Puslinch Historical Society Research

As part of our ongoing mandate to not only preserve our heritage and history but also to make it accessible to the public we have created this online research portal. Below you will find a wealth of information on the history of Puslinch categorized for easy search. Simply choose a topic below to begin your search.

Cober Carriage Works

The Trail of the Black Walnut also by G.Elmore Reaman which includes a more extensive history of the Cober and Fisher migrations.

Cober Family compiled by Cober, Alvin Alonzo, 1861- The Cober genealogy of Pennsylvania, Iowa and Canada. Berlin, Pa. : The Berlin Press, 1933, 289 p. ; CS71.C63 1933

Peter Cober (Cover), his wife and 19 other families, emigrated from Germany and landed in Baltimore, Maryland, sometime after the middle of the 18th century. Later they moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. His son Nicholas (1763-1842), and his wife Eve Fisher (1779-1859), emigrated to Canada in 1796 along with Eve's parents. They came by horseback taking 2 weeks and stopping in Niagara Falls before going to Vaughan Township. (also see Holm's Mill). Their tombstone in the Cober Burying Ground reads "Of the first settlers on Yonge Street, they were the fifth family".11 children were born to Nicholas and Eve.

From La Rue de Commerce by Winfield Brewster: In the year 1833, the Cober family, originally Pennsylvania folks, came from Vaughan Township and purchased 1000 acres in Puslinch Township comprising lots 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 front and rear in the 3rd concession. For several years prior to 1860, John Cober had been carrying on business as a wagon and buggy maker on part of this property and among his apprentices were his younger brother Jacob Norman Cober, Enoch Eaton, Aaron Pannabecker and Henry Warner...(Wanner)

In 1860, John (moving Ethel, Ontario) sold to Jacob Norman Cober, who erected a wagon shop and a smithy on the Tabbert property (part of the above mentioned 1000 acres) under the name "Cober Carriage Works) Among his apprentices was John Heuther son of Ludwig. At one time 6 men in his employ boarded in his home. After Jacob Norman Cober moved to Hespeler, Samuel Pannabecker continued blacksmithing on the property.

The following is taken from the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada:

Cober, Peter

(7 May 1853-23 March 1941) Peter Cober was the son of Nicholas and Nancy (Holm) Cober. He was born on May 7, 1853, in Puslinch Twp., Wellington Co., ON. On Sept. 28, 1875, he married Martha Steinacher, and together they had eight children, two of whom died in infancy.

A few years later Cober moved to Michigan, and in 1881 he began preaching at Brown City as the first pastor of the church there. He also served for a few years in the Indiana-Ohio Conference (at Bethel), being ordained by that conference in 1884. Soon afterward this ordination he returned to Ontario, where he spent most of his 42 years in the active ministry, serving pastorates at Markham, Kitchener, Kilsyth, New Dundee, Shrigley, Breslau, Maryboro, and Hespeler.

Cober was presiding elder of the Ontario conference for 10 years, 1895-1901 and 1903-7, and chairperson of six conferences, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1905, and 1906. He also served at various times as conference evangelist and as a member of the several boards of the Ontario conference. He was a delegate to general conferences and chairperson of one (Coopersburg, PA, 1896).

In a few respects Peter Cober's record was unique. He was the first subscriber to the Gospel Banner, opened the first city mission of the Ontario Conference (Collingwood, Sept. 17, 1897), and attended 60 consecutive annual conferences (1881 to 1940 inclusive).

In 1923, he retired from pastoral work, residing at Kitchener, ON, from then until his death March 23, 1941. Interment was made in Woodlawn cemetery.

Elizabeth (Mager) Keffer - As a small child she lived on the third concession of Puslinch on the Jacob Cober farm for about four years and recalls that at the age of seven years she used to walk to the farm of Tobias Wanner, uncle of David Pauabaker, proprietor of The Valley Store, through thick woods with only a yellow collie dog called Beaver as a companion. She came back to the third concession again in 1860 to the farm now owned by John Chester.

Marjorie Clark