James Kaufman

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216516512
• Name: Edmund J. Kaufman
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-324872
• Residence: 1921, 21 Ellen St. W. Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Zion Evangelical

Notes:

KAUFMAN, Jacob Edmund

April 18, 1916 - October 20, 2012

On Saturday evening, October 20, 2012, Edmund Kaufman retired after 96-1/2 years of dedication to his family and community. Born at home in Waterloo on April 18, 1916. Predeceased by his wife Jean (McFarlane) Kaufman (1977).

Survived by his children Susan Kaufman (Ron Wilson) of Tucson, Arizona and James Kaufman (Susan Blair) of Guelph; granddaughters Rachel Kaufman Behling and Jennifer Stitt; great-granddaughter Bronte Mae Behling; siblings Carl (Eleanor), Mary Eleanor Merritt (Tom, deceased) and Bob (Bette); sister-in-law Margaret McFarlane (Nashville); many nieces and nephews whom he loved dearly.

Edmund was a WWII veteran, a former owner of Kaufman Lumber Ltd. and, until his death, owned and still worked at Schlichter's Ltd. In 2010, he was honoured by the City of Kitchener along with five other community businesses that had reached milestones in the community.

Edmund was a long-term member of the KW Sales and Ad Club and St. John Ambulance, earning Commander of the Order of St. John (1983). Among his many philanthropic endeavours, modelled after his late parents, Milton and Edith (Oetzel) Kaufman, and grandparents, Jacob and Mary (Ratz) Kaufman, he was proud to mentor the recent creation of The Kaufman Arts Studio.

The Kaufman family gratefully thanks their extended family, friends and Schlichter's staff for their love and support. Special thanks to the staff of Victoria Place for their tender care of Edmund. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the St. John Ambulance, 519-579-6285, www.kwsja.ca; The Working Centre, 519-743-1151, www.theworkingcentre. org; or favourite charity will be appreciated.

Please take a moment to share the essence of "Papa", https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=eVtr7N1TH7g. Cremation has taken place. A reception to honour, celebrate and remember Edmund's life will be held at Ratz-Bechtel Family Centre from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 27, 2012.

_________________

Edmund Kaufman: a man who never gave up

Edmund Kaufman of Kitchener

David Hill recalls the standard response from Edmund Kaufman when he was asked to shuttle a customer after dropping off their car at Schlichter's automotive repair on Queen Street South.

"He'd rub his hands with glee, he'd get all excited because it would be an opportunity for him to talk to people," said David, who worked for Edmund for two decades and came to know the generous, amiable gentleman who became like a mentor. Ask David about Edmund and the superlatives come in a never ending stream: caring spirit, very patient, true gentleman, honourable, compassionate, cared about people and their problems.

"Those were qualities I really appreciated," said David.

Edmund purchased the auto repair/small engine repair shop in 1988 after the owner, Doug Schlichter fell ill and Edmund couldn't bear to see the employees lose their jobs. Edmund was in his 70s at the time.

Edmund admitted to a Record columnist that he "doesn't know the meaning of retirement" and added, "The only thing that bugs me is that I can't go up the stairs two steps at a time any more."

As a businessperson, Edmund thrived. He was always the first in the shop, arriving at 6:30 a.m. and reading at least two newspapers before his staff arrived. Armed with current information, Edmund inevitably wanted to discuss politics or anything pertaining to his beloved community. David said if you really wanted to get him going, just mention the light rail transit proposal. "He hated it."

Edmund was all about practicality. When his businesses were successful, he put the profits back into the business and never spent money needlessly. He was frugal yet generous, donating money for community betterment, handing over cash to people in need and, as one story goes, he purchased groceries for a poor, young mother.

At the shop, Edmund didn't sit around acting like a big shot, even though he owned the place. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, even if it meant scrubbing toilets or cleaning up a goopy mess in the shop and he eagerly embraced change and new technology.

Long time friend Doug Jamieson said that as a businessperson, Edmund was "a doer" a man who didn't want to waste time in meetings when action could solve a problem. If he saw a pop can or piece of paper on the sidewalk, Edmund stooped to pick it up.

Edmund was born the eldest of four children and his father was the brother of well-known Kitchener industrialist, A.R. Kaufman. His aunt Emma Kaufman was a missionary, known for helping establish a YWCA in Japan, a country where he lived for one year while finishing Grade 13.

Returning to Canada, the teenage Edmund started university in Toronto but wasn't happy. Daughter Susan Kaufman said her dad just wanted to work in the family business, Kaufman Lumber where his father, Milton was president. Back at home, happily ensconced in the family fold, Edmund would soon face a three-year interruption plus a major upheaval in his career.

