Samuel Liebshitz

1795 - 1849  (54 years)

• Name	Samuel Liebshitz
  Born	17 Mar 1795	, Alsace Lorraine, France   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Business	1835	Jewsburg (Kitchener, German Mills), Waterloo Region, ON
  	Dry Goods and Grocery Store
  		Liebshitz,Samuel-0001-1835Advert.JPG
  Interesting	business, pioneer, jewish
  Race	Jewish
  Name	Samuel Lasier
  Name	Samuel Liebschitz  [2]
  Name	Samuel Liebshultz
  Religion	Jewish
  Residence	Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Residence	1838	, Illinois, USA
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-220643
  Died	23 Sep 1849	Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois, United States   [1]
  Buried	Freeport City Cemetery, Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois, United States   [1]
  Person ID	I220643	Generations
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024

  
  

  Family	Catherine Strocky,   b. 17 Dec 1809,   d. 27 Mar 1893, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States  (Age 83 years)
  Married	26 May 1831	Buffalo Township, Union County, Pennsylvania, USA   [3]
  Children	1. Rosetta "Rose" Liebshitz,   b. 13 Jan 1834, Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 13 Nov 1888, Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois, United States  (Age 54 years)   2. Frederick L. Lasier,   b. 28 Oct 1835,   d. 1 Feb 1897, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States  (Age 61 years)
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024
  Family ID	F60088	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  The hamlet of German Mills was known as Bleam's Mills before 1835, then as Hopewell Mills and Jewsburg; German Mills is used in the 1851 census. Located on Beasley's (later Schneider's) Creek, which ran here at a steeper gradient than in Berlin through rugged kame hills, the mills were off the main road and had only a narrow valley floor. The water-power had been developed for a sawmill from 1812 and a grist mill from 1825 when construction of a dam and mill-pond increased water power; a woollen mill was added in the later 1820s. By 1835, there were three mills, a distillery, cooperage and store. When Philip Bleam sold Hopewell Mills in 1835, they were described as two miles east of Berlin and eight miles west of Preston, and came with 700 acres of land (200 of it cleared and fenced). The property included a grist mill (four storeys high with two pair of Burrs), a sawmill, a two- storey frame dwelling, a bank barn 100 feet long by 40 feet wide, a cooper shop and other associated buildings. The location was praised as "really in the centre of one of the most wealthy and populous settlements... where six public highways intersect each other, namely the [roads to] Blenheim, Dumfries, Dundas, Woolwich, Wilmot and [the] Huron Road." The property was bought by Samuel Liebschuetz (also spelled Liebschitz or Leibschitz) who had operated a drygoods store in Preston; he laid out the village of Jewsburg near the mill and offered village lots for sale. Liebschuetz lost his store in a fire and suffered $3,000 worth of damage in May 1836, but re-opened four months later "with a new elegant & General Assortment of Dry Goods and Groceries." But he failed by the mid-1840s, and the mill business stagnated until taken over by the family of Elias Snider in 1860. Waterloo Township through Two Centuries by Elizabeth Bloomfield ____________________ Among the most prominent settlers who came here about 1832 were Adam Ferrie, Jr., and Samuel Liebschuetz; the former a Scotchman and youngest son of the Hon. Adam Ferrie, of Montreal, then head of a large wholesale house; the latter was a shrewd German Jew. Both started a store here and both did a thriving business. Mr. Adam Ferrie, Junior, commenced in the dwelling house of Jacob Roos, cooper, but soon built a new store and a large warehouse, at present owned by our worthy ex-Reeve Mr. William Schlueter, who converted the warehouse into that well known establishment called "Business Corner," Mr. Liebschuetz erected the store now owned and occupied by Mr. Uttick the tobacconist. Mr. Liebschuetz's business increasing rapidly, he built another store combined with a tavern; but not finding sufficient room in Preston for his energies and ambition, he traded his property in Preston against a mill property, now known as German Mills, but for many years known as Jewsburg, so named after its founder who was a Jew. This was the first grist-mill that was bought and enlarged with money earned in Preston. Liebschuetz by reason of some criminal act, as was supposed, fled the country and never returned. Fifth Annual Report Of The Waterloo Historical Society, 1917 pg 26

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138223712/samuel-liebshultz. [S9] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Canada Museum und Allgemeine Zeitung (1835-1840), 12 Nov 1835:12. 28 Oct 1835 The family of Samuel Liebschitz was blessed with a son [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138223016/catherine-lasier.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 17 Mar 1795 - , Alsace Lorraine, France Married - 26 May 1831 - Buffalo Township, Union County, Pennsylvania, USA Business - Dry Goods and Grocery Store - 1835 - Jewsburg (Kitchener, German Mills), Waterloo Region, ON Residence - - Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1838 - , Illinois, USA Died - 23 Sep 1849 - Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois, United States  = Link to Google Earth