Wilhelm "William" Hespeler^{[1, 2]}

1830 - 1921  (90 years)

• Name	Wilhelm "William" Hespeler
  Born	29 Dec 1830	Gernsbach, Gernsbach, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany   [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1852	Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Clerk
  Occupation	1854	Baden, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [8]
  	merchant
  Residence	1855	49 Albert St., Waterloo, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Elected Office	1861	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Waterloo - councillor
  Occupation	1861	2 King St. S., Waterloo, Ontario
  	merchant
  		1861 Tremaine's Map of Waterloo
  Elected Office	1863	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Councillor - Waterloo City
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62142078
  Interesting	business, public service, story
  Military	1870
  	Franco-German war of 1870-71.
  Occupation	1884	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada   [1]
  	German Consul
  Died	18 Apr 1921	Burnaby Lake, British Columbia   [4, 6, 7]
  Website	2007
  	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Hespeler
  Name	William Hespeler
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-35103
  Buried	St. Johns Cathedral Cemetery, Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada   [4, 7]
  Person ID	I35103	Generations
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024

  
  

  Father	Johann Georg "George" Hespeler,   b. 8 Nov 1784, , Wuerttemberg, Germany ,   d. 10 Sep 1840, Baden, Baden, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany  (Age 55 years)
  Mother	Anna Barbara Wick,   b. 26 Nov 1791, Ehningen, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany ,   d. 21 Dec 1881, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 90 years)
  Married	27 Jul 1809	Eningen, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany   [9]
  Family ID	F22526	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Mary Hope Keachie,   b. 1828, , USA ,   d. 19 May 1872, Freiburg, Baden, Germany  (Age 44 years)
  Married	21 Dec 1854	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [8]
  Children	1. Alfred Aemilius Hespeler,   b. 16 May 1858, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 31 May 1928, Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 70 years)   2. Georgina Hope Hespeler,   b. 1863, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 19 Dec 1887, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada  (Age 24 years)   3. Wilhelm "William" Hespeler,   b. 7 Apr 1863, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 7 Aug 1866, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 3 years)
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024
  Family ID	F32806	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Catherine Robertson Keachie,   b. 1836, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 9 Jun 1920  (Age 84 years)
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024
  Family ID	F32807	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 3	Mary Mayer,   b. 1847, Seaforth, Huron Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. Jan 1884, Strassburg, , Alsace, France  (Age 37 years)
  Married	15 Dec 1874	Seaforth, Huron Co., Ontario, Canada
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2024
  Family ID	F36425	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Hespeler, Wilhelm formal.jpg
  		William Hespeler about 1903 Source: Archives of Manitoba

  
  