First, Edmund was recruited into the army where he served in Canada, from 1943 to 1946, moving from base to base, looking after supplies. Luckily, his wife Jean, a nurse originally from Ottawa, was able to come with him, always finding nursing jobs near the base and once, as a private duty nurse to famous Canadian painter, Emily Carr.

His children joke that the couple's first fight was because they had to carry everything they owned in two duffel bags and at one point, Jean insisted she needed her egg beater. There was no room. Susan believes her mother likely won that argument.

After serving his time in the army, Edmund and Jean returned to Kitchener though in 1962, he decided to sell his shares to his brother. The two business persons apparently had very different views on how to run the operation.

Edmund, never one to give up, turned his attention to property management and residential development in Cambridge. He owned the building occupied by Schlichter's, a company which was started by Ray Schlichter in 1930, so to him it must have seemed logical to take over the business when Ray's son Doug fell ill. Susan grins slightly when recalling her father making the decision. He was already several years past when most people retire but there was no point arguing.

She remembers her dad as rather hard-nosed when she was younger, a man who provided well for Susan and her brother Jim, but not one to be extravagant. She said he was always coming home and telling his family he had a new idea, often about marketing some gadget like the coin-operated camera film dispenser or the lever that allowed taxi drivers to shut passenger doors from inside the vehicle. Not all these ideas were successful.

Jim, who lives in Guelph, said his dad was "very handy, he could fix about anything."

Edmund's obsession with work never faltered, decade after decade. "My dad never took a vacation," she said, noting how, having a visit meant she had to travel from her home in Arizona.

When Jean died in 1977, Edmund soldiered on alone, living independently in the house he had shared with his wife on Glasgow Street. He still lived there, driving to work every day, right up until he died.

Though Edmund fought against the limitations of age, he did make one request of his family: don't send him to a home where they will make him do crafts.

Even into his 90s, Edmund had not lost his sense of humour.

vhill@therecord.com

Published in WATERLOO REGION RECORD, Oct 29, 2012

https://www.therecord.com/life/edmund-kaufman-a-man-who-never-gave-up/article_df89fa9b-1e97-5ff8-a21e-39cd62c80057.html

Jacob — Jean McFarlane. Jean was born 1920; died 1977. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Jean Kaufman
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-231621

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216516503
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-39425
• Occupation: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Manufacturer
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Occupation: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Merchant, Lumber
• Residence: 1921, 21 Ellen St. W. Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Zion Evangelical

Milton — Edith D. Oetzel. Edith (daughter of Jacob Oetzel and Augusta Schlegel) was born 26 Feb 1889, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 9 Jan 1980; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216516490
• Name: Ida Oetzel
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-44299
• Occupation: 1911, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Stenographer, Felt Works
• Residence: 1911, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Residence: 1921, 21 Ellen St. W. Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Zion Evangelical

Other Events:

• Birth: , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10126900
• Occupation: Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; rubber worker factory owner
• Residence: 621 King St. W., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-39421
• Birth: 15 Jul 1847, North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada
• Business: 1877, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; J. Kaufman - planing mill
• Historic Building: 1877, 575 King Street West, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Kaufman Industries
• Occupation: 1877, Gadshill, North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario; lumber dealer
• Occupation: 1877, Gadshill, North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario; lumber dealer
• Occupation: 1881, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Manufacturer
• Residence: 1881, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical Association
• Occupation: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Manufacturer
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Business: 1892, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Jacob Kaufman - doors, sashes, blinds, mouldings
• Occupation: 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Manufacturer of Building Supplies
• Occupation: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Manufacturer
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region: Bef 2012, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Industrialist

Notes:

KAUFMAN, JACOB, carpenter and manufacturer; b. 15 July 1847 in North Easthope Township, Upper Canada, son of Joseph Kauffman and Anna Stroh; m. there 5 March 1877 Mary Ratz, and they had seven children, of whom two sons and two daughters reached adulthood; d. 20 April 1920 in Kitchener, Ont.

Jacob Kaufman's father, a native of Bavaria (Germany), emigrated to the United States in 1827. After working as a baker in New York City, he moved to Upper Canada and acquired land from the Canada Company in North Easthope west of Hamburg (New Hamburg). Kaufman's mother, originally from Alsace, married Joseph Kauffman in 1842. The third of ten children, Jacob worked on the family farm as a youth and could attend school only during the winter; he displayed "splendid natural mental endowment." Still on the farm in 1871 but listed as a carpenter, he left to become a sawyer in the sawmill of Henry Ratz in nearby Gads Hill. In March 1877 Kaufman married Ratz's daughter and a month later they moved to Berlin (Kitchener), a village of strong Germanic background.

