David Betzner

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51363762
• Residence: Flamboro West Twp., Wentworth Co., Ontario
• Eby ID Number: 00006-0913

Notes:

David Betzner, "the only son of Samuel D. and Elizabeth (Brech) Betzner, resided in Flamboro Township, Wentworth County, where he had a family of five sons whose descendants are resident of Wentworth County."

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

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DIED In West Flamboro', on Tuesday, March 16th,

DAVID BETZNER, aged 85 years, 2 months and 9 days.

THE FUNERAL Will take place from the residence of J. W. Betzner, on Thursday, Mar. 18th, at 1.30 p. m., to the family burying ground.
After the interment a service will be held in the Methodist Church.

Friends and acquaintances will please accept this intimation. March 16, 1886.

Funeral Card

David — . [Group Sheet]

1. Jacob Betzner was born Abt 1831, Flamboro West Twp., Wentworth Co., Ontario; died 13 Mar 1906, West Flamborough Twp., Wentworth Co., Ontario, Canada.

Other Events:

• Interesting: pioneer, story
• Eby ID Number: 00006-0912
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - Beasley's Old Survey Lot 05, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - Beasley's Old Survey Lot 11, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 106W, Waterloo County, Ontario

Notes:

Samuel D. Betzner, "the second son, was born probably in 1770, and was married to Elizabeth Brech* . In 1799 he and his family in company with Joseph Schörg* and family, moved to Canada, and in spring of 1800 he settled on the farm now known as the "B. B. Bowman Farm" on the west bank of the Grand River and adjoining the village of Blair. He afterwards sold his farm to Rev. Joseph Baumann and moved to Flamboro West Wentworth County, where he died, leaving a family of several children, viz:* ".

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

* now spelled Break
* now spelled Shirk and Sherk. See notes pages 20, 21
* we have the names of only two, maybe there never were more

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"The Late Samuel Betzner"

A few biographical remarks in the reference to the well known Samuel Betzner of Flamborough West, who died on the 10th day of August, 1856, will, we are well assured, be highly acceptable to the majority of our readers. Samuel Betzner emigrated from the State of Pennsylvania to this province at the early period of 1799, in the month of October, and stopped in the township of Ancaster for the winter. He brought only a small capital with him, and we regret to say that small capital was reduced to almost nothing by the misfortune of having his house, with all its contents, not excepting his money, consumed by fire. But Mr. Betzner was one of those men not easily discouraged by trifles. The following spring he pressed his way through a total wilderness to the Township of Waterloo, and he may fairly be numbered among the first settlers of that important place. Without anything in truth that could be called a road-without a saw or grist mill nearer than Flamboro' West

Berlin Chronicle 27 Aug 1856

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BETZNER, SAMUEL D., settler and district constable; b. 1 March 1771 in Lancaster County, Pa, a son of Samuel Betzner (Bezner) and Maria Detweiler; m. before 1798 Elizabeth Brech, and they had a son and a daughter; d. 10 Aug. 1856 near Flamborough (West Flamborough), Upper Canada.

A native of Württemberg (Federal Republic of Germany), Samuel D. Betzner's father immigrated to North America in 1755 and settled in Franklin County, Pa. In the fall of 1799 Samuel D. and his brother-in-law Joseph Schörg left that county for the Jordan area of the Niagara district of Upper Canada, where a number of other Mennonites from Pennsylvania had already settled. Betzner spent the winter in Ancaster and that spring set out with Schörg to explore the valley of the Grand River, which had been recommended to them as being attractive for settlement by Jacob Bechtel, an earlier visitor. Proceeding by way of Brant's Ford (Brantford) they came to block 2 (Waterloo Township), which had been purchased in 1796 from the Six Nations Indians by Richard Beasley*, James Wilson, and John Baptist Rousseaux* St John.

In August 1800 Betzner bought from them land adjacent to the site of the village of Blair. A disastrous fire at Ancaster had destroyed most of his possessions but despite this misfortune he took steps to establish a farm on his chosen lot by clearing land and erecting buildings. Joseph Schörg settled near by, on the east bank of the Grand, and these two men are credited with being the first to establish homes in the area which became Waterloo County in 1850. They were followed by other Pennsylvania Mennonites who sought not only reasonably priced land for farms for their sons but also the continuation of the exemption from military service they had received under British rule before the American Revolutionary War. Most purchased their land from Richard Beasley, who had bought out the interests of Wilson and Rousseaux.

Early in 1803 it was reported that the land these later settlers had bought had been mortgaged by Beasley, Wilson, and Rousseaux to trustees for the Six Nations in 1798 and therefore the settlers would not be able to secure clear title. Betzner and Jacob Bechtel were engaged to go to Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake) where they learned to their consternation that the report was true. The matter was resolved when Beasley agreed in 1803 to sell to the Mennonites a parcel of 60,000 acres of land in block 2 for the sum of £10,000 to pay off the mortgage. The settlers sent representatives back to Pennsylvania, where they eventually persuaded a group of affluent co-religionists and other investors to form a joint-stock company, the German Company, to raise the purchase money. A number of the early settlers, including Betzner, who did not have the mortgage problem remained on their original lots and had no financial interest in the German Company.

A leading member of the Mennonite community, he was made a constable for the Home District in 1800 and was a charter member of the church formed by Benjamin Eby in 1813. In 1817, however, Betzner sold his farm in Waterloo Township and settled on lot 3, concession 1, in West Flamborough Township, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1828-29 he transferred title on this farm to his son, David.

Perhaps Betzner's only claim to recognition is as one of the earliest settlers in Waterloo County, where heavily forested lands were reached by trails that could scarcely be called roads. He is, nevertheless, representative of those pioneers who, through perseverance and industry, overcame disasters and hardships in order to establish productive farms for succeeding generations of their families.
Grace Schmidt

PAC, RG 1, L3, 33: B6/45; RG 31, A1, 1851, Flamborough (West) Township: 45 (mfm. at AO). Waterloo North Land Registry Office (Kitchener, Ont.), Abstract index to deeds, Waterloo Township, Beasley's old survey, concession 1, lot 5 (mfm. at AO, GS 3023); West Flamborough Township, concession 1, lot 3 (mfm. at AO, GS 1472). "Minutes of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Home District, 13th March, 1800, to 28th December, 1811," AO Report, 1932: 44. Berlin Chronicle and Provincial Reformers' Gazette (Berlin [Kitchener]), 27 Aug. 1856. Laura Betzner Edworthy, The Betzner family in Canada: genealogical and historical records, 1799-1970 (n.p., n.d.; copies at AO and Kitchener Public Library). E. E. Eby, A biographical history of Waterloo Township . . . (2v., Berlin, 1895-96); repub. as E. E. Eby and J. B. Snyder, A biographical history of early settlers and their descendants in Waterloo Township, with Supplement, ed. E. D. Weber (Kitchener, 1971), 1. A. B. Sherk, "The Pennsylvania Germans of Waterloo County, Ontario," OH, 7 (1906): 98-109.

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

Samuel — Elizabeth Brech. Elizabeth was born 1 May 1768; died 17 Mar 1848, West Flamborough Twp., Wentworth Co., Ontario, Canada; was buried , Betzner Family Cemetery, Christies Corner, Flamborough, Wentworth, Ontario. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Elizabeth Betzner
• Eby ID Number: 00006-0912.1

Other Events:

• Birth: Nottenburg, , Germany
• Eby ID Number: 00006-0910
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - Beasley's Broken Front Lot 11, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - Beasley's Broken Front Lot 12, Waterloo County, Ontario

Notes:

Samuel Betzner, "the old progenitor of this highly respectable family, was born near the little village of Merspurg, situated on Lake Constance, about eight miles north-east of the city of Constance in the kingdom of Wurtenburg, Germany, in 1738. His parental residence was a humble cottage situated about a mile from Merspurg, and his parents were plain, honest wage-earners, and members of the German Reformed Church. When Samuel was about three years of age he had the misfortune of losing his father, and in less than a year hereafter his mother died, thus leaving him an orphan at the age of four years. * A kind and tender-hearted neighbour in whose service the lad's parents had been for many years, being animated to sympathy for the poor orphan, adopted him as his own son. Being naturally of a bright mind, young Samuel availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded him and he soon became a favourite among his friends and neighbours. He had so well gained the love and esteem of his foster-parents that they had him appointed sole heir to all their large estate worth thousands of dollars. All went well until Samuel was about sixteen years of age, when an heir was born unto his foster-parents. After this young heir had made his appearance in the family, it became evident to Samuel that sooner or later his lot would prove to be something like young Ismael's, however he did not wait until the pitcher of water was handed to him, he left for America when seventeen years of age. He arrived at Philadelphia in 1755 and settled in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is said that he made the journey from Philadelphia to Franklin County on foot and that he slept in barns or on straw in the fields whenever night overtook him.

Mr. Betzner was subjected to many severe trials, partly arising from the military operations then harassing the country and partly from his former co-religionists in forsaking the German Reformed Church and joining that of the River Brethren (Dunkards), but all these trials were endured with patience. He was of a cheerful disposition and engaging manners. In social conversation he was pleasingly instructive. His only aim in this life seems to have been to prepare to meet his God in the world to come. This good old man was married to Maria Detweiler who was born in 1744, and died near Blair, Ontario in 1806. In 1800 he and his wife, in company with John Christian Reichart, moved to Canada. Old Mr. Betzner settled on the Grand River, opposite Doon, his farm adjoining that of old Joseph Schörg. Here he resided until his death which took place in 1813. They had quite a family. We know of five children"


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

* Handed to us as traditional by the older members of the family. The report is no doubt true as all members of the family have the same story

Samuel — Maria Detweiler. Maria was born 1744, Of, Franklin Co., Pennsylvania; died 1806, Near Blair, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Doon Pioneer Tower Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Maria Betzner
• Eby ID Number: 00006-0910.1