• Notes

  William Hespeler was born at Baden-Baden, Germany on 29 December 1830, son of George H. and Barbara Hespeler, he was educated at the Institute at Karlsruhe. At the age of 19, he arrived at Preston, Ontario where his elder brother had a milling, distilling, and general merchandising business. From 1854 to 1868 he was a partner in the firm of Hespeler and Randall at Waterloo, Ontario. While visiting Germany, he discovered that a large number of Mennonites in southern Russia were contemplating emigration to the USA. Hespeler forwarded this information to the Canadian government, which asked him to travel to Russia to induce the group to come to Manitoba. This resulted in 284 families of Mennonites settling in 1874, with further groups arriving in 1875 and 1876. In 1873, Hespeler became Commissioner of Immigration and Agriculture, which he filled until 1883. He was then appointed German Consul for Manitoba and the North-West Territories until 1909. In 1889, he was elected to the provincial legislature and chosen speaker of the house, the first foreign-born citizen to be so in the British Empire. He served as chief commissioner of census for the Province of Manitoba, 1881; appointed German Consul for Manitoba and NWT, 1883; decorated by the German Emperor with the Order of Red Eagle, 1903, and upon resigning office was decorated with Zaeringer Loewen Order by the German Emperor for long and faithful services. From 1883 to 1894, he was Manager of the Manitoba Land Company, then later a member of the board of the Royal Trust Company and the North of Scotland Mortgage Company. In 1880, he organized "The Northwestern," a German language weekly, the first German newspaper in the Northwest. He was a member of the board for the Winnipeg General Hospital starting in 1874, and president of the same starting in 1884, resigning from the board in 1909. He was married twice; first to Mary H. Keatchie of Galt, Ontario (1855) then to Kate R. Keatchie. He had one son. Hespeler died on 18 April 1921, in Vancouver, BC https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/hespeler_w.shtml 2007 ________________ 7,000 immigrants arrived in six years Hespeler honored for bringing in Mennonites The man who played the principal role in bringing the first Mennonites to Steinbach and area in 1874 was officially honored in Winnipeg Monday. A plaque commemorating William Hespeler (1830-1921) for his immigration work throughout the prairies was unveiled by Winnipeg MP Joy Smith on behalf of the federal government. The trilingual plaque, produced by Parks Canada for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, recognizes Hespeler as a person of national historic significance. His namesake continues today, most notably in Niverville, which has a 94-acre park named in his honor, and who will be further recognized at this summer's community fair. It was just southwest of Niverville, at the junction of the Red and Rat rivers, where the first Mennonite immigrant group landed. Hespeler Park, at the south side of town, is equipped with ball diamonds, soccer pitches, picnic shelter, toboggan hill and an area set aside to further honor Hespeler's work. Jim Buys, the town's chief administrative officer, who was part of a Niverville contingent attending the unveiling of the plaque at the University of Winnipeg, explained his community has worked closely with Parks Canada in this project. Former mayor Clare Braun, for one, began discussions years ago with the federal agency to look into ways of honoring Hespeler at the local level, Buys said. Sponsoring proponent to designate Hespeler is the German-Canadian Congress, Manitoba. The Niverville group on hand for the ceremony, in addition to Buys, included Mayor Greg Fehr and three members of the community's historical committee-Walter Rempel, Fred Kaita and Jake Isaac. It also included Mary DeGrow, great-great-granddaughter of William Hespeler, who lives in Winnipeg. Buys said DeGrow is scheduled to visit Niverville in June during the annual fair. Her mother, who lives in southern Ontario, while unable to make the trip, may be able to send a message to the community in a video. The plaque unveiled on Monday will be placed in Niverville at a later date, said Lianne Roberts, executive services officer for the Manitoba field unit of Parks Canada in Winnipeg. Plans also call for planks from the elevator Hespeler built in Niverville in 1878 to be used in a commemorative project at the community's Heritage Centre. The cylindrical elevator, holding 25,000 bushels, was the first in Western Canada. The elevator years ago was adopted as the town's official symbol. The Hespeler name further lives on through a road named for him in the neighboring RM of Hanover as well as a major road in Steinbach. "William Hespeler was truly a remarkable man," said Smith at Monday's ceremony. "Entrepreneur, immigration official, commissioner of immigration and agriculture, politician and philanthropist, William Hespeler played a key role in the first great wave of immigrants to Manitoba, and helped demonstrate the enormous agricultural potential of the Canadian Prairies." Coming to Canada from Germany at the age of 19, Hespeler first joined his brother's business in the German-speaking community of Waterloo, Ont. Toward the middle of the 1860s, Hespeler left his lucrative business ventures and, in mid-life, made a career change to become an immigration official for the Dominion of Canada. He succeeded in attracting some 7,000 Mennonites to emigrate from Russia to Canada between 1874 and 1880. This new Canadian of German descent put his determination and ingenuity at the service of his adopted country. In addition to his role in Mennonite immigration, and hence in the settlement of Western Canada, Hespeler distinguished himself for over 45 years following his settlement in Winnipeg as a philanthropist and politician representing the interests of German-speaking communities. "William Hespeler's success was a result not only of his dedication and commitment but also due to his ability to seize the opportunity, his assertive personality and his ingenuity," added Smith. For many years Hespeler was actively