rural areas within 
i t that was occupied by the Mennonites offered i t s f i r s t 
settlers, even as i t s t i l l does today, different opportunities 
for agriculture. 

General Features of the Terrain 

The valley lowlands, as we shall refer to the 
relatively low areas adjacent to the Fraser River even though 
they are not one uninterrupted plain, are bounded to the north 
by the Coast Mountains, to the southeast by the Skagit Range 
of the Cascades and, for our purposes, to the south by the 
International Boundary. Chilliwack Mountain (1100'), Sumas 
Mountain (2900'), Burnaby Mountain (11001) and other lesser 
heights stand out as topographic islands in the Lowlands. 
From Agassiz through to the International Boundary at Huntingdon 
stretch the alluvial plains of the valley. They have an average 

39 



40 

altitude below 1001 and are the result of post-glacial 
deposition by the Fraser, Nooksack and Chilliwack Rivers. 
Just east of Abbotsford the undulating h i l l country begins, 
extending westward into the Municipality of Surrey. The 
hilltops are up to 300-400' in elevation and consist of 
materials deposited late i n the Pleistocene epoch, which were 
then subjected to uplift and subsequently eroded. The 
recently deposited delta lands of the Fraser, with an average 
elevation of only 4' above mean sea level, begin just south-
west of New Westminster and extend out to the sea. 

Climate 

Climatically, that part of the valley where 
Mennonites are located may be classed mostly within the "Inner 
Coast" region of the "West Coast" climatic province. Temper-
atures here seldom go below freezing in their average minima 
and hover around 70-75 degrees i n their average maxima. 
Five to six months have mean temperatures above 50°F., and 
there are some 200-250 frost free days. No month has an 
average of 32°*F. or less. A l l this assures a warm, sunny 
summer and a mild winter. Precipitation is over f i f t y inches 
annually in most parts, the bulk of i t falling during the 
winter months. Clearly this is a climate moderated in temper-
ature and enriched in moisture by air circulation from the 
ocean. 

The basic climatic data for three stations in the 



Fraser Valley and for Saskatoon and Winnipeg are given in 
the table below in order to substantiate statistically the 
great difference between the climate from which Mennonite 
settlers came and the one into which they went. 

Table II 

Basic Climatic Data 

Mean January 
Daily Minimum 
Temperature 

Vancouver Abbotsford Agassiz Saskatoon Winnipeg 
Airport Airport 

30-32* -10 to . -10 to 
(Entire Valley) -15 -20 

Mean July Daily 
Maximum Temp. 70-75° 80 

(Entire Valley) 

Mean Annual 
Total Precipitation 40" 60" 63" 15" 

80 

20" 

Moisture 
Deficiency 6" 4 f t 

Mean Annual n „„ 
Snowfall 18" 30" 38" 40" 50" 

Average Frost- „ ^ , 
Free Period 200-250 days 100-110 days 

(Entire- Valley) 

2 



42 

British Columbia, therefore, offered the Mennonites 
a r e l i e f from the harsh continental climate of the Prairies. 
Articles in Mennonite papers and special resettlement pro-
motion brochures referred again and again to the mild temper-
atures and the abundant precipitation to be found here. These 
same factors have remained highly attractive to prospective 
settlers as well as to "suitcase farmers" from the Prairies 
who like to spend their winters here. 

Morphology, Vegetation, Soil Cover and Agricultural Use of 
Mennonite Settlement Areas 

In the further discussion of the physical character-
i s t i c s of Mennonite settlement sites, particularly the rural 
ones, certain areas within the Lowlands must be singled out. 
Each site is treated with regard to i t s morphology, s o i l 
cover, vegetation, and agricultural use, and each of them is 
dealt with in turn from the eastern end of the valley to the 
west. It must be noted in this connection that the crops 
that the Mennonites, and many of their neighbours, found 
economical on certain soils were discovered and developed 
largely through t r i a l and error. Market conditions, of course, 
often overshadowed a l l else in determining what was grown. 
Whether the use that was made of the land was optimal as far 
as physical potential is concerned or not is another question -
one that w i l l not be explored here. 

Flatlands from Agassiz to Upper Somas 

In the Chilliwack area the iee of the latest advance 



43 

i s believed to nave remained in one position for a relatively 
long period of time, leaving behind only a thin veneer of 
drift.3 It i s possible that an arm of the sea invaded the 
area i n one of the intervals between ice advances and l e f t be-
hind marine sediments. Over these deposits the Fraser built 
up an extensive a l l u v i a l plain that sloped gently from east 
to west. 

The natural vegetation cover in the Chilliwack area, 
as well as i n other areas covered by Monroe soils, consisted 
of open meadows and grasses i n spots that were subject to 
annual flooding. The higher ground, flooded only very occa-
sionally, supported a t a l l stand of cottonwood and scattered 
f i r and cedar. 

On this low and gently undulating terrain soils 
of the Monroe series have been developed. In the Agassiz, 
East Chilliwack, Greendale and Yarrow areas azonal Monroe 
clay loam is the dominant s o i l , 4 It has been found to be 
most suitable for the support of a dairy industry, but small 
fruits, tree fruits and crops such as hops, legumes and tobacco 
may also be grown economically on i t . In the Yarrow settle-
ment, even though i t is located on a similar s o i l as that of 
the Chilliwack area, raspberries have been developed suc-
cessfully as the main crop. This specialization probably 
resulted more from cultural and economic factors rather than 
a close adaptation to the s o i l . 



44 
In the Sumas area three alluvial fans, those of 

the Fraser, Chilliwack and Nooksack Rivers, impounded Sumas 
Lake between them. After the drainage of the lake in 1924 
i t s sediments were exposed to form the coarse-textured 
azonal s o i l called Monroe loamy sand. Since this land varies 
in elevation from 2.9 feet below sea level to 10 feet above 
i t , continuous pumping is necessary to permit the growth of 
grasses, hay and similar crops on the lower areas. The water 
table must not be allowed to sink too low in the dry season, 
however, because the s o i l is very porous and w i l l allow 
moisture to drop quickly below the reach of short-rooted plants. 
Relatively large fields, edged by willows that grow near the 
drainage ditches, are characteristic of this area. 

In Upper Sumas, just north of the International 
boundary, post-glacial alluvium that was deposited by the 
Nooksack River predominates. A number of low, narrow ridges, 
the remains of old Sumas lake shorelines, run i n a northwest-
southeast pattern across what i s otherwise a lowland sloping 
gently northward. The azonal Monroe clay that has developed 
there supports grain, forage crops and pasture, together with 
some special crops such as raspberries. Settlement took 
place in the Upper Sumas area early in the history of the 
province (1860-70). Farmyards were laid out on the narrow 
ridges to escape the periodic flooding of the adjacent lowlands. 
Some of these holdings may s t i l l be seen when one travels 
along Vye Road (Figure 3). 



Figure 3. "Dry-point" Farms 
These farms are located on ridges thrown up around old 

Sumas Lake. They can be viewed as one passes eastward on 
Vye Road (Map 8). 



45 

Matsqui 

The Matsqui area remained under an ice advance for a 
relatively long period of time, and was eventually covered by 
late glacial marine s i l t s and clays as well as post-glacial 
alluvium from the Fraser River. Prominent ice contact slopes 
are s t i l l noticeable around the western and southern periphery 
of this well-defined flatland. 

The azonal, fine-textured soils of the Ladner series 
that cover the area have been dyked and drained in order to lower 
the water table sufficiently to permit crop growth. The natural 
swamp forest of willow, poplar and scattered cedar and f i r , to-
gether with grass vegetation on the better drained sections did 
not present great clearing d i f f i c u l t i e s . Hay, oats and pasture, 
supporting a dairy industry, occupy the bulk of the open land now. 
Specialty crops such as corn, berries, vegetables and others are 
also in evidence. 

Mission 

North of the town of Mission, where a considerable 
scattering of Mennonites are located, farmland has been cleared 
on the gentler slopes and small f l a t areas of what is very 
h i l l y terrain. The natural vegetation was a luxuriant growth 
of f i r , cedar, hemlock, alder, maple and birch, with many 
varieties of shrubs and a dense growth of bracken. Heavily 
eroded and uplifted interglacial material forms the basis for 
zonal soils of the Alderwood series. Small fruit culture and 
a limited dairy industry are carried on by farmers who, in 



4 6 

many cases, devote only a part of their working time to 
their farms. 

Abbotsford 

The undulating uplands of the Abbotsford area were 
built up of pitted outwash to the west of the ice lobe 
covering Chilliwack and Sumas, and to the south of that 
covering Matsqui. Zonal soils of the Lynden series developed 
here. Lynden s i l t proved especially suitable for small fruit 
and vegetable production. After the luxuriant timber and 
bush which was i t s natural climax vegetation was cleared and 
larger fields cultivated,dairying could be carried out suc-
cessfully as well. Lynden gravelly s i l t has excessive drainage 
through a porous substratum and therefore the vegetation on 
i t suffers i n mid-summer dry seasons. The greatest expanse 
of this type of s o i l may be found around North Clearbrook 
Road. The forest growth that existed there at the time of the 
arrival of the f i r s t Mennonites was a second growth of f i r , 
alder, cedar, maple and poplar. This was easier to clear than 
the land to the south, around Huntingdon Road, where there 
were many large stumps besides a similar second growth. It 
was found that on this s o i l strawberries and vegetables that 
mature before the onset of the summer dry season do quite 
well. Poultry Is a profitable pursuit as long as the price 
structure remains favorable. Actually the area was, from the 
very start, of a marginal value for most cultivated crops. 
Much of i t has now been taken up for urbanization by the 



expanding periphery of Clearbrook. 

47 

Aldergrove 

A large extent of undulating terrain around the 
town of Aldergrove and east of i t , where many Mennonite farm-
steads are located, i s made up of a thick deposit of Vashon 
Drift. On i t have developed the rich agricultural soils of 
the Whatcom series. A heavy second growth of alder, maple, 
f i r and birch covered a l l of i t when the settlers moved In. 
Stumps of the original climax forest of Douglas f i r , hemlock 
and giant cedar were large and frequent. Clearing costs, 
therefore, were heavy, which delayed settlement a good deal. 
Wherever cleared the s o i l has proved suitable for mixed farming 
and special fruits and vegetables as well. Among the small 
fruits the strawberry seems the most adaptable, as has been 
demonstrated i n the Coghlan d i s t r i c t . 

Surrey 

Mention must be made here as well of the Surrey 
Upland, even though most of the Mennonite settlers here have 
followed main occupations other than farming ever since they 
f i r s t came into the area. Older deposits of the antecedent 
stream of the present Fraser, isostatically raised and then 
eroded, make for a very h i l l y terrain. A layer of impervious 
boulder clay often lies too near the surface to permit proper 
cultivation and subsoil drainage. Vegetables, berries and 
other small crops can be grown, poultry and fur-bearing animals 



48 
raised — a l l of which are suitable to the needs of the part-
time farmer. 

Lulu Island 

The last of the settlement areas to be mentioned 
here, Lulu Island, originally offered considerable opportunity 
for farming, and some Mennonites settled there. The island 
i s part of the recent delta of the Fraser and hence rises only 
some 3-10 feet above mean sea level. Its soil is of the azonal 
Ladner clay variety. After the land was dyked and drained by 
means of open ditehes i t was possible to carry on dairying on 
the large acreages and the culture of vegetables and small 
fruits on smaller holdings. Here too, much of the farming 
carried on in early years, and certainly now, i s of a part-
time nature. 

In a l l of these areas the Mennonites attempted to 
choose the most advantageous sites available, to make the best 
use of resources at hand and to settle in a manner best suit-
able to the circumstances. This willingness to adapt to an 
agricultural economy different from most others that they or 
their ancestors had known, as well as the willingness event-
ually to enter an urban environment, characterized the Fraser 
Valley Mennonites generally and sometimes made their settle-
ment units d i f f i c u l t to differentiate from those of the non-
Mennonites around them. A description of the physical charac-
teristics of their settlement sites i s therefore only a des-
cription of localities they found to be most advantageous for 

household and community development and does not necessarily 
reflect their predilection for a particular type of settlement 
sH +.0 



Footnotes and References 
4-9 

1 British Columbia Natural Resources Conference, 
British Columbia Atlas of Resources, Vancouver, Smith's 
Lithography, 1956, pp. 21-22. 

2 Compiled from: Ibid., pp. 21-22; Meteorological 
Division, Department of Transport and the Division of 
Building Research, National Research Council, Climatological 
Atlas of Canada, Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1953, p. ?; 
John D. Chapman, The Climate of British Columbia, Reprint 
from the Proceedings of the F i f t h British Columbia Natural 
Resources Conference, Victoria, B. C., King's Printer, 
1952. 

3 Information received in an Interview with Dr. W. H. 
Mathews in 1958. 

4 C. C. Kelley and R. H. Spillsbury, Soil Survey of the 
Lower Fraser Valley, Department of Agriculture, Technical 
Bulletin 20, Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1939, p. 44. 
Note: A l l references to other s o i l types are taken from 
the same source. 



G L A C I A L D E P O S I T I O N IN T H E E A S T E R N P A R T O F T H E L O W E R F R A S E R V A L L E Y 
L E G E N D 

MAP 6 A S I E M E N S 



f r o m C 

SOILS OF THE E A S T E R N PART OF THE 
LOWER F R A S E R VALLEY 

C.Kelley ond R.H. Spilsbury, Soil Survey of the Lower Froser V o l l e y , Ottawa, Department of 

Agriculture, 1939. 

SI 

S O I L T Y P E S 

E V E R E T T G R A V E L L Y SANDY L O A M — A MONROE CLAY 

LYNDEN G R A V E L L Y LOAM LY « L ' . E R W O O D SANDY LOAM ^_ 
L Y N D E N GRAVELLY SILT LOAM ^ ALDERWi 0 SILT LOAM , »A 
LYNPEf.' SILT L O A M — Jr[[ WHATCOM SILT LOAM W 
MONROE L O A M Y S A N D fjL L A D N E R CLAY- L 
MONROE LOAM ^ M I X E D P R O F I L E MX 

M O N R O E C L A Y L O A M — — ' JJ_ PEAT P 
A R E A S OF M E N N O N I T E S E T T L E M E N T ( R E F E R TO M A P S 4 ft IC) 

A R E A S WITH A L T I T U D E S OVER 500 FT. [pjRMH 
Q j 2 3 4 5 mi 

A S I E M E N S M A P 7 



CHAPTER IY 

SEQUENT OCCUPANCE OP THE MENNONITES 
IN THE FRASER VALLEY 

In response to the attractions of Southwestern 
British Columbia's climate, and to an offer of land, 
Mennonites began to move into the Lower Fraser Valley i n 
1928. They had suffered through droughts and hard winters * 
in the Prairie Provinces and looked forward to the long 
frost-free seasons, abundant, well-distributed r a i n f a l l and 
mild temperatures they had been told prevailed on the West 
Coast. The advertisement of a certain Mr. C. Eckert, car-
ried i n the Winnipeg Free Press Prairie Farmer early in 1928 
had offered settlement opportunities in the Yarrow area. 
There had been reports, too, of possibilities in upland areas 
around Abbotsford. Offsetting these attractions were known 
drainage problems affecting such low-lying areas as Yarrow 
and Greendale and heavy timber and stump stands such as those 
around Abbotsford. 

Methods of Land Procurement 

Most Mennonites who took up land in the Fraser Valley 
during the early years of the establishment of Mennonite 
communities procured tracts in one of three ways. The f i r s t 
and very interesting way involved the already mentioned 

50 



51 

Mr. Eckert, who, together with Mr. E. A. Crain, owned 
sizeable tracts near Agassiz and the l i t t l e railroad station 
of Yarrow. Mr. Eckert acted somewhat in the role of a 
"locator" 1 for many Mennonite farmers. With his help and 
general good w i l l toward Mennonites, born out of earlier 
associations with the group in Eastern Canada and the United 
States, the Yarrow settlement was able to get under way. 
He sold the original tracts on long-term credit, furnished 
the f i r s t building materials for the farmsteads, procured 
agricultural machinery and then waited long and patiently for 
repayment — in so doing, becoming the revered patron of the 
community.2 

The municipal and provincial governments also had 
a hand in locating the Mennonites in the Fraser Valley, In 
1931 Matsqui Municipality had specifically reserved a tract 
near the present Clearbrook settlement for these people. 
Later i n the same year i t offered for sale at public auction 
two sections of land in the Abbotsford area between the 
International Boundary and Huntingdon Road (Map 8 ) . This was 
an opportunity open to a l l , but i t was a special chance for 
the Mennonites who might now acquire adjacent tracts and again 
settle together i n a block. Only a few of the Mennonites 
present at this auction, however, availed themselves of this 
opportunity because they had expected the minimum price per 
acre to be $5.00 when actually i t turned out to be $10.00. 
Many soon realized what a mistake they had made in not buying 





52 

the land even at this price, since they ended up paying more 
for the land land in the ensuing weeks and months to 
speculators who had quickly bought i t up. 

Simultaneously with these developments and later, 
wherever Mennonites were to settle, tracts were individually 
procured by private purchase or even by the acquisition of 
homesteads. Is a result of their close family ties and strong 
group consciousness these people always endeavoured to buy up 
plots in close proximity to one another. This was particularly 
successful in the area that became known as "South Abbotsford" 
and also north and south of the junction of Olearbrook Road 
and the Trans Canada Highway. In other rural areas entered 
by Mennonites, and also i n Vancouver, grouping was possible 
only to more limited degrees. 

Periods of Settlement 

The thirty years of Mennonite settlement in the 
Fraser Valley that were thus begun may be divided roughly 
into three periods of overall development: (1) the pioneer 
years, (2) the post-war "boom" and (3) the period of large 
scale centralization and urbanization. During this time there 
was a progressive increase in the total number of Mennonites 
resident in the Fraser Valley (Table IV). The f i r s t period 
lasted from 1928 to the beginning of World War II and saw 
the establishment of f i r s t settlements. The second period, 
coinciding with the last years of the war and the immediate 



53 

post-war years, saw an upsurge i n the economy and a marked 

acceleration of the i n f l u x of Mennonites from the P r a i r i e 

Provinces and elsewhere. The third period, beginning around 

1950, s t i l l witnessed a r e l a t i v e l y high rate of influx, but 

also a gradual change i n orientation of Mennonite settlements 

from the r u r a l farm to the r u r a l non-farm and the urban, 

A substantiation of these changes i n the size, 

structure and orientation of the entire Mennonite community 

i n the Fraser Valley i s provided by a table of church member-

ship figures (Table XVII), This table Is more closely 

analysed later and so serves here only as an index to the 

o v e r a l l trend. A continuous growth i s evident, as well as an 

increase i n the rate of growth just after the war. Of 

particular interest i s the retardation of growth i n r u r a l 

churches and the simultaneous disproportionate growth i n 

urban churches during the l a s t period. 

Pioneer Period 

In the consideration of the pioneer period of 

Mennonite settlement the f i r s t area that must be mentioned 

i s Agassiz. Mr. Eckert and his partner owned a farm there 

and so they encouraged some of the Mennonites arriving from 

the P r a i r i e s to rent tracts on i t . A few complied, but they 

soon found that there were not nearly enough opportunities 

for remunerative employment available, certainly not as many 

as were offered i n the hop yards close to the newly established 



54 

settlement of Yarrow. Without this part-time employment i t 
was impossible to make a living in these early years. It was 
also found that there were no really good tracts of land 
available near Agassiz for a sizeable group settlement. Very 
soon these people began seeking land elsewhere, and most of 
them found i t in the Abbotsford area. 

