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Generally 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Monday to Friday. An appointment in advance is recommended.
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Mennonite Archives of OntarioConrad Grebel University College
140 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6
Phone: 519-885-0220 x24238
Title: Gordon C. Eby fonds
Dates of creation: 1889-1971
Physical description: 1.14 m of textual records and photographs ; 1 map (1.47 x 1.32 m) in frame
Biographical sketch: Gordon Christian Eby (1890-1965 ) was the youngest of six children of Christian Eby (Hist.Mss.1.21) and Catherine Clemens Eby. The family home was at 409 Mill Street, Berlin (later Kitchener). About the time Gordon was born, his mother's sister Veronica Stengel was committed to an asylum in Hamilton. Catherine took charge of her sister's five children. Alvira ("Allie") Stengel, the oldest daughter, maintained a faithful correspondence with the Ebys into her adult life.
In his youth, Gordon worked in the family's market garden business and was an amateur photographer. He belonged to the 108th Regiment of the Militia at the time of his enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915. Subsequently, he trained with the 118th Battalion, left for England in January 1917 and after further training as a signaller, joined the 21st Battalion in France in October 1917. At war's end he was quartered for a few months in Siegburg, Germany before returning to England and then home in May 1919.
He married Elsie Hewitt (1900-1974), whom he met after the war, in 1921. He returned to the market gardening business until the depression of the 1930s required him to seek work at J. M. Schneider. Gordon and Elsie had eight children.
Custodial history: Most items in series 1-5 were donated to the Archives by Anne (Eby) Millar, daughter of Gordon Eby, in 1979. Access was restricted to Conrad Grebel College faculty and Paul Tiessen until 1990. A copy of Eby's military service file was requested and received by the Archives from Library Archives Canada in 2013. Following the death of Anne Millar in 2016, the following items were donated to the Archives by Esther Millar: Gordon Eby's apple tree correspondence, Don Millar's correspondence and Anne Millar's transcriptions of that correspondence, the album in Series 4 file 4, and all items in series 7-9. The Tremaine's Map belonging originally to Ezra E. Eby was donated by the children of Foster Eby (son of Gordon C. Eby) in 2022.
Scope and content: Contains the diaries written by Gordon Eby, his correspondence with family and friends, photographs, and his battalion badges. In addition to his own papers, Gordon retained correspondence and photographs belonging to his parents and siblings, his sister Lydia Ann Eby Wray and son Don Eby in particular. Much of the correspondence to and from Christian and Catherine Eby has been transferred to the Christian Eby fonds; some is retained here. Gordon's daughter Anne contributed transcriptions of the diaries and letters, descriptors to some of the photographs, and further correspondence and biographical information on several family members. A full file list follows, below.
Notes: Some of the photographs in this fonds have been added to the Mennonite Archival Image Database.; further materials related to Gordon Eby may be found by searching the Archives.
The diaries have been published in two separate works, both located in the Milton Good Library:
The Gordon C. Eby diaries, 1911-13 : chronicle of a Mennonite farmer / edited by James M. Nyce. - Toronto : Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1982
'Of course I was an onlooker for I can't dance' : the 1911-1919 diary of Gordon Christian Eby, Mennonite farmer / edited by Paul Tiessen and Anne Eby Millar. - Waterloo, Ont. : MLR Editions Canada, 2007
Original archival description created 2013 and updated 2021 by Laureen Harder-Gissing.
File list:
1911-1913, 1912, 1913 (2 volumes), 1914, 1915 (2 volumes), 1916, 1917-1918 (includes address book and record of letters received and sent), 1917-1919 (includes address book and record of letters received and sent), 1918 (includes record of letters received and sent), 1918-1919, [191-] (notes on military training)
Scope and content: Anne (Eby) Millar, Gordon's daughter, transcribed many of the family letters and diaries listed above, as follows:
Gordon Eby's 21st Battalion badges
Don Eby's R.C.A.F. badges
1. Gordon C. Eby's Canadian Expeditionary Force service file (photocopy)
Note: RG 150-1992-93/166-2817-13. Received in Nov 2013 from Library Archives Canada.
Note: Anne Millar (1922-2016) was the daughter and oldest child of Gordon and Elsie Eby. She married Douglas Millar, son of Fred and Ida (Bergey) Millar and a World War II conscientious objector, in 1944. She maintained a keen and active interest in family and local history throughout her life.
Generally 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Monday to Friday. An appointment in advance is recommended.
Phone: 519-885-0220 x24238
Conrad Grebel University College
140 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G6
519-885-0220
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Conrad Grebel University College is situated on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Read Grebel's full territorial acknowledgement.