Theodore Brandley
Johann Theodore Brandley (1851–1928) was a Swiss-born Mormon missionary and community leader who helped establish Stirling, Alberta, Canada. Born in Horgen, Switzerland, he converted to the LDS Church and became one of the first missionaries sent from Richfield, Utah, to Canada. He was asked to help settle Stirling and also served missions to Switzerland, Germany, the northern United States, and Manitoba.
To move to Canada, Brandley resigned as mayor of Richfield and as a church bishop and patriarch there, and he sold his furniture store. He moved to Stirling with his wife Eliza Zaugg and their children Henry, Joseph, Albert, Theodore Jr., and Anna, along with eight other Utah families.
They arrived May 5, 1899, and were welcomed by Charles Ora Card. The next day Brandley and Card planned the town site. Stirling was designed according to the Plat of Zion: 47 blocks (about one square mile) with 10-acre lots and wide streets, plus a central Town Square in the northeast corner near the railway. A unique feature is a 20-foot-wide lane that separates blocks into two 4,900-square-meter lots.
The aim was to create a farm-friendly village with homes, barns, gardens, and irrigation from canals. Today Stirling is known as the best-preserved Mormon settlement in Canada and is a National Historic Site, still following the Plat of Zion.
Brandley practiced polygamy, having four wives.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:12 (CET).