Settlement began in earnest with the establishment 
of the Yarrow community. Mr. Eckert met the f i r s t group of 
families that arrived at the small station on the B. C. 
Electric Railway line known as Yarrow and assisted them in 
the establishment of an i n i t i a l communal residence on Mountain 
Road. He had for their settlement a tract of 700 acres, 
divided into 10 acre parcels. They were to pay $150 per 
acre « actually a high price at the time — and were to be 
given ample time for repayment. Mr. Eckert was willing, as 
was previously indicated, to furnish tractors and cattle to 
get the settlement under way. Soon the first families were 
settled in their crude dwellings — and i t was not long before 
other groups of families arrived. 

The land itself needed to be cleared of its poplar 
trees and brush, and of logs which had floated in during 
high level periods in old Sumas Lake. Wood was skidded in 
from the railway for the erection of dwellings and out-buildings. 
Drainage ditches were dug, fences built and rough roads laid 
out. 



55 

T h e c o m m u n i t y s u s t a i n e d i t s e l f d u r i n g t h e s e d i f -

f i c u l t y e a r s b y t h e r e t u r n s o f t h e w o r k o f a l l a b l e - b o d i e d 

m e n i n t h e n e a r b y h o p y a r d s , m u n i c i p a l m a i n t e n a n c e p r o j e c t s 

a n d o t h e r j o b s . G r o w n - u p g i r l s o f m a n y o f t h e f a m i l i e s w e r e 

s e n t i n t o V a n c o u v e r t o a u g m e n t t h e f a m i l y b u d g e t b y w a g e s 

e a r n e d a s s e r v a n t s a n d h o u s e k e e p e r s . D u r i n g h o p - p i c k i n g s e a s o n , 

e v e r y o n e f r o m t h e y o u n g s t e r s t o t h e g r a n d p a r e n t s w e n t o u t t o 

e a r n a s m u c h a s t h e y c o u l d . W h i l e e a r n i n g a l i v i n g e l s e w h e r e 

t h e s e t t l e r s s o m e h o w m a n a g e d t o p r e p a r e t h e i r f a r m l a n d a n d 

e x p e r i m e n t w i t h a v a r i e t y o f c r o p s . 

E v e n t u a l l y i t w a s f o u n d , l a r g e l y b y t r i a l a n d e r r o r , 

t h a t c r o p s s u c h a s s u g a r b e e t s , b e a n s , l e t t u c e , a s p a r a g u s , 

c a b b a g e a n d c a r r o t s w e r e a l l n o t s u i t a b l e t o t h e s o i l a n d 

d r a i n a g e c o n d i t i o n s . R a s p b e r r i e s a n d s t r a w b e r r i e s , p a r t i -

c u l a r l y t h e f i r s t , o f f e r e d t h e g r e a t e s t p o s s i b i l i t i e s a n d h a v e 

r e m a i n e d t h e m a i n s t a y o f t h e c o m m u n i t y e v e r s i n c e . T h e s o i l 

f u l f i l l s t h e n e e d s o f t h e r a s p b e r r y p l a n t , a n d t o a l e s s e r 

e x t e n t t h o s e o f t h e s t r a w b e r r y p l a n t t o o , i n t h a t i t h a s a 

r e a s o n a b l e f e r t i l i t y a n d g o o d s u b s o i l d r a i n a g e . T h e c l i m a t e 

o f t h e a r e a p r o v i d e s a f a i r a m o u n t o f r a i n f a l l , s u f f i c i e n t l y 

h i g h t e m p e r a t u r e s i n summer a n d a n a s s u r a n c e o f a n a d e q u a t e 

n u m b e r o f f r o s t - f r e e d a y s . A b e l t a l o n g t h e d y k e h a s p r o v e d 

p a r t i c u l a r l y p r o d u c t i v e b e c a u s e o f t h e s t e a d y s e e p a g e o f 

m o i s t u r e f r o m t h e c a n a l , w h i c h s u p p l e m e n t s n a t u r a l p r e c i p i t -

a t i o n i n t h e d r y s e a s o n . 



56 

The depression of the early 1930's kept the 
community i n financial straits longer than might have been 
necessary had i t been farther along in i t s development. By 
1935» however, many farms were productive enough to allow the 
heads of households, at least, to remain at home. 

Yarrow survived i n i t i a l hardships and grew steadily, 
in spite of the fears held by Mennonite leaders elsewhere in 
Canada, from whose congregations people were moving to British 
Columbia, that i t would not prosper financially. Very soon 
after i t s establishment an institutional framework grew up 
in i t . The church, obviously the most important institution 
in the community, existed from earliest times right in the 
homes of the settlers. In 1932 the Mennonite Brethren 
faction built their f i r s t church building, only to replace i t 
in 1938 with a much larger structure, which, with alterations, 
remains the building in use today. The General Conference 
Mennonite group did not build their church until 1936. This 
building, somewhat altered, is also s t i l l the present church. 
A bible school was established in 1934- by the Mennonite 
Brethren church to f u l f i l l their needs for trained personnel. 
Secular schooling was under public administration from the 
start. The f i r s t building provided i n 1929 was replaced in 
1931 by a new, municipally built one-room school. Further 
f a c i l i t i e s i n this respect were added later. It was not until 
after the war that the community, with government permission, 
built a private high school. This school, as well as the 



5 7 

Mennonite Educational Institute built i n Olearbrook, was to 
conform to governmentally set academic standards, but to draw 
i t s support entirely from the community i t served. 

In 1937 the Mennonites of Yarrow organized a co-
operative amongst themselves which was to provide consumer 
goods at lower prices on the one hand and familitate the 
marketing of produce on the other. Going beyond the pioneer 
period for a moment, i t may be noted that the Co-op grew in 
assets, t i l l in 1948 i t boasted a $52,000 processing plant 
with some $30,000 of equipment in i t . In the slump year of 
1949, however, charges of mismanagement were laid against the 
management, i n view of their inability to dispose of 1948's 
bumper crop and the heavy debts they had incurred in over-
ambitious expansion schemes. Shareholders lost faith in the 
establishment and voted for liquidation. They finally realized 
some 29# on the dollar. 

Electricity was brought to the community in 1936. 
Other f a c i l i t i e s , such as pavement and sidewalks had to wait 
a good deal longer. 

Local government was organized in an unofficial 
manner during the early years in order to cope with problems 
of providing basic u t i l i t i e s such as roads and water and in 
order to head off emergencies. M l the property owners made 
up a council, and elected a chairman or "Schultze" after the 
old form, as well as a secretary. In 1944 the Yarrow Waterworks 



58 

Board was granted a charter and i t became the f i r s t o f f i c i a l 
governing body of the community. In this capacity i t achieved 
the installation of a fresh water supply from a nearby 
mountain creek after seepage from barns and septic tanks was 
found to be polluting the wells. In addition i t was respon-
sible for the organization of a f i r e department. It has sinee 
served to mediate between the Chilliwack township and Yarrow 
ratepayers, and has also become the mouthpiece for organized 
opinion in the community. 

In 1930, J. C. Krause, one of the earliest settlers 
in Yarrow, together with two partners, bought up a tract of 
land north and east of the Vedder canal. They realized that 
the influx of Mennonites would probable increase in volume 
and that these would soon be in need of more land for settle-
ment. They closely inspected and classified their new tract 
and then made i t available through an agent in Chilliwack to 
incoming settlers. This became then the Greendale Mennonite 
settlement. 

At the outset i t was hoped that this area would be 
taken up exclusively by Mennonites of the General Conference 
group and the Yarrow area be l e f t to those of the Mennonite 
Brethren persuasion, but an intermingling took place never-
theless. Immediately from the beginning of the Greendale 
settlement a "Conference" church was organized; the "M.B.'s" 
organized independently some four to five years later. 



59 

The f i r s t Mennonites coming into the Abbotsford 

area around 1930 from the abandoned Agassiz settlement and 

from uneconomical p r a i r i e farms found generally f e r t i l e , 

well-drained land, but also a heavy second growth of forest 

i n many places and huge stumps everywhere. 

The e a r l i e s t s e t t l e r s took up land especially 

reserved for them by the Matsqui Municipality north of the 

Trans-Canada highway along what has become Clearbrook Road 

(Map 8 ) . A forest f i r e had burnt over the area i n 1928, 

leaving a s t r i p of t a l l pines unscorched along Old Yale 

Road — a good number of which have been preserved to the 

present time. Elsewhere a low brush of small pines, alders, 

birches and hemlocks predominated. Land i n the area was 

r e l a t i v e l y inexpensive, but i t proved also to be of low 

a g r i c u l t u r a l potential. 

A short time l a t e r , as has already been noted^- i n 

connection with the methods of land procurement, a number of 

Mennonite settlers acquired land south of the Clearbrook area 

by purchase through auction and from private holders. Their 

sites had been recently logged off, for the most part, and were 

covered by low brush, a tangle of logging slash and a veritable 

forest of stumps and snags. 

Settlers there, as i n Yarrow and elsewhere, were 

obliged to work for wages i n the early years u n t i l their 

farms became self-supporting. The depression, of course, made 

jobs hard to get and wages low. Many cycled long distances 



to work on farms i n Sumas P r a i r i e — one of the e a r l i e s t 
settlement areas i n the Fraser V a l l e y . Others got jobs on 
road b u i l d i n g p r o j e c t s i n i t i a t e d by the m u n i c i p a l i t y . In 
t h e i r spare time they worked hard to c l e a r p l o t s f o r b u i l d i n g s , 
then f o r the p l a n t i n g of tree f r u i t s and small f r u i t s , and 
e v e n t u a l l y the seeding of f i e l d s f o r pasture. U n t i l 194-0 
they d i d t h i s c h i e f l y by hand implements and the occasional 
use of stumping powder. Later dynamite came i n t o very wide 
use and I t , together w i t h the b u l l d o z e r , f a c i l i t a t e d the 
c l e a r i n g "boom" that began i n the e a r l y 1940's. 

The t y p i c a l Mennonite farmstead i n Abbotsford, as 
w e l l as i n otherFraser V a l l e y settlements, consisted of 
unpretentious b u i l d i n g s , which were u s u a l l y set back a good 
distance from the road or t r a i l and constructed of whatever 
lumber could be purchased or manufactured r i g h t on the 
property i t s e l f . People s p l i t t h e i r own shakes f o r r o o f i n g 
and s i d i n g and long staves f o r r a i l fences. P a i n t and other 
decorations were r a r e l y used. As l i t t l e land as possible 
was used f o r yards and every a v a i l a b l e p l o t of cleared land 
was used f o r crops. C a t t l e were grazed on land that had had 
the brush removed and grasses seeded between the stumps. 

The Mennonite Brethren church was organized among 
these s e t t l e r s as e a r l y as the spring of 1932. The congreg-
a t i o n f i r s t met i n the Farmer's I n s t i t u t e H a l l i n Clearbrook 
Road, south of King Road (Map 8), but t h i s l o c a t i o n imposed 



61 

hardships on many who had to walk long distances to attend 

services. In 1935 i t was decided to build two churches, one 

at the corner of Old Yale and Clearbrook roads, the antecedent 

of the present church there, and the other on Emerson Road 

south of Huntingdon. Both of these buildings had to be 

enlarged within a few years. 

In Abbotsford, as i n Yarrow, Mennonites of both 

"Conference" and "M. B." groups banded together into a 

co-operative. Here, however, the purpose was largely the 

procurement of consumer goods at lower than general r e t a i l 

prices. In 1937 a store was opened i n a private home on 

Huntingdon Road, and then a year l a t e r i t was moved to a 

separate building on i t s present s i t e . After three or four 

years i n these rather cramped quarters a new building was 

erected and a branch store opened i n the Clearbrook area. In 

1954 the whole Co-op was sold to private individuals and a 

progressive l i q u i d a t i o n has gone on since then. 

To complete the picture regarding Mennonite co-ops, 

i t might be interjected here that a co-op for the marketing 

of produce was formed i n Abbotsford among the Mennonites and 

a few of their non-Mennonite neighbors i n 1952-1953. Its 

plant was erected just off the Abbotsford-Mission highway, 

where i t functioned successfully u n t i l being moved i n 1959 

to i t s new location on the Trans Canada Highway near Clearbrook. 

Mennonites began to move into the Mission area i n 



62 

1933« They came from the P r a i r i e s , as those moving i n t o 
Yarrow and Abbotsford had done, and established small f r u i t 
farms on the h i l l y t e r r a i n north of the Fraser, as w e l l as 
l a r g e r general farms on the Matsqui f l a t s . To supplement 
meager returns on t h e i r farm lands they took jobs i n sawmills 
and wherever else they were a v a i l a b l e . 

At f i r s t members of both the Mennonite Brethren 
and General Conference persuasion met together f o r worship 
i n p r i v a t e homes. I n 194-0 the General Conference people 
e s t a b l i s h e d t h e i r own church north of Mission. I t was not 
u n t i l 194-5", when the economic upsurge of the l a t e war years 
and the associated increase i n the number of Mennonite migrants 
i n t o B r i t i s h Columbia were w e l l underway, that the Mennonite 
Brethren adherents acquired a church j u s t north of the 
v i l l a g e of Matsqui. 

Even though the predominant o r i e n t a t i o n of the 
Mennonites i n the Fraser V a l l e y was s t i l l r u r a l some f a m i l i e s 
already were moving i n t o Vancouver i n the e a r l y 3 0 ' s. By 
1935 there were some half-dozen Mennonite homes established 
near Fraser S t r e e t . The p l o t t i n g of f a m i l i e s making up the 
Vancouver M. B. church and the F i r s t Mennonite (Conference) 
church (Map 12) mirrors t h i s e a r l y conscious attempt at close 
settlement i n an urban area. 

The reasons f o r movement i n t o the c i t y were l a r g e l y 
economic. People needed jobs and these could be found i n the 



63 

saw mills on the North Arm of the Fraser River. Wages, 
however were only some 25 to 35 cents an hour and the general 
economic conditions as d i f f i c u l t there as anywhere else at 
this time. Eventually other avenues of employment opened 
for the Mennonites, including skilled and professional 
occupations, until at the present time the economic base of 
the Mennonite community here is relatively broad. 

The one main Mennonite institution that was able to 
survive the shift from rural to urban, the church, was 
organized in the city soon after the people settled there. 
Mennonite Brethren and General Conference adherents at f i r s t 
worshipped together i n a hall at 49th Avenue and Fraser Street. 
In 1937 separate churches were organized and buildings provided, 

An interesting smaller institution, antedating the 
earliest Mennonite church i n the area was the "M&dchenheim" 
or g i r l s ' home, established in 1929. It helped Mennonite 
girls coming into the city to find jobs and generally sought 
to shelter them from harmful influences. In a modified form 
the home exists to the present time. 

Post-War "Boom" 

During the war years and immediately after them the 
Canadian economy, only recently recovered from the great 
depression lag, was experiencing a forward thrust in response 
to demands for increased production in a wide range of fields. 
In agriculture, a l l existing capital goods and land resources 



64 
had to he utilized in the most efficient manner possible. 
Markets presented few problems; the major problem was to be 
able to deliver. In the Prairie Provinces, where farmers 
already had had to make drastic adjustments in crops, machinery 
and acreage to the market and to drought conditions in the 
decade before the war, mechanization and consolidation of farm 
holdings gathered momentum. In British Columbia intensification 
of land use through mechanization, chemical fertilization, 
irrigation and the introduction of improved stocks was going 
on, together with an extension of the area under cultivation, 
as well. The physical value of production increased some 
forty per cent here from 1941-1951. The improved land areas 
increased some twenty-five per cent.3 Larger farms of over 
100 acres were increasing only slowly in number, whereas the 
smaller farms, particularly those between 4 and 50 acres, were 
increasing very quickly. This reflected the possibilities 
for production on small, intensively-farmed plots as well as 
a desire on the part of many farmers to operate with as l i t t l e 
hired labour as possible and perhaps even to operate the farm 
as a sideline to more profitable employment elsewhere. 

Against the background of these overall economic 
factors the influx of Mennonites into B. C. increased markedly, 
as did the general migration of population westward (Map 3 ) . 
The trend toward the liquidation of marginal farms on the Prairies 
and their consolidation into larger holdings heightened the 
attraction of small economic acreages in B. C. for many a 



Mennonite farmer, tired of the rigors of grain farm work 
and Prairie climate. Just as important to many prospective 
Mennonite migrants were the attractions of religious and 
educational opportunities that could be offered by rapidly 
growing settlements such as Yarrow, Abbotsford or Greendale. 
Added to a l l this, of course, was the ever-present attraction 
of a moderate climate and a beautifully-green, mountain-ringed 
location. 

In the established Mennonite settlements a l l through 
the Fraser Valley incoming Mennonites, using the capital 
acquired through liquidation of holdings elsewhere In Canada, 
bought up more and more of the land held by non-Mennonites. 
Those who had come in as pioneers built new homes and barns. 
Implements and vehicles were replaced and supplemented. In 
areas where land remained to be cleared, particularly in the 
Abbotsford and Aldergrove areas, dynamite and bulldozers were 
brought into service on a large scale to win new acreage. 
Many landowners found i t profitable, moreover, to subdivide 
their holdings and realize tidy profits on the resale of plots 
to other Mennonite farmers who were willing to establish 
farms on a smaller scale. 

New church buildings that sprang up during the 
immediate post-war period attested visibly to the increasing 
prominence of the Mennonites in many communities. No fewer 
than nine churches were built within the 194-5-1949 period — 
each one of them, because of the locational policies of the 



66 
builders, being f a i r l y accurately in the center of a new 
group of Mennonite households, (Map 4 ) . 

The new schools built in these years, while also 
marks of the physical expansion of the community, showed 
something of heightened group consciousness and aspirations 
as well. The f i r s t one was established in Abbotsford in 1944 
and housed in a new building in 1 9 4 6 . The other one was 
built i n Yarrow soon after. Both helped to focus the orient-
ation of the Mennonites on these two localities. After the 
economic decline of Yarrow in 1949, Abbotsford, and more 
particularly the new settlement of Clearbrook, became the 
major center of Mennonitism in the valley. (F^ure^) 

The rise of Mennonite centers during the latter part 
of the post war "surge" merits further mention here and 
special consideration as to structure later in this study. 
In response to needs for services, a business district, largely 
operated by Mennonite businessmen, grew up in Yarrow. Clear-
brook advanced from its"crossroad-filling-station"status to 
that of a service "village" too. General stores, garages 
and a few other services, usually operated by Mennonites, 
were established near a number of churches. Such centers, 
hardly deserving the t i t l e of "hamlets" may be seen at Green-
dale, Arnold, South Abbotsford and West Abbotsford (Maps 14 
and 1 5 ) . The center at South Abbotsford was later to undergo 
an interesting shift as the result of the abandonment of the ol< 
church and the building of a new one approximately one half-mi1< 



Figure 4 . Mennonite Schools i n the Fraser Valley 
a. Mennonite Educational Institute, Clearbrook. 
bo Sharon Mennonite Collegiate Institute, Yarrow. 
c. Former S.M.C.I., Yarrow. 
d. Mennonite Brethren Bible School, Clearbrook. 



67 

distant. 

