Waterloo Region Generations
A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario.

George A. Fischer

Male 1832 - Yes, date unknown


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name George A. Fischer 
    Born 1832  , Germany Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Occupation 1861  Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Barber 
    Residence 1861  Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Lutheran 
    Occupation 1867  Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    fruit dealer 
    Eby ID Number Waterloo-153312 
    Died Yes, date unknown 
    Person ID I153312  Generations
    Last Modified 25 Apr 2024 

    Family Catharina,   b. 1829, , Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Children 
     1. George Fischer,   b. 1854, , USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     2. Adam Fischer,   b. 1855, , USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. Catharina Fischer,   b. 1857, , Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. ? Fischer,   b. 1859, , Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1860, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 1 years)
     5. Fanny Fischer,   b. 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
    Last Modified 26 Apr 2024 
    Family ID F38336  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • King Street , North Side

      Queen St. North.

      On the corner there was a frame building lengthwise with King Street, occupied by J. U. Tyson, dealer in groceries, wines, liquors and meats, erected about 1833. In 1841 Sheriff George Davidson bought this building and in it opened the first Post Office in 1842. His brother William was associated with him. Probably during 1845 Doering & Ahrens occupied the premises as a general store. A little later the firm was Huber & Ahrens. Mr. Huber acted as magistrate for a number of years, in which occupation he was popular and had much to do, people coming from small surrounding villages to Mr. Huber for fair trial. He was the second reeve in Berlin.

      Next came a barber shop occupied by George A. Fischer who also served as dentist and as fruit dealer.

      A house erected by C. A. Ahrens of Huber and Ahrens. Mr. Ahrens had a brick vault at the back of his kitchen, lined with an iron chest and considered fire proof. He was the first treasurer of Waterloo County and had this vault for safe keeping of his books and papers. The house was later occupied by Dr. Mylius.

      Louis Breithaupt, who came from Buffalo in 1861 after having started his tanning business in Berlin in 1857, previously bought the corner of King and Queen Streets, and erected there the first section of the American Block in 1862.

      Next to the Dr. Mylius house there was a two story brick building erected about 1855. It was occupied by Baedeker and Steubing who had a considerable business as book sellers and stationers, also as dealers in wallpaper, etc., besides doing some publishing. This business, moved later to the corner of King and Frederick Streets, continued until Mr. Steubing's death.

      In his younger years Mr. Baedeker was a carpenter and had cut his knee with an adze, necessitating amputation and substitution of a cork leg.

      On the site of the present Steel's store, George Davidson, later sheriff, erected a building in 1845 and moved the Post Office there when Doering and Ahrens occupied the corner store. Mr. Davidson also had a general store in this new building. About 1855 Kranz & Stroh occupied the building as a general store.

      Next came a building occupied at first by George Klein and later the site of Henry Knell's jewelery shop.

      John Winger's pump shop. Wooden pipe called pump logs were of about ten-inch timber, tamarack or pine logs with a bore of about 3". The pumps were mostly finished square and surmounted with turned tops.

      A two story frame building painted white. John Winger's house. Eby's history mentions John Winger as having come from Pennsylvania in 1836.

      A ten-foot lane leading back to the Public School grounds and into Winger's yard. The highest ground in this vicinity was in Winger's yard. Children were in the habit of sliding down the hill in winter to King Street. In 1840 Mr. Bentler erected a building and occupied the second floor as dwelling and shoe shop. Martin Messner had a music store on the ground floor which was a few steps above the street level. In 1855-6 Andrew Nicolaus took over the Winger house and changed it to a hotel. The first considerable street grading operation in Berlin was the lowering of the corner of King and Frederick and vicinity 8 to 10 feet. This put the St. Nicholas Hotel, as it was called, under the necessity of being extended downward one story and this lower part became the hotel office and bar room. At the westerly end of the hotel there was a shed and stable for horses. Over the shed, approached by a stairway, there was a hall known as St. Nicholas Hall used for concerts, balls and entertainments generally. At the rear of the adjoining St. Nicholas Hall there was a building on the high ground known as the Turner Hall and used as German Turnverein.

      REMINISCENCES OF BERLIN (NOW KITCHENER) By JACOB STROH Contributed by Joseph M. Snyder.

      ____________________________

      Queen Street South, West Side.

      A frame building used as a tavern by Phineas Varnum and later the kitchen of the Gaukel Hotel.

      A frame building erected by Frederick Gaukel about 1833 as shelter for the considerable number of immigrants coming to Berlin at that time. In 1837 it was made into a dwelling for John Stroh, uncle of Jacob Stroh. Two children were born in this building, Katie, in 1838, (she married Jacob Oswald, still living, now 93 years of age), and Henry Stroh, born in 1840.

      Hall's Lane.

      A brick building erected about 1850. John Klein, father of John Klein of Buffalo, was the first occupant. Later the building was used as a printing office, first by the "Berlin Chronicle", William Jaffray editor and proprietor, and later by the "Berliner Journal", Rittinger & Motz. The site is now occupied by the Lockhart garage.

      The Franklin Hotel, a handsome, good-sized frame building, erected by Philip Roth about 1856. Successive hotel-keepers were John Klein, Levi Gaukel, Frederick Riegelman, who later moved to Buffalo, and Jacob Weber. Weber was occupant in 1874 when the hotel was burned down. The fire started in the barn at the rear of the hotel. The hotel shed, next south, extended, at right angles, from Queen Street to the barn.

      A garden.

      A one and one-half story frame building lengthwise with the street occupied by Christopher K. Nahrgang whose parents came from Hessen, Germany, about 1835. He was married to a Miss Zinkann of New Hamburg.

      A stone building used as a tailor shop by Mr. Nahrgang who was deaf and dumb. His wife helped him in the business. She lived to be 87. It was in this building that John Motz of the "Journal" and eventually County Sheriff, learned the tailoring trade.

      A one and one-half story dwelling, erected about 1857, occupied by George Fischer, barber, who had his shop on King Street. A later occupant was George Lutz, a cabinet maker in Hoffman's factory and after him Henry Schaefer's mother.

      A frame building lengthwise with the street, the church of the Evangelical denomination, erected in 1841. In 1866 it was replaced by the brick building still standing, now used as stores and upstairs dwellings.

      A one and one-half story frame building with kitchen at the rear erected by William Becking, wagonmaker, about 1848. Becking was noted as a hunter. White hare and passenger pigeons, practically extinct long ago, were abundant at that time.

      Becking's wagon-shop and lumber yard at the corner of John Street with the customary incline and stair to the second story of the shop. Up this incline the wagons were drawn to the paint shop. Valentine Gildner, at the corner of King and Benton Streets, did the blacksmith work for Becking's wagons.

      John Street.

      A one and one-half story house occupied by H. Baedecker in 1860 and later by Adam Doering.

      Rev. F. W. Tuerk's residence erected about 1860 by Henry Rothaermel, a carpenter. The matching and planing was all done by hand, slow but thorough work. Window sashes, panel doors and all other requirements were made in the same manner. A skilled workman at that time was expected to he able to do painting as well as carpenter work. A single room in the shape of a square turret on the ridge of the building was Rev. Tuerk's study. The house was up-hill about twenty feet above the street level so that the study on top gave a good outlook. The site is now occupied by the York Apartments.

      A frame building one and one-half story high.

      Nothing but a building used as an ashery between that and Joseph E. Schneider's house and farm buildings.


      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



  • Sources 
    1. [S123] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1861, Div. 3 Page 24.

    2. [S1668] Directory - ON, Waterloo - 1867 - Gazetteer and directory of the County of Waterloo. 1867.
      King St., barber, oysters, fruit, etc.

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 1832 - , Germany Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOccupation - Barber - 1861 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Lutheran - 1861 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOccupation - fruit dealer - 1867 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth