Gravestones for Elizabeth and Abraham Stouffer in Altona Ontario 2010

Abraham Stouffer (January 8, 1781 – October 27, 1851) is the founder of the town of

Stouffville Stouffville () is the primary urban area within the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville in York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is situated within the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe. The urban area is centred at the in ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Background and early years in the United States, 1781-1804

Abraham Stouffer was born January 8, 1781, near

Chambersburg Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Ma ...

, Lancaster County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to Abraham Stauffer (1747–1809) and Barbara Hershey (1750–1795). Abraham was a descendant of Christian Stauffer (1579–1671), a

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

"obstinate"

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

(

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the R ...

) preacher in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Immigration to Upper Canada, and the founding "Stoufferville", 1803-1805

In October 1804, Abraham Stouffer emigrated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

from Pennsylvania with his wife's family, the Reesors. Their entourage of five Conestoga wagons reached Markham Township after a six-week journey. The information on Stouffer's Affirmation of Allegiance states: "farmer, hazel eyes, brown hair, six feet one inch high, born in Pennsylvania, 28 years old, a Menonist." Abraham and his wife Elizabeth initially settled north of Cedar Grove on the Little Rouge River, but soon acquired 400 acres of land on the Markham-Whitchurch Township Line. In 1805, Stouffer purchased Lots 1 and 2, Concession 9, on the Whitchurch side of the township line, and soon after he acquired lot 35 on the Markham side. Stouffer, who had learned milling from his father, built a saw and a grist mills on Duffin's Creek (near what is today Mill and Main Streets), and a village soon developed around the mills. The settlement became known as "Stoufferville".

Leading figure in Stouffville

Abraham Stouffer was a leading figure in the larger community. In 1825, he became a director of the Farmers' Storehouse Company, an enterprise of millers formed to counter the power of the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

merchants. In 1832, when a post office was established, the name of the village was shortened from "Stoufferville" to Stouffville. Stouffer was also one of the first trustees of the Altona

Meeting House.

Death

Abraham Stouffer died October 27, 1851, and is buried at the Altona

Meeting House

Stouffer family coat of arms, and the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville

Today, the coat of arms of the Town of

Whitchurch–Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville ( 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, and located in t ...

includes a star and chalice which come from the Stouffer family (Swiss) coat of arms.Cf. Jean Barkey, et al.
Whitchurch Township
p. 99. See also

.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stouffer, Abraham 1781 births 1851 deaths American emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Whitchurch-Stouffville Canadian Mennonites Canadian farmers Canadian people of Swiss descent People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Immigrants to Upper Canada