involved in all aspects of the immigrant movement, beginning with trips to Russia to recruit prospective immigrants to hands-on work in Canada when they arrived. Niverville historical committee members Walter Rempel, Fred Kiata and Jacob Isaak join Mayor Greg Fehr and Jim Buys at unveiling of plaque honoring William Hespeler. The Carillon Newspaper 22 Feb 2007 _______________________________ WILLIAM (Wilhelm), businessman, office holder, politician, and jp; b. 29 Dec. 1830 in the Grand Duchy of Baden (Germany), second son of Johann Georg Hespeler and Anna Barbara Wick; m. first 21 Dec. 1854 Mary H. Keatchie (d. 1872) of Galt (Cambridge), Upper Canada, and they had three children, two of whom survived to adulthood; m. secondly 15 Dec. 1874 Mary Meyer (d. 1883) of Seaforth, Ont.; m. thirdly 6 April 1887 Catherine Robertson, née Keatchie (d. 1920), a sister of his first wife, in Port Arthur (Thunder Bay, Ont.); no children were born of the second or third marriages; d. 18 April 1921 in Vancouver. William Hespeler grew up in a bourgeois household in Baden, his father a prosperous merchant and his mother related to Hungarian aristocracy. The family's nine children, two boys and seven girls, received extensive education in German, French, and English. They were steeped in the family's mercantile tradition and imbued with a sense of adventure which was tempered only by the inherent social conservatism of their class. The Hespelers believed not only in technological but also in political progress. Their hopes for democratic reform in Baden were dashed when the revolution of 1848 failed. The family valued service to the public and its members would frequently participate in civic and political affairs. Through chain migration started by William's elder brother, Jacob, most of the family eventually came to settle in Upper Canada, in the area around Berlin (Kitchener) and Waterloo. In this largely German enclave, Hespeler, who arrived in 1850, demonstrated his willingness to reach beyond his ethnic and religious background (he was Lutheran) by marrying a Canadian-born woman of Scottish-Presbyterian descent. He soon proved his business acumen as well, working initially in his brother's milling, distilling, and general merchandising business in Preston (Cambridge). In 1854 he set up a similar business in Waterloo with George Randall. A few years later the partners built the Granite Mills and the Waterloo Distillery. By 1861 the flourishing business was producing 12,000 barrels of flour and 2,700 barrels of whiskey; it employed 15 men. In the 1870s Hespeler's career took a different turn. According to one account, Hespeler, a naturalized British subject, briefly served as a stretcher-bearer during the Franco-German war of 1870-71. He returned to Canada but by the spring of 1872 he had left his business in the care of an employee, Joseph Emm Seagram*, and had taken his ailing wife and two surviving children to Baden. On 2 Feb. 1872 he had been appointed special immigration agent for Germany by the Canadian government. With the help of shipping agents of the Allan Line [see Sir Hugh Allan*], he recruited new settlers, especially from the war-ravaged province of Alsace. That summer the Canadian government sent him to southern Russia, a region from which large numbers of German-speaking Mennonites wanted to immigrate. Despite considerable opposition from Russian authorities and little support from British diplomats, he arranged for several thousand Mennonites to move to Canada [see Gerhard Wiebe*]. Rewarded by the federal minister of agriculture, John Henry Pope*, with an appointment as dominion immigration agent for Manitoba and the North-West Territories (a position he would hold until 1882), the recently widowed Hespeler moved permanently to Winnipeg in 1873. Through his work in providing temporary shelter and emergency provisions as well as in directing newcomers to available lands, he had close dealings not only with the Mennonite settlements but also with the early Icelandic settlements [see Jón Bjarnason*]; he was similarly involved in organizing relief for Jewish refugees [see Benjamin Zimmerman]. Uncomfortable with the government's laissez-faire approach to the establishment of recent arrivals, he took a paternalistic view of aid. He did not mind combining the government's relief with his own economic self-interest as a grain merchant. He delighted in planning new settlements, such as Niverville, and in exploring agricultural innovations. Together with his son he erected what is said to have been the first grain elevator in western Canada, in 1879. He deftly explored the entrepreneurial opportunities of the frontier, acquiring rural and city plots, dealing in mortgages and loans, and acting as a middleman between the Winnipeg business community and the Mennonite settlements. From 1886 to 1905 he would serve as manager of the Manitoba Land Company. He soon became known as an expert on western Canadian development. By the mid 1870s, remarried and at his energetic best, Hespeler proved his civic-mindedness in many ways. He was elected alderman for Winnipeg's South Ward in 1876 and 1878, joined the board of the Winnipeg General Hospital (he would serve as its president for more than a decade, starting in 1889), and on 25 Nov. 1876 was appointed to the provisional council of Keewatin to deal with the smallpox epidemic of 1876-77. By 1876 he had also been appointed a justice of the peace. Involved in the Anglo-Saxon community of Winnipeg, he was also active among the city's small German population. His second wife was of German origin and he himself participated in German singing and social clubs in the late 1870s and mid 1880s. When the German government sought an honorary consul for Winnipeg and the North-West Territories in 1882, Hespeler was a natural choice. This unsalaried position allowed him to pursue his business interests and it would help him overcome personal tragedies - the death of his second wife in 1883 and that of his daughter, Georgina Hope, wife of Augustus Meredith Nanton, in 1886. As consul, he maintained his connections with the growing German community of the city. In 1888, for example, he