HISTORY OF BISMARK E.U.B. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY GIVEN AT ANNIVERSARY SERVICE
[Written by Milton M. Sundy, unknown date]
The 81st anniversary of the Bismark Evangelical Brethren church was observed with a good attendance on October 25,, Rev. J.C Weller in charge the history of the church was written by Charles Swingle at the morning service.
On October 22nd, 1933 we celebrated the 100 anniversary of the Sunday settlement, as many you will remember. The occasion also marked the 50th anniversary of the building of the present Evangelical church.
Following is the history of the Sundy Settlement, read by the Mr. Milton Sundy, at the Sunday night meeting. There were 175 people, past 50 years of those with us who were residents of Bismark 50 years ago :There in Mr. Sundy words.”
Mr Pastor, Ladies and Gentleman I am very glad to be with you here to-night at the large gathering of people to do honor for the one hundreth anniversary of the beginning of the Sundy Settlement.The occasion also marked the Fiftieth anniversary of the building of the church. I am glad of the opportunity to meet so many of the old friends and schoolmates and neighbors of long ago. There are many recollections of olden times that I would like to recall, but time will not permit. We have with us to-night, Pastors of this church of 30 to 50 years ago and I know they have plenty words to say to us. I will therefore keep my talk as short as possible. Mr Sundy said I believe the part that I am to take in the program is to go back into the past 100 years and bring the past 50 years forward the present or up until the building of the church in 1833
I would like to say that anything that I may say to you upon the subject is gleaned from information of things that were told to me by my parents and grandparents and the older people of my neighborhood days but more particularly by my grandfather. He and I were pals I had the benefits of his companionship for 13 years. I was the oldest grandson and lived in the same house with him, and we were constantly together. As we worked side by side and as we drove along the road together, going to and from Beamsville, Smithville and Wellandport, to the store or to the mill he told me many things of his early life here, and of his childhood days. In the old land. By piecing together all these things that I have bee told in my boyhood days I can tell you the following story. In the year 1830 there came to this country from Germany, a man, his wife and children, seven girls and two boys also a brother named Jacob. This man’s name was Christian Sundy. “My great grandfather.” and he was I believe the founder of the Settlement in this vicinity which was afterwards known far and wide as the Sundy Settlement. They landed in somewhere along the Niagara Frontier and by working here and there at short intervals, they in the course of a year. They worked themselves back to the township of Pelham near where now is situated the village of Ridgeville. They remained there two years but not being
satisfied with the light land of Pelham they set out in search of heavier land and in the search came here and settled upon the block of land upon part of which this church now stands and extending north for the next wood 200 acres of dense and very heavy timbered land. I never heard that they ever complained of this land not being heavy enough to suit them.
Mr Sundy said”Now I am not going to claim for my ancestors that they were the only people in a vast and endless wilderness because I do not believe that is a fact. We all know that in the settlement of a new country where there are no railroads or colonization roads, that the settlements almost always follow the lakes and streams and I believe that is what occurred in the settlement of this territory. We all know that long before the war of 1812 the country all around lake Ontario was settled from around old York to Burlington and Stoney Creek an in Niagara and Queenston. Along the river to the Falls, Lundy Lane and Chippawa and so on up the shores of Lake Erie. These settlements followed back to the Chippawa Creek and on to the 20 mile creek and there were people then living in St Ann’’s and Wellandport. (which was then known as The Narrows) because the narrow strip of land between the two creeks. This was a block of unsettled land lying between these two small settlements and was known at the time as the “Big Bush.” The present highway was then a trail or path connecting the two settlements. The eldest of the children was a girl of about 18 years and the boys were aged 16 and 14 when they came for this land. They at once started to hew out for themselves a home in this solid and densely timbered bush. I would like to say just here that I do not think it is all possible for the people of the present day who have never seen the original virgin forest as it stood here 100 years ago this summer when these people first set foot upon it, to realize the enormity of the task they were facing. I do not think it is possible for the people of today, to recognize the toil the hardships the suffering and deprivations these people endured in the building of their home and cutting and logging burning grubbing and clearing of the land . They built their buildings of logs of course a house and a stable. They were located just over here where now stands the old frame home and barns I remember seeing the old log building still there when I was a small boy. After they had cut enough trees to build the buildings they continued to cut and piled and burn as many as they could to clear the land for wheat. In burning they buried over pulled and dragged out what few stumps they could and sowed wheat between the stumps that were left right on the burned soil and made it in a homemade wooden rake . When this crop had ripened, they cut it with a sickle, threshed it with a fail and then threw it up against the wind to separate the wheat from the chaff. When they wanted flour they took this wheat all the way to Niagara to mill. This work of home building and clearing covered a period of 15 to 20 years, and during that time many other people some friendly and some relatives came over from the fatherland and settled here. The children had grown up married and started home building themselves. The girls of the family, all but two married husbands who settled in close by the old homestead, so by that time they had quite a large settlement with better implements an d more comfortable ways of living They had saw mills near by and a flour mill at St John’s or Effingham. It was at this time that the second set of buildings, which wee of frame construction. This farm was divided between the two boys John got the south half and built the old frame house and barns yet standing over here and Christian my grandfather got the north hundred acres he also built frame buildings. The shingles in those days they split out of blocks of pine and tapered them down with a draw knife. In the settlement at this time were tradesmen of all kinds carpenters, masons black smiths, cabinet makers and joiners, coopers, weavers, taylors and shoemakers. The wool as it was taken from the sheep was taken to the carding mill, which was in Pelham township and carded made into strips about 3 feet long and a half inch thick. These were brought home to the farm and the women spun in into yarn. Knitted stockings, mittens or other garments. When they had the family supplied they knitted for sale to the stores and traded them for groceries. What they did not knit they took the weaver and had it woven into cloth and when the boys needed new suits or the girls needed the dresses they did not jump into a car and drive to a big department store and dig up 25 to 50 dollars for a suit. They sent for the taylor or the dressmaker, who came to the house and mother out the large bolts of beautiful cloth which was made in dresses and suits. U believe the people were well and comfortably dressed at least I know they were effieciently dressed in those days. The boots were made in the same way. The hides were taken to small tanners and the leather brought home. The shoemaker also came to the home and made shoes for the whole family. During all this time of strenuous clearing and building these people’s religious duties were never neglected quarterly meetings were very largely attended, by people from Pelham, Campden Worship was held in the homes or in warm weather in groves. There was always some one among them who was capable of taking charge of the services. The quarterly meetings were very largely attended, by people from Pelham, Campden and South Cayuga and was usually held in my ancestors barn. Throughout the years they felt the need of a church very keenly and somewhere about the year 1850 they decided to build one, but were in the same fix in those days.
That we find ourselves today. They had very little money. At that time however they had plenty of timber, they had a carpenter made out a bill of all the material they would require to build the church they so much wanted and each member who would not give money, agreed to supply so many sticks of timber or lumber or sand. My grandfather’s brother John gave the land and grandfather being a good shingle shaver made most of the shingles required in this way they got their first church.During the next 29 years, in the natural course of events the settlement grew and prospered, In this period thev next generation, the children’s children grew up and married and started home building. They then stared the third set of buildings fine large accommodation houses and barns many of them still standing here today.
About 1871 my grandfather built the large brick house part of which my father and mother occupied when they started life together. Mr Sundy said I can now speak of events that happened with in my own memory and my if you could only see his head and shoulders. There was a row of long seats on each side and just one centre aisle about eight feet wide. It might be amusing you people to know that the women all sat in the left hand row of seats and the men in the right hand row. This was not only a custom it was a rule of the church which was very strictly enforced and I can remember upon several occasions that young men who attempted to sit by their best girl were quietly escorted to the other side. About the time there began to spring up much dissatisfaction from the younger people as to the use of the German language exclusively in the church services. They had learned the English at school and talked it much of the time. A large number of English speaking families had moved in and in order to satisfy these young people the pastor spoke both English and German. After a year or so it was changed t o Germany every other Sunday. Then to German once a month then to English every Sunday with about five minutes in German and finally shortly after the new church was built the German was cut out altogether, but it was a struggle that lasted 8 or 10 years. For several years to 1883 the agitation for a new church arose. This grew stronger year by year in face of much opposition but finally early in 1883 a meeting was called and a vote taken which resulted in a majority for a new church A subscription list was started right there and several hundreds of dollars were subscribed. They had the money this time. The plan as drawn the contract let and the church completed that fall. This brings me to the end of fifty years that I was to talk about. I believe other speakers will take the story up from there and bring it up to the present. Just in conclusion I would like to remind you that this fifty years tells of the evolution of a densely timbered wold and and inhabited territory to a well settled well cleared well farmed happy contented and prosperous country side and believe at no time within my memory was this district better farmed and most productive tan right now.
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