Christian Z. Gerber

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27766273
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-50398
• Occupation: 1911, Crosshill, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer Son
• Residence: 1911, Crosshill, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1923, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Thrasher

Notes:

Gerber.- Christian Z., son of Daniel Annie (Zehr) Gerber, was born near Crosshill, Ont., May 14, 1890; died at his home, Sept. 15, 1969; aged 79 y. 4 m. 1 d. On June 7, he was married to Magdalena Lichty, who survives. Also surviving are 3 sons (Ralph, Roy, and Murray), 8 grandchildren, one brother (Daniel), and one sister (Lena-Mrs. James Birmingham). He was preceded in death by one brother and one sister. He was a member of the Maple View Church, Wellesley, Ont., where funeral services were held Sept. 18, with Alvin Leis and Chris 0. Erb officiating.

Gospel Herald - Volume LXII, Number 43 - November 4, 1969, pages 975, 976.

______________

Christian Gerber

Christian Z. Gerber of Crosshill died on Monday of last week at his home. Mr. Gerber was 79.

Born in Wellesley Township, May 14, 1890, he was a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Gerber. He farmed in Wellesley Township before retiring to Crosshill in November, 1968.

He was a member of the Maple View Mennonite Church.

One brother and one sister predeceased him.

Surviving, besides his wife, the former Magdalena Lichti whom he married June 7, 1923, in Wellesley Township, are three sons, Ralph and Murray, both of Crosshill, and Roy of RR 1, Millbank; one brother, Daniel of Wellesley; one sister, Mrs. .lames (Lena) Birmingham of Crosshill and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Thursday at Maple View Mennonite Church.

Burial followed in the church cemetery.

New Hamburg Independent, September 24, 1969

Christian married Magdalena Z. "Lena" Lichti 7 Jun 1923, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Magdalena (daughter of Peter F. Lichti and Magdalena Zehr) was born 8 Aug 1902, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 2 Dec 1984, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Mapleview Mennonite Cemetery, Wellesley Twp., Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

1. Rev. Ralph Peter Gerber was born 18 Jun 1926; died 2 Apr 2000; was buried , Bethel Conservative Mennonite Cemetery, Millbank, Perth Co., Ontario.
2. Roy Donald Gerber was born 18 Jun 1926; died 4 Nov 2000; was buried , Bethel Conservative Mennonite Cemetery, Millbank, Perth Co., Ontario.
3. Murray Nelson Gerber

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-124970
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1881, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Residence:
Lived with his brother Christian

Daniel — Annie Zehr. Annie (daughter of Michael Zehr and Barbara Boshart) was born 9 Sep 1849, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 28 Nov 1934, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Annie Gerber
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-50394
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1901, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Occupation: 1911, Crosshill, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1911, Crosshill, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Other Events:

• Name: John Gerber
• Residence: Wilmot Township - Block B Concession 3 Lot 13, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-78424
• Residence: 1842, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1842, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Yeoman
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Johannes married Veronica "Fannie" Oesch 29 May 1842, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Veronica (daughter of Bishop Johannes "John" Oesch and Barbara Schultz) was born 8 Jul 1822, Bayern, Germany; died Mar 1861. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Veronica "Fannie" Gerber
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-29329
• Residence: 1842, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Other Events:

• Name: Michael Zeer
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-376354
• Residence: Bef 1840, Watson, Lewis, New York, USA
• Occupation: 1840, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Yeoman
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1881, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1891, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Retired: 1891, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Notes:

ZEHR. - On the 3d of February, 1899, in Wellesley township, Waterloo Co., Ont., Michael Zehr, in his 87th year. Deceased was a member of the Amish Church and was highly esteemed. A large concourse of people followed the remains to the grave on the 6th, in the Amish cemetery on the farm of the deceased. He leaves an aged widow and grown up family to mourn their loss.


