Detweiler Meetinghouse

10/05/2026

Many of you know that the Blair Cemetery is the oldest settler burying ground in the Region. Here is interesting information about it, plus in the Comments is an interesting answer... Have you wondered how that site was chosen?

Tombstone in the hallway of the Mennonite Archives.

"Christian and Maria (Scherch) Erb

Christian Erb (1734-1810) and Maria Scherch (1737-1814) married in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1756. Both children of Mennonite immigrants from Switzerland, they were among the first Mennonites to Immigrate to Canada, settling near Doon in 1802.
Among their 12 children were Abraham, founder of the City of Waterloo and John, founder of Preston. Two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, married members of the Schneider family. Sister Susannah is the grandmother of John E. Brubacher. His home, Brubacher House, is now a museum on the University of Waterloo campus administered by Conrad Grebel University College. Sister Anna (Nancy) married John Bricker, whose pioneer story is fictionalized in Mabel Dunham's Trail of the Conestoga.
The Erbs were buried in Blair Cemetery, the oldest settler burying ground in Waterloo Region. The cemetery was founded by their daughter, Anna, who first chose the location to bury her young son in 1804. In 2011, Erb descendants replaced this weathered stone. "

09/30/2026

🧡 EVERY CHILD MATTERS. 🧡

Today is Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Today we honour the Survivors of residential schools and remember the children who never came home.

As of 2026, investigations have identified at least 2,971 potential unmarked graves or burials at 31 former residential school sites across Canada.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has documented more than 4,000 children who died within the residential school system. In 2025, another 1,143 names of children were verified for the National Student Memorial Register.

And we still do not know the full number.

Many former residential school sites have not been fully searched. Records remain incomplete. Children remain missing. Families and Nations are still waiting for answers.

Orange Shirt Day cannot simply be about wearing orange.

It means listening to Survivors.
Learning whose land you live on.
Understanding the Treaties.
Challenging residential-school denialism.
Supporting Nations searching for their children.
Demanding institutions release the records communities need.

The last federally operated residential school closed in 1996. This is not ancient history. Survivors are still here.

2,971 potential unmarked burials.
More than 4,000 documented deaths.
Thousands of children.
Thousands of families.
And the search is not finished.

They were children.

They had names.
They had families.
They were loved.
They should have come home.

🧡 Every Child Matters.
🧡 Every Survivor Matters.
🧡 The children who never came home matter.

Today we wear orange.

Tomorrow, we keep doing the work.

09/25/2026

Engaging the enthusiastic audience.

09/25/2026

Oops. The photographer was slow getting this one.

09/25/2026

Thanks to Anne Lederman (right) and Alanna Jenish for music, singing, step dancing and engaging the willing audience for our last concert this year.