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Stouffville Peace Plaque Dedication Sept. 22, 2013

Peace Church Settlers of WhitchurchStouffville: Historical Background

Dr Arnold Neufeldt-Fast Associate Dean, Tyndale Seminary1

This is a very significant event for our community, and it is an honour for me to unfold the historical background to this Peace Plaque. Said simply, this plaque is a commentary on the peace dove at the top of our Town Crest. The dove is a tribute to the peace story that shaped the character, the actions, and the contribution of our first settlers. Mennonites, Brethren in Christ (Tunkers), and Quakers arrived in what is today WhitchurchStouffville not as individual settlers, but as groups. Each of these groups was defined by their refusal to take up arms; together, they are Canadas three historic peace church groups, and are pioneers of Canadian conscientious objection to war. They came here not with a petition for militia exemption; rather Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe wanted these groups to settle Upper Canada, and with the Militia Act of 1793, offered them exemption from militia service as an incentive. (This same principle was restated almost 100 years later when other Mennonites arrived from Europe as settlers of southern Manitoba. Lord Dufferin announced (1877): The battle to which we invite you is the battle against the wilderness ... you will not be required to shed human blood.)2 There was no other place in Upper Canada in which all three peace church groups settled in such close proximity, and together formed the majority population.

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Arnold Neufeldt-Fast is an ordained member at Community Mennonite Church Stouffville. Cited in Frank H. Epp, Mennonites in Canada, Vol. 1 (Toronto: Macmillian, 1974), 370. I am thankful to my former professor, Dr. Helmut Harder for these two historical references.

Who were our earliest settlers, and what is the story that shaped them? A foundational category for Mennonite and Brethren in Christ ethics is the simple biblical command, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, [boldly] turn to him the other also (Matt 5:39). For Mennonites this was not considered a saintly or heroic stance, but simply a description of the life of a people that gathered by and around the Jesus story. Do not repay evil for evil, but live peaceably with all (Rom 12:17,18). To abandon this teaching would be to abandon the one who teaches it. We cant understand who these first settlers were without understanding this teaching. But this teaching was hardly theoretical for those first settlers. Abraham Stouffers grandfather with his parents and siblings, were very likely amongst those Swiss Mennonites who had their property confiscated and were expelled from Switzerland in 1710.3 The Canton of Bern--from which the Stouffers and Reesors and many settler families hail--was threatened in those years by the aggressive expansionist campaigns of Louis XIV, King of France.4 The predominant reason given by the Bernese authorities for the expulsion of Anabaptist/Mennonites in 1710 and 1711 was their outright refusal to bear arms and serve in the military. Stateless Mennonites and Tunkers were attracted to settle in Pennsylvania by the Quaker Governor William Penn. Today we hear much about the right to bear arms; Penn guaranteed his settlers the right to refuse to bear Arms! During the American Revolution this right was tested, amongst powerful rhetoric about tyranny (e.g., of King George) and freedom. Mennonites (i.e., the generation of Abraham Stouffers parents), together with Quakers and Tunkers, brought a joint petition to the Quaker dominated Pennsylvania Assembly in which they said: It is our principle to feed the hungry and to give the thirsty drink; we have dedicated ourselves to serve all men in everything that can be helpful to

Hans Stauffer was a Mennonite who, after being expelled from Switzerland, settled with his wife, Kingst Heistand-Risser, in the Palatinate. On 9 November 1709, he and his family began their immigration to North America. He was in London on 20 January 1710 with his wife and children - Jacob, Daniel, Henry, Elisabeth (I.D. Landis and W.D. Swope, Stauffer family, in: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online [1959], accessed Sept. 23, 2013 (http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Stauffer_family&oldid=77892). 4 I thank my former colleague, Dr. Hanspeter Jecker, Bienenberg Theological Seminary, Liestal, Switzerland for detailed historical references regarding Stouffers/Stauffers in Switzerland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (personal correspondence).

the preservation of men's lives, but we find no freedom in giving, or doing, or assisting in anything by which men's lives art destroyed or hurt."5 These were the recent memories with which our towns earliest settlers arrivedand again crucial for our understanding who they were and why they were the way they were! Once here, war flared up again between the British and the Americans. Mennonites, Tunkers and Quakers were not required to take up arms, but they were taxed at a much higher rate than their neighbours. A high number of charges were laid against settlersespecially the Quakersfor refusing to allow their property (horses and wagons) to be conscripted for military purposes.6 Here are some of the names of those charged from this area in 1812-13: David Byer, Martin Hoover, Abraham Groove, Michael Kipfer, David Raymer, David Wismer, Samuel Phipher, John Shank, John Snider, among others.7 These are all typical Mennonite and Brethren-in-Christ family names; pacifists. This is a significant list, given that by 1815 there were no more than 55 families in what is Stouffville.8 Whitchurch (north of what is today Main St.) was settled primarily by the Quakers, also largely from Pennsylvania.9 In Dec 1812 in Whitchurch Township seventy men chose to hide out in the woods rather than serve in their units; they were identified as rebels.10 Specifically, we know that a Quaker from Whitchurch named Jesse Lloyd, had charges brought against him for resisting in Dec 1812. 11 It was the peace teachings of the Christian tradition that deeply shaped their worldview, and caused them to wrestle with what it means to be people of Gods peace, especially in times of conflict andwar. We respect the fact that Stouffvilles history has many chapters and a diversity of actors; the peace-church tradition is however the earliest prevailing story in town. It is not just an inspiring
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Cited in G. F. Hershberger, E. Crous, and J. R. Burkholder, "Nonresistance," in: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (1989), accessed Sept. 21, 2013 (http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nonresistance&oldid=101482). 6 See the Minutes of the "General Quarter Sessions of the Peace" in York, 1812-1813; Wm. H. Smith, Whitchurch, Canadian Gazatteer (Toronto: Roswell, 1849), p. 212; By comparison, the Legion has a list of only two or three War of 1812 veterans who lived locally prior to the war (another five or six are listed whose next of kin moved here later in the century; http://www.scribd.com/doc/93323084/Stouffville-War-of-1812-Veterans); all of the others received militia exemption. Cf. also George Sheppard, Plunder, Profit and Paroles: A Social History of the War of 1812 in Upper Canada (Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queens, 1994), p. 59. 7 These names among others appear in the Minutes of the "General Quarter Sessions of the Peace" in York, 1812-1813; I thank Dr. Jonathan Seiling for kindly sharing this research with me. 8 See Barkey, Stouffville 1877-1977, p. 4. 9 Wm. H. Smith, Whitchurch, Canadian Gazatteer (Toronto: Roswell, 1849), p. 212; http://www.archive.org/stream/smithscanadianga00smit#page/218/mode/2up. 10 See George Sheppard, Plunder, Profit and Paroles: A Social History of the War of 1812 in Upper Canada (Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queens, 1994), p. 59. 11 Minutes, "General Quarter Sessions of the Peace" in York, 1812-1813; I thank Dr. Jonathan Seiling for this reference (I have copies of this microfilm).

story for our own faith communities; the copyright expired long ago! But it did lay the groundwork to inspire a tradition of doing justice, bringing reconciliation, and practicing nonresistance even in the face of violence and warfare. 12 I want to sincerely thank Town Council for their role in making this happen. On May 15 we presented to Council a request to erect a plaque in honour of these pioneers of Canadian conscientious objection. Council approved a motion that our group meet with Town Staff, including Stephanie Foley, Director of the Museum, the towns Heritage Advisory Committee (see Minutes), and our town clerk, Michelle Kennedy.

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Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1995), p. 81.