The Herald of Truth, Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, March 1, 1899 - pages 76,77

Michael married Barbara Boshart 13 Sep 1840, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Barbara was born 24 Jun 1822, , Alsace Lorraine, France; died 1908; was buried , Amish Mennonite Cemetery, Wilmot Township, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-124938P
• Immigration: 1826, , Canada
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1891, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

The death of Mrs. Zehr, relict of the late M. Zehr, occurred at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Chr. Jantzi, last Friday. Deceased was one of the very oldest inhabitants having lived here continuously for about 80 years. The funeral occurred on Monday.
Wellesley Maple Leaf, March 17, 1904

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-44310

Other Events:

• Residence: Hay Twp., Huron Co., Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-127086

Notes:

Oesch, John (1791-1850)

John Oesch (as he became known in Canada) was born in 1791 to Hannes Esch and Freni Heres (spelling uncertain). There is evidence that "Freni" was of Dutch origin. At that time, the Esch family was living on the Barbelsteinerhof at the foot of the Berwartstein Castle near the village of Erlenbach some distance east of Zweibrücken. The spirit of the French Revolution had crossed the border into the German states, and the local residents were giving Hannes, the farmer at Barbelstein, a great deal of trouble.

When King Maximillian of Bavaria issued an invitation to residents of the Palatinate and Alsace to settle the farming cloisters which he had confiscated from the Catholic Church and to develop the Danube Marsh in the area between Neuburg and Ingolstadt in the early 1800s, Hannes was among those who responded.

John married Barbara Schultz in 1820 at Rothsee, a former cloister farm, southeast of Munich. In 1823 a passport was issued to John at Weilheim, a town south of Munich, allowing him to visit Zweibrücken and the place of his birth.

Later in 1823 John and Barbara were at Probfeld on the Danube Marsh where their third child was born. Shortly after the death of this child the following spring, they were on their way to Canada, leaving Neuburg on the Danube on 1 June 1824. The traveling group consisted of John and Barbara Oesch, their two children, Barbara's widowed father, several unmarried Schultz young people, and Jacob Steinman. They made their way to Amsterdam where they boarded the Brig Ospray, arriving in New York on 2 September.

Some of the travelers may have remained in Pennsylvania for a while, but John and Barbara acquired oxen and a wagon and continued their journey to Upper Canada. When they got to Waterloo, the survey in Wilmot Township had just been completed. They settled in Waterloo Township for a few years until John was able to establish a home on Lot 15, North Snyder's Road, the southern end of which would eventually be part of Baden and Castle Kilbride would be built on land he had cleared.

In February 1829 John was ordained to the ministry in the Wilmot Amish Mennonite congregation and in September of the same year he was ordained to the office of "full minister" (bishop) to take the place of Peter Nafziger who was leaving for Butler County, Ohio. Joseph Goldschmidt and John Brenneman were the first Amish Mennonite ordained ministers in Wilmot in 1824. Nafziger was already an ordained bishop when he arrived from Germany in 1826, making John the first Amish-Mennonite bishop ordained in Canada.

For the next 20 years John served the growing Amish Mennonite community as a bishop. A congregation was organized in South Easthope and East Zorra townships, but no bishop was ordained until several years later, making them dependent on the services of the Wilmot bishop.

By the late 1840s, John and Barbara had 14 living children, eight of them sons. John's 200- acre farm was beginning to look very small. So, one day John set out on foot on the Huron Road and discovered that in Hay township the unoccupied land was unlimited. When a large contingent of Waglers arrived in Wilmot in late 1848 or early 1849, John left his claim to Lot 15 to the new immigrants and contracted with the Canada Company for 600 acres in Hay Township. He moved the family to Bayfield where he and his unmarried sons set to work building their second home in Canada.

In March of 1850, John became ill with what was probably a ruptured appendix and did not survive. He had the time to compose a will in which he was careful to look after the needs of his wife and young children. Several family members became owners of some of the lots John had contracted for in Hay, and the Waglers bought the farm in Wilmot.

