Stauffer family reunion

Title: Stauffer Family Reunion fonds

Physical Description: 40 cm of textual records

Date(s) of creation: 1803-2003; predominant 1982-2002

Administrative history : With roots in Switzerland and the Palatinate, Stauffers first arrived in Pennsylvania around 1738 or 1739, settling near Lititz, Lancaster County. 

In 1805, Abraham Stauffer (1788-1858) purchased Lot 6 of the Bean Tract on the west side of Doon Village Road, south of the Huron Road (now a part of Kitchener) and moved with his wife Catharine (Biehn), parents Abraham and Elizabeth (Zug) Stauffer and several siblings to present-day Waterloo Region. His brother Samuel Stauffer (1782-1859) and wife Esther (Groh) moved to Beasley's Broken Front Lot 25 (Speedsville area, near Preston) at the same time.

In 1804, a different Abraham Stauffer (1780-1857) and his wife Elizabeth (Reesor) immigrated to York County, Upper Canada from Pennsylvania. The town of Stouffville was named after this family. For a time, this family altered the spelling of its name to "Stouffer" to reflect the name of the town. Later migrants from Pennsylvania to Waterloo County include Emmanuel Stauffer and Isabella Reid, and David Stauffer and Anna Maria Shelley.

The first Stauffer reunion in Ontario was held at the Rev. Noah Stauffer farm near Doon in 1904. Subsequent reunions were held every five years in Waterloo Region, with the exception of the war years. Attendance was regularly in the hundreds. A committee was struck at each reunion to plan the next.

In 2001, the reunion committee met to decide whether to hold another reunion. Due to declining attendance (300 attended in 1997), the difficulty of recruiting younger volunteers and difficulties with keeping mailing lists current in an age of "fragmented" extended family connections, the committee decided to cease and desist in November, 2002.

Scope and Content: Contains minutes, programs, correspondence and genealogy related to the Stauffer family reunions in Ontario. Photographs relating to the family can be found in the Mennonite Archival Image Database.

Custodial History: Materials were donated to the Archives by Lorna Bergey after 2002

File list:

Series 1: Reunion Committee records

1904 
1947-1982 (bound book) 
1972 (Note: Includes "Our legacy of freedom" an address by Lorna Bergey)
1977
1982
1987 (Note: Includes "Our Stauffer heritage" an address by Wilbur J. Shantz)
1992 (Note: Includes "Celebrating our Stauffer heritage " an address by Lorna Bergey)
1997 
2002

Series 2: Genealogy records of Stauffers who immigrated to Ontario

Note: These records were probably compiled by Lorna Bergey. The file numbers, assigned by Bergey, refer to numbers assigned to individuals by Ezra E. Eby in his genealogy A Biographical History of Waterloo Township. Update files include last known addresses.

1. 7319
   Samuel Stauffer (1782-1859) and Esther Groh
2. 7319 Updates
   Note: Also includes two manuscripts:
   "Account of a trip made by Gerald and Charlene Kinsey in the summer of 2002 through Ohio, Pennsylvania, new York and Ontario" 
   "Relics of bygone days" [a visit to the farm of Jacob Kinzie near Doon] / Hiram Newcombe 
   File also includes the Dilman Kinsey Erb family tree prepared by David Erb
3. 7354
   Abraham Stauffer (1788-1858) and Catherine Biehn
   7372
   Esther Stauffer (1790-1836) and George Clemens
   7390
   Joseph Stauffer (1802-1880) and Rebecca Rosenberger
4. 7354 Updates
5. 7372 Updates
6. 7390 Updates
   Note: Includes correspondence regarding the David B. Waugh and Levina Bowman family
7. 7373
   Daniel Stauffer (1796-1846) and Susannah Kinzie
8. 7373 Updates
9. 7407 
   Abraham Stouffer (1780-1857) and Elizabeth Reesor (d. 1835)
   Christian Stauffer (1799-1869) and Magdalena Raymer
   Elizabeth Stouffer (1803-1848) and David Betzner 
   Abraham Stouffer and Elizabeth Sherk
   Jacob Stauffer (1813-1877) and Fannie Reesor
10. 7407 Updates
11. 7420
    Emmanuel Stauffer (1791-1844) and Isabella Reid
12. 7420 Updates
13. 7431 
    David Stauffer (b.1813) and Anna Maria Shelley
14. 7431 Updates

Series 3: Family documents

1. Books presented to Mennonite Archives of Ontario
2. Will of Abraham Stauffer, 1823
3. Abram Stauffer log cabin (news clipping)
4. Daniel Stauffer inventory of goods and chattels, 14 Oct 1803