supported the establishment of a German Lutheran congregation in Winnipeg. The following year he was instrumental in setting up a German-language newspaper, the Nordwesten. Although the consular workload became increasingly heavy in the new century, he would stay on until July 1907. In 1903 he was rewarded with the German Order of the Red Eagle for 20 years of service. At age 69 Hespeler moved into the political arena. His reputation for thoroughness and common sense and his close association with the Mennonite community won him the rural seat of Rosenfeld in the provincial general election of 7 Dec. 1899 as an independent candidate with Conservative leanings. Once elected, however, he declared himself against the government of Conservative premier Hugh John Macdonald. On 29 March 1900 he became speaker of the Legislative Assembly, one of the earliest persons who were not born British subjects to hold this position in any legislative body in the British empire - but not the first, as has been claimed. Lacking vanity and a sense of self-importance, he left politics a few years later to make way for a younger person. Hespeler's business activities had laid the foundation for considerable wealth that promised a comfortable old age with his third wife, Catherine. He continued to serve on the boards of numerous financial institutions and could have lived out his final years quietly enjoying the fruits of his labour in his luxurious apartment block in Fort Rouge (Winnipeg), designed for him by noted architect John D. Atchison in 1906. World War I intervened, however. Hespeler's German connections suddenly tainted the man and his achievements. He refused to be cowed by the nativist hostility of the period and devoted his energy to helping recent German immigrants who had lost their jobs. The city, and the rest of Canada, soon forgot him. In his final months, after the death of his third wife in 1920, Hespeler moved to Vancouver to be with his son, Alfred. He died there and was buried in St John's Anglican cemetery in Winnipeg, among the city's pioneers. His obituary remembered him as a man "who was at one time so foremost in the life of the province." Angelika Sauer AO, RG 80-5-0-42, no.2961. Man., Legislative Library (Winnipeg), Biog. scrapbooks. Univ. of Waterloo Library, Special Coll. Dept. (Waterloo, Ont.), GA 104 (Seagram Museum fonds), sousfonds 1 (Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Ltd fonds); sousfonds 2 (Seagram family fonds). Berliner Journal (Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]), 1858-72. Dumfries Reformer (Galt [Cambridge, Ont.]), 27 Dec. 1854. Manitoba Free Press, 19 April 1921. Nordwesten (Winnipeg), 1889-1921. Winnipeg Tribune, 15 April 1911, 29 May 1930. Alexander Begg and W. R. Nursey, Ten years in Winnipeg: a narration of the principal events in the history of the city of Winnipeg from the year A.D. 1870 to the year A.D. 1879, inclusive (Winnipeg, 1879). George Bryce, A history of Manitoba: its resources and people (Toronto and Montreal, 1906). Mrs George Bryce, [Marion Samuel], "Historical sketch of the charitable institutions of Winnipeg," Man., Hist. and Scientific Soc., Trans. Can., Parl., Sessional papers, reports of the Dept. of Agriculture, 1871-82. Ernst Correll, "Mennonite immigration into Manitoba: sources and documents, 1872, 1873," Mennonite Quarterly Rev. (Goshen, Ind.), 11 (1937): 196-227, 267-83. CPG, 1901. Werner Entz, "William Hespeler, Manitoba's first German consul," German-Canadian yearbook (Toronto), 1 (1973): 149-52. Arthur Grenke, "The formation and early development of an urban ethnic community: a case study of the Germans in Winnipeg" (phd thesis, Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 1975). Angelika Sauer, "Ethnicity employed: William Hespeler and the Mennonites," Journal of Mennonite Studies (Winnipeg), 18 (2000): 82-94. W. H. E. Schmalz, "The Hespeler family," Waterloo Hist. Soc., Annual report (Kitchener), 57 (1969): 21-29. (Winnipeg), no.54 (Feburary 1899): 1-31. F. H. Schofield, The story of Manitoba (3v., Winnipeg, 1913) Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval __________________________ HESPELER, WILLIAM (Wilhelm)... m. first 21 Dec. 1854 Mary H. Keatchie (d. 1872) of Galt (Cambridge), Upper Canada, and they had three children, two of whom survived to adulthood; m. secondly 15 Dec. 1874 Mary Meyer (d. 1883) of Seaforth, Ont.; m. thirdly 6 April 1887 Catherine Robertson, née Keatchie (d. 1920), a sister of his first wife, in Port Arthur (Thunder Bay, Ont.); no children were born of the second or third marriages; d. 18 April 1921 in Vancouver. Dictionary of Canadian Biography VOl XV (1921-1930) _______________________ THE MYSTERIOUS SUICIDE AT DETROIT - Regarding the suicide of an unknown man at a Detroit described in their last issue the Detroit Free Press of yesterday contains the following additional particulars on Saturday morning Constable Tisler visited the house designated in the memoranda left by the late suicide, J. Gottfied Kegel and found in the chest alluded to a quantity of clothing together with a large number of papers the greater part of which alluded to what appears to have been his former business transactions with Toronto merchants and business men in Berlin and Stratford C. W. From these we gather that he had dealer in wines and liquors, Yankee notions, &c., before coming to Detroit A receipt dated in 1860, for the payment of the rent of a store in Berlin from Wm. K Moore, was among these papers, and a bill of sale of goods from John Anstett. There was also a reference from the William Hespeler alluded to, certifying that he had been in his employ as clerk for 2 years and had proved himself to be honest and industrious and of good character. After leaving Berlin he appears to have gone to Stratford, as his accounts or dated at that place in 1864. He then seems to have been involved in financial difficulties which were no doubt partially the cause of his removing to Michigan on A note against A. G. Collins of Pontiac dated June 3d 1864 for $30 in Canada currency on which the payment of $15 in greenbacks was endorsed, was the only paper of any value whatsoever discovered. The