In partnership with his father-in-law, whom he later bought out, Kaufman secured in December 1877 an exemption from municipal taxation and soon thereafter established a planing mill and a sash-and-door factory. Aided as well by linkage to the Grand Trunk Railway, the operation expanded and in 1881 the tax exemption of Ratz and Kaufman was renewed. In 1888 a new brick factory was constructed. When the region's supply of wood began to dwindle, Kaufman bought a large area of forest in Muskoka. From 1902 logs were cut there at mills at Rosseau Falls and farther north at Trout Creek, where Kaufman also produced wood alcohol and charcoal. When Nelson and Milton Good began producing automobiles in Berlin in the early 1900s, the Kaufman plant fashioned about 20 wooden bodies, which apparently were never used. Locally Kaufman's goods were transported by a horse-drawn wagon until 1909, when a motor car was converted into a truck. In 1916 the business was incorporated as Jacob Kaufman Limited.

In addition to his lumber operations, Kaufman was a founder of the rubberized footwear industry in Berlin, an offshoot of its leather and felt industries. With A. L. Breithaupt and Louis Weber, he became associated with building contractor George Schlee, who had inspected factories in Ohio, and in May 1899 they organized the Berlin Rubber Manufacturing Company Limited. It prospered, but Kaufman fell out with his partners, reputedly because he wanted to give a raise to its aspiring bookkeeper, Talmon Henry Rieder. As a result, in the spring of 1903 he and Rieder started another firm, Merchants Rubber; it made rubberized garments for fishermen and miners as well as footwear. In 1907, after Berlin Rubber and Merchants had been absorbed by Canadian Consolidated Rubber of Montreal, Kaufman and his son Alvin Ratz formed Kaufman Rubber Company Limited, which became one of Canada's largest producers. It continues today as the Kaufman Footwear division of William H. Kaufman Incorporated.

Although Kaufman had no interest in political office, he was committed to the public development of Berlin. As a member of its light commission from April 1905 to January 1910, he supported municipal expenditure to secure electricity through the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Also a member of the water commission, he sat on the committee that established the town's first sewage disposal system. In the fervour of wartime, such progress was overshadowed by the acrimonious, anti-German debate over Berlin's name-change to Kitchener, which Kaufman first supported but then opposed. From a business perspective, at a meeting of the local Employers' Association in March 1916 he observed that his companies had encountered little difficulty selling goods with a Berlin association. Certainly the change, which passed narrowly in a city referendum in May, did nothing to diminish Kaufman's civic devotion: in 1917 he funded the construction of a nurses' home near the general hospital.

The Kaufmans were lifelong members of Zion Evangelical Church: a trustee for 35 years, Jacob regularly attended the Canadian conferences of the Evangelical Association; Mary headed Zion's women's society. In addition, she was president of the local Children's Aid Society and Young Women's Christian Association, and was a member of the National Council of Women of Canada, the Women's Hospital Aid Association of Ontario, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Her influence is visible in the career of her daughter Emma Ratz in the YWCA in Japan and Canada.

Jacob Kaufman died in 1920 and was described in the Kitchener Daily Record as "Kitchener's industrial wizard," whose "career is a most unique one even in our community where men who do things abound. . . . He was prepared to take a dare." Between 1909 and 1919 this "plain spoken sociable man" had gifted his wife and four surviving children with more than $602,000; at his death he left them an estate worth almost $279,000. Milton Ratz Kaufman subsequently assumed control of the planing and lumber mills while Alvin, who would gain attention through his promotion of birth control and eugenics, took over Kaufman Rubber.

Lynn E. Richardson

AO, RG 22-214, no.7694; RG 80-5-0-68, no.8940. NA, RG 31, C1, North Easthope Township, [Ont.], 1861, Ward 1: 7; 1871, div.2: 12 (mfm. at AO). Perth Land Registry Office (Stratford, Ont.), North Easthope Township, Deeds, nos.1590-92, 2488, 2500, 2503, 4311, 4313 (mfm. at AO). Kitchener Daily Telegraph (Kitchener, Ont.), 21 April 1920. Berlin, Ontario (Berlin [Kitchener], 1912). W. R. Chadwick, The battle for Berlin, Ontario: an historical drama (Waterloo, Ont., 1992). John English and Kenneth McLaughlin, Kitchener: an illustrated history (Waterloo, 1983). Industrial Canada (Toronto), 21 (1920-21): 158. J. E. Middleton and Fred Landon, The province of Ontario: a history, 1615-1927 (5v., Toronto, 1927-[28]), 3: 185-87. W. V. Uttley, A history of Kitchener; Ontario (Kitchener, 1937; repr. [Waterloo, 1975]).


Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval

___________________________

Mr. Jacob Kaufman Dies At Kitchener

After a brief illness one of Kitchener's most prominent manufacturers, Mr. Jacob Kaufman, died at his home, King Street West, on Tuesday morning, April 20^th, in his 73rd year.

The late Mr. Kaufman was born in North Easthope in the year 1847. For eight years he owned and operated a saw mill at Gadshill, subsequently starting a similar business in Kitchener, which has steadily increased in size until today it is one of the largest in Western Ontario.

