Leamington United Mennonite Church (Leamington, ON)

Title: Leamington United Mennonite Church fonds

Dates of creation: 1940-2014

Physical description: 10 cm of textual records

Administrative history: The congregation began services in 1925, and formally organized in 1929. The first building was occupied in 1934, with a new building program in 1984. Jacob D. Janzen and Nicolai Schmidt are considered the founding leaders of the group. The congregation originated through immigration from the Soviet Union. The congregation was initially scattered into smaller groups at Kingsville, Harrow, Windsor, Pelee Island, and Leamington until they were amalgamated in the early 1930s. The congregation was known as Essex County United Mennonite until 1958. It is the parent church to the North Leamington United Mennonite Church (1954), a division which occurred because of growing membership. The two churches were under one organization until 1981 when they became autonomous.

The congregation has been affiliated with the Conference of United Mennonite Churches in Ontario (1929), Conference of Mennonites in Canada (1929), General Conference Mennonite Church (1929), and Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada (1988).

Custodial history: The congregation has made periodic donations to the Mennonite Archives of Ontario but the primary archival collection is at the Mennonite Heritage Centre, 31 Pickwick Dr., Leamington, ON N8H 5C4 (519) 326-0456.

Scope and content: There are four series: Formal records, Informal records, Church bulletins and Newsletters

Notes: For further information see N. N. Driedger, The Leamington United Mennonite Church : establishment and development 1925-1972 (Leamington, Ont. : The Church, 1972); The Mennonites in Essex and Kent Counties, Ontario: an introduction, Victor D. Kliewer, ed. (Leamington : Essex-Kent Mennonite Historical Association, 1997).
Original description created March 2000 by Sam Steiner

File list:

Series 1: Formal records

1. Constitutions
       1968, 1980?
2. Annual meeting minutes
       1962-1964, 1966, 1968-1969
3. Annual reports
       1965, 1967, 1971
4. Directories
       1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975-1976, 1978 (photographic), 1980, 1989 (combined with North Leamington United Mennonite), 1998
5. Women in Mission (S.W. Ont.) annual meeting, 1978

Series 2: Informal records

1. Deceased members of the congregation, 1925-1978 compiled by N.N. Driedger
2. "Church building: a labour of love," 1984 (includes clippings and a letter related to the construction)
3. Choralbuch (bound copy of music using Ziffern-style notes), n.d. (donated by Peter H. Epp)
4. Photographs of vandalism in Leamington church on May 25, 1940 in a time of anti-German feeling
5. Map of Leamington, 1960
6. Misc. programs

Series 3: Church bulletins

1950-1955 (incomplete; includes some treasury and other reports), 1956-1989, 1999-2014

Series 4: Newsletter

1962-1964