1

The North Dock, as it appeared in Spring of 1925
1925
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

2

In Spring of 1925, six Russian Mennonite refugee families arrived at the Scudder dock on Pelee Island. They had fled Ukraine in the fall of 1924, crossed the Atlantic by ship and spent the winter months working in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Here they were received by the Old Order Mennonite and Amish families.

3

West Front Road as it appeared in the 1920s
Circa 1925
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

4

West Shore Road follows the west side from Sheridan Point in the North to the southern Fish Point
Circa 1925
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

5

The six families consisted of:

- Elizabeth Dick, with children Jacob, Anna,and Abe;
- Reverend Johann F. and Katharina Dick with daughter Mary, and Katharina's sister, Helena Unruh;
- Peter A. and Maria Driedger with children Jacob, Peter, Abram, Mary, Agatha, Annie and John;
- Gerhard and Katharina Thiessen, daughter Hildegard and Gerhard's mother Aganetha Thiessen;
- John A. and Maria Wiebe with children Jacob Friesen, John, Sarah, Katie, Abram, Betty, Mary, Nick, Henry, and Anne; and
- Anna Wiebe with children John, Ewald, Anna, and Maria.

6

What brought these families to the Island? George Cruikshank, from Leipsic, Ohio, had invested in 1,250 acres on Pelee and he was interested in growing tobacco there. When Cruikshank heard that a group of Russian Mennonite immigrants with a farming background had arrived in Waterloo, Ontario, he came to Waterloo where he met with young John G. Wiebe and through an interpreter asked six families to sharecrop his tobacco acreage.

These first immigrant families were soon followed by other Mennonite families. During their first years in Canada, these people sharecropped or rented Pelee farms. Eventually three families, the Peter Fasts, John Wiebes, and Ewald Wiebes, purchased Island farms.

7

The Double House as it appeared when the Mennonites first arrived in 1925
1925
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

8

Young men gathered at double house on a Sunday afternoon
1930
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

9

Rev. Jacob Epp family home in 1927
1927
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

10

Rev. Johann F. Dick home
Circa 1928
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

11

A back view of the Dick home, which was located on the West Side Road near the West Dock
Circa 1928
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

12

Henry and Anna Cornies, son Henry, daughter Helen, and family friend Rudolph Rinkel lived here
1929
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

13

Ed Long purchased this log home on the Island's North End in 1941
1941
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association

14

The Thiessen/Schroeder Home
1940
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Essex Kent Mennonite Historical Association