The monthly meeting of the Historical Society of St. Boniface and Maryhill Community was held on Monday, June 27th in the Edward Halter Home at 7 p.m. A moment of silence was held for Jean Zettel who held many positions in the Historical Society and recently passed away.
Reports were given
PRESIDENT – Tom Schell gave his report. The first two Sundays of open house at the Halter Home have been enjoyed by a number of visitors. June 12th welcomed a number of descendants of the Franz Joseph Brohmann family. Visitors were here from Ajax, Hamilton, Michigan, Montana and the local area. They dedicated a new monument to Franz and then had a lunch and fellowship at the Halter House. July 1 we will be having a Canadian Flag presented to our Historical Society by our local M.P. Harold Albrecht at 9:30am with MPP Michael Harris also able to attend. In the afternoon we will be hosting a Canada Day celebration. Plans are well underway for our Heritage Sunday on September 25th. We have most of the main planning and committees in motion. Thanks to all the board members. We have all been busy with various tasks. Brian Lorentz with the flag pole. Ken and Shelia Kurtz with Canada Day, Mary Ann Stroh and Diane Strickler with the house and tours. Lee Ann and Taylor Wetzel with the raffle and silent auction. Ashley Honsberger with the web design and newsletter. Carol Neumann with the logo and membership. Mary Campagnaro with community. Fran Vegh and Ken Hanson with the treasurer books and Marlene Bruckhardt with her guidance.
On June 28 Tom will be presenting The St. Boniface and Maryhill Community Award in History to Seth Doerr a graduating student at St. Boniface School. This will become an annual award. The goal of this new History Award is to honour significant achievement in history and encourage young people to become involved and excited about local, regional, national, and world history. Seth Doerr not only demonstrates good academic standing in this subject area, but someone who genuinely shows an interest in History. He is a student who has always shown an interest in History and has often signed books out of the library that deal with History.
PAST PRESIDENT – Marlene Bruckhardt gave her report for mailing of the Summer Newsletter as follows: the Newsletter was received and envelopes for hand delivery were ready for pick up with the balance mailed. She was able to locate the email addresses for 19 people. Lee Ann Wetzel had prepared colourful inserts to include explaining the purpose of the raffle tickets (first time this has been done along with self-addressed return envelopes. Marlene is working with Carol to update the mailing list regarding hand delivered names, address corrections and deletions and will be providing her information for email members. The next newsletter will include proxy forms for the Annual General Meeting in November.
ARCHIVIST & GENEALOGY – Diane Strickler reported helping the Bruder and Hummel families this month.
BIRTHDAY CLUB – Diane Beitz reported sending 7 birthday cards for the month of July.
BUILDING MAINTENANCE – Brian Lorentz has cemented the base for the pole and everything is set for Canada Day.
CHURCH – Mary Campagnaro has mentioned that 3 deaths, 1 marriage and 6 baptisms have been recorded for the month of June. The foundation and new large monument were installed in “old walled” cemetery on Tuesday June 21st. Many of the stones have deteriorated beyond repair. Some stones are in pieces and no longer erect. These stones have all been photographed and graves documented. These monuments will be removed. An account has been set up for anyone wishing to donate to the “Monument Fund”. A tax receipt will be issued.