Present Period of Centralization and Urbanization 

The accelerating demand on the part of prospective 

home builders and r e a l estate promoters for lots on the one 

hand and the pressure exerted on farmers by the r i s i n g costs 

of upkeep, mechanization and r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n on the other 

are at present converting more and more farm land i n the 

Fraser Valley, as elsewhere, to non-agricultural uses. This 

has brought new patterns of settlement and, indeed, a new 

s o c i a l and c u l t u r a l orientation i n i t s wake for the Men-

nonites — as w i l l be brought out i n greater d e t a i l i n the 

l a s t chapter. Alternative and more lucrative opportunities 

for employment have for some time now been inducing very many 

Mennonite young people to leave the farms and come to the c i t y . 

Landowners thus l e f t without successors to cultivate their 

land are being forced to s e l l and move into towns and c i t i e s 

as well. I t i s reported from the area that the buyers of 

these farms are largely European immigrants, as i s the case i n 

other parts of Canada. I t seems that they are s t i l l w i l l i n g , 

together with their families, to take up a 30-40 acre dairy 

farm. Farmers on small, formerly economical tracts of land, 

f i n d they must take on additional employment and join the 

increasing stream of long distance commuters coming from r u r a l 

Fraser Valley points into areas where employment may be found 

i n construction, m i l l i n g or other pursuits. Often these owners 

subdivide their properties or simply dispose of them entirely. 

The dominant pattern of employment resembles again the 



68 

wage-earning, part-time farming situation of the pioneer 
period, except that i t is a deliberate move away from 

or de-sire 
agriculture and carries with i t l i t t l e hopeAfor a return to 
full-time farming. 

An index of this large scale change in settlement 
patterns of the Mennonites is the trend in congregational 
grouping and new church construction. Since 1950-1951 most 
of the new congregations organized and new churches erected 
have been in rural non-farm or urban areas (Table XV). 

s 

Certainly the recent dwelling of membership numbers in 
Mennonite churches in Clearbrook, Chilliwack and especially 
Vancouver indicate well this trend toward urbanization. In 
the following chapter this large scale shift and other related 
changes and conditions among the Mennonites in the Fraser 
Valley w i l l be dealt with in terms of statistics. 



Footnotes and References 
69 

1 A man who precedes a group of s e t t l e r s into an area 
and works to f a c i l i t a t e I n i t i a l d i v i s i o n of land, upkeep 
of the s e t t l e r s while they are getting established and so 
f o r t h . I t i s an ancient term used, for example, with 
reference to Individuals who led eastward Germanic settlement 
movements into Central Europe during the 12th and 13th 
centuries. 

2 One of the community's main roads i s respectfully named 
Eckert Road. 

3 J. M. Smith, Canada's Economic Growth and Development 
from 1939 to 1955% Royal Commission on Canada's Economic"' 
Prospects, Hull, Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, 
1956, v o l . 14, p. 277. 



CHAPTER V 

A STATISTICAL DELINEATION OF THE SITUATION OF 
THE MENNONITES IN THE FRASER VALLEY 

Valuable facts come to light when one complies 
statistics on any situation, breaks them down into component 
parts and analyses' them with the help of various techniques 
and formulae. To provide the basis for such an analysis of 
the distribution and characteristics of the Mennonites in the 
Fraser Valley, s t a t i s t i c a l information was gathered from a 
number of sources. These sources, which were different In 
some respects than those most often utilized in other geo-
graphic studies, must be discussed and evaluated before actual 
figures can be quoted. 

Sources 

The Census of Canada for 1951 provides data on 
Mennonites as a religious denomination. It enumeratess 

The specific religious denomination of 
which the person was either a member or 
to which he adhered or favoured...! 

This probably gives f a i r l y accurate.figures as to numbers of 
Mennonites i n the various areas and under various classifications 
because the great majority of them, whether they belong to 

70 



71 
one or another of the four sub-groups mentioned,2 would 
acknowledge themselves as Mennonites without hesitation, since 
their adherence is a deep-seated cultural as well as religious 
a f f a i r . Even those who do not have membership in any parti-
cular church congregation would not readily deny their heritage. 

Origin statistics were not utilized because of the 
confusion regarding concepts such as nationality, birth place 
and race that enters into a consideration of this type. 
N. B. Snyder, in a discussion of the usefulness of Canadian 
origin statistics summarizes the limitations of this data well 
when he states that: 

. . . i t seems f a i r to conclude that the usefulness 
in research of Canadian statistics on origins is 
probably limited for the most part to the 
dividing of the population into four broad 
groups? the British, the French, the other 
whites and the non-whites, and that attempts 
to carry out serious, more detailed research 
on origins requires extreme caution, particularly 
with regard to variations through time.3 

Much valuable information was gained from individual 
church records wherever they were in a sufficiently systematic 
and orderly form. The records of the Fraserview Mennonite 
Brethren Church in Vancouver provided the most useful data, 
and this is analysed in detail below. It is Interesting to 
note that the emphasis in most of the Mennonite church records 
on family descendance, personalities involved in church 
leadership and data relating to the spiritual growth of the 
church, rather than on the simple numerical characteristics 
of the group, their economic and cultural standing and the like. 



MAP 9 



4̂ 

MENNONITES IN T H E L O W E R F R A S E R V A L L E Y 
TOTAL — CA. 13,000 ONE DOT = 100 

A R E A S O V E R 1 0 0 0 IN A L T I T U D E 

CENSUS OF CANADA — 1951 i f 

M A P 1 0 . A S I E M E N S 



The l a t t e r considerations are appearing more and more 

frequently, however, as the organization of the churches 

becomes more unified and methods of recording are perfected 

and extended. The published church directories were useful 

i n outlining the tributary regions of the respective churches. 

In addition to the i n d i v i d u a l church records, the 

yearbooks of the several B r i t i s h Columbia, Canadian and North 

American Conferences 4 of which the churches i n the Fraser 

Valley are members, i n one way or another, provided useful 

material — p a r t i c u l a r l y regarding past membership t o t a l s . 

Municipal voter's l i s t s were used i n several of 

the r u r a l municipalities of the Valley, where Mennonites are 

most numerous, i n order to find the r a t i o of Mennonites to 

non-Mennonites. 

F i e l d inquiries supplemented a l l of these, p a r t i -

cularly to f a c i l i t a t e the delimitation of church tributary 

regions and the tracing of h i s t o r i c a l developments. 

Distributions 

The percentage dot map showing the Mennonite 

population of Canada (Map 9 ) , as compiled from 1951 Census 

figures, indicates that 12.0$ of Canada's 126,000 Mennonites, 

some 15,000 of them, were resident i n B r i t i s h Columbia. This 

compares with the 35.5$ i n Manitoba, 21.0$ i n Saskatchewan, 

20,5$ i n Ontario and 10.5$ i n Alberta. The entire Mennonite 

population of Canada i s .9$ of the t o t a l Canadian population,, 



75 

Of British Columbia's 15,000 Mennonites the over-
whelming majority, or at least 12,900, were in the Fraser Valley 
in 1951.^ It may be projected on the basis of increases in the 
province's Mennonite church enrolment from 1951 to 1957 that 
this figure rose to some 16,900 in 1958. This is in the same 

o 
order of magnitude as an estimate of 17,#00 made by the Rev. 
A. A. Wiens of Yarrow, secretary of the British Columbia office 
of the Mennonite Central Committee and a man well acquainted 
with trends in the Mennonite community.^ 

The dot map showing Mennonites in the Fraser Valley 
(Map 10), compiled from 1951 Census data and correlated with the 
map of church tributary regions (Map 4), indicates concentrations 
of Mennonites in the essentially rural municipalities of Matsqui 
and Chilliwack, a concentration in Vancouver and scatterings else-
where. The following table gives the exact numbers involved. 

Table III 
Total of Mennonites i n Sub-divisions of Census Division 

No. 4 - 19517 
Lower Fraser Valley 12,940 
1. District Municipalities 

Chllliwhack 3,871 
Coquitlam 52 
Delta 124 
Fraser Mills 
Kent 35 
Langley 8 l 8 
Maple Ridge 71 
Matsqui 3,733 
Mission - 325 
Pitt Meadows 16 
Sumas 1,234 
Surrey 400 
Unorganized 64 

11,339 



76 

Total 11,339 
2. Vancouver Metropolitan Area 

City Proper 1,624 
Richmond 160 
Surrey 204 
Burnaby 75 
Coquitlam 52 
New Westminster 43 
Other sub-divisions combined 25 

-271BI 
Note: There is some slight overlapping in these two 

sub-divisions, therefore a minor discrepancy 
appears between the Lower Fraser Valley total 
and the sum of the totals of the District 
Municipalities and the Metropolitan Area. 

A further table, also obtained from the Census, 
shows the increase of the Mennonite population of B. C : 

Table IV 

Total Numbers of Mennonites in B. C , 1901-1951^ 

1901 11 
11 189 
21 172 
31 1,085 
41 5,105 
51 15,387 

The increase, therefore, has been continuous and 
f a i r l y rapid, except for a short period around 1921 when 
settlements in Central British Columbia failed and had to be 
partly abandoned. 

Characteristics of Mennonite Population 

A closer analysis of figures obtained from the 
census, church records and field inquiries, provides 
interesting information on many aspects of the internal 



structure of the group, particularly when these figures are 
compared with those for the entire populations of British 
Columbia and of Canada. The Mennonites of this province and 
of the whole country, as well, have much greater percentages 
of their total numbers resident in rural areas than is the 
case for the rest of the population of federal and provincial 
levels. This clearly reflects persisting agrarian tendencies 
up to 1951. It must be remembered, however, that the rural-
urban relationship w i l l have been altered for both Mennonites 
and non-Mennonites since 1951. Certainly i t is evident 
from church membership trends in the Fraser Valley that a 
greater percentage of the Mennonites there are urban now 
than were so in 1951. An interesting deviation from national 
and provincial male-female breakdowns is also evident, as the 
following table shows? 

Table V 

Male-Female Breakdown - 1951 9 

Canadian Canadian B. C. B. C. 
Total Mennonites Total Mennonites 

Total 14,009,4-29 125,938 1,165,210 15,387 
M. 7,008,873 62,912 596,961 7,547 
F. 6,920,556 63,026 568,249 7,840 

\ 
There are more females than males in the Mennonite populations 
of the nation and of B. C, in contrast to an opposite trend 
in the total populations of both regions. This is largely, 
no doubt, a result of the recent immigration of numerous 



female Mennonite refugees from Eastern Europe where many 
of their husbands, fathers and brothers were war casualties 
or victims of slave labour. 

Patterns of Immigration 

From the 1952 and 1957 issues of the Canadian 
Mennonite Conference Yearbook1^ certain facts regarding the 
stream of Mennonite immigrants into Canada and into British 
Columbia may be ascertained. In general, since the early 
1920's, there have been two main waves of Mennonite immigrants, 
one from 1922-1926 and another from 194-7-1951? with sizeable 
numbers entering the country in the intervening years. The 
table below cites some figures regarding this influx: 

Table VI 

Immigrants Brought in under the Auspices of the 
Mennonite Board of Colonizationll 

1. 1923 2,759 2. 1947 542 
24 5,048 48 3,824 
25 3,772 49 1,635 
26 5,940 50 580 
27 '847 51 1,118 
28 511 52 611 
29 1,019 53 431 
30 302 417 

20,201 55 558 
56 465 
57 m 

10,570 

Until recently these immigrants were coming mainly 
from European countries. In the last two or three years, 
however, the contingent coming from Paraguay has grown in 



significance and at present i t is the largest part of the 
influx. Figures available on the classification of these 
immigrants as to origin follows 

Table VII 

Origin of Immigrants Brought in by 
Mennonite Board of Colonization 1^ 

Immigrants arriving Immigrants arriving 
1947 - June, 1957 June 1956 - June 1957 

Europe 3,852 37 
Paraguay 2,092 651 
Brazil 57 8 
Uruguay 21 9 
China 26 
Mexico 13 
Argentina 8 1 
Columbia 1 1 

10,570 707 

Of the immigrants coming into Canada from 1947 -
1952 some 25$ have come to British Columbia. Only Manitoba 
has received a greater percentage, as seen below: 

Table VIII 

Destinations of Mennonite Immigrants - 1947-195213 

Prince Edward Island 2 
Hew Brunswick 2 
Quebec 7 
Ontario 1,235 
Manitoba 2,552 
Saskatchewan 1,135 
Alberta 1,090 
British Columbia 2.006 

8,029 

For the same period, 1947-1952 a breakdown of 
Mennonite immigrants is available, showing that a greater 



number of females than males entered Canada — for reasons 
already referred to In the discussion of Male-Female 
Classifications. 

Table IX 

Classification According to Sex of Immigrants 
Arriving in 1947-195214 

Intact families 
Widows and women whose men 
were taken into slave labour 

Widowers and men whose women 
were taken into slave labour 

Single men 
Single women 

C one entra t i ons 

It has already been pointed out that on the map 
showing the distribution of Mennonites In the Fraser Valley 
(Map 10) the municipalities of Matsqui and Chilliwack stand 
out with their particularly heavy concentrations of these 
people. From the voters' l i s t s of these two municipalities 
some idea of the percentage of the population that is Men-
nonite within them can be gained by singling out those 
registered voters with typical Mennonite names and comparing 
their number with that of the non-Menn_onites. 

It must be interjected here that i t is possible 
to identify Mennonite names generally, and also to dif-
ferentiate between the names that may be found within various 
strains of Mennonitism. A good deal of work has been done by 
scholars, notably Dr. B. H. Unruh of Karlsruhe, Germany, to 

967 

1,072 

171 
590 
598 



81 
establish origins of Mennonite names and to c l a s s i f y them.15 

The great majority of Mennonites i n the Fraser Valley are 

c l e a r l y of the s t r a i n that originated i n the Netherlands and 

North Germany, moved from there to Prussia, Russia and f i n a l l y 

to North America — i n contrast to the other main s t r a i n that 

originated In Switzerland and what i s now Southwestern Germany, 

moved from there to Pennsylvania and other Eastern and 

Mid-western States. From church directories a l i s t of names 

peculiar to these people was compiled (Table XVI). When 

encountered i n records by anyone at a l l familiar with them 

they stand out c l e a r l y . 

Matsqui and 2"]% of those i n Chilliwack were Mennonites. When 

compared with the breakdown of major ethnic groups for Census 

Division 4 of B. C. the above percentages show that Mennonites 

make up a considerably higher proportion of the population 

of these municipalities than i s the case for the population 

of the entire d i v i s i o n . 

Ethnic Breakdown i n Census Division No. 4 of B r i t i s h Columbia 

Total Population of Division - 649,238 

I t was found i n this way that 34-% of the voters of 

Table X 

% of Total 

German 
French 

B r i t i s h 
Scandinavian 

442,893 
3 5 , 1 6 7 
2 9 , 0 0 4 
22,862 
22,289 
1 3 , H 7 

6 8 . 2 
5.4 
4 . 4 

Netherland 
Ukrainian 

3 . 5 
3 . 4 
2 . 9 

The German and Netherland segments, under either or both 



82 
which Mennonites might he c l a s s i f i e d ethnically, together 

make up only 7.8% of the population of the d i v i s i o n . 

A further refinement regarding concentration was 

obtained from post o f f i c e r e g i s t r i e s i n the villages of Yarrow 

and Clearbrook. Using Mennonite names as c r i t e r i a again i t 

was found that in both settlements the Mennonite to 

Non-Mennonite r a t i o was 3 * 1 . 1 ° c a l l them "Mennonite towns", 

as many casual observers do, i s therefore quite j u s t i f i a b l e . 

The degree of concentration of Mennonites within 

the Vancouver Metropolitan Area i s best conveyed v i s u a l l y , 

as on the isopleth map showing the concentration of Mennonite 

families within the area (Map 1 7 ) . A rough quadrangle, 

bounded on the north by King Edward Avenue, on the east by 

V i c t o r i a Drive, on the south by the North Arm of the Fraser 

and on the west by Gamble Street enclosed most of these 

families. A scattering may be found concentrically around 

this area. A new grouping has taken place i n 1 9 5 7 - 1 9 5 9 

east of V i c t o r i a Drive into Burnaby. This trend w i l l no doubt 

be accentuated i f and when the proposed new Mennonite Brethren 

church i s b u i l t i n that general v i c i n i t y . 

Shifts i n the Center of Gravity of the Group 

To give some idea of the movements that have taken 

place within the Mennonite community of the Fraser Valley over 

the l a s t twenty years the centers of gravity were calculated 

for church membership figures throughout the area at two-year 

intervals. ( E a r l i e r centers could not be calculated because 



83 

of the inadequacy of available figures). These points were 

then collated Into a centrogram and the movement of the centers 

noted (Map 4). 

Church membership figures were used for a number of 

reasons. They were, f i r s t of a l l , the only yearly s t a t i s t i c s 

on Mennonites available. Then, even though they do not 

include younger children and deviants, they seem a f a i r l y 

constant Index of the whole. This i s so because, t r a d i t i o n a l l y , 

these people are very closely connected to their church and 

hence there are not very many families who are not represented 

on the church r o l e . Also, most of the churches induct young 

people i n their early teens and thus ensure a f a i r l y constant 

increase. The r e l i a b i l i t y of these figures as indices i s 

substantiated by the relationship evident between figures 

for t o t a l Mennonite populations i n Census Division No. 4 of 

B. C. and figures for church membership i n the years 1941 and 

1951. In the f i r s t case membership figures are 34.6$ of the 

t o t a l Mennonite population; i n 1951 the percentage i s 3 6 . 6 , 

a difference of only 2$. It may be assumed, therefore, that 

large scale trends In church membership figures mirror trends 

i n the entire Mennonite community. In this case we are able 

to recognize changing settlement patterns i n the whole group 

from s h i f t s i n membership figures. 

The center of gravity moves f i r s t eastward and then 

pronouncedly westward from 1940-1958. This locus Is i n clear 

and close correspondence with other factors. In the period 

between 1940-1950, for which the center moved eastward, the 



84 

destination of Mennonites migrating from the Prairies into 

B. C. and those immigrating from Europe was predominantly 

into r u r a l areas of the Valley — thus swelling church 

memberships In places such as Chilliwack, Greendale, Yarrow 

and Abbotsford. Around 1950 a remarkable reversal took place, 

as a result of a decrease i n job opportunities i n r u r a l areas 

together with a decrease i n attractiveness of existing 

opportunities there — over against the increased attractiveness 

of the urban environment i n many respects. In any case, a 

strong movement toward Vancouver becomes evident i n the 

pronounced westward s h i f t of the center. This movement 

probably represents the most s i g n i f i c a n t large scale s o c i a l 

change going on amongst Mennonites, and the surrounding 

population too, for that matter. 

Further deductions as to minor variations i n the 

locus of the center of gravity are not warranted because of 

the frequent minor I r r e g u l a r i t i e s i n the way church secretaries 

send s t a t i s t i c s into conference headquarters. The l i n e i s 

useful simply to I l l u s t r a t e a general trend. 

The Fraserview Mennonite Brethren Church — An Example Study 

From the well organized and r e l a t i v e l y comprehensive 

records of the Fraserview Mennonite Brethren Church of 

Vancouver It was possible to obtain detailed information 

regarding the membership and thus to i l l u s t r a t e on the l e v e l 

of one individual church a number of general points made else-

where i n this thesis. 



85 
At the close of 1957 the church had a t o t a l of 

449 members, which represented 188 families. Including 

children 21 years old and under who were not classed as 

members, the church had some 750 adherents. 

