Greetings!

When our first Anabaptist families (Mennonite and Tunker) arrived in Upper Canada in the 1790s they had very much to do. With the help of friendly Nanticoke neighbours they hurried to build rough shelters to protect themselves and their livestock for the coming Canadian winter. Along with this they cleared land to plant, and soon set up a mill on the Stony Creek to provide the women with flour and the men with chopped grain for the stock. It all went amazingly well, under the blessing of God. So many plans, so much land to clear, so much building. But much more importantly, the first Anabaptists in the Rainham Settlement built families.

Very large orderly families that grew up to serve God and to bless the entire district.

How did this come about?

Isn't building a family more or less automatic? A simple matter of cause and effect?

Most certainly not!

I grew up taking part in frequent barn or house raisings. All the men and women of the district turning up on a certain day to raise a large building, amazingly, in one day. Sometimes when we finished early we boys even had a bit of time to play baseball before we returned home to take care of the chores.

Now, setting up a web-site reminds me of a barn raising. So many eager contributors, so many helpers! How can I ever thank them all, individually? Helen Bingleman's work was fundamental in producing this collection of facts � altogether of inestimable worth. Special thanks to Kris Hocker of Pennsylvania, Hans Ulrich Pfister of the Staatsarchiv Z�rich, John and Velina (Hoover) Showalter for the photos they so kindly provided. And above all, for the technical help of Hussein and Sherif Haggag of Geelong, Victoria, and the brothers and sisters of our Christian community at Rocky Cape in Tasmania, Australia. Without their support nothing could have come of the project.

But before all else, in raising barns and building web-sites, we desperately need a vision, a plan, and the order to get it all accomplished � together. This, when we come to building families, also "makes it or breaks it".

During the first half of the nineteenth century many Anabaptists, involving thirty-six different family names, established the Rainham Settlement. Most of them have scattered and many have vanished without a trace. Something to think about. But, thankfully, a few strong families from the Rainham Settlement survived and are still flourishing, with dozens of new couples starting up housekeeping in new Anabaptist communities, here and there, every year. Still choosing to live on the land and to have large happy families, walking joyfully up the narrow way to Christ.

May the Lord bless all of you who found these pages, and we pray that his work begun by believing families in Rainham, Walpole and South Cayuga Townships in southern Ontario, Canada, will turn to greater glory for God and a light for the world in our time.

Keep on building!

Peter and Susan Hoover