statement made that his children were in Boston would now seem to be in error; but as the word was imperfectly written and the paper having remained so long in the water but the writing was very difficult to decipher appeared to be the nearest solution. It is more than probable that his children are in Berlin C.W. An adjourned inquest will be held on Monday afternoon to further inquiry into the cause of the unfortunate man's death Hamilton Weekly Times 15 Mar 1866 pg 3 A STRANGE MYSTERY AT DETROIT. PROBABLE SUICIDE INCITED BY PARTIES IN CANADA The body of an unknown man was found in the river at Detroit, on Friday last, had apparently been in the water for some months and discoveries in connection therewith seem to indicate the unfortunate has been driven to self-destruction through injuries to his domestic happiness and estate at the hands of certain parties in Canada. The Detroit Free Press, from which we glean the circumstances of the affair, remarks that if the truth were brought to light, it would no doubt reveal deep dark and disgraceful deeds of wrong and injustice. Here was a man of apparent honesty and integrity quite, undemonstrative, and no match for the wily and designing in whose way he might fall: and that he did fall victim to such a treachery is too well shown if we are to trust the seemingly genuine record of his grief and hopelessness of mind in the pockets of his clothing were found several papers and memoranda, among which the most important was a confession and recital of wrong and Injustice which no doubt had that the unfortunate man to self-destruction. The writing is not grammatically correct, and there wanderings and repetitions in the style, which show a partial Insanity on the part of the writer. It is written pages of a diary or memorandum-book as follows: - "God bless my poor children. I am disappointed in every way - was robbed out of all my property, of all my family happiness, &c. I thought I could get a situation as clerk in this town but never yet met with success, I thought I had some friends here, but I found out they are all for No. 1, as I am betrayed out of my family happiness and all my property, by a bad miserable woman, with whom I was married for eleven years, who robbed me out of everything, betrayed me every day. I hope the Lord will have mercy upon her sould and soon meet me before the right judge, in a better world all will be discovered. Good-bye to all my friends that will remember me, I hope lord will take care of my children, which I left in Boston [Berlin] and be the righteous judge of my enemies who betrayed me out of all my family happiness who is George Gillies clerk at Mr. Scott's, Stratford where I found my first frater [traitor]. 2. Wm. Hespeler of Waterloo C. W., who robbed me out of all my property live with my wife, etc. The man came to me in Buffalo and said he would took possession of my property and would settle with my merchants in Toronto, Messrs. Boyd and Anthurs. I only owed to Hespeler about $200, and to Boyd and Arthurs about $125. So now I am destroyed of all my family happiness. I thought I overcome all that trouble but as I always was a man of honesty I cannot forget my former circumstances and my present. I hope the Lord and some good people will show mercy upon my children The Lord will be my best judge, but I hope he will punish my enemies my misfortune shall come over Hespeler and his family for ever. I have got some friends here, which knows all my circumstances and I hope he will suffer for this. My wish is that my wife will soon stand before me and give account for her bad conduct. All particulars you will find in my chest, corner of St. Aubin and Waterloo streets where my goods is left. signed John Gottfried Kegel born in the city Urah, Wurrtemberg Germany There were also notes for memoranda of items paid for board to Mr. Rogers on the corner of Hastings and Franklin streets, From other papers it appears that he had one time been bailed out of prison upon a bond of $100 for good behavior and one year, by Philip Kumpf. A note for $50, due in September, 1866 was signed, as witness by Chief Constable Harrison, of Stratford C.W. In another place is written the following, which, though quite legible, had been scratched over with a lead pencil as if to erase it: "I am called John Root in Buffalo, Isaac Lentz at Stratford" The coroner's jury record of it "found drowned" which the Free Press does not consider a proper exposition of the case. Waterloo, C. W. March 13, 1866. To the Editor of the Evening Times: Sir, - Under the heading of a "Strange Mystery at Detroit," in your yesterdays' paper you make assertions which are not only untrue but injurious to my character. The publication of falsehoods against myself, found amongst the effects of a person who, through the disappointment of his dishonest intentions, was driving to self-destruction, will not likely be endorsed by those to whom I am known, especially as the article itself show the character of the "injured one," whose statements you apparently, accept as true. I consider it a duty to myself in a business point of view to place the facts before the public, leaving the vindication of my private character to my friends. J. G. Kegel was enables through my assistance and recommendation, to start business five years ago. He absconded from Stratford in January, 1865, having secreted his goods with the intent to defraud his creditors. The goods were discovered, and in order to get a settlement, and to save costs, I went, by the advice of the remaining creditors, to Buffalo, and arranged with him, getting a bill of sale of the goods, under which I disposed of them, and divided the proceeds amongst the creditors pro rata. Kegel had latterly become dissipated in his habits, and it was probably in a fit of despondency, brought on by excessive drinking, that he drowned himself. I most emphatically deny that I ever acted toward the deceased otherwise than as a friend, and my prevention of his committing several murderous attacks on his wife has, in his discased mind, been metamorphosed into improper intimacy. Your obed't serv't Wm. Hespeler Supplement to Hamilton Weekly Times 22 Mar 1866