The record of the birthplaces of the congregation 

showed up two main places of o r i g i n . Some 50$ of the con-

gregation, most of them being over 21 years of age, were born 

i n the P r a i r i e Provinces. Another 40$, most of them over 

31 years of age, were born i n Russia. This r e f l e c t s clearly 

the main components of most Mennonite congregations i n the 

Fraser Valley. Those who were i n the f i r s t wave of Mennonite 

immigration after World War I are now over 31 years of age. 

Most of these people settled i n the P r a i r i e s f i r s t and raised 

families there. Their children, as well as some children of 

e a r l i e r (c. 1874) immigrants, are the group that register 

with P r a i r i e birthplaces. 

The small group of members born i n B r i t i s h Columbia 

(some 3 - 4$), a l l between 15 and 30 years of age, are the 

offspring of Mennonite pioneers i n this province. The almost 

complete absence of members who were born i n Vancouver (1$) 

indicates that the offspring of the early Mennonite Brethren 

settlers i n Vancouver are either a f f i l i a t e d with the f i r s t 

of their churches to be organized i n Vancouver, the Vancouver 

Mennonite Brethren Church at 43rd Avenue and Prince Edward 

Street, or are not yet of baptismal and induction age. It 

also shows the obvious fact that the families of the recent 



86 

wave of young Mennonite migrants into the urban area are 

small and their children mostly below baptismal age as yet. 

An analysis of occupations represented within this 

church's membership shows a f a i r spread over a variety of 

f i e l d s . Certainly the absence of the a g r i c u l t u r a l pursuit 

i s i n i t s e l f already a wide deviation from the t r a d i t i o n a l 

orientation of the group. The greatest number of the gainfully 

employed members may be classed as tradesmen and labourers. 

While s t a t i s t i c s were being compiled, i t was noticeable that 

among them a surprisingly large number of elderly men held 

positions as common labourers, a r e f l e c t i o n of the d i f f i c u l t i e s 

these men had i n gaining qualifications for better jobs and 

a secure future under the turbulent conditions of the Russian 

Revolution and the depression years that followed while they 

were i n Canada. 

A sizeable number of better qualified persons are 

already to be found amongst these people. A growing owner 

and operator group i s i n evidence. There are a number of 

professional people, most of them i n professions t r a d i t i o n a l l y 

sanctioned within Mennonitism, such as medicine, nursing and 

teaching. Among the students now enrolled i n the church, 

however, are those who are entering new and varied f i e l d s . 

Understandably, a large number of young people, p a r t i c u l a r l y 

g i r l s , who have come from the country into the c i t y to find 

work, appear i n the analysis as c l e r i c a l , factory and day 

household workers. 



8 ? 
In summary, then, i t may be said that this 

congregation represents latest developments i n the structure 

and orientation of Mennonitism i n this area. The r i s i n g 

membership (Table XVII) i t s e l f i s an indication of the trend 

toward urbanization. The breakdown of the membership according 

to age groups and birthplaces represents the pattern of origin 

and movement westward that Is t y p i c a l for many Mennonites i n 

B. C. In the occupational structure an economic reorientation 

i s evident. The general s p i r i t and outlook, as well as a 

certain "progressiveness" — a l l of which are hard to sub-

stantiate here — mirror an interesting s o c i a l and s p i r i t u a l 

change that seems to be spreading amongst Mennonite churches 

of the Valley In spite of their sporadic opposition to I t . 



88 

Footnotes and References 

1 Dominion Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s , Ninth Census of Canada - 195~i 
(Ottawa, Kings Printer, 1953), v o l . 1, p. x v i . ' 

2 The two main sub-groups of the Mennonite community i n the 
Lower Fraser Valley are the Mennonite Brethren Churches and 
the United Mennonite Churches, or as they are commonly referred 
to, the "General Conference" people. Two small sub-groups also 
exist, but they s h a l l be omitted i n the s t a t i s t i c a l calculations 
of this study because numerical information on trends within 
their congregations were not available, and also because both 
groups make up only a small part of the t o t a l of Mennonites 
i n the Valley. One of them i s the Church of Christ Mennonite 
of Bradner, which was established In 1949 and had some 170 
members i n 1958. This congregation i s Interesting because of 
the ultraconservative views i t s members hold on e t h i c a l matters 
and also because the men usually wear f u l l beards and no 
neckties. The other i s the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren 
Church of the town of Abbotsford. I t was established i n 1946 
and had approximately 170 members i n 1958. 

3 I. B. Ryder, "Interpretation of Origin S t a t i s t i c s , " 
Canadian Journal of Economics and P o l i t i c a l Science, 21: 
466-479, November, 1955, p. 476. 

4 The term "conference" here denotes a regional grouping 
of individual congregations. Any one congregation may belong 
to provincial, national and International Mennonite conferences. 

5 The term "Fraser Valley" or "Lower Fraser Valley" coincides 
closely with Census Division No. 4, hence the figure. 

6 Interview with Rev. A. A. Wiens of Yarrow, i n the summer 
of 1958. 

7 Canada Census 1951, Vol. I, Table 43. 

8 Canada Census 1951. Vol. I, Table 37-

9 Canada Census 1951, Vol. I, Table 58. 
10 Conferenz der Mennoniten i n Canada, Jahrbuch - Jubilaums 

Ausgabe, 1902-1952, (Rosthern, Der Bote, 1952), pp. 146-148, and 
Conferenz der Mennoniten i n Canada. Jahrbuch - 1957, (1957, 
Der Bote, Rosthern), p. 161. 

11 Conferenz Jahrbuch, 1952, p. 146. Conferenz Jahrbuch, 1957, 
p. 161. Note: The Mennonite Board of Colonization undertakes 
negotiations for the movement of displaced persons and other 
migrants from one country to another. It also seeks to 
f a c i l i t a t e the establishment of the immigrant i n his new homeland, 
which may e n t a i l the development of new settlements or the 
addition to those already well underway. 



12 Conferenz Jahrbuch, 1957? p. l 6 l . 
13 Conferenz Jahrbuch, 1952, p. 148. 
14- I b i d . , p. 148. 
15 B. H. Unruh, Die Niederlandlsh-Niederdeutschen Hintergrunde 

der Mennonitischen Ostwanderrungen im"'l6,"3cr,""urLd^l9^e^~ ~ 
Jahrhundert, KarlsrulreT'GeTrT^y, H. Schneider, 19%*T, ~ 

16 Canada Census 1951, V o l . I I , Table 6 l . 



CHAPTER VI 

INTRA-GROUP MOVEMENT PATTERNS 

Centers of a t t r a c t i o n within a community and the 

movement of people into these centers are factors that help 

to bind individuals and congregations closely together. 

This i s certainly the case among the various separate Fraser 

Valley Mennonite settlements, which we may group together and 

term a community because of their common heritage, common 

religious ideals and close ties of kinship — not to mention 

economic and s o c i a l connections. Probably the most important 

central point of a t t r a c t i o n for the entire group i s the 

Mennonite secondary school i n Clearbrook, known as the 

Mennonite Educational I n s t i t u t e . There are other centers that 

are also important points of attraction, such as the Mennonite 

Brethren church i n Yarrow, where large conferences are 

occasionally held; the Bible Schools i n Chilliwack, Yarrow 

and Abbotsford to which many students come; and the Fraserview 

Mennonite Brethren church i n Vancouver, where many Mennonite 

transients i n the c i t y come to worship. However, the "M.E.I.", 

as the high school i s commonly called, s h a l l serve here as 

the prominent example. I t i s possible to portray the flow of 

students into this center cartographically (Map 11). The 

complex convergence on the school auditorium of participants 

90 





92 
in numerous extra-curricular functions must be described 
generally. 

The school was established In the years of the 
great economic and numerical upsurge of the late war and 
early postwar years already referred to in Chapter IV. The 
founding of the institution was a response, f i r s t of a l l , 
to deeply f e l t needs for secondary education f a c i l i t i e s where, 
in addition to the required secular subjects, studies in 
religion, the German language, Mennonite History and the like 
could be offered. New functions were added to the institution, 
however, as i t was moved from cramped quarters near the old 
South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church to i t s new building 
on the present site (Map 12). The auditorium of this building 
became the common meeting place for a l l the Mennonite congreg-
ations around Abbotsford, as well as those elsewhere in the 
valley. 

About a year after the founding of the M. E. I. i n 
1944 another Mennonite high school was founded in Yarrow 
and called the Sharon Mennonite Collegiate Institute. Together 
with the rather spacious Mennonite Brethren church there i t 
served for a considerable period as a center for the activities 
of Mennonite congregations in the eastern part of the valley. 
With the discontinuation of private secondary education in 
Yarrow in 1949, and also as a result of the general eclipse 
of Yarrow by fast-growing Clearbrook, the M. E.# I. became the 
most important Mennonite meeting place in the Fraser Valley. 

In Its primary function of education the school 



S M A L L MENNONITE CENTERS IN THE LOWER 
FRASER V A L L E Y 

(LOCATED ON MAP NUMBER 5) 

"SOUTH A B B O T S F O R D " 

L E G E N D 

1 CH [ Church or church school 
r — — | buildings 

I C I Commercial buildings 

Schools 

I Non-farm residence 

H Farm residence 
Principal barns 

Approximate s c a l e 
0 1/8 m i . 

" A R N O L D " 

'SOUTH A B B O T S F O R D "(Old) " W E S T ABBOTSFORD" 

M A P 1 2 
A . S I E M E N S 



93 

serves a far-flung constituency. The following table shows 

the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the 1957-58 student body according to 

the congregations from whieh they came. This table may be 

compared with the map of church tributary regions (Map 4) i n 

order to visualize the areas involved. 

Table XI 

Congregational Origin of Students at the 
Mennonite Educational Institute 1957-58 

Bethel (G.C.) 
East Aldergrove (M.B.) 
West Abbotsford ( G.C.) 
Clearbrook (M.B.) 
Clearbrook (G.C.) 
South Abbotsford (M.B.) 
Abbotsford (M.B.) 
Matsqui (M.B.) 
Arnold (M.B.) 
Greendale (M.B.) 
Chilliwack (M.B.) 
Chilliwack (G.C.) 
East Chilliwack (G.C.) 
East Chilliwack (M.B.) 

I t i s immediately apparent that considerable numbers 

of students would need to be transported to the school from 

areas as far distant as East Aldergrove, Arnold, Greendale and 

Chilliwack. This problem i s solved, i n the main, for students 

coming from eastern communities by chartered buses. Car 

chains provide transportation for most of the other students 

coming from outside Clearbrook. A number of them, p a r t i c u l a r l y 

those from Vancouver and v i c i n i t y , obtain room and board near 

Numbers of % of Total 
Students Enrollment 

13 2.8 
44 9.8 
70 15.4-
75 16.5 

7 1.5 
76 16.6 
28 5.8 
22 4. 8 
50 10.9 
19 4. 1 

5 1.1 
3 .6 

12 2.6 
18 3 . 9 



the school 

94 

I t i s to be noted that the high school which was 

re-established i n Yarrow i n 1956 does not yet attract to 

i t s e l f many students that have been coming to the M. E. I. 

from Chilliwack and Greendale congregations. Since both 

Mennonite high schools i n the Fraser Valley depend, f i n a n c i a l l y , 

to a large degree on t u i t i o n fees, the diversion of students 

from the M. E. I. to Yarrow would be desirable. Most of the 

students themselves, however, prefer to continue on at the 

M.E.I. Solutions to this situation have often been discussed 

amongst school board members, teachers and parents, but 

without r e a l success to date. In the meantime the M. E. I. 

i s overcrowded, whereas the Yarrow school stands i n need of 

more students. 

Another problem related to the finances of the 

school has resulted from the fact that only six of the 

Fraser Valley's Mennonite congregations o f f i c i a l l y support 

the school by contributing to i t a certain amount per church 

member. E f f o r t s are being made to broaden this base, but the 

other churches are not anxious to increase levies on their 

memberships. 

Roughly 80$ of the students of the school come 

from a Mennonite Brethren background, and most of the others 

come from General Conference congregations. This i s of 

interest when compared with the 3 : 2 r a t i o of Mennonite Brethren 

to General Conference that prevails i n the Mennonite population 



95 

of the province. The reason for this situation may be 

sought, largely, i n the greater stress l a i d generally by 

members of the Mennonite Brethren churches on the preservation 

of certain key religious principles and c u l t u r a l values. 

In considering the extra-curricular uses of the 

school, p a r t i c u l a r l y of Its auditoria and playing f i e l d s , 

one comes on a long l i s t of Interesting a c t i v i t i e s . A brief 

reference to the more important of them gives us a further 

indication of the importance of the school as a central 

gathering place and also shows some of the scope and character 

of Mennonite group a c t i v i t i e s . 

To those who l i v e on access routes to the school 

the importance of these a c t i v i t i e s to Mennonites i s clearly 

evident. Streams of cars converge on the school, f i l l i n g a l l 

available parking space on the school grounds and on the road 

allowances nearby. Often special t r a f f i c police and parking 

o f f i c i a l s are on hand to regulate the flow. Clearly, the 

school f a c i l i t i e s meet a number of needs, mostly s o c i a l and 

cultural, which the individual churches are not able to meet, 

both because i t i s not considered suitable to hold certain 

events i n church buildings and also because there simply i s 

not another meeting place available that Is so spacious and 

centrally located. 

Among the cultural achievements of the Mennonites 

their musical renditions are probably the best known; and 

the favourite medium, the choir, is often featured at musical 



96 

f e s t i v a l s held at the M. E. I. The student body i t s e l f 

sponsors educational and entertaining programs c a l l e d 

" L i t e r a r i e s " . I t has become a tradition, too, that the 

graduating class of the school presents a major drama that 

runs for two or three nights. 

The auditorium serves a number of church young 

peoples' groups as a gymnasium for recreational events. The 

l o c a l junior s o f t b a l l league and the municipal league use 

the school's s o f t b a l l diamonds, and every summer evening 

there are a score or more of boys from the neighbourhood 

playing b a l l there. 

During every winter a considerable number of films, 

including f u l l - l e n g t h features, are shown In the auditorium 

under the auspices of the school I t s e l f or of some other 

organization. The use of the auditorium for this purpose 

seems somewhat anachronistic i n view of the o f f i c i a l positions 

of most churches regarding the attendance at "shows". A l l 

of these showings are well attended, however, and i t i s a 

familiar fact that the best way to raise money i n the com-

munity i s to schedule a f i l m at the M. E. I. auditorium. 

When events of interest to Mennonite Brethren, 
General Conference and other Mennonite congregations are to 
be scheduled, such as meetings i n support of r e l i e f 
organizations l i k e the Mennonite Central Committee and the 
Mennonite Disaster Service, the place that i s usually chosen 
i s the M. E. I. A number of mass meetings of great interest 



97 
to a l l Mennonites were held there just after the war, when 

Mennonites everywhere i n North America were r a l l y i n g to the 

r e l i e f of their "brethren" i n Europe. This area represents, 

I t must be added, one of the few i n which the various 

Mennonite groups w i l l a c t i v e l y co-operate. 

Funeral services of prominent Mennonite leaders, 

and weddings planned on an extraordinarily large scale usually 

take place i n the auditorium of the school. In the l a t t e r 

case, however, this expedient i s often regarded as being just 

a b i t ostentatious. 

Up to the present time the administration of the 

school has resisted the use of the auditorium for s t r i c t l y 

p o l i t i c a l purposes. This would, no doubt, make a highly 

advantageous platform for p o l i t i c i a n s who wished to gain 

ground with the Mennonites. 

Several other interesting extra-curricular uses 

of the school may be mentioned i n conclusion here, and these 

have to-do with the promotion of the use of the German language 

amongst the Mennonites. Every Saturday during the winter a 

number of Mennonite children from the surrounding areas come 

to what i s known as "Saturday School" or "German School". 

This i s an innovation that has served many Mennonite com-

munities throughout Canada for a good number of years i n 

providing elementary instruction i n the German language for 

youngsters. Educational methods here have often been inadequate 

and teaching staffs i n s u f f i c i e n t l y trained; a result, no doubt, 



98 

of the half-hearted support that the community gives this 

a c t i v i t y . At the M. E. I,, too, a B r i t i s h Columbia chapter 

of an association for the promotion of the use of the German 

language has had occasional meetings. These are usually 

gatherings of people who vociferously r e s i s t the introduction 

of English into church services and who vigorously support 

a l l things German. I t seems, however, that the use of the 

German language among Mennonites continues to wane, regardless 

of the protests of individuals and organizations such as this 

one. 

What has been said here about the c e n t r a l i t y of the 

M. E. I. applies to the entire settlement of Clearbrook and 

also to other lesser centers within the Mennonite community, 

each one of which has i t s own area of dominance. This factor, 

as well as considerations of the structure and function of a 

wide range of t y p i c a l Mennonite settlement forms are dealt 

with i n the following chapter. 



CHAPTER VII 

SETTLEMENT FORMS 

The holdings of the Mennonites i n the Fraser Valley, 

whether r u r a l and dispersed, r u r a l and nucleated, "rurban" or 

urban i n character, are i n most cases not e a s i l y distinguished 

from those of their non-Mennonite neighbors. This i s a 

r e f l e c t i o n of the r e l a t i v e l y l i b e r a l religious ideas of the 

Mennonites represented here, which allow for modernization 

and the entry into whatever honourable economic opportunities 

present themselves. One may contrast this to more conservative 

Mennonite groups, such as the extremely conservative "Old 

Colony" people of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, who u n t i l recently 

settled i n v i l l a g e s , restricted themselves to agriculture and 

endeavoured to keep out of their l i v e s anything that was i n 

their opinion "worldly". I t i s also, of course, an indication 

of the degree to which Mennonite settlers have been caught up 

into universal trends such as those toward r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n 

i n agriculture and urbanization. 

Farm Types 

There are a number of different farm types i n the 

Fraser Valley, found In non-Mennonite as well as Mennonite 

settlements, which must be considered i n a discussion of 

Mennonite r u r a l settlement i n this area. 

99 



100 

In those r e l a t i v e l y f l a t areas of the Fraser Valley 

covered by post-glacial alluvium (Map 6) and resultant s o i l s 

of the Monroe and Lynden series (Map 7) a farm type based on 

dairying dominates the landscape. Fields are spacious there, 

as much as 10-15 acres each, and hay, pasture and sileage 

crops occupy the greatest acreage. Cash crops such as beans 

or small f r u i t s may occupy several acres. Barbed wires', 

having displaced the old stave fences, i s almost universal now. 

The farmyard on such a holding i s amply l a i d out, 

having a kitchen garden, some old f r u i t trees (newly planted 

orchards seem l i t t l e i n evidence) and, occasionally, some 

landscaping i n front. The buildings are, of course, dominated 

by the barn. Older barns, b u i l t sometime before World War II 

or even before the depression, usually have a straight peaked 

roof, a lean-to type of stable for cattle and a central storage 

area often reaching down to the ground (Figure 5). The newer 

barns that have largely replaced these old structures usually 

have a hip roof, two storeys and a substantial s i l o attached 

(Figure 5)• Low annexes may extend to one side or another to 

house c a t t l e . A track extending out to a sizeable manure p i l e 

i s usually there. Near the barn one finds the other necessary 

outbuildings; the milkhouse, the machine shed, a garage for 

the family car and the truck, as well as swine and poultry 

shelters. The house on such a farm i s i n many cases now a 

new, modern bungalow which has replaced the old box-like 

two-storey farmhouse. 

