Veronica Shantz

Other Events:

• Name: Fronica Shantz
• Name: Veronica Weber
• Eby ID Number: 00110-6886
• Grave Photograph - Find A Grave: Gravestone of Veronica Shantz
• Residence: 1843, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1861, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1881, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Veronica Shantz, "the eldest daughter of Joseph and Catharine (Schneider) Shantz, was born in Waterloo County, March 15th, 1822. On November 14th, 1843, she was married to Joseph Weber. She died September 23rd, 1894."


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a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character.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.].

Veronica married Joseph M. Weber 14 Nov 1843, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Joseph (son of Benjamin Weber and Veronica Martin) was born 11 Jun 1820, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1 Sep 1901; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

1. Barbara Weber was born 20 Jul 1844, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 10 Nov 1911; was buried , Elmira Mennonite Cemetery, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
2. Enoch Weber was born 2 Oct 1845, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 11 Sep 1847; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
3. Catherine Weber was born 11 Sep 1847, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 23 Mar 1863; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
4. Mary Ann Weber was born 18 Apr 1849, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 15 Jul 1850; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
5. Menno S. Weber was born 20 Mar 1851, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 10 Oct 1933, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Erb Street Mennonite Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
6. Ezra Weber was born 4 Feb 1853, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 17 Aug 1855; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
7. Veronica Weber was born 25 Jan 1855, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 11 Mar 1914, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
8. Amos S. Weber was born 10 Apr 1857, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1930; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
9. Susannah Weber was born 10 Mar 1859, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died Yes, date unknown.
10. Joseph S. Weber was born 4 Mar 1861, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 6 Aug 1949, near, Didsbury, , Alberta, Canada; was buried , Erb Street Mennonite Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
11. Hannah Weber was born 27 May 1863, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 28 Jun 1954; was buried , Reesor Mennonite Cemetery, Markham Township, York Co., Ontario.
12. Lucinda Weber was born 19 May 1865, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 25 Aug 1881, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
13. Noah S. Weber was born 11 Jan 1868, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 16 Apr 1963, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Erb Street Mennonite Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00110-6849
• Grave Photograph - Find A Grave: Gravestone of Joseph R. Shantz
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 009W, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Land: 1849, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 026, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Occupation: 1852, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; farmer
• Residence: 1861, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Occupation: 1871, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Gentleman
• Residence: 1871, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1881, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Joseph Shantz, "the youngest son of Isaac and Barbara (Reiff) Shantz, was born near Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, June 24, 1795. In May, 1808, his mother, with her three youngest children, David, Veronica, and Joseph, who was then only thirteen years of age, moved to Canada and arrived in Waterloo County in June. On the 21st or 22nd of the same month she took possession of her bush farm, being composed of part of lot No. 52, German Company's Tract. About six acres were cleared and cleaned and a log house put up, but this house was without roof and floor until their coming. The lumber was purchased in Galt and the first thing the party had to do on their arrival was to put on the board roof and lay the floor, and then the house was ready to move into. By four o'clock in the afternoon everything was put in its proper place and everybody felt happy and well at home except Joseph who stood outside the house and wept bitterly, being sick of the wild and romantic life and wishing himself home at Pottstown again. So much did he weep that his mother came out to speak words of comfort to him, upon which he said, 'O mother, what made you leave our beautiful home and come here where there is nothing but bush and flies? Why had you listen to Christian? (His brother who settled here in 1806 always spoke well of Waterloo) It is not at all as he used to say.' The mother, listening to her son's lamentable tale, said, 'Joseph, now do quit crying and come into the house with me or else I shall have homesick like you and begin to cry.' They both went into the house and that ended 'Homesick'. (This story Mr. Joseph Shantz related to the writer in the year 1869) Here he was raised and on July 8th, 1817, he was married to Catherine, daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Eby) Schneider. She was born February 12, 1799, and died September 15th, 1881. Soon after their marriage they moved on their farm, being composed of west half of lot No. 9, German Company's Tract, now occupied by their son, Moses. Here they resided until 1849 when they moved on the farm being composed of west half of lot No. 26, German Company's Tract, now in possession of his sons, Joseph and Menno. Here he built a dam and erected a sawmill and for quite a number of years did a large business in sawing during the spring months. After his sons, Joseph and Menno, were married, he divided his farm into two and gave each one about half, Joseph retaining the part with the old buildings and the sawmill. Here he died, March 19th, 1882, six months after the decease of his wife. They had a family of seven 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.].

Joseph married Catharine Schneider 8 Jul 1817. Catharine (daughter of Joseph Schneider and Barbara Eby) was born 12 Feb 1799, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; died 15 Sep 1881, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Martin Meeting House Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Catharine Shantz
• Residence: 466 Queen st., S., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: 00106-6347
• Grave Photograph - Find A Grave: Gravestone of Cahtarine Snyder
• Residence: 1861, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1881, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

SHANTZ. - Dec. 15th in Waterloo Co., Ont., of the infirmities of old age, Sister Catharine Shantz, wife of Joseph Shantz, aged 82 years, 7 months and 3 days. Buried the 17th in Martins burying-ground


Herald of Truth - Volume XIX, Number 2 - January 15, 1882 - page 29,30

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00110-6535

Notes:

Isaac Shantz, "was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, January 14th, 1748. On May 4th, 1774, he was married to Barbara Reiff who was born September 12th, 1753. He died on his farm situated on the Schuylkill River, within the corporation of Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on October 11th, 1802. They had a family of nine children, eight of whom they raised. Their names are as follows: III Mary, III Abraham, III Christian, III Jacob, III Isaac, III David, III Veronica, III Samuel, and III Joseph. In 1808, she with her two sons, David and Isaac, and her daughter Veronica, moved to Canada and settled on the farm now possessed by Abraham H. Wambold, about one and one-half miles south of Berlin, and part of this farm is now possessed by Enos Shantz, one of her great-grandchildren. Here she resided until her death which took place September 25th, 1820. (Contributed by her son, Joseph) She was of an amiable disposition, rather small in statue but robust and of a quick turn. At 60 years of age she would mount her pony like a young man. She is buried in the Christian Eby Burial Ground, Berlin, Ontario. We shall now give the descendants of Isaac Shantz."


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.].

Isaac married Barbara Rife 4 May 1774. Barbara (daughter of Christian Rife and Veronica Reiff) was born 12 Sep 1753, , Pennsylvania, USA; died 1820, South Of Berlin, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Barbara Shantz
• Eby ID Number: 00092-5275.1
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 052, Waterloo County, Ontario

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27232276
• Historic Building: 466 Queen st., S., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Interesting: religion, pioneer, story
• Eby ID Number: 00106-6346
• Historic Building: 1807, 393 Queen Street South, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Site of first log cabin
• Historic Business: 1816, 113 David Street, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Sawmill
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 017W, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Land: Bef 1831, Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 023W, Waterloo County, Ontario
• Historical Event: 29 Aug 1839, Evangelical Association Church, Waterloo, Ontario; church founding

Notes:

Joseph Schneider, "was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, May 24th, 1772. On February 21st, 1798, he was married to Barbara, daughter of Christian and Catharine (Bricker) Eby. She was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, April 29th, 1774, and died in Berlin, Ontario, March 13th, 1843. On May 8th, 1807, Mr. Schneider with wife and family and a large company of others (See Vol. 1 pages 39, 40 and 41 for particulars) moved to Canada and settled where now is the town of Berlin, Ontario. Here he was engaged in farming. His first buildings were erected where now his grandson, Samuel B. Schneider, lives, a little west of the Walper Block, Berlin. Here he died October 27th, 1843, leaving a family of seven 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.].

__________________________

Zion United Church

A Sunday School was established in Berlin in 1837, meeting in Jacob Hailer's carpenter shop which was located at the southeast corner of what is now King and Scott Streets. A mission was begun by Rev. Christian Holl shortly after his arrival in Berlin on May 9, 1839, and a class (or congregation) was organized several months later on August 29, 1839 by Bishop John Seybert of the Evangelical Association during a camp meeting held at David Erb's farm near Lexington. John Hoffman was the Berlin class leader; his brother, Jacob, was class leader for the Waterloo-Lexington congregation. The Berlin congregation met in the old Town Hall until their first church was built in 1841 on Queen Street South across from Church Street on land purchased as of August 24, 1841 from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schneider. The church was dedicated on September 25th of that year, with Rev. Christian Hummel of Buffalo, New York, officiating. Rev. Joseph Harlacher was pastor from 1840-1842. In 1842 the Waterloo Mission became a Circuit of the East Pennsylvania Conference. Two years later it was part of the New York Conference.

The second church building was built of brick on the same site in 1866, and dedicated in 1867; Rev. C.A. Spies was pastor at the time. The old frame church was sold and moved to Elgin Street where it was used as a dwelling. In the same year Berlin became a station.

The present church building was built in 1893 on Weber Street; dedication services were held on June 15, 16 and 17, 1894. This building was heavily damaged by fires in 1942 and 1965 but was renovated and restored each time.

The union of the Evangelical Church and the United Brethren in Christ Church on November 16, 1946 created the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The name of the church was to change again, to Zion United Church when the Evangelical United Brethren Church joined the United Church of Canada on January 1, 1968. Of interest: some maps of early Berlin show this church as a German Methodist church.


Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide To Churches Established Before 1900 By Rosemary Ambrose

___________________________

SCHNEIDER, JOSEPH, settler and sawmill owner; b. 24 May 1772 in Lancaster County, Pa, son of Jacob B. Schneider and Maria Herschi; m. 21 Feb. 1798 Barbara Eby, sister of Benjamin Eby*, and they had seven children; d. 27 Oct. 1843 in Berlin (Kitchener), Upper Canada.

Joseph Schneider's father immigrated with his parents to Pennsylvania from the Palatinate (Federal Republic of Germany) in 1736. In 1806, three years after Jacob's death, two of his sons, Christian and Jacob, settled in block 2 (Waterloo Township), in the vicinity of present-day Kitchener. Joseph and a group of other Mennonites followed them, making the month-long journey in horse-drawn wagons. Schneider purchased and settled on lot 17 of the German Company Tract of block 2. It was the attraction of inexpensive land, as well as the desire to remain under British rule in the years after the American revolution, that brought many Mennonites to the area, among them Benjamin Eby and Samuel D. Betzner*. Geographical isolation allowed them to practise their religion and language freely, although at first it forced them to travel to such centres as Dundas for supplies and services.

Schneider was an active figure among the Mennonite settlers and, with Eby, is often regarded as a founder of Kitchener. He helped open the first local road, which ran from his farmstead to the Dundas road and was known as Schneider's road until the 1870s. In 1808-9 he and four other heads of families hired a teacher to open the first school in the area. He was involved four years later in the building of the first Mennonite meeting-house, headed by Eby; in 1834 Schneider participated in the construction of a new church. Perhaps as early as 1816 he had built a sawmill on what is still known as Schneider's Creek, and in the 1820s a blacksmith shop and tavern were erected by Phineas Varnum on land leased from Schneider. Together these enterprises formed the commercial nucleus of the developing village, known variously as Sand Hills, Ebytown, and, later, Berlin. In 1835 Schneider strongly supported the establishment of its first newspaper, Heinrich Wilhelm Peterson*'s Canada Museum, und Allgemeine Zeitung, of which he was a stockholder.

Schneider died on 27 Oct. 1843. Among the possessions he left to his family were traditional objects valued by Pennsylvania Germans, including a tall case clock, the works for which he had brought with him in 1807. The clock still stands in the house he built about 1820, Kitchener's oldest structure and now a museum. In other local collections are two family bibles: one, in the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, a rare edition published in Zurich in 1560 by Christoph Froschauer and brought to Upper Canada by Schneider; the other, in the possession of a descendant, printed in Lancaster County in 1805 and containing striking examples of fraktur (ornamental writing), executed by teacher-artist Jacob Schumacher in 1821.

Schneider's farming and milling operations were continued by his youngest son, Joseph E., who in 1849 had the family's history printed in Berlin in a small booklet, possibly the earliest published genealogy in Canada. In 1874 he was a charter member of the Reforming/Reformed Mennonites (later the Missionary Church) .
E. Reginald Good and Paul Tiessen

Toronto and York Land Registry Office (Toronto), "Old York County," deeds, 5, no.1839 (mfm. at AO). Waterloo South Land Registry Office (Kitchener, Ont.), Waterloo Township, abstract index to deeds, German Company Tract, lot 17 (mfm. at AO). 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), 136. John English and Kenneth McLaughlin, Kitchener: an illustrated history (Waterloo, Ont., 1983). Hannes Schneider and his wife Catharine Haus Schneider, their descendants and times, 1534-1939, ed. J. M. Snyder (Kitchener, [1940]). Herkommen und Geschlechts Register der Schneider Familie (Berlin [Kitchener], 1849). P. G. Klassen, "A history of Mennonite education in Canada, 1786-1960" (d.ed. thesis, Univ. of Toronto, 1970), 73-74. W. V. Uttley, A history of Kitchener, Ontario (Kitchener, 1937; repr. [Waterloo, 1975]), 17. M. [H.] Snyder Sokvitne, "The Joseph Schneider house, 1820," Waterloo Hist. Soc., [Annual report] (Kitchener), 1966: 20-27. W. V. Uttley, "Joseph Schneider: founder of the city," Waterloo Hist. Soc., Annual report (Waterloo), 1929: 111-19. G. K. Waite, "Joseph Schneider sawmill operations, 1848-1859," Waterloo Hist. Soc., [Annual report], 1985: 57-65.

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

____________________

JOSEPH SCHNEIDER
Founder of the City

The first stones in the city's foundation were laid in South Queen Street, in 1807, by Joseph Schneider. He was born in Lancaster County, Pa, in 1798, and married Barbara, sister of the Rev. Benjamin Eby.

On Lot No. 17, Pioneer Schneider built a log cabin. It stood on the east side of Queen Street, where John McKay's former home rests. Next he cut a roadway from the house to the Walper House corner and easterly to No. 57 East King Street, where he built a barn. South Queen Street was the first thoroughfare in the city and until the eighteen-eighties was called Schneider's Road.


A History of Kitchener, W. V. (Ben) Uttley, Kitchener, Ontario 1937 pg 16

Historic Building:
Joseph Schneider's house is the oldest surviving in Kitchener dating from 1820 and has been made into the Joseph Schneider Haus Muesum.

Historic Building:
Now on this site is Barra Castle a 15 unit apartment building, due to be renovated for other purposes (2009).

Historic Business:
Joseph Schneider's Saw-Mill

The pioneers had then begun to replace their log-houses with frame homes. To meet a demand for lumber Joseph Schneider built a saw-mill in 1816 on Schneider's Creek. It rested on the easterly side of David Street, opposite Victoria Park. The mill dam was above the railway, and the mill-race crossed David Street between Schneider Avenue and Roland Street. The up-and-down or "muley" saw was run by an overshot waterwheel.1a

1aA History of Kitchener, W. V. (Ben) Uttley, Kitchener, Ontario 1937 pg 17

Historical Event:
A Sunday School was established in Berlin in 1837, meeting in Jacob Hailer's carpenter shop which was located at the southeast corner of what is now King and Scott Streets. A mission was begun by Rev. Christian Holl shortly after his arrival in Berlin on May 9, 1839, and a class (or congregation) was organized several months later on August 29, 1839 by Bishop John Seybert of the Evangelical Association during a camp meeting held at David Erb's farm near Lexington. John Hoffman was the Berlin class leader; his brother, Jacob , was class leader for the Waterloo-Lexington congregation. The Berlin congregation met in the old Town Hall until their first church was built in 1841 on Queen Street South across from Church Street on land purchased as of August 24, 1841 from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schneider.<sup>1a

1a</sup>Ambrose, Rosemary. Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide to Churches Established Before 1900. Kitchener, Ontario, Canada: Waterloo-Wellington Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1993. [used the kind permission of Rosemary Ambrose 2011]

Joseph married Barbara Eby 21 Feb 1798, , Pennsylvania, USA. Barbara (daughter of Christian Eby and Catharine Bricker) was born 29 Apr 1774, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; died 13 Mar 1843, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27232187
• Name: Barbara Schneider
• Residence: 466 Queen st., S., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2422

Notes:

Barbara Eby, "the third daughter of Christian Eby and his wife, Catharine Bricker, was born April 29th, 1774. On February 21st, 1798, she was married to Joseph Schneider who was born May 24th, 1772, and died October 27th, 1843. She died March 13th, 1843. In 1807 they, in company with some of the Ebys and Erbs, moved to what is now Berlin, Waterloo County, Ontario. They settled on lot No. 17, U. B., of the Township of Waterloo, now forming part of the town of Berlin. The old homestead is now owned by a grandson, Samuel B. Schneider. Here they raised a family of seven 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.].

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104673444
• Eby ID Number: 00110-6532

Notes:

Jacob Shantz, "was born in Switzerland about the year 1710. Owing to religious persecutions, he, with other, left their native home and went to Holland where they had the promise of protection from the persecuting parties by the Prince of Orange. Here he lived some fifteen years. Seeing so many of his co-religionists emigrating to America, besides being informed of the proclamation issued by William Penn, he at last decided to emigrate to America and settle among his co-religionists. He crossed the ocean in a vessel named "Townshead" and landed safely at Philadelphia in the summer of 1737. He may have resided in Germantown for some time. In the year 1745 we find him and his family located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. What number of children he had could not be ascertained. We know that he was married twice. The children of his first wife were II Isaac, II Esther, and II Susannah, and from his second wife we have the record of only one son named II Christian. Old Jacob Shantz died in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, February 5th, 1781, aged a few months less than 71 years. He was buried in the Sprogell Cemetery, beside Magdalena, his first wife."

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.].

Jacob — Magdalena Erb. Magdalena was born Abt 1710, Of, Pottstown, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA; died Yes, date unknown; was buried , Sprogell Cemetery, Pottstown, Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Magdalena Shantz
• Eby ID Number: 00110-6532.1

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00092-5275.11

Christian — Veronica Reiff. Veronica was born 1732; died 1800; was buried , East Coventry Mennonite Cemetery, East Coventry Township, Chester Co., Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Veronica Rife
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-117100

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00106-5813

Notes:

Jacob Schneider "was born in the Palatinate, in 1727 or 1730, came to this (USA) country when a mere lad and was raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When some twenty years of age he was married to a Maria Herschi (now Hershey), a descendent of Andrew Hershey who settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1719. This marriage took place on April 1st, 1755. They had a family of fifteen 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.].

_________________________________


AFTER 200 YEARS, FAMILY LEGACY IS STILL GROWING

Schneiders celebrate bicentennial by Valerie Hill

WATERLOO REGION (Jun 25, 2007)Two hundred years ago this month, Joseph Schneider and his brothers Jacob and Christian arrived at a wild tract in Upper Canada where they faced dense, old growth forests, swamps, ever-flooding creeks and the wildly beautiful Grand River.Could Joseph Schneider have imagined that through his influence and hard work, these traditional hunting grounds of the Huron Indians would eventually become Kitchener, a hub of industry and industrious people? This place became Schneider's legacy and there are still remnants of his influence, including a few thousand Schneiders, Sniders and Snyders, all variations of the same name.On Saturday, June 30, the clan will celebrate its illustrious ancestor with a reunion. The last gathering was in 1909, when news reports of the day claimed a couple of thousand people showed up, many from hundreds of kilometres away. That reunion was for the kin of all three brothers.This weekend's event will be just the family of Joseph Schneider.Vern Sherk is a seventh generation Schneider who was aware of his family history as a youngster, but a couple of decades ago his interest really piqued."There was more information available," he explained, citing documents and books by local historians.Suddenly, having all this accessible information gave Sherk a new appreciation for his family, for Joseph Schneider.He learned that his ancestor arrived in Waterloo County with his brothers, his wife Barbara and four of what would grow to be a family of seven children.They travelled with several other Mennonite families -- Erbs, Ebys and Webers, among others, whose ancestors had come to the U.S. decades earlier to escape religious persecution. This particular group came from Lancaster County, Penn., with four heavily laden wagons and a dream of finding inexpensive, fertile land.Waterloo County was divided into parcels of 448 acres for the settlers, but first they had to cut the trees, pull the stumps, plow the land and build homes and barns. Early settlers faced endless days of intense labour yet viewed it as an opportunity, not a hardship.The results of that labour are to be seen across the city today: the 1820 Joseph Schneider Haus Museum on Queen Street was the family homestead and Victoria Park was part of the farm that Schneider refused to sell, even as industry sprang up on adjacent properties.
One of the symbols of his family's success was a clock.Susan Burke, curator at Joseph Schneider Haus, explained that with their Swiss and German background, time keeping was important to the settlers. The Schneider family clock was carefully transported from Lancaster to their new home. Over the generations, the clock eventually was lost to the family until a Schneider descendant spotted it while visiting a Kitchener home. The owner sold the clock back to the Schneider family and it's now on loan to Schneider Haus. This clock is on the family reunion's logo and used in its catchphrase "Time To Come Home."Miriam Sokvitne, now in her 90s, is the family matriarch, a woman of considerable presence. The Schneider heritage is precious to the retired nurse who is also keeper of family heirlooms and history.Her father, Joseph Meyer Snyder, returned the clock to the family, wrote a book about their history and bought the homestead after it had been used as rental housing for several years. Sokvitne begged then-premier John Robarts to have the site declared a heritage site. "I not only cried, I bawled," she said, remembering her passionate outpouring.Once the homestead was back in the family, Sokvitne and her husband travelled the countryside searching for heirlooms. From spinning wheels to toys, these artifacts will be on display at the reunion with, of course, the clock as centrepiece, a symbol of the man known as Kitchener's founding father, Joseph Schneider.


Monday, June 25, 2007 ,The Record Newspaper , Kitchener, Ontario

Jacob married Maria Herschi 1 Apr 1755, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. Maria was born Abt 1732, Of, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Maria Schneider
• Eby ID Number: 00106-5813.2

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60179011
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2421
• Website: 2009

Notes:

Christian Eby, "the eldest of the above family, was born near Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, February 22nd, 1734. He was married to Catharine Bricker. They retained the old "Eby Homestead" situated on Hammer Creek. He greatly improved the dwelling house erected by his father in 1754. The dressed sandstone in front wall bears date 1754 and names of Christian Eby and his wife Elizabeth. (From Simon P. Eby's notes) The house and barn on the old homestead were in their time considered stately buildings. The house had originally a large chimney in the centre with fire place in nearly every room on first and second story; it had an arched cellar underneath, walnut and oaken panneled partitions, with some of the window sashes hung on cords with lead weights. The barn was built 99 feet long (only that long so as not to offend a neighbor who shortly before had built a barn of the boasted length of 100 feet). The walls of both, particularly so of the house, are good and solid to this day. Christian was a large, well proportioned and athletic man, retaining unusual health and vigor of both body and mind up to the time of his death. He was an elder in the Mennonite Church and wore a long beard, which in his later years had turned white. Regular stated Mennonite meetings were held at his house, until a building for that purpose was erected in his neighborhood. He lived during the Revolutionary War and foraging parties took off some of his horses and cattle, carrying with them large quantities of flour and grain from his mill. On one occasion his wife's pewter dishes and spoons and an oven full of newly baked bread and pies shared the same fate. During the winter in which the American Army was encamped at Valley Forge a number of disabled soldiers were quartered in the old Lutheran Church near Brickerville, and were supplied weekly with milk and other necessaries of life from his and neighboring farms. As already stated, he died September 14th, 1807, and lies buried in the family graveyard on top of the hill opposite the buildings of the said place. His wife Catharine, who is said to have been an amiable and greatly esteemed person, survived him several years. They had a family of twelve children, as follows: Elizabeth, Christian, Peter, John, Andrew, Catharine, Barbara, Anna, George, Maria, Benjamin, Maria. Barbara and Benjamin were the only two of the family that settled in Canada. The descendants of the others are all to be found in Pennsylvania and the Western and Pacific States with the exception of Sem Wissler,(See family of Sem Wissler), one of the sons of Anna who was married to Jacob Wissler."


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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Christian — Catharine Bricker. Catharine (daughter of Peter Bricker) was born 1743, Near Lititz, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; died 16 Mar 1910, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; was buried , Eby Cemetery, Lexington, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60179106
• Name: Catharine Eby
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2421.1