  
  

• Sources

  [S7] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berliner Journal (1859-1917), 13 Mar 1884. Feb. 10, 1884 Mary Hespeler, wife of William Hespeler, German consul in Winnipeg, died in Strassburg, Alsace at age of 38 years. [S2403] News - Unidentified Newspaper Obituary, Obituary of Anna Barbara Wick - Hespeler - 23 Dec 1881, pg 1. [S270] Census - ON, Waterloo, Preston - 1852, Pg 3. [S605] Cemetery - Manitoba, Winnipeg - St. John's Cathedral Internet Link. IN LOVING MEMORY OF WILLIAM HESPELER BORN DEC.29th 1830 DIED APRIL 18th 1921 AND HIS WIFE CATHERINE ROBERTSON BORN 1836 DIED JUNE 9th 1920 HESPELER [S1885] Census - ON, Waterloo, Waterloo City - 1861, Waterloo 1861 Dist. 2 Page 14. [S1888] Canada, British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993, GS Film number: 1927296 , Digital Folder Number: 004437844 , Image Number: 01334 , Registration Number: 82460. Wm Hespeler Event Type: Death Event Date: 18 Apr 1921 Event Place: Burnaby Lake, British Columbia, Canada Gender: Male Age: 91 Marital Status: Widowed Birth Date: 29 Dec 1830 Birthplace: Gronsbach, Duchy Of Ba* Father's Name: * George Hespeler Mother's Name: Anna *Arba* Wick [S3231] Find A Grave, Cemetery, S., America, N., Winnipeg, G., & Cemetery, S. (1830). William Hespeler (1830-1921) - Find A Grave.... Findagrave.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62142078/william-hespeler. [S110] Church Records - ON, Waterloo Co., Cambridge - First United. William Hespeler, Merchant of Baden, Married Mary Reachie, Spinster of Galt, Witn: Adam Warnock & Alexander Young, 21 1854 By License In Galt [S1977] Germany, Marriages, 1558-1929, Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M92681-3 , System Origin: Germany-EASy , GS Film number: 1569113 , Reference ID: 24. Johann Georg Hespeler Birth Date: 08 Nov 1784 Spouse's Name: Anna Barbara Wick Spouse's Birth Date: 26 Nov 1791 Event Date: 27 Jul 1809 Event Place: Eningen, Württemberg, Germany Father's Name: Joh. Georg Hespeler Mother's Name: Maria Reg. Leuzin Spouse's Father's Name: Jacob Wick Spouse's Mother's Name: Maria Ursula Wik Marital Status: Single Spouse's Marital Status: Single

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 29 Dec 1830 - Gernsbach, Gernsbach, , Baden-Württemberg, Germany Occupation - Clerk - 1852 - Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - merchant - 1854 - Baden, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 21 