In the more highly relieved Abbotsford area, where 



Figure 5. Barn Types i n the Fraser Valley 
a. An early dairy barn, of the type s t i l l to be seen 

i n the Sumas, Sardis, Chilliwack areas and elsewhere. 
b. A modern, hip-roof barn of the type that i s generally 

replacing the above type. 



1 0 1 

late g l a c i a l alluvium of a pitted and undulating configuration 

and resultant Whatcom s o i l s mantle the surface (Maps 6 and 7), 

farming "becomes more intensive and the average size of 

holdings decreases. Agriculture of a mixed nature, depending 

mainly on dairying, poultry and small f r u i t s , i s carried on 

there. The dairy herds are usually smaller than those on 

lowland areas, and hence the dairy barns need not be as large. 

The chicken barns, however, are larger and more important i n 

the overall farm economy. Strawberries and raspberries take 

up considerable acreage on every farm. 

In the period when new farm land was being won from 

the forest on a large scale i n this area, the numerous stumps 

and the undulating topography made every cleared acre a r e a l 

achievement. This land was then divided into r e l a t i v e l y 

small f i e l d s , some as small as one or two acres, and put to 

a variety of uses. The nature of cash crops and the modest 

feed requirements of small herds made these f i e l d s p r a c t i c a l . 

The fences of the early days were of cedar poles, assembled 

i n a variety of ways. Now, of course, fences here are of 

wire as well. 

The farmyard I t s e l f , i n view of the high value of 

cleared land, was usually kept as small as possible. On many 

farms i n the Abbotsford area these small farmyards, with their 

closely grouped buildings, are s t i l l i n evidence (Figure 6 ) . 

The barn i s most often of the hiproof type, but i t i s stubbier 

than those found on the flatlands of Sumas and Chilliwack 

because herds are usually smaller here. I t i s almost always 



Figure 6. Abbotsford Farmland 
A view of farmland that was cleared from an area infested 

with numerous heavy stumps. The picture was taken on Emerson 
Road, near the international border (Map 8), looking eastward. 



102 

two-storied over part or a l l of i t s floor plan and has the 

manure track, milking machine and other fixtures of the larger 

dairy barn. I t may face i n any direction, since there i s no 

prevailing wind strong enough to make any special alignment 

necessary. In close proximity to the barn i s the milkhouse, 

usually smaller than those on f l a t l a n d farms simply because 

there i s less milk to handle. The poultry barn may be a one-

storied long, low structure or a two-storied a f f a i r . Brooder 

houses and poultry ranges usually take up considerable space 

around i t , unless the newest methods of raising the birds on 

wire platforms have been adopted. 

In this area too, many of the o r i g i n a l houses have 

been replaced by modern structures. The range of styles, 

corresponding to some degree to the times when they were b u i l t , 

may be observed on the accompanying photographs (Figure 7). 

Since the farmyard i s generally small i t i s possible to keep 

i t t i d i e r than a large farmyard i n Sumas or Chilliwack, to 

landscape I t and plant decorative plants. Traditionally, 

the Mennonite farmer has prided himself on a neat and tidy 

yard, and i t i s maintained by many of them that one may s t i l l 

differentiate their farms from those of their non-Mennonite 

neighbors on this basis. I t i s doubtful whether this could 

actually be substantiated. 

A growing number of the smaller farms of the 

Abbotsford area, as well as many other areas of the Fraser 

Valley, no longer f u l l y support the people l i v i n g on them. 

Among farms of this type there are a number of long, narrow 



Figure 7. Mennonite Houses i n the Abbotsford Area 
a. A pioneer home redecorated and kept i n good condition. 
b. More recently b u i l t homes along Huntingdon Road 

(Map 8 ) . The one i n the foreground i s a home b u i l t i n the late 
194-0's or early '50's. The one i n the background i s a modern 
home of the type seen throughout the area. 



103 

holdings noticeable i n the s o l i d l y Mennonite areas around 

Clearbrook. These were the products of hasty subdivision i n 

a time of a g r i c u l t u r a l "boom", when i t was possible to make 

a l i v i n g on a small acreage. Now they are undoubtedly a 

highly uneconomic arrangement of property, for f i e l d s and 

barns often remain unused and uncared-for while the owner 

works at a gob. The Matsqui municipality passed a by-law 

i n 1957 that makes It compulsory to keep 10% of the periphery 

of a newly surveyed piece of a g r i c u l t u r a l property fronting 

on a road. This would tend to prevent the creation of further 

excessively narrow farm plots. Undoubtedly similar l e g i s l a t i o n 

exists i n most other r u r a l municipalities by now. 

An interesting arrangement of buildings and f i e l d s 

may often be found on these small narrow farms. A house faces 

the road, behind i t i s the poultry barn which i s set p a r a l l e l 

to the long boundaries of the l o t , and back of this are, 

successively, berry patches, pasture and hay f i e l d s , and 

woodlots at the very back. 

Many other forms of small a g r i c u l t u r a l holdings, 

occupied by Mennonites as well as non-Mennonites, may be found 

on the peripheries of expanding urban areas and elsewhere. 

Their owners may be keeping poultry, several head of cattle 

or other animals. Some part of the acreage i s usually devoted 

to vegetables and small f r u i t s . A l l these pursuits are 

usually sidelines to an outside job. It i s this type of a 

farm, l a i d out haphazardly In great numbers along many of the 

main roads of the Fraser Valley, that gives r i s e to extremely 



104 

cluttered and unsightly settlement. When uncontrolled sub-

d i v i s i o n and the erection of substandard r e s i d e n t i a l units 

follows, one has what might well be called "rurban" slums. 

Small Non-Farm Nucleations 

In a number of the larger Mennonite settlement areas 

one may find an interesting non-farm nucleation, which provides 

such basic services as the general store, the automotive 

service station and possibly a lumber yard or r e a l estate 

o f f i c e . Most nucleations of this type are closely related 

to a church s i t e , because people building non-farm residences 

i n an otherwise r u r a l area are often r e t i r i n g couples, and 

they prefer to l i v e near their place of worship. Commercial 

establishments, owned or operated by Mennonites, take 

advantage of this development and make of the l i t t l e center 

something approaching the "hamlet" i n size and function. 1 

In the stores of these nucleations one may e a s i l y detect an 

a i r of f a m i l i a r i t y and probably even hear the Low German dialect 

being spoken. (Fc^re.\y) flppe^;* e) 

Wherever there i s a continued Impetus for growth, 

as seems to be the case i n the new "South Abbotsford" 

nucleation (Map 12), such a settlement may develop into 

something larger and more s i g n i f i c a n t . In general, however, 

these small centers seem to be very limited i n their potential 

for expansion. Most of them were established prior to the 

post-war increase i n the mobility of the r u r a l shopper and 

have since been reduced to supplying incidentials. The fact 



l o £ / 106 

that very l i t t l e new commercial building or renovation of 

existing stores Is going on seems to indicate that they have 

become commercially s t a t i c . 

Prominent Mennonite Centers 

The two nucleations of Yarrow (Pop. approximately 

4000) and Clearbrook (Pop. approximately 3000) deserve 

special analyses of their functions and structures. Most of 

the people i n both centers, as was pointed out i n Chapter V, 

are Mennonites. Within these two places one finds the 

clearest expression of current Mennonite settlement trends, 

as well as the s o c i a l and religious trends, which can only 

be referred to b r i e f l y here. 

Yarrow 

Yarrow'd wedge-like s i t e i s very neatly bounded to 

the north by the Vedder River, to the south by the mountains 

and to the east by the Monroe Clay Loam s o i l boundary (Map 7). 

The promoter of the settlement, Mr. Eckert, happened to own 

the major part of this triangle of land. As soon as the 

Mennonites had acquired i t from him the stage was set for the 

development of a thriving community. 

Yarrow's f i r s t transportation links with other 

settlements were the B. C. E l e c t r i c Railway, which maintained 

a small station at the head of Wilson Road, and the old 

Mountain Road, which skirted the f l a t s l e f t by drained Sumas 

Lake. In time the Trans Canada Highway superseded both of 



107 
these routes i n importance, which gave Yarrow an "off-the-

main-road" character and made i t for a l l p r a c t i c a l purposes a 

* Mennonite reserve. In spite of the fact, however, that the 

greatest numerical concentration of Mennonites i s s t i l l i n 

Yarrow, the f o c a l point of Mennonitism i n the Fraser Valley-

has become Clearbrook. A placard at the junction of the 

highway and' the road that leads to Yarrow advertises the 

"scenic" route to Cultus via Yarrow, i l l u s t r a t i n g thereby 

this main dilemma of the town and efforts made to improve the 

situation. 

In i t s form, Yarrow seems l i k e an antenuated, 

branching a g r i c u l t u r a l v i l l a g e . The properties along roads, 

or "streets", such as Eckert, F i r s t , Wilson or even Yarrow 

Central are i n many ways l i k e holdings on either side of the 

main street of a "Strassendorf" (Map 1 3 ) . The old pattern 

of v i l l a g e settlement i n Russia, besides being evident i n 

the arrangement of the streets and properties, i s also 

noticeable i n many of the individual farms. The orchard i s 

at the front, the house i s set back among the trees, the farm 

buildings are close behind the house and back of i t a l l 

stretch the garden plots and the f i e l d s . Gradually, of course, 

this pattern i s bemg obscured as purely r e s i d e n t i a l housing i n 

modern styles i s being b u i l t . 

The Yarrow farm, as the study of a map of property 

lines or of an a i r photo reveals, i s predominantly a small 

one — seldom reaching a size of ten acres. The land i s 

usually under Intensive use. The raspberry, discovered more or 



THE STRUCTURAL PATTERN OF THE YARROW SETTLEMENT 

T Y P E S O F B U I L D I N G S F O U N D IN T H E S E T T L E M E N T 

Commercial 

Industrial 

1200 feel 

A S I E M E N S 



109 

less by t r i a l and error as the most advantageous crop for the 

area, dominates. This, as was already indicated, i s partly 

the result of s o i l conditions which provide adequate f e r t i l i t y 

and good sub-soil drainage and also the result of advantageous 

climatic conditions. The numerous f r u i t trees one sees i n the 

area are now proving somewhat of an embarrassment because of 

the lack of markets for the s l i g h t l y substandard f r u i t that 

i s produced. Some farms s t i l l have their cows and flocks of 

poultry, but many dairy and poultry barns now stand unused. 

As might be expected on small acreages, the buildings 

on the average Yarrow farm are closely grouped together around 

a rather small yard. The barns on many farms Include a 

d i s t i n c t i v e , stubby dairy barn that i s just big enough for one 

or two cows, and a small, low poultry barn (Figure 8). Where 

these have become v e s t i g i a l they are usually i n poor repair 

and unpainted. The houses show an interesting d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n 

according to styles and economic conditions prevailing at the 

time of their construction. On some farms the simplest of 

pioneer farmhouses i s s t i l l i n evidence, with i t s four straight 

walls and pitched roof. As prosperity came to the community 

new and more pretentious buildings were erected. These are 

the box-like, two-storey houses with porches and dormer windows. 

This form went through a number of variations and then was 

displaced by the low, modern bungalow that usually features 

gaudy coloring, stucco and wood exterior f i n i s h , asphalt 

shingles and false fronts of brick and stonework, a l l set near 

to the street and landscaped (Figure 9 ) . 



Figure 8„ Typical Small Yarrow Farm 
The small barn for one or two cows and the chicken barn 

near i t , just big enough for a small flock, i l l u s t r a t e the 
scale of farming i n this area. The raspberry f i e l d s are the 
most important elements i n the economy of most Yarrow farms 
l i k e this one. 



Figure 9. Mennonite Houses in Yarrow 
a. A substantial farm house of the type built throughout 

the area during the economic upsurge of the late 1940's. 
b. Houses dating back to the 1940's, and even to the 

pioneer period, stand in sharp contrast to the modern bungalow. 
View is along Yarrow's main street. 

c. Crowded low value housing around the Mennonite 
Brethren Church (Map 1 3 ) . Yarrow Bible School is in the 
foreground. 



110 

The purely r e s i d e n t i a l property, as differentiated 

from the small farm, i s similar to modern r e s i d e n t i a l housing 

everywhere. As far as quality i s concerned, there i s a 

gradation from the very well b u i l t and spaciously landscaped 

houses of the community's leading citizens to the somewhat 

small and unsubstantial yet neat housing that may be found 

near the Mennonite Brethren Church. 

as well as the dominance of Mennonite businessmen, may be seen 

i n the following l i s t of businesses. Where businesses were 

owned and operated by the same people the a f f i l i a t i o n of the 

owner i s given; and where the business i s a branch of a 

parent company the a f f i l i a t i o n of the manager i s given. 

The range of commercial services offered i n Yarrow, 

Table XII 

Commercial Services of Yarrow - 1958 

Number Type of Business A f f i l i a t i o n of Owner or Manager 

Mennonite Non-Mennonite 

1 
3 
2 
2 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

General Store 
Grocery 
Garage 
Clothing 
Hardware 
Radio and E l e c t r i c 
Cartage 
Farm feeds and equipment 
Lumber yard 
Furniture and upholstery 
Jewellery 
Real Estate and Finance 
Blacksmith 
Barber shop 
Cafe and Pool H a l l 
B. C. Telephone Office 
Bank of Commerce 
Post Office 

1 
3 
2 
2 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

1 
1 

1 



I l l 

I t i s obvious that by far the majority of people 

serving the community commercially are Mennonites. They 

provide the day-to-day essentials and some luxury goods as 

well. For major purchases people go to Chilliwack or even 

to Vancouver. It i s notable, too, that the community has only 

meager amusement f a c i l i t i e s — which does not mean, however, 

that i t i s entirely free of the rowdyism often associated 

with a small town theatre and licensed premises. In most of 

Yarrow's shops, even more so than i n the shops of the smaller 

centers referred to e a r l i e r , one finds an a i r of f a m i l i a r i t y . 

One i s quite l i k e l y to hear a good deal of Low German or High 

German spoken there at any given time. 

I t is interesting to note that the entire commercial 

section i s arranged i n a bi-nodal fashion along the Yarrow 

Central Road. The reason for this separation l i e s largely i n 

the location of the two churches and i n the nature of the 

junctions of Eckert Road and Dyke Road with Yarrow Central. 

Mennonite churches have often been located on land donated by 

one of the church members. In communities where both of the 

main sub-groups have congregations, moreover, these plots are 

not l i k e l y to be located too closely together, since to the 

Mennonites the difference between General Conference and 

Mennonite Brethren i s highly significant and these two groups 

are not comfortable i n too-close company. In Yarrow each 

church has attracted residences and commerce around i t , with 

the result that a straggling line of businesses, having a 

concentration at either end, stretches i n an inconvenient 



life 

manner through the toym. (One sees a similar pattern of 

attraction on r e s i d e n t i a l building i n the Greendale settlement 

(Map 14). The commerce i n this l i t t l e center, however, has 

gathered around a strategic intersection.) The rough coin-

cidence of two T-form intersections with the location of the 

churches has also contributed very s i g n i f i c a n t l y to the 

bi-nodality of Yarrow. One cross-form intersection, l i k e that 

of Clearbrook Road with the Trans Canada Highway i n the town 

of Clearbrook, would probably have made for a much more 

concentrated commercial zone. 

The industries of this community, as may be expected, 

consist of f r u i t processing and packing plants, as well as one 

box factory. The folloy/ing table l i s t s the concerns with the 

a f f i l i a t i o n of their owners and managers: 

Table XIII 

Industries of Yarrov? - 1958 3 

Concern Owner or Owners Manager 
Hon- Non-

Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite 

E a r l Pearcy and 
Son (Packing Plant) 

Clearbrook Frozen 
Foods 

P a c i f i c Coast Canners 
Ocean Spray Canners 
Yarrow Box Factory 

Two of these plants, that of the P a c i f i c Coast 

Canners and Ocean Spray Canners, are located just south of 

the town proper on the B. C. E l e c t r i c Railway. The Box Factory 

X 

X 

X 

X 
X 

X 

X 

X 

X 
X 



T H E S T R U C T U R A L P A T T E R N OF T H E G R E E N D A L E 
S E T T L E M E N T 

I 
22 

L E G E N D 

o 

N ' O N - F A R M R E S I D E N C E 

C O M M E R C E 

C H U R C H 

S C H O O L 

F A R M R E S I D E N C E 

1 / 8 1/4 M l 

MAP 14 A. SIEMENS 



114 

i s located near the Yarrow Lumber Yard on Yarrow Central 

Road and Clearbrook Frozen Foods have their plant just West 

of the town proper. I t may be noted from the table that 

most of the investment for these plants has come from 

Non-Mennonite sources. This was not the case before the 

collapse of the Co-op, which was discussed i n an e a r l i e r 

chapter, and i s , no doubt, a further indication of the economic 

decline of the community. 

The i n s t i t u t i o n s of Yarrow, of course, are dominated 

by the two churches. The Mennonite Brethren Church is by far 

the larger and has served, as was already pointed out, as an 

important meeting place for Mennonites from eastern Lower 

Fraser Valley congregations as well as those of the entire 

Valley. The General Conference Church i s s t i l l housed i n i t s 

unpretentious f i r s t structure on Eckert Road (Figure 14). The 

Sharon Mennonite Collegiate Institute, Yarrow's private high 

school, operated for a period i n the building now occupied by 

the public Yarrow Elementary and Junior High School. After a 

lapse of seven years the school was revived and i n s t a l l e d i n 

new premises on Stewart Road, where i t i s now serving a growing 

student body (Figure 4). A Bible School, conducted i n a 

building on the Mennonite Brethren church grounds, ceased to 

operate i n 1958* 

It may be said i n summary that Yarrow remains B. C.'s 

most d i s t i n c t i v e l y Mennonite settlement i n population as well 

as i n form and overall character. In It are preserved, even 



115 

If they are economically "passe", numerous small farms l a i d 

out on old v i l l a g e patterns. I t i s to be regretted that there 

hangs over the whole community an atmosphere of decline, as 

many young people leave to find occupation elsewhere, as farms 

become p a r t i a l l y or completely unproductive and new construction 

lags. I t seems doubtful that any new impetus w i l l be found 

to r e v i t a l i z e i t and set i t on a path toward new growth. 

Clearbrook 

The settlement of Clearbrook, located on a g l a c i a l 

floodplain and on the gravelly s o i l of the Lynden Series 

(Maps 6 and 7 ) , offered only a limited a g r i c u l t u r a l potential 

to i t s f i r s t Mennonite s e t t l e r s . The land could sustain 

quickly maturing f i e l d crops such as strawberries and rasp-

berries, but i t was best suited for the limited demands of 

poultry culture. I t could moreover, be e a s i l y cleared of the 

brush that had grown on i t after the forest f i r e of 1928. 

The potential of the area lay not i n agriculture, 
but i n the r e l a t i v e l y f l a t topography that would allow easy 
r e s i d e n t i a l growth i n a l l directions, and i n the advantageous 
proximity to the Fraser Valley's main highway artery. As the 
Mennonite settlements of the Valley increased, the congregations 
forming at Clearbrook came to be more and more at the geo-
graphical center of a l l of them. Once the M. E. I. had been 
moved to i t s present location on the northwest corner of 
Clearbrook and Old Yale Roads and business of various descriptions 
had begun to locate near the junction of Clearbrook Road and 



116 

the Trans Canada Highway, this centrality could be developed 

to advantage. 

In order to introduce Clearbrook's functions as a 

center and i t s resulting form, two aspects of i t s development 

are discussed and i l l u s t r a t e d below. 