The Amish community in Hay grew and prospered, but the congregation did not ordain another bishop to succeed John. Not until 100 years later was Ephraim Gingerich ordained to that office. In the interim, the congregation was always dependent on the services of the bishops from "down east", usually Wilmot or East Zorra.

[Source: Roth, Lorraine. "Oesch, John (1791-1850)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2005. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 October 2007 ]

Johannes — Barbara Schultz. Barbara (daughter of Heinrich Schultz) was born 1803, , Alsace Lorraine, France; died 1881, Hay Twp., Huron Co., Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Barbara Oesch
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-127087

Notes:

Oesch, Barbara Schultz (1803-1881)

Barbara Schultz likely was born in 1803 in Alsace. Her father was Henry Schultz. Her mother's name is not known. By 1820, the family was probably living in Bavaria and perhaps on the cloister farm Rothsee, southeast of Weilheim, because in February of that year she was married there at the age of seventeen to John Oesch. Barbara and John and two children were still living at Rothsee when John obtained an inland pass to travel to Zweibrücken, Germany in February, 1823.

The trip to Zweibrücken was likely made in preparation for a more extended one to America. By December 1823, the family was at Probfeld on the Danube Marsh between Neuburg and Ingolstadt. Barbara gave birth there to her third child in December, and they named him John. He died May 2 the following year.

By 1 June 1824 the Oesch family, along with Barbara's widowed father and several of her unmarried siblings left from Neuburg on the Danube en route to Amsterdam. There they boarded the Brig Ospray, arriving in New York on 2 September 1824.

John and Barbara stopped in Pennsylvania to procure a yoke of oxen and a wagon to make the trip to Upper Canada. They lived in Waterloo Township for a few years until John was able to prepare a cabin and clearing on Snyder's Road where the village of Baden would eventually be founded.

Barbara gave birth to two children in Waterloo (1825 and 1827). By that time they were assessed for two cows besides the oxen they had brought from Pennsylvania. The cows provided much needed nourishment for her growing family. By 1828 Barbara and John and their four children were settled in Wilmot Township.

For the next two decades, Barbara's time and energy was consumed in bearing children and feeding and taking care of them. In February 1829, John was ordained a minister in the small but growing Amish Mennonite settlement in Wilmot, and in September of the same year he was ordained to the office of "full ministry" (bishop) to succeed Peter Nafziger who leaving for Butler County, Ohio. Thus, the responsibilities of a minister's wife were added to Barbara's life.

By 1847 Barbara had given birth to 17 children, three of whom did not survive childhood. John was anxious to find more land for his growing family which included eight sons. Once more the frontier was beckoning and John set out on foot along the Huron Road which passed through the southern part of Wilmot and went all the way to Goderich on Lake Huron. Canada Company lands were still available, and John found what was needed in Hay Township.

Early in 1849 the family (except the children already married) moved to Bayfield on Lake Huron, from where John and the older boys began clearing and building a homestead on what is now the Bronson Line, a short distance south of the hamlet of Blake. In March Barbara gave birth to her 18th child in Bayfield.

In March of 1850, life for Barbara and her family changed drastically with John's death. The older children continued to build up the homestead and arranged for several of them - sons and daughters - to procure lands for which their father had signed contracts. The children found marriage partners. Six of them chose to leave Canada for the western states. Two died premature deaths, leaving spouses and children. One daughter and her husband took over the homestead farm and Barbara continued to live with them.

In January of 1881 Barbara died rather suddenly at the age of 77 years. She had given birth to 18 children, raised 15 of them to adulthood and outlived her husband by at least 30 years. The obituary in the Herald of Truth stated, "The Amish church has lost a shining light." It will be up to our imaginations to interpret her "shining light."<sup>1

1</sup>[Source: Roth, Lorraine. "Oesch, Barbara Schultz (1803-1881)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2005. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 October 2007 ]