The monument lists the first and last name and year of birth and death for each of the following: Lualia Adams , Johanna Allgeier, Christian Baumann, Joseph Berberich, Rosalia Bitschey , Boy Brohman, Hugo Brohman, Magdalen Brohman, Bertha Brohmann, Girl Bruder, Henry Diemert, John Drexler, Johanna Eisenbach, Willie Eisenbach, Caroline Fahrer, Philip Fahrer, Maria Fischer, Magdalena Forma, Maria Frank, Maria Anna Frank, Catherine Fromm, Mathias Gabel, Felix Gehl, John Gehl, Henry Goetz, Laurentius Goetz, Mary Goetz, Peter Halter, Eleanor Harnack, Agnes Hauck, Edward Hauck, Elizabeth Heintzman, Jacob Heintzman, Alice Hummel, Andrew Hummel, Martin Hummel, George Keller, Anthony Kerchner, Elizabeth Kirchener, Andrew Klein, Magdelena Kneflier, Elizabeth Knoepfler, Baby Kurtz, Gottleib Kurtz, Agnes Lanli, Catherina Lauber, Gottlieb Lehman, Theresa Lehman, Joseph Lehman, Frank Lehman, Henry Lehmann, Joseph Lehmann, Ernst Loeffler, Walburga Martin, Elizabeth Martin, Joseph Mattell, Joseph May, Alexander Miller, Michael Miyer, Joseph Raiter, Andrew Reinhard, Mary Ann Reinhard, Loyd Reinhart , Martin Reinhart , Philip Rellinger, Jacob Rider, Mary Rider, Mary Roth, Susina Roth, Alfred Schell, Anton Scherer, Elisabeth Scherer, Mickel Scherrer, Laurine Schmaltz, Heinrich Schmuck, Mary Schuett, Ida Schuett, William Schuett, Frances Seifried, George Seifried, Leslie Seifried, Magdalena Seitz, Michael Seitz, Wilhelm Seitz, Felix Shumacker, Maria Stieger, John Vagle, Andrew Weiler, Theresia Weiler, Jacob Weiler, Joseph Wendling, Mary Wilhelm, Gertrude Zettel, Lucas Zettel, Carrie Zettel, Michael Zettle, Johanna Zettwuch, Maria Anna Zinger, Albin Zinger, Louis Zinger, Alois Zinger, Chrisostimus Zinger.
FUNDRAISING – Lee Ann Wetzel – the raffle tickets were printed and sent out with the newsletters. Additional tickets are available at the Halter House. If more are needed, please contact Lee Ann. Money and sold tickets can be left in the Historical house or given to Lee Ann. Approximately 20 silent auction items have been received so far. If more letters requesting donations are required, please contact LeeAnn or Taylor Wetzel.
MEMBERSHIP – Carol Neumann has received 3 new life memberships bring the total membership to 324.
PROGRAM – Ken Kurtz reported plans are in place. House will be decorated like last year. Entertainment is organized and crafts for the children will be 1-4 with a tour of the cemetery taking place at 2 p.m.
PUBLICATIONS – Ashley Honsberger is starting to work on the next newsletter which will include proxies for the Annual General Meeting in November.
RESOURCE CENTRE – Diane Strickler & Mary Ann Stroh have done the annual house cleaning as well at weeding the front flowerbeds and the flowerbed in front of the school bell. A picture of Rose & Alf Waechter in their store has been received from Jeff Dupuis who received it from Steven Waechter.
Insurance coverage for the church, the “old walled” cemetery and Edward Halter Home have been received and sent on to the co-ordinators for “Doors Open”. A brief history of all three sites had been sent on as well. Currently looking for volunteers to host these sites.
SCHOOL – Mary Campagnaro reported that enrollment is up and a portable classroom will be going into the back of the school this summer. Also the septic system will be looked after.
WAYSIDE CROSSES – Doug Keller has the lumber to replace the Klein cross. Currently looking into replacing the corpus.
WEBSITE CO-ORDINATOR – Ashley Honsberger reported we now have a new website and are working with Steve Fulton vice-president of the Ontario Genealogical Society and our secretary Ken Hanson. The new website is https://www.maryhillroots.com. We are encouraged to check it out as it is being developed and submit suggestions and comments.
NEW BUSINESS – Carol Neumann distributed copies of the proposed banner and business cards will be available for each member. When handing out these cards we just need to put our name and any other information we would like on the back . She is also looking in getting quotes on new badges.
Secretary Ken Hanson reported a committee will be set up to working on Woolwich Township Grant. We are now members with both the Waterloo and Wellington Historical Society.
Plans for the Annual General Meeting are starting to take place and Karen Ball-Pyatt, the librarian at the Grace Schmidt local History room at the KPL and archivist for the Waterloo Historical Society will be guest speaker.
New this year, past president Marlene Bruckhart will prepare the slate of officers. The meeting format will be similar to the past 2 years.
Honoured this year will be the 50th and 60th anniversary couples and they will receive certificates. The 80th birthdays in 2016 will be verbally recognized.
Seth Doerr is the first recipient of the St. Boniface and Maryhill Community Award in History and Historical Society president Tom Schell.