I t i s Interesting to note, f i r s t of a l l , the retreat 

of brush vegetation as settlers entered the area and cleared 

plots for a g r i c u l t u r a l , r e s i d e n t i a l and other uses. The two 

attached maps, one showing the vegetation pattern i n 1935 and 

the other that of 1954, indicate the extensive progress of 

clearing i n some twenty years (Map 1 5 ) . This cleared area 

provided the land for numerous small farms which are s t i l l i n 

evidence around the present town (Figure 10). The patches of 

trees interspersed among the houses give the settlement the 

"half-hidden" character i t has today when viewed from nearby 

h i l l s (Figure 1 1 ) . 

Two land use maps of Clearbrook, the one prepared i n 

1954 and the other i n 1958 (Map 1 6 ) , i l l u s t r a t e the rapid 

expansion of Clearbrook i n that period, p a r t i c u l a r l y the spread 

of r e s i d e n t i a l areas. The commercial sections have been 

extended and modernized too, but the rapid subdivision of land 

and the building of new homes remains the most remarkable 

development. 

To outline the present form of the Clearbrook s e t t l e -

ment we may begin with the farms that are s t i l l to be seen 

around the periphery of the nucleation and along the roads 





Figure 10. Clearbrook and Surroundings 
A view of Clearbrook and the surrounding farm land. 

The nucleation i t s e l f is hidden behind trees i n the middle 
and on the right of the photo, Mt. Baker can be seen i n the 
distance. 



Figure 11. Views of Clearbrook 
a. Clearbrook as seen from the northwest. 
b. Clearbrook as seen from the southwest. 



C H A N G E S IN T H E S T R U C T U R A L P A T T E R N O F C L E A R B R O O K 

9 5 4 

Commerce 

Industry 

Non-Farm Residence 

Light-Farm Residence 

958 
L E G E N D 

ffffPH Institut ions 
111U Parkland 

- - Boundaries of the Clearbrook Water District 

— • Abandoned Railway 

Note'- Non-Farm Residence and L i g h t - F a r m R e s i d e n c e were not d i f f e r e n t i a t e d for 1 9 5 8 since the rapid 
subdivision of small farms was making this less and less meaningful. Most new residential building 
since 1 9 5 4 was n o n - f a r m in c h a r a c t e r . 0 1/4 i 1/2 =fc= I m i . 

M A P 1 6 A . S I E M E N S 



119 
branching out from i t . Farmland i n this area i s held by 

many persons on a speculative basis, i n anticipation of a 

time when advantageous subdivision w i l l be possible. Livestock 

are s t i l l being kept and f i e l d crops grown, but many of the 

barns are becoming v e s t i g i a l and a good number of f i e l d s l i e 

unused. Yftien one compares these farms and ones that existed 

i n the area before the onset of urbanization with the farms of 

Mennonite settlers i n Chilliwack and Greendale, or even with 

the farms of the surrounding Abbotsford countryside one notices 

that the average Clearbrook farm i s poorer i n appearance. 

This was attributable i n the early years of the settlement 

largely to the very limited a g r i c u l t u r a l potential of the s o i l . 

Now the p o s s i b i l i t y of further urbanization contributes to 

the run-down appearance of many of the farm buildings, because 

the owners see no reason to keep up buildings that w i l l probably 

soon be removed. I t must be pointed out, however, that several 

model poultry farms do exist just north of Clearbrook on 

Clearbrook Road. The owners developed hatcheries i n connection 

with their poultry barns, and with careful management have 

prospered. 

Many farms engulfed i n Clearbrook's advancing 

periphery have experienced the familiar process of succession 

i n their land use. Fields are cleared of fences and barns, 

streets and lots are l a i d out and the building of modern 

bungalows begins — leaving the old farmhouse as an oddity 

among them. In the meantime the farmer has realized a tidy 

p r o f i t , and possibly has had the new street named after him. 



120 

The residences of Clearbrook may be differentiated 

somewhat s i m i l a r l y as those of Yarrow. One finds remodelled 

and painted homes of pioneer days. There are the box-like, 

two-storied homes of the immediate post-war period too. In 

Clearbrook, even more than In Yarrow, one finds groups of 

small, unsubstantial but neat houses crowded together. The 

type of house that i s most prevalent, of course, i s the 

modern bungalow, erected during the r e l a t i v e l y recent period 

of Clearbrook's rapid expansion (Figure 1 2 ) . The changes i n 

r e s i d e n t i a l areas between 1954- and 1958 have involved this 

type of a home almost exclusively. 

'Behind some of these differences i n the nature of 

Clearbrook r e s i d e n t i a l areas l i e developments i n the building 

regulations ot Matsqui Municipality. In the period up to the 

early 1950's, subdivision and building of residences proceeded 

i n an unplanned manner. Haphazard housing developments "were 

the result. Any orderliness that was brought into subdivisions 

during this time resulted simply from agreements between 

developers and the municipality. Effective control by the 

Municipality began i n 1955, when a building by-law was passed, 

requiring the i n s t a l l a t i o n of certain sanitation f a c i l i t i e s 

to the satisfaction of inspectors and regulating the size of 

lots somewhat. More specific by-laws were passed i n 1956 

and 1957, stipulating certain dimensions for l o t s , careful 

location of houses on lots and so on. The values that houses 

should have i n particular areas have not yet been expressly 

put into law, but the existing and contemplated restrictions 



Figure 1 2 . Mennonite Buildings in Clearbrook 
a. A farm of the type seen on the peripheries of 

Clearbrook. 
b. Modern bungalows along Clearbrook Road (Map 8 or 16), 
c. More expensive houses on the heights overlooking the 

town on the northwest. 



121 

w i l l automatically bring about the construction of reasonably 

attractive and functional homes. 

I t may be noted here, i n passing, that Clearbrook 

too i s developing i t s own higher class r e s i d e n t i a l d i s t r i c t . 

A number of good quality houses are located on the r i s e of 

land northwest of the town, where lots with excellent views 

may be obtained. CF"\«"« >a) 

establishment of a store on the southeast corner of Clearbrook 

and the highway by a certain Mr. Harter. This store, even 

though i t changed ownership, remained the only commercial 

establishment i n the area u n t i l the early 1940's. At this 

time Mennonite businesses began to move i n , f i r s t a garage, 

then a jewellery shop and soon numerous others. The dominance 

of the Mennonite businessman has been maintained, and today 

one may quite easily shop for most of one's needs here without 

having to speak English. 

commercial establishments of the nucleation and shows the 

a f f i l i a t i o n of the owners or branch managers. 

The commerce of Clearbrook began i n 193& with the 

The following table c l a s s i f i e s the present 

Table XIV 

Commercial Services of Clearbrook - 19 5 8 4 

Number Type of Business Owners Managers Hon- Non-
Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite 

3 
4 

Grocery 
Automotive Service 

2 
3 

1 
1 



Table XIV 
(continued) 

122 

Number Type of Business Owners Managers 
Non- Non-

Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite Mennonite 

1 Hardware 1 
1 Building Supply 1 
3 Farm Equipment 1 
2 Farm Feed 1 
4 Clothing 
2 Furniture and Appliances 2 
2 Jewellery 2 
2 Book and Music 2 
1 Photo 1 
1 Pharmacy 1 
1 Auto Metal 1 
2 Plumbing and Heating 2 
1 E l e c t r i c and Radio 1 
3 Auto Courts 1 
l Beauty Shop 1 
l Barber Shop 1 
3 Cafe 2 
1 Variety 1 
l General Repair 
1 Real Estate 1 
1 Bank 
1 Post Office 

Here again i t i s clear that, except for the obvious 

lack of businesses providing entertainment, there i s a f u l l 

range of goods and services available to the people of the 

community. I t i s notable that the general store no longer 

r e a l l y exists there, i t s place having been taken by the super-

market and s p e c i a l i t y shops. A number of businesses are i n 

keen competition. These include firms providing for food, 

clothing, automotive and farm needs. A good number of others, 

however, s t i l l enjoy the advantages of being the only shops of 

their kind i n the community. Notable i n this respect i s the 

community's largest single firm, Dueck Building Supplies, whose 



123 
competition no one, u n t i l recently, has been w i l l i n g to face. 

That a community of this type has special needs may be seen 

i n some of the grocery stores that s e l l foods favoured by 

Mennonites and also i n the two book and music stores that 

provide certain texts for M. E. I. students, music and 

instruments for a generally music-loving group of people and 

religious a r t i c l e s suited to the Mennonite f a i t h . 

I t must be added that, since the summer of 1958 when 

this survey was begun, several changes have taken place i n 

the pattern of Clearbrook commerce. A shopping center has 

been b u i l t on the northwest corner of Clearbrook Road and the 

highway, and new businesses, such as a used car l o t , have been 

added. A new commercial and i n d u s t r i a l area has been opened 

up on the highway just east of the community through the 

location there of a trucking firm and the new receiving plant 

of the Abbotsford Growers Co-op Union. No doubt this w i l l 

become i n time a part of the expanding town i t s e l f . Some of 

the characteristics of Clearbrook*s commercial area may be seen 

i n the accompanying photographs (Figure 1 3 ) . 

The industry of Clearbrook i s limited to the f r u i t 

packing plant of Sunripe F r u i t Packers and the new Co-op plant 

just going into operation. These supply work for only a small 

number of the settlement 1s breadwinners. Others work to provide 

goods and services for the population, commute to places of work 

outside of the community or depend on private incomes and pensions. 

The institutions of the settlement have already been 



•f i4 

Figure 13. Clearbrook's Commercial Core 
a. The commercial section as seen in 1958. The corner 

store is the oldest business establishment in the nucleation. 
b. The same corner location in 1959. Supermarkets of 

this type were built in a number of places in the area and 
represent the most radical change in the structure of Clearbrook1s 
commercial core. 



124 
dealt with i n part and need only be mentioned here. They 

include the large buildings of the junior and senior divisions 

of the M. E. I., the Bible School b u i l t recently just north 

of the M. E. I. on Clearbrook Road (Figure 4), and the two 

churches (Figure 14). 

A photographic comparison of a number of points i n 

the town, as they looked i n 1954 and as they are now, are 

included i n this study as a further evidence of the dynamics 

of growth within this settlement (Figure 13). This growth 

may very well continue for some time. Physically, the only 

barrier that presents i t s e l f to the spread of the town i s 

the upland to the northwest. This may be turned to advantage, 

however, by the lay-out of preferred view l o t s . Economic 

barriers, i f they do present themselves, w i l l probably come 

i n the form of a scarcity of employment i n surrounding areas. 

Increased commuting may preclude this and allow Clearbrook to 

exist as a predominantly r e s i d e n t i a l town. It i s d i f f i c u l t 

to foresee what other barriers may present themselves to the 

growth of this settlement, but developments i n former s e t t l e -

ments i n Prussia and Russia seem to point to the fact that 

i t i s not i n the group's best s o c i a l and religious interests 

to settle too compactly. The undesirable s o c i a l attitudes 

and religious stagnation that often result from such settlement 

may make residence i n Clearbrook less attractive i n the future. 

Some further mention must be made, i n conclusion, 

of the Important characteristics of Clearbrook 1s population) 

since the people are most responsible for the form and character, 



F i g u r e 1 4 A . M e n n o n i t e C h u r c h e s 

a . E a s t A l d e r g r o v e M e n n o n i t e B r e t h r e n , b . S t r a w b e r r y 
H i l l M e n n o n i t e B r e t h r e n , c . Y a r r o w M e n n o n i t e B r e t h r e n , 
d . M i s s i o n G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e , e . G r e e n d a l e G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e 
f . C h i l l i w a c k M e n n o n i t e B r e t h r e n , g . C l e a r b r o o k M e n n o n i t e 
B r e t h r e n , h . C l e a r b r o o k G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e , 1 . M a t s q u i 
M e n n o n i t e B r e t h r e n , 

N o t e : T h e t e r m s " M e n n o n i t e " , " F i r s t M e n n o n i t e " o r " U n i t e d 
M e n n o n i t e " a r e u s e d i n some c a s e s t o d e s i g n a t e c h u r c h e s t h a t 
a r e h e r e t e r m e d " G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e " . T h i s s i m p l i f i c a t i o n 
f a c i l i t a t e s t h e d i v i s i o n i n t o t h e t w o m a i n s u b - g r o u p s . 



Figure 14B. Mennonite Churches 
a. Old South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren (now a wood-

working shop), b. Bradner Church of Christ (Mennonite), 
c. West Abbotsford General Conference, d. East Chilliwack 
General Conference, e. Arnold Mennonite Brethren, f. Yarrow 
General Conference, g. East Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren 
(including the old church building and the newer one beside i t ) , 
h. Fraserview Mennonite Brethren (Vancouver), i . Vancouver 
General Conference. 



1 2 5 
of any settlement. Unfortunately l i t t l e exact information 
beyond that already quoted i n the s t a t i s t i c a l chapter i s 
available. Church records generally proved of l i t t l e overall 
value for this study, because they were either i n process of 
revision or did not include the information necessary. I t 
may be safely said, however, that a good number of the 
community's citizens, probably more than i s usual for a 
settlement of this size, are retired folk who find a location 
near the churches, shops, their friends and the M. E. I. 
auditorium very amenable. This higher than average proportion 
of older people has tended to produce an excessively conser-
vative church policy, much to the d i s l i k e of the younger 
generation. The proportion of younger families i s increasing, 
however, and this i s raising the problem of providing 
recreational f a c i l i t i e s for the youngsters. Loitering, 
vandalism and petty crime are already well known i n the 
community. 

The development and structure of the settlement of 
Clearbrook, therefore, i s interesting because here i s an 
example of ethnic homogeneity paralleled i n very few other 
places i n our province. Here i s also an expression of changing 
cultural patterns i n terms of settlement forms. Within this 
community we have i l l u s t r a t e d trends that are taking place 
among other ethnic groups i n our province and other parts of 
Canada.5 

Urban Settlement i n Vancouver 

The last major area of Mennonite settlement remaining 



1 2 f c 

for discussion i s that within the completely urban environment 

of southeast Vancouver. There are other places, such as 

Abbotsford, Chilliwack and for that matter Clearbrook, where 

Mennonites have settled under essentially urban conditions, but 

these w i l l be omitted here. The trend toward urbanization 

as well as the effects of i t , are best i l l u s t r a t e d i n Vancouver. 

In both the chapter dealing with sequent occupance 

(Chapter IV) and that on s t a t i s t i c s (Chapter V) references 

were made to urbanization trends and resulting conditions. 

These w i l l be reviewed here and supplemented. 

The plotting of Mennonite families, as located with 

the help of church directories, provides a f a i r l y accurate 

picture of the degree of concentration found among them, and 

this i s one of the f i r s t aspects of the form of urban Mennonite 

settlement In which we are interested. There i s a definite 

concentration i n the area bounded on the north by King Edward 

Avenue, on the east by Victoria Drive, on the south by the 

North Arm of the Fraser and on the west by Gamble Street. 

An isopleth map (Map 17) reduces the vague v i s u a l pattern to 

a numerical basis and shows an interesting d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n . 

The number of Mennonite families per unit area increases as 

one moves from the peripheries of the concentration into a 

well defined core. This core coincides roughly with the 

location of the two oldest Mennonite churches in the area. 

A secondary concentration Is clearly evident around the recently 

established Fraserview Mennonite Brethren church. A third 

concentration shows up near the United Mennonite Mission church, 



CONCENTRATION OF MENNONITE 
FAMILIES IN S O U T H E A S T E R N VANCOUVER 

C l/fe 1/4 1/8 mi. i i 1 1 ' 
A . S I E M E N S 



128 
but i n view of the dispersed locations of the members of 

this congregation a correlation i s not warranted. 

After separating the patterns of concentration 

around each individual church from the whole complex one may 

observe a number of differences betv/een these patterns (Map 18). 

The churches with the densest concentrations immediately 

around the church building are the F i r s t United Mennonite 

Church on 52nd Avenue and especially the Vancouver Mennonite 

Brethren Church on 43rd Avenue and Prince Edward Street. 

Transportation was s t i l l an important problem during the 

early 1930's when many Mennonites were coming into the c i t y 

and so they grouped as closely as possible around their most 

important i n s t i t u t i o n . There was no p o s s i b i l i t y for contiguous 

settlement, of course, since the area Into which they came 

was already largely occupied by residences. Any concentration 

that was achieved resulted from the efforts of the individual 

buyer to find property close to that of the others of his 

group. The churches organized at later dates p a r t i c u l a r l y 

the Fraserview Mennonite Brethren Church, show a more evenly 

dispersed d i s t r i b u t i o n of families. This i s a r e f l e c t i o n of 

the fact that these new churches were established to serve 

families already scattered far from the o r i g i n a l core area 

and families coming into the c i t y and settling i n an extensive 

area, a l l of whom f e l t no great need or desire for close 

settlement. 

The houses of Mennonites i n Vancouver do not d i f f e r 



HOUSEHOLDS A S S O C I A T E D WITH V A N C O U V E R ' S FOUR M E N N O N I T E C H U R C H E S 

King,, ' Edward Avt; 

S.East Marine Unve 

FRASERVIEW MENNONITE BRETHREN VANCOUVER MENNONITE BRETHREN FIRST MENNONITE 

One dot represents the household of one of the following: a family; a widow or widower with or utthi.ul c h i l d r e n , 

r e s i d i n g m tlii; family home", seveicil r^iblitigs living together at one a d d r e s s . Churches are 

r e p r e s e n t e d by c r o s s e s . For l o c a t i o n within Vancouver refer to MAP 17, 

VANCOUVER MENNONITE MISSION 

S C A L E 

1/2 1/4 9 . i ' ^ ^ , _ „ 

MAP 18 A SIEMENS 



130 
perceptively i n quality and style from the houses of people 

around them. They are a part of the settlement of people i n 

lower and middle income brackets that one finds generally 

around Main, Fraser and V i c t o r i a Streets. Only a few 

Mennonite households have entered f i r s t class r e s i d e n t i a l 

d i s t r i c t s such as those on Southwest Marine Drive and Granville 

Street. Even where some of the more well-to-do among them 

have b u i l t quite costly homes these are not usually architecturally 

sophisticated. 

The commerce carried on by an increasing number of 

Mennonite businessmen i s not localized i n any one area. It 

i s d i f f i c u l t to differentiate their establishments from those 

around them, except perhaps i n one respect, and that is their 

usual aversion to dealing i n entertainment or any a r t i c l e s 

that their religious position might lead them to consider as 

"questionable". The large number of Mennonites working i n 

industries, moreover, are not usually employed i n Mennonite 

concerns, nor do the products and services they provide go 

mainly to their own people. It becomes clear, then, that i n 

the urban environment the commercial and i n d u s t r i a l a c t i v i t i e s 

of people l i k e the Mennonites, as well as their residential 

patterns, are submerged i n the bustle of the city's l i f e . 

Of key Importance i n maintaining any sort of 

peculiarity, and giving outward v i s i b l e expression to i t , are 

the churches. Located as centrally as possible among the 

households that are tributary to them, they provide the only 

r e a l focus and central attraction for them. They are not of 



131 
the same stereotyped style as most of those i n the Valley, 

but they are not advanced i n their design either. A photo-

graphic comparison brings out their characteristics quite 

c l e a r l y (Figure 14). 

The only Mennonite schools i n the Vancouver are a 

"Saturday School" of the kind already described (Chapter VI), 

which i s held i n the Vancouver Mennonite Brethren Church, 

and a Bible School conducted i n the evenings i n the Fraserview 

Mennonite Brethren Church. There have been discussions about 

the building of a high school and possibly a Bible college, 

but these are s t i l l very inconclusive. It may be, however, 

that i f and when these are undertaken a new and stronger 

centralizing influence w i l l be f e l t i n the Vancouver Mennonite 

community. 



Footnotes and References 
132 

1 The terra "hamlet" i s defined variously i n different countrie 
For our purposes we may think of i t as a small agglomeration of 
residences and a few service buildings such as a general store 
and possibly a garage. This l i t t l e center may or may not have 
a well established name. I t i s usually not incorporated. 

2 Compiled by f i e l d survey. 

3 Compiled by f i e l d survey. 

4 Compiled from f i e l d survey and information given by 
o f f i c i a l s of the Matsqui Municipal o f f i c e . 

5 Reference i s made here to the Ukrainians, the Doukhobors 
and the Finns; but other groups might well be mentioned too. 
Sources of information on the above three are entered i n the 
bibliography at the end of this study. 



CHAPTER V I I I 

CONCLUSIONS 

Although the significance of most facts that emerged 
from description and analysis in this study was pointed out 
immediately, it is useful to make several summarizing con-
clusions, particularly regarding the marks of peculiarity 
s t i l l discernable within Mennonite settlements, the disap-
pearance of distinctions on the other hand, as well as the 
social and cultural significance of data treated here pri-
marily from a geographic point of view. 

The large scale movements of Mennonites into the 
city, the conversion of many of their farms into housing 
subdivisions and the rationalization of procedures on the 
remaining farms are a l l evidence of a state of flux within 
the Mennonite home, congregation and community at large. 
Similar things are taking place, of course, in the settlements 
of other ethnic groups within British Columbia and elsewhere 
in Canada. One might cite as examples the Doukhobors, the 
Finns, the Ukrainians and others.1 For all of these people 
the processes that are changing their settlement patterns 
help to bring about an eventual breakdown of traditionally 
well defined social and cultural patterns. Efficient means 
of communication create new needs and desires; and increased 
prosperity make their fulfillment possible. The characteristic 

1 3 3 



134 
foods, clothes, household appointments, building styles, 

farm groupings and often religious practices as well, give 

way to the modern innovation. The old things are preserved 

with considerable nostalgia by the older folks, but considered 

by younger people as belonging to the closet, the museum or 

l i t e r a t u r e . Outward p e c u l i a r i t y has dwindled; much 

assimilation, merging and melting into the "Canadian whole" 

has taken place — leaving the unanswerable question of 

whether i t was a gain or a loss. 

Evidence has been given i n this study for the 

existence of certain settlement features that make i t possible 

to designate parts of the Fraser Valley as c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y 

Mennonite. In YarroY/, the e a r l i e s t sizeable settlement i n 

the Valley, there i s the old a g r i c u l t u r a l "Strassendorf" 

v i l l a g e form. The individual farms with their orchards and 

flower gardens i n front of the house, mirror elements of the 

Russian Mennonite v i l l a g e farmyard. In other r u r a l areas, 

where compact Mennonite settlement was not possible to the 

same extent, i t i s more d i f f i c u l t to recognize p e c u l i a r i t i e s . 

A general tidiness and orderliness often sets the Mennonite 

farm apart from neighbouring farms, as do some minor features 

such as whitewash on f r u i t tree trunks and the l i k e . James 

Gibson, i n his comparison of Mennonite and Anglo-Saxon farms 

i n the Fraser Valley, makes the point that the Mennonites on 

Monroe s o i l s are preoccupied with'raspberries, whereas the 

Anglo-Saxon farmers are more concerned with dairying. It i s 

certainly true that this crop has been developed very 



135 

extensively by Mennonites i n Chilliwack and Yarrow, as 

their co-operative f a c i l i t i e s for small-fruit processing 

clearly indicate. 

Wherever the Mennonites are found, i n our area as 

elsewhere, the church i s always a central, conspicuous and 

d i s t i n c t i v e settlement feature. It draws Mennonite settlement 

closely around i t s e l f ; i n Yarrow, and to a lesser extent i n 

Greendale, churches of the two subgroups have exerted a p u l l 

strong enough to bring about a binodality i n the structure 

of these centers (Maps 13 and 14), a rare feature anywhere. 

Architecturally, these churches have, up to recent times, 

been constructed on a stereotyped plan. The rather low-pitched 

roof, the wide auditorium, the twin towers and the white 

stucco are features that one sees again and again. The 

Interiors follow a common basic form as well, being closely 

related to the nature of the Mennonite church service. Only 

i n the c i t y are exterior form and i n t e r i o r appointment 

changing somewhat i n basic design (Figure 14). 

In the country, where r u r a l mail delivery i s 

widespread, there i s another indication of Mennonite 

distinctiveness. The t y p i c a l l y Mennonite names on mail boxes 

i n r u r a l Chilliwack, Sumas, Abbotsford or Aldergrove leave 

no doubt as to the ethnic background of their proprietors 

(Table XVI, Appendix B). 

The Mennonite centers such as Clearbrook, Yarrow 

and Greendale seem very similar to most other small nucleations 



136 
i n the province as far as the appearance of their commercial 

cores i s concerned. One characteristic sets them off, however, 

and this i s the absence of theatres and licensed premises — 

an obvious r e s u l t of certain religious principles held i n the 

community. 

On the streets and i n the stores of these centers 

one may s t i l l hear the old West Prussian Low German dialect 

and possibly even some High German being spoken. Usually 

i t w i l l be the older folks, many of whom know l i t t l e or no 

English, who use the Low German, and recently arrived 

immigrants from Europe who use the High German. Among the 

garish placards and refrigerated display cabinets of an 

ultra-modern supermarket i n Canada this sounds rather 

incongruous. 

In spite of a l l the p e c u l i a r i t i e s that persist, 

however, more evidence may be found for the obliteration of 

old forms and practices by new innovations than for their 

preservation. Modern housing, i n styles seen along the 

length of North America's West Coast may be found now even 

i n the most r u r a l of Mennonite settlements In the Fraser 

Valley. Municipal building by-laws have brought about an 

even, e f f i c i e n t use of l o t space that gives streets of new-

houses a similar appearance, whether they be on B r i t i s h 

Columbia's Lower Mainland, i n western Washington or elsewhere. 

And the relentless process of farm subdivision has made of 

many Mennonite and non-Mennonite farms alike, housing 



137 

developments that are essentially urban i n form, and function. 

Strong documentary, p i c t o r i a l and s t a t i s t i c a l 

evidence i s given i n this study for this rapid change of the 

use of a good deal of land from the r u r a l to the non-farm 

or urban. I t is common knowledge, moreover, that more and 

more people are moving into the c i t y to l i v e or commuting 

into i t to work. This whole process has had serious social 

consequences for t r a d i t i o n a l l y agrarian people such as the 

Mennonites. It has tended to disturb close family ties i n 

that It has drawn many young people away from the farm and 

home into non-farm occupations, often at considerable distance 

from the family residence. The return of these people has 

often introduced new ideas and practices into the home, the 

church and c i r c l e s of relatives and friends. I l l of this 

could not but generate a considerable amount of tension and 

estrangement. When these contacts with the "outside" have 

become frequent enough i t has happened that whole families or 

congregations have changed their attitudes and behaviour from 

broadly accepted norms. They have then often regarded as 

excessively sophisticated or even "worldly" and they i n turn 

have looked upon others as backward. Thus, the whole complex 

of economic and cultural influences exerted upon the Mennonites 

i n connection with changes i n settlement as outlined i n this 

study, together with numerous social and personal consider-

ations have gradually brought about a reorientation of the 

value and behaviour patterns of a large segment of this ethnic 

group. This situation must be recognized as the background 



138 

to s t a t i s t i c a l trends and regional description. 

Geographic evidence for reorientation i s also 

persuasive evidence for advanced assimilation into Canadian 

culture and nationality. The term "assimilation" may be 

defined as at 

.... process or processes by which people of 
diverse r a c i a l origins and different cultural 
heritages, occupying a common t e r r i t o r y , 
achieve a c u l t u r a l s o l i d a r i t y s u f f i c i e n t at 
least to sustain a national existence.3 

This process must not be considered as simply an adoption 
of some c u l t u r a l t r a i t s by the immigrant from the people of 
his new homeland. This would be simply acculturation or 
accommodation. I t i s , rather, a two-way exchange, involving 
contributions by both new immigrants and those that have 
been i n the country for a longer period of time, toward a 
common culture. Naturally, this i s seldom, i f ever, completely 
achieved. For the f i r s t generation immigrant, i f he considers 
i t at a l l desirable, assimilation involves intense personal 
c o n f l i c t , as well as the expense of great efforts i n the 
learning of a new language and new modes of l i f e . The elderly 
people i n every Mennonite congregation would readily attest 
to the d i f f i c u l t i e s of assimilation, p a r t i c u l a r l y since most 
of them had to begin the process during the d i f f i c u l t 
depression years when i t was hard to make a bare l i v i n g , to 
say nothing of becoming proficient In English or any of the 
other refinements of the 'culture into which they had come. 



139 

I t must be said too, that many consciously resisted 

assimilation on religious or other personal grounds. People 

who are second generation Immigrants, as are most of the 

Mennonites coming to maturity now i n the Fraser Valley, find 

the c o n f l i c t between themselves and "outsiders" lessened. 

Many elements of their background are reduced to sentimental 

attachments only. They have, on the other hand, to contend 

with a c o n f l i c t between themselves and their eld e r s« i or 

whom i t was almost Impossible to advance as far i n their 

adjustment to the new way of l i f e . The second generation, 

i f i t i s at a l l a l e r t , begins to question, to re-examine and 

to modify t r a d i t i o n a l stands on cultural and certainly also 

on religious matters. This questioning i s more l i k e l y to 

happen i n an urban or semi-urban environment than i n the 

t r a d i t i o n a l a g r i c u l t u r a l environment. 

The third generation, of which the children of 

many young Mennonite couples are now members, probably w i l l 

not ever have any great interest i n the homeland and culture 

of their grandparents. The appeal of a v i t a l r e l i g i o n that 

takes into account the changing s p i r i t u a l needs of modern 

young people w i l l be necessary to keep these growing youngsters 

consciously and creatively associated with their group. An 

appeal based on the d e s i r a b i l i t y to preserve the use of the 

German language and other cultural elements w i l l probably not 

be s u f f i c i e n t . 

I t is interesting to project some of the trends 

that are evident i n the settlement patterns as well as i n the 



140 
changing s o c i a l , c u l t u r a l and religious orientation of the 

Mennonites, and to speculate on the future of this hitherto 

well-defined ethnic group. One may foresee an increase i n 

the urbanization of residence, occupations and mentality. 

These people and a l l of their neighbours are involved i n a 

seemingly inexorable economic process that has i t s repercussions 

i n almost every other aspect of l i f e . E f f i c i e n t media of 

communication and pressure toward conformity and acquisition 

of status symbols within an urban society serve to obscure 

and even to eliminate ethnic p e c u l i a r i t i e s . The influence of 

the ideas and practices of other religious denominations, 

moreover, makes the maintenance of a t r a d i t i o n a l religious 

position d i f f i c u l t as well. Further conformity, therefore, 

seems inevitable i n s o c i a l and cultural matters and i n outward 

religious practices, i f not basic ideals and principles, as 

well. A repetition of unified group action, such as the mass 

movements from country to country that took place only some 

3- 4 decades ago, i s d i f f i c u l t to imagine. Mennonitism, as 

have many other movements, has run into the sands of a modern, 

m a t e r i a l i s t i c and urbanized environment, from which an 

extrication would seem almost impossible. 



141 

Footnotes and References 

1 Sources dealing with each one of these peoples are 
entered i n the bibliography. 

2 J. R. Gibson, A Comparison of Anglo-Saxon, Mennonite 
and Dutch Farms i n the Lower Fraser Valley: A Methodological 
Study i n Areal D i f f e r e n t i a t i o n and the Relative Influences 
of the Physical and Cultural Environments, Unpublished 
Thesis (M. A.), University of Oregon, Corvallis, 1959. 

3 R. E. Parks, "Social Assimilation," Encyclopedia of 
S o c i a l Sciences, Vol. II, p. 281. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Reference Works 

B. C. Natural Resources Conference. B. C. Atlas of Resources. 
Vancouver, B. C., Smith's Lithography, 1 9 5 6 . 

F a i r c h i l d , H. P. Dictionary of Sociology. New York, Philosophical 
Library, 194-4. 

Klassen, C. F. B r i t i s h Columbia Mennonite Encyclopedia, 
v o l . l , 1 9 5 5 , p. 4 3 1 . 

Oxford Regional Economic Atlas, The U.S.S.R. and Eastern 
Europe. "OxfordT Oxford UnTv^rsTty~pTess, 19[o6~. 

Suckan, G. H. "B. C. Provincial Mennonite Brethren Conference," 
Mennonite Encyclopedia, vol. 1, 1 9 5 5 , p» 431. 

2. Books 
Dawson, C. A. Group Settlement, Ethnic Communities i n 

Western Canada, vol. v i i . MacMillan, 1916. 

Dawson, C. A. and Gettys, W. E. An Introduction to Sociology. 
New York, Ronald Press, 1929. 

Ehrt, A. Das Mennoni tent urn i n R.ussland. Berlin and Leipzig, 
Julius Beltz, 1932. 

Francis, E. K. In Search of Utopia. Altona, Manitoba, D. W. 
Friesen, 1955. 

Friesen, P. M. Die Alt-Evangejische Mennonitische Briiderschaft 
, i n Russland" T I 7 B 9-1910) T l l a l l ^ " V e r l a g "Raduga", 

'1911. 

Gibbon, J. M. Canadian Mosaic: The Making of a Northern Nation. 
Toronto, McClelland, 1938• 

Hawthorn, Harry B. The Doukhobors of B r i t i s h Columbia. 
Vancouver, University of B r i t i s h Columbia and Dent, 1955* 

Hubbard, George D. The Geography of Europe. New York, 
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952. 

142 



143 
Kelley, C. C. and Spilsbury, R. H. S o i l Survey of the 

Lower Fraser Valley, Dominion Department of Agriculture, 
Publication No. 6 5 0 , Technical B u l l e t i n 2 0 , 1 9 3 9 , 

Lohrenz, J. H. The Mennonite Brethren Church. Hilsboro, 
Kansas, Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1 9 5 0 . 

Lysenko, Vera. Men i n Sheepskin Coats: A Study i n Assimilation. 
Toronto, Ryerson, 1947. 

Putnam, D. F. et a l . Canadian Regions. Toronto, J. M. Dent 
and Sons, 1 9 5 4 . 

Shoemaker, J. S. Small-Fruit Culture. 1 9 5 5 , pp. 138-145. 
Smith, C. Henry. The Story of the Mennonites. Berne, Indiana, 

Mennonite Book Concern, 1 9 4 5 . 

Unruh, A. H. Die Geschichte der Mennoniten Brudergemeinde. 
Winnipeg, Canada, Christian Press, 1 9 5 5 . 

Unruh, B. H. Die Niederlandisch-Niederdeutschen Hintergrunde 
der Mennonitischen Osterwanderungen im l6T 1 8 , 19ten~ * 
Jahrhundert. Karlsruhe, Germany, H. Schneider, 1 9 5 5 . 

Wiebe, H. "Das Siedlungswerk niederlandischer Mennoniten im 
Welchseltal zwischen Forden und Weisenberg bis Anfang des 
l 8 t e n Jahrhunderts." Wissenschaftliche Beitrage zur 
Geschichte und Landeskunde Ost-Mitteleuropas, v o l . 3 
(manuscript), Marburg-Lahn, Germany, Johann Gottfried 
Herder Institut, 1 9 5 2 . 

WIens, H. J. The Mennonite Brethren Churches of North America. 
Killsboro, Kansas, Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 
1 9 5 4 . 

3. Periodicals 
"A Guide to Maps In Mennonite Books and Periodicals," 

Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol. 2 7 , No. 4 (October 1 9 5 3 ) • 
Bender, H. S. "Mennonite Colleges and Mennonite Research." 

Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol. 16 (January 1942), 
pp. 2 8 - 3 1 . * 

"Doukhobors: Canada's Untractable Minority." World Today, 
vol. 9 (December 1953), pp. 5 2 9 - 5 3 6 . 

Driedger, J. "Farming Among the Mennonites i n West and East 
Prussia, 1534-1945." Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol. 31? 
No. 1 (January 1957), pp. 1 6 - 2 2 . 

Duncan, H. C. "A Study i n the Process of Assimilation." American 
Sociological Society Papers, vol. 2 3 , 1 9 2 9 , pp. 184-187. 



144 
Francis, E. K. "Mennonite Institutions i n Early Manitoba - A 

Study on Their Origins," Agricultural History, x x i i , 1948. 
pp. 144- 1 5 5 . ~ ' ' 

Francis, E. K. "The Russian Mennonites: From Religious to 
Ethnic Group." The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 44, 
No. 2 (September 1948), pp. 1 0 1 - 1 0 7 . 

Horsbrugh. Patrick. "Barns i n Central I l l i n o i s . " Landscape, 
v o l . 8, No. 3 (Spring 1959), p. 1 2 . — 

Humphrey, N. D. "On Assimilation and Acculturation." Psychiatry, 
vol. 6, 1943, pp. 343-345. 

Krahn, C. "Agriculture Among the Mennonites of Russia." 
Mennonite L i f e , vol. x, No. 1 (January 1 9 5 5 ), pp. 14-20. 

Krahn, C. "Mennonite Community L i f e i n Russia." Mennonite 
Quarterly Review, vol. 1 6 , No. 3 (July 1942). 

Krahn, C. "Mennonite Industry i n Russia," Mennonite L i f e , 
vol. x, No. 1 (January 1 9 5 5 ) , pp. 14-20. 

Krahn, C. "The Ethnic Origin of the Mennonites from Russia." 
Mennonite L i f e , v o l . 3 , No. 3 (July 1948), pp. 45-48. 

Fretz, W. "Recent Mennonite Community Building i n Canada." 
Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol. 1 8 , No. 1 (January 1944), 
p~p7T-22." ~™~~ 

Parks, R. E. "Social Assimilation," Encyclopedia of the Social 
Sciences, vol. II, pp. 281- 2 8 3 . 

Penner, H. "West Prussian Mennonites through Four Centuries." 
Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol. 2 3 , No. 4 (October 1949), 
pp. 232-246. ~~ 

Ryder, N. B. "The Interpretation of Origin S t a t i s t i c s . " 
Canadian Journal of Economics and P o l i t i c a l Science, vol. 21, 
No. 4 (November 1 9 5 5 ) , pp. 466-479. 

Simons, S. E. "Social Assimilation." American Journal of 
Sociology, vol. 6 , 1900, pp. 790-820. 

Unruh, B. H. "Dutch Backgrounds of Mennonite Migration of 
the 1 6 t h Century to Prussia." Mennonite Quarterly Review, 
vol. 10, No. 3 (July 1 9 3 6 ) , pp. 173-181. 

Van Cleef, Eugene. "Finnish Settlement In Canada." Geographical 
Review, v o l . 42 ( A p r i l 1 9 5 2 ) , pp. 253-266. 

Wiens, B. B. "Pioneering i n B. C." Mennonite L i f e , vol. 1, 
No. 2 (July 1946), pp. 9- 1 3 . 



145 
Woolston, H. "The Process of Assimilation." Social Forces 

(May 1945), pp. 415-424. 

4. Government Publications 

B r i t i s h Columbia. Department of Agriculture. Climate of 
B r i t i s h Columbia, Report for 1956. V i c t o r i a , Queen's 
Printer, 1957. 

B r i t i s h Columbia. Department of Agriculture. Raspberry 
Culture, Horticultural Circular No. 5 5 . Victoria, King's 
Printer, 1920. 

Chapman, J. D. The Climate of B. C. Reprint, F i f t h B, C. 
Natural Resources Conference, 1 9 5 2 . 

Dominion Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s . Eighth Census of Canada, 1941. 
v o l . II (Population by S o i l Subdivisions). Ottawa, King's 
Printer, 1944. 

Dominion Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s . Ninth Census of Canada, 1951, 
v o l . I (Population). Ottawa, King's Printer, 1 9 5 3 . 

Dominion Department of Transport. Meteorological Division, 
and National Research Council. Division of Building 
Research. Climatological Atlas of Canada. Ottawa, King's 
Printer, 1953. 

Drummond, W. M. and Mackenzie, W. Program and Prospects of 
Canadian Agriculture (Royal Commission on Canada's 
Economic Prospects). Hull, Quebec, Queen's Printer and 
Controller of Stationery, 1 9 5 7 . 

Smith, J. M. Canada's Economic Growth and Development from 
1939 to 1 9 5 5 (Royal Commission on Canada's Economic 
Prospects). Hull, Quebec, Queen's Printer and Controller 
of Stationery, 1957. 

United States. Department of Agriculture. S o i l : The Yearbook 
of Agriculture, 1957. Washington, Government Printing 
Office, 1 9 5 7 . 

5. Unpublished Research Papers 
Gibson, James R. A Comparison of Anglo-Saxon, Mennonite. 

and Dutch Farms i n the Lower Fraser Valley: 
A Methodological Study i n Areal Differentiation and 
the Relative Influences of the Physical and Cultural 
Environment.Unpublished Thesis (M. A.). University 
of Oregon, 1959. 



146 
Krahn, John J. A History of the Mennonites i n B r i t i s h 

Columbia. Unpublished Thesis, University of B r i t i s h 
Columbia, Faculty of Medicine, 1957. 

Mathews, W. H. Preliminary Report on the Superficial 
Deposits of the Lower Fraser Valley. Unpublished Report. 
B. C. Department of Mines, 1945. 

Reimer, D. P. The Mennonites i n B. C. Unpublished Thesis 
(M. A.) University of B r i t i s h Columbia, Department of 
History, 1946. 

Rempel, Dick. United Mennonite Church, Mission City, B. C. 
' Unpublished Research Paper. Winnipeg, 1 9 5 6 . 

Siemens, A. An H i s t o r i c a l Geographical Survey of the 
Development of the Community of Clearbrook. Unpublished 
Research Paper. University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1954. 

Siemens, A. The Fraser Valley Lowlands. Unpublished Research 
Paper. University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1958. 

6. Pamphlets 
Die Vereinigten Mennoniten Gemeinden i n B r i t i s h Columbia. 

Yarrow, B. C., Columbia Press, 1959. 

Glesbrecht, J. History of the Mennonite Church at 43rd 
and Prince Edward. Address to the congregation on the 
occasion of i t s 20th Anniversary. December 1, 1957. 

Kettle, L. J. Where T r a i l s Meet. Abbotsford, A. M. S. News, 
1958. " 

Krause, J. C. Kurzgefasster Bericht ueber einige Siedlungs-
moeglichkeiten i n B r i t i s h Columbia. Yarrow, B. C., 
Columbia Press. 

Willms, H. J. Die Sued-Abbotsford Ansiedlung. Yarrow, B. C., 
Columbia Press, 1956. 

Conferenz der Mennoniten i n Canada, Jahrbuch 1957. Rosthern, 
Sask., Der Bate, 1957. 

Conferenz der Mennoniten i n Canada, Jahrbuch - JubilHums 
Ausgabe, 1 9 0 2 - 1 9 5 2 . Rosthern, Sask., Der Bate, 1 9 5 2 . 

Notes; Church Directories, which .were often only mimeo-
graphed sheets, and Conference Yearbooks too numerous to 
iention here, were used frequently throughout the study. m 



147 
7. Newspapers 

The Chilliwack Progress (May 2 7 , 1953), pp. 2 - 6 . Series 
of a r t i c l e s commemorating the community's 2 5 t h 
Anniversary. 

Krause, J. C. "Mennoniten - 2 5 Jahre in B r i t i s h Columbien." 
Mennonitische Rundschau, p. 2 . 

Toews, J. J. "Warum verlHsst der Ackermann seinen Acker?". 
Mennonitische Rundschau (January 1 9 5 7 ) , pp. 1-4. 

"yarrow's.Pioneer Recalls Community Beginning 2 5 Years Ago." 
The Chilliwack Progress (May 2 7 , 1 9 5 3 ) , p. 4. 



APPENDIX A 

Table XV 

Dates of Establishment of Mennonite Churches i n the Fraser 
Valley (Excluding the Mission Stations) 

1930 
31 Greendale Mennonite (Conference) 
32 South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren, Aggasiz Mennonite 

Brethren, Yarrow Mennonite Brethren, Greendale Mennonite 
Brethren 

33 
34 
35 North Abbotsford (Clearbrook) Mennonite Brethren 
3 6 Yarrow Mennonite (Conference), West Abbotsford 

Mennonite (Conference), Bethel Mennonite (Conference) 
37 Vancouver Mennonite Brethren, F i r s t United Mennonite 

of Vancouver (Conference) 
38 
39 
40 Mission City Mennonite (Conference) 
41 
42 
4 3 

4 4 

4 5 Arnold Mennonite Brethren, East Chilliwack M. B., 
Matsqui M. B., Strawberry H i l l , M. B., Chilliwack 
Mennonite (Conference), East Chilliwack Mennonite 
(Conference) 

4 6 Evangelical Mennonite Brethren of Abbotsford 
4 7 

4 8 Chilliwack Mennonite Brethren, East Aldergrove 
Mennonite Brethren 

4 9 Church of Christ Mennonite of Bradner 
50 

51 Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren 
? 2 
53 New Westminster Mennonite (Conference) 

, 54 Clearbrook Mennonite (Conference) 
55 Fraserview Mennonite Brethren of Vancouver 
56 
57 
58 
59 

Note: The names of individual churches tend to vary somewhat; 
the names on signboards often are different than those i n publi-
cations put out by Provincial and Canadian Conferences, or even 
by the churches themselves. The above names have been used in 
a form that would f a c i l i t a t e location and differentiation between 
sub-groups. 



APPENDIX B 

Table XYI 

A Representative Listing of Mennonite Family Names 
as Compiled from Church Directories of Lower Fraser 

Valley Mennonite Churches 

Abrahams Da h i 
Adrian Daniels 
Albert Defehr 
A l l e r t Delesky 
Andres Derksen 
Arens Dick 
Arndt Dirks 

Dirksen 
Baerg Doerksen 
Bahnman Dosso 
Baier Driediger 
Balzer Dueck 
Barg Dueckmann 
Bargen Duerksen 
Bartel Dyck 
Bartsch 
Barwich Ediger 
Berg Engbrecht 
Bergen Enns 
Bergmann Ens 
Blatz Epp 
Block Esau 
Boese Espenberg 
Boldt Ewert 
Born 
Borowsky Fa Ik 
Boschmann Fast 
Brandt Fieguth 
Braun Fleming 
Brauer Franz 
Brede Friesen 
Brown Froese 
Brucks Funk 
Bruehler 
Buhr Gauer 
Buller Geddert 
Busse Gienger 

Giesbrecht 
Classen Goepinger 
Cornelson Goertz 
Cornies Goerzen 
Cornis Goossen 

Gorecki 

Gossen Koohn 
Graeve Konrad 
Gronau Koop 
Grunau Kopp 
Guenther Kornelsen 
Gruen Koslowsky 
Gutwin Krahn 

Kran 
Haak Krause 
Hamm Kroeker 
Harder Krone 
Harms Kungel 
Heide 
He i n Lange 
Heinrichs Langemann 
Helgeborde Lehn 
Hep ting Lemke 
Iliebert Lenzmann 
Hildebrand Lepp 
Hildebrandt Letkemann 
Hintz Loepp 
Hoeppner Loewen 
Hodel Lowen 
Hubert Lohrenz 
Huebert 

Mantler 
Isaac Martens 

Matis 
Jackel Matthies 
Jantz Matties 
Jantzen Meyer 
Janz MieIke 
Janzen Mirau 
Jensen Mueller 

Kaethler Nachtigal 
Kasper Neitsch 
Keilbart Neufeld 
Kehler Neufeldt 
Ketler Neuman 
Klassen Neumann 
Kleebaum Nickel 
Kliewer Niebuhr 
Knecht 



Table XVI (continued) 

Niessen Ratzlaff 
Nikkei Redekop 
Nussbaumer Reimer 

Regehr 
Olfert Regier 

Rempel 
Paetkau Renpening 
Pankratz Riediger 
Pauls Riesen 
P enner Rogalsky 
Peters Rumpel 
Petker Russenberger 
P l e t t 
Poetker Sagert 
Poettcker Sawatsky 
P o l l s Schapansky 
Pump Schellenberg Pump 

Schier 
Quapp Schierling 
Quiring S c h i l l i n g 

Schmidt 
S chin or 

Schowalter Unger 
Schroeder Unrau 
Schulz Unruh 
Siebel 
Siebert Van Bergen 
Siemens Veer 
Sommerfeld Vogt 
Spenst Voth 
Stobbe 
Suderman Walde 
Sudermann Wall 
Sukkau Warkentin 

Wed e l 
Teichroeb Wegenart 
Teichgrab 7/eyer 
Thielmann Wiebe 
Thiessen Wiens 
Tleszen Wiensz 
T i l i t s k y Willems 
Toews Wlllms 

Wittenberg 
Wittman 
Wolfe 

2 



• 
* 

PQ ' > « 
PQ CP * • • • « o O • o ^ s / PQ • « 

O 0 ) o o o o 
r H H C D C D cD 

& 
!?• 

C D cd •s 
C D cD 

& 
!?• • H • H •rH • r - i 
o o d H H r H r H 

0 H H 4-> r H •P H 
SH <P •rH • H C O i H C O > H 

& C D S H S H XI xi cd x! cD X! 
> H t 5 o o W o 

APPENDIX C 

Table XVII Membership Totals of Mennonite Churches of the Lower Fraser Valley from 1933 to 1958 

S H PQ ^ PQ CQ 

PQ ^ PQ 0 ) » • S H S • ' - N 
• . -P O S O w o 2 2 • ^ 

• v ^ - f j •—v 0 3 «•> • PQ 
E J C ; -H >> . a> CD -P ^ T3 is s 
0) t n C ^ g U P Q > > O O O E H S H W ^ S 

• H CD C D <D CD - P S H . O O X I O O O O . w 
> > > > CO C D ^ ^ S H C-i X! S H S H C M - H fl O 

in J 3 3 o> X ! ^ Htxo tuo-=c; xi X ! mm 3 <a 
( D O P O O «s P 0 ) S H S H S H S H xl P > P a< - H r H 
W O CO O O ' - v C D c H X I C U - P C D P ^ c D ' CD - P O O to en >j O 
CTj fl S H fl fl ^ • t i r l " I ' D « ' <» <D 3 X > X > P W P > fl 
S H CO tH cd CO ( D O - P d ( D H ( I J H d ) D H r H O X > X i cD - H - H S H 

^ > P>h > > s ^ t o K m<! M<< o o w <c s ^ o 

1 9 3 3 
34 80 237 80 
35 80 237 80 
36 80 237 
37 35 - 282 89 
38 - - 340 
39 51 HO 38 52 40 160 365 44 150 115 
40 50 188 44 49 60 255 21 434 41 149 123 
41 60 - 46 72 - - 42 136 
42 63 188 57 79 - 255 30 490 51 149 139 
43 65 188 68 86 60 255 40 550 60 149 142 
44 71 250 80 108 185 325 47 67 648 59 230 142 
45 75 250 58 - 117 250 321 90 40 90 740 63 230 153 125 
46 83 250 47 81 115 250 320 98 40 110 742 66 223 146 
47 76 184 62 i l l 110 145 240 435 130 46 141 793 85 310 172 i l l 47 171 
48 97 184 62 117 155 194 240 503 130 62 141 840 93 310 196 163 62 212 
49 73 215 94 133 179 250 238 500 182 70 200 875 99 270 215 182 39 237 112 
50 95 215 94 148 179 351 238 500 182 96 200 875 152 270 248 182 43 237 139 
51 160 275 101 162 190 432 275 330 223 181 104 166 787 158 360 242 210 57 233 147 
52 135 544 101 189 201 377 305 350 250 185 107 186 761 166 348 246 218 78 237 162 
53 185 600 40 106 195 207 328 328 330 283 196 112 202 749 160 346 250 239 88 236 179 
54 207 683 42 110 208 217 348 369 119 350 287 185 116 210 7 8 I 180 345 258 252 84 238 200 
55 230 243 450 47 109 218 214 350 369 153 368 215 200 116 216 7 6 I 193 334 256 246 88 243 203 
56 319 315 450 50 105 237 214 362 396 172 386 253 196 117 208 761 201 332 266 252 82 246 203 
57 449 353 470 49 105 242 216 374 421 167 385 225 189 120 222 708 175 307 262 253 88 233 210 
58 492 404 531 52 123 247 225 395 461-183 388 230 181 109 206 708 161 308 277 253 105 233 210 



Note: The names used i n this table have been simplified where 
necessary, but the essential name, place and a f f i l i a t i o n have 
been presented. "M. B." refers to Mennonite Brethren and 
"C" to Conference or General Conference. 

In cases where figures were missing for a particular 
year totals were interpolated by taking the average of the 
memberships before and after. 



APPENDIX D 

Suggestions for Further Research 

I t became apparent during the course of this study 
that much further work could be done i n the outlining of the 
cultural geography of the Fraser Valley, and i n the solution 
of problems i n related f i e l d s . 

More detailed and more extensive land use surveys 
are necessary, f i r s t of a l l , for a comprehensive view of 
settlement i n the entire Fraser Valley and for a proper 
r e l a t i o n of ethnic group settlement to the whole. These 
surveys w i l l need to show, among other things, just where 
the boundaries between essentially urban and essentially 
r u r a l land use l i e . This w i l l mean taking careful note of 
deceptive v e s t i g i a l farm buildings. The clear portrayal 
of the structural patterns of numerous nucleations that would 
result from such surveys would be highly valuable and 
interesting. I t Is hoped, therefore, that the work being 
done by f i e l d workers of the Geographical Branch of the 
Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa, on the 
c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of land use i n Ruchmond and Surrey w i l l be 
continued to cover the other municipalities of the Valley 
as well. 

Studies of the settlement patterns and associated 
s o c i a l , cultural and religious situations of other ethnic 
groups beside the Mennonites would y i e l d more and important 
information on B r i t i s h Columbia's population. Numerous books 
and a r t i c l e s are avilable on various aspects of our province's 
ethnic groups, but geographical studies, with s t a t i s t i c a l and 
cartographical substantiation are s t i l l rare. Admittedly, 
good sources of s t a t i s t i c a l information on the internal 
characteristics of some groups are hard to come by, the 
the research's ingenuity may well be able to overcome this 
d i f f i c u l t y . 

Much further work could be done on the systematic 
treatment of sequent occupance, form and function of many 
Fraser Valley nucleations. A good deal of h i s t o r i c a l 
information may be gathered from newspaper archives, histories 
published on the occasion of various f e s t i v i t i e s and the 
interviewing of pioneers. The study of form and function 
would require extensive f i e l d work, involving such techniques 
as questioning of householders and f i e l d mapping. It is 
s t i l l necessary to develop useable c r i t e r i a for the centrality 
of nucleations i n our area and to c l a s s i f y them accordingly. 
Work has been begun on this last problem by a staff member 
and students of the Geography Department of the University of 
B r i t i s h Columbia. 

Undoubtedly, a study of Individual settlement forms 



such as farm types, houses, barns, fences and others, as 
distributed over the entire Valley, would yield highly 
interesting results. One needs only to consult a r t i c l e s 
i n periodicals such as Landscape, dealing with the. distribution, 
history, function and even aesthetic qualities of building 
types, to envisage what might be done i n the Fraser Valley. 1 ' 
I t must be remembered that buildings of interest i n this 
connection are fast disappearing as modernization and urbani-
zation advance. 

Within the Mennonite community i t s e l f there i s 
very much more that could be studied from the geographic 
point of view and documented. A detailed study of overall 
Mennonite farm economy, dealing with such factors as i t s 
i n i t i a l development, i t s relationship to s o i l and climate, 
the significance of intra-group co-operative organization 
and the l i k e would be highly useful i n an understanding of 
the group, as i t would be for any other ethnic group as 
d i s t i n c t as theirs. 

I t may be pointed out, l a s t l y , that there i s a 
wealth of h i s t o r i c a l and other material on a l l aspects of 
Mennonite l i f e i n the Fraser Valley that needs to be collected 
and properly organized. There i s s t i l l no central repository 
for this material. It seems reasonable that the l i b r a r y of 
the M. E. I., or of some future Mennonite l i b e r a l arts 
college, could be expanded to include a collection of this 
kind. There are many Mennonite Pioneers who have interesting 
accounts that could be recorded. The number of published 
works and unpublished theses dealing with the Mennonites of 
the Fraser Valley, and of Western Canada generally, are 
increasing. One might mention here the work of Dr. F. C. 
Peters on s o c i a l and psychological trends within Canadian 
Mennonitism, Harold Dyck's work on Mennonite education i n 
Western Canada and others either just finished or s t i l l 
underway. I t w i l l s t i l l be some time, however, before 
Mennonite l i f e here i s as carefully and comprehensively 
documented as i t i s i n Eastern Canada, and particularly i n 
the Central and Eastern United States. 

1 Patrick Horsbrugh, "Barns i n Central I l l i n o i s , " Landscape, 
Vol. 8, No. 3, P. 12 (Spring 1959). 

2 



15. Mennonite Farmland 
A sizeable poultry farm In Abbotsford, along Emerson 
A f i e l d under process of clearing - Abbotsford. 
Workers i n a berry f i e l d i n summer - Abbotslord. 



Figure 16A. General Views of Farms i n Mennonite Settlement Areas 

a. Mennonite farms along Short Road, Abbotsford. 
b. Farm land north of Mission City. 
c. A prosperous Mennonite farm on the corner of Emerson and 

Huntingdon Roads i n Abbotsford. 



Figure 16B. 
a. Farmland i n the East Chilliwack area. 
b. A pioneer farm i n Abbotsford, with buildings set we 

away from the road among f r u i t trees. 
c. A Mennonite farm with an extensive flower garden i n 

front of the house. 



Figure 17. Small Mennonite Centers 

a. South. Abbotsford 
b. Arnold 
c. Greendale 
(Refer to Maps 12 and 14) 



Figure 18. Panoramic Views of Yarrow 

a. Western section of Yarrow. 
b. Central section of Yarrow. 
c. Eastern section of Yarrow. 



aw 

Figure 19. Commerce and Industry i n Yarrow 
a. The eastern section of Yarrow's commercial core. 
b. Packing and Processing plants along the B. C. 

E l e c t r i c Railway. 
c. The Yarrow branch of Clearbrook Frozen Foods.