Twenty years ago he became interested in the former Berlin Rubber Company, and three years later sold his stock and erected the Merchants' Rubber Company's plant, which was sold to the Consolidated Rubber Company in 1906. The following year the plant of the Kaufman Rubber Company was erected, of which he was president. He also owned the chemical plant at Trout Creek, the large sawmills at Rosseau Falls and held controlling interest in the Forwell Foundry at Kitchener.

The deceased was a member of the Light Commission of the city from 1905 to 1910. He had been a trustee of Zion church at Kitchener for 35 years. The new Nurses' Home, in course of erection, an addition to the Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital, was donated by him.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters. Mr. Jos. Kaufman, of North Easthope, is a brother of the deceased.

New Hamburg Independent, April 23, 1920

____________________________

J. Kaufman, Planing Mill, King Street - Among the prominent business houses in Berlin must be mentioned that of Mr. J. Kaufman, builder and contractor, and owner of the planning mill and lumber yards located on King Street. This business was established in 1877, since which time it has rapidly and steadily increased. The planning mill building is 45x70 feet in dimensions and two and a half stories in height. The lumber yards cover one and a half acres of ground, and a switch from the Grand Trunk Railway runs into it, thus affording Mr. Kaufman most excellent facilities for the receipt and shipment of his lumber and other goods, consisting of doors, sashes, window frames, blinds, and all descriptions of builders' materials, as well as the Paragon Fanning Mills, of which he is the manufacturer. He gives employment to 24 skilled workmen in the mill and fanning mill works, the later being 24x65 feet in dimensions and two stories in height. The works contain all the latest and most improved woodworking machinery, and a 20-horse power engine is used. Mr. Kaufman is a native of Canada, and a gentleman of business ability, push and enterprise. He is establishing a business, both in the lines mentioned and as a builder and contractor, that is a credit to himself and a source of prosperity to the town.


Industries of Canada Historical and Commercial Sketches Hamilton and Environs 1886

Historic Building:
Originally built as a planning mill, 3 stories built of brick. In 1978 it was listed as in very good condition.

Jacob married Mary Ratz 5 Mar 1877, North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada. Mary (daughter of Henry Ratz and Christina Eidt) was born 14 Dec 1856, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 24 Dec 1943; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138950357
• Name: Mary Kaufman
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-39422
• Residence: 1881, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical Association
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical
• Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region: Bef 2012, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Charity work

Notes:

Mary Eidt Ratz was born December 14, 1856, the first of five daughters and eight sons born to Christine Eidt and Henry Ratz. Henry Ratz owned and operated a sawmill at Gads Hill, north of Stratford. He had been born during the voyage of his parents to Canada in 1828, from Hessen, Germany. When his parents arrived in Waterloo County his father, Valentine Ratz, opened a blacksmith's shop in Waterloo and his mother, Anna Gertrude, contributed to the family income by knitting items of clothing to sell to her neighbours. The first small family sawmill was opened at St. Jacobs, and then a larger mill at Gads Hill which in time was operated by Henry. As the oldest of Henry and Christine Ratz's large family, independent and practical Mary played an active role in the family business, tromping around the bush to mark the trees to be felled by the men with saws. She was also, like her four sisters, actively employed in the household: the employees at the sawmill usually boarded at the Ratz home, and there were sometimes as many as 20 men to be fed in addition to the many family members.

In 1869, a young man named Jacob Kaufman became one of Henry Ratz's sawyers, living like most of the other workers at the sawmill - in the Ratz family home. Jacob had been born in 1847 to John Kaufman and Annie Stroh Kaufman; John had emigrated from Elbire, Germany to New York some 15 years earlier, and after three years there had moved to New Hamburg where he bought a small farm; Annie arrived from Germany in 1842. Eight years after Jacob Kaufman came to work for Henry Ratz - in March of 1877, when Mary was 20 - Jacob and Mary were married. Shortly after their marriage, Mary and Jacob moved to Berlin, where Jacob established the first of many enterprises to bear his name, this one in co-operation with his father-in-law: the Ratz & Kaufman Planing Mill. Mary and Jacob's first home in the city was half of a yellow frame house situated where the large Kaufman factory at 410 King Street West was later built. During those first years in Berlin, when Jacob was establishing his business and money was tight, Mary provided room and board in their home for workers at the mill.


Woman of Waterloo County edited by Ruth Russell

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-91089
• Occupation: 1871, New Hamburg, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Labourer
• Occupation: 1881, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; brick maker

Jacob — Augusta Schlegel. Augusta was born 29 Aug 1848, , Germany; died 6 Dec 1918, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Augusta Oetzel
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-44294
• Immigration: 1852, , Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1911, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical