Dr. - Mayor John Emil Hett

1870 - 1956  (86 years)

• Name	John Emil Hett
  Prefix	Dr. - Mayor
  Born	2 May 1870	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1871	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Lutheran
  Residence	1897	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  		Kitchener,Hett,J.E.residence-busyberlin1897.jpg Residence of J. E. Hett MD - From: Busy Berlin Jubilee Souvenir 1897, published by Berlin News-Record
  Residence	1902	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  Public Service	1906	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Berlin Public School Board
  		From: Berlin Today 1806-1906
  Residence	1906	115 King St. E., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  		From: Berlin Today 1806-1906
  Occupation	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Physican
  Residence	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Lutheran
  Elected Office	1913	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	mayor - councillor - Kitchener
  	Years Served: 1913, 1915-16 (Mayor)
  Author	1943
  	Cancer, Its Causes and Prevention and New Treatment
  	Cancer, Its Causes and Prevention and New Treatment John Emil Hett American Distributing Company, 1943 - Cancer - 206 pages
  Interesting	building, public service, politics, paranormal
  Name	J. E. Hett
  Name	J. E. Hett
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-130928P
  Died	25 Sep 1956	Windsor, Essex Co., Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I130928	Generations
  Last Modified	12 May 2025

  
  

  Father	Johann B. "John" Hett,   b. 9 Nov 1829, Bernsburg, , Hessen, Germany ,   d. 19 Jul 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 81 years)
  Mother	Eva Elizabeth Heller,   b. 15 Jan 1833, Udenhausen, Vogelsbergkreis, Hessen, Germany ,   d. 2 Jul 1910, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 77 years)
  Married	28 Sep 1852	Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5, 6]
  Family ID	F32278	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  The MCC [Mennonite Central Committe 223 King St. E., Kitchener] House was owned by Dr. J. Hett, a cancer specialist and a spiritualist, and the building was shared with him. A separate entrance led into the doctor's office . One room on the second floor served as his bedroom and another room was reserved for seances. Mennogespräch, Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario March, 1989, Vol. 7, No. 1 ______________________________ According to the Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Dr. Hett was registered with the College on May 29, 1891. His name was erased from their register as of April 16, 1937, and restored by order of the Council on April 2, 1938. An item in the New York Times, September 26, 1956, stated that Dr. Hett's name was erased from the register when he refused to divulge the formula for a serum that he insisted would cure arthritis, diabetes, peptic ulcers and cancer. . . In 1938, he was reinstated after he allowed a special Provincial Government inquiry to check the formula. It was found to be medically harmless, but of unproved value. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians Volume 12, Issue 3, Article first published online: 30 DEC 2008 _______________ "Dr. J. E. Hett purchased the first automobile owned by a Berlin resident" _________________________ King Street, Kitchener Benton to Eby Street.-Successive occupation was as follows: From Benton Street easterward, before 1855, a one-story brick building with gable facing King Street was erected at the corner and used by Jacob Benner as blacksmith shop. Later Benner moved to West Montrose and the next occupant was Valentine Gildner and after him his son John Gildner . This blacksmith shop continued until comparatively recent years. A frame building painted white, with veranda in front, was Gildner s residence.. Vacant lot. A tinsmith shop owned by Mr. Lehnen . This had a nice front with two good-sized glass windows on either side of the door. A dwelling house built by Henry Rothaermel 1848-9. He was a carpenter and later was market clerk and tax collector. A lane. A one and one-half story building, with gable facing King Street and a verandah extending over the sidewalk, occupied by a Mr. Coleman 1855-1860. Adjoining it was a warehouse. The store passed to Coleman's son and then to John Kegel. Later John George Schmidt, shoemaker, occupied the building. A lane. A double, frame building about 50 feet along King St.; the east half used as a dwelling had a veranda; the west half was occupied by Charles Koehn, shoemaker. Open space. Dwelling of Gabriel Bowman, carpenter, who built the house. A one and one-half story building occupied by Balzar Allendorf, a coverlet weaver, about 1840. Allendorf later moved to New Hamburg. There was a veranda at the front of the house and under it a well. Cattle ran at large in the streets at this time and one Sunday afternoon a steer got on the veranda floor, which was partly rotted, broke through, fell into the well and had to be pulled out by means of a windlass. The building was torn down later. frame building ocupied by Henry Sippel, former employee of Allendorf, as a weaver's shop. In 1855 there was a frame building one and one-half story high along King Street divided into two parts, one part a dwelling and the other part a hat shop, owned by John Kidder, who made felt hats and old-fashioned bonnets. The shop was a few steps above the sidewalk level. A dwelling. A one and one-half story frame building lengthwise with King street occupied by a widow, Mrs. Caroline Lehnen. A driveway. A two story brick building with gable toward King Street, occupied by J. J. Lehnen, son of the widow Lehnen, as a copper and tinsmith shop and a store. Lehnen made his own tinware. Later Jacob Doebler occupied this building as a bakery. A one and one-half story frame building with gable toward King Street occupied by George Yantz, a cabinet maker. He had a tavern in this same building for a time, and lived there. In the early years a garden. A small shop with sloping roof used by Christian Enslin as a book store and book-bindery, the first book-bindery in Berlin Enslm arrived in Berlin about 1830. Jacob Stroh remembers going with his father to the store to buy school supplies. Enslin later was editor, for Henry Eby, the publisher, of the Deutsche Canadier which began publication in 1840. Enslin's House, one-half story, frame, standing lengthwise with King Street and having a veranda over the door, was on the site of Dr. Hetts present office and house. At the rear there was an orchard. About 60 feet back of King Street there was a house built by Henry Eby. Shubel Randall, brother of George Randall, lived in it later. In 1860 the building was destroyed by fire and a servant girl Dina Hertz, perished in the flames. The walls remaining standing, the house was re-built, and is still in use. A brick building, abutting on King Street with gable facing the street, was Henry Eby's printing office. The main floor was she or seven feet above the sidewalk level. In 1860 this building was changed to a church and was the first Anglican Church in Berlin. A frame building, one end of which was used by Henry Bowman as a general store; he lived in the other end. This was known as the Bowman building. Later William Stein had a tailor shop in it and after him William Thoms used it as a shoe repair shop. REMINISCENCES OF BERLIN (NOW KITCHENER) By JACOB STROH Contributed by Joseph M. Snyder. Part I. Settlement - Early Villagers and Buildings, Waterloo Historical Society Annual Volume 1930 ____________ HETT, JOHN EMIL, is the subject of a biographical entry in J. F. Middleton and Fred Landon's "Province of Ontario, etc." 1927. Although this article is an exercise in adulation, a few factual nuggets emerge. Born in Berlin on May 2, 1870, he was one of two sons of John B. Hett, a local builder and contractor, he was educated in Berlin, and graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1891, as gold medalist, he immediately began to practice in Berlin, on King Street East. He soon began to contribute articles to various medical journals here and in tne United States, he presented lectures on a variety of subjects, and produced monographs on such topics as sex education, nationalization of medicine and the cause of suicide., he contributed to the local newspapers, and had a column on radio in its early days. An excursion to the Peace River District is reported in detail. He tended to embrace new ideas with a wholehearted and single minded approach, which diminished the possibility of discrimination, in 1900 he obtained x-ray equipment, together with other electrical machines which at the time were thought to have therapeutic value. His card in the Daily Telegraph of April 9, 1903 described their use: THE BERLIN XRAY AND ELECTROTHREAPEUTIC LABORATORY. Xray, Electricity and high Frequency Currents used in all their varied forms in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases including diseases of the Throat, Nose and Bar, Cancer, Goitre and many forms of Tumors, diseases of women, all forms of rectal diseases, varicocoele, tuberculosis of lungs (primary stages), glands bones and joints. All forms of nervous complaints, neurasthenia, neuralgia, sciatica, insomnia, paralysis (some forms), rheumatism, eczema, superflous hair, moles, facial blemishes, etc. For further information address or consult. DR. J. E. HETT, Berlin, Ont. The Berlin Journal on April 28, 1904 reported on one response to this card: Dr. Hett received on Monday a letter from Cape Breton with the following contents."I have seen your notice regarding x-rays in the newspapers. Enclosed you will find 30 cents for a good ray." Rory McQueen, Beach Cove, C. B. He served on the public school board, the Town Council, and in 1915 and 1916 with the support of the labor vote, was elected mayor. He was unsuccessful in his campaigns for the Ontario Legislature in 1917 and 1929, but he continued to press for state medicine, claiming that "Medical services should be free as the air we breathe, and the very rich and the millionaires should pay for it all." He owned one of the early radios, and in his column - "Radio News for Common Folk" in the Daily Telegraph, June 22, 1922, stated: The radiophone will be the greatest moral uplifting influence that has taken place along the line of inventions. Young men and women will make use of their brains and talents by interesting themselves in the wonder of radio. This world has been made more wonderful - more mysterious- more beautiful, and it will be the greatest Therapeutic agent to bring harmony to the disturbed and diseased mind that has ever been brought before the world. Hospitals, sanatariums are being rapidly equipped. In 1931 he began to use a serum which he had developed, claiming it would cure cancer, arthritis, diabetes and peptic ulcers. In 1937 he was struck off the rolls of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for refusing to reveal the formula of his serum, A commission of the Ontario Legislature studied his claim, and his name was restored to the register amid great publicity. In 1937 he moved to Windsor where he opened the "Hett Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation", which attracted considerable numbers of American patients. In 1952 he was again struck off the College rolls, and in 1955 he was fined $150.00 for practising without a licence. On September 25, 1956 he died in Windsor following a stroke. He was survived by a niece and two nephews. Dr. Alexander D. Campbell, Doctors in Waterloo County 1852-1925 _________________ Plan Services For Dr. Hett Funeral services wil be held at 7 p.m. Thursday for Dr. John E. Hett, who died in Grace Hospital early Tuesday morning. Mrs. Janet Simpson, spiritualist clergywoman in Windsor, will officiate. Tre body is at the Anderson Funeral Home, 895 Ouellette Ave., where it will remain until services, and then it will be entrained for Kitchener for services Friday. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener. Dr. Hett was a member of the Spiritualist Church; the Masonic Lodge; Rameses Shrine, Toronto; Moramos Shrine, Windsor; Woodmen of the World: Grand River Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, Kitchener. The doctor held the distinction of being the last mayor of the former town of Berlin and the first mayor of Kitchener. The Windsor Star, Sep 26, 1956

  
  

• Sources

  [S158] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1881, Div 1 Page 51. [S57] Vit - ON - Birth Registration. John Emil Hett Date of Birth: 2 May 1870 Gender: Male Birth County: Waterloo Father's Name: John B Hett (builder of Berlin) Mother's Name: Eva Elizabeth Heller [S340] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1911, Div. 33 Pg. 9. [S229] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1871, Sect. 2 Page 13. [S7] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berliner Journal (1859-1917), Golden Wedding - October 2, 1902. [S13] Vit - - ON, Waterloo - Wellington District Marriage Register Part 1 1840-1852, Rev. Fr. Wilh. Wunderlich, Rev. return 232. John Hett married Eva Elizabeth Hiller 28 Sep 1852, wit: Hartman Schnare & wife.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 2 May 1870 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Lutheran - 1871 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1897 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1902 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Public Service - Berlin Public School Board - 1906 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1906 - 115 King St. E., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Physican - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Lutheran - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Elected Office - mayor - councillor - Kitchener - 1913 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 25 Sep 1956 - Windsor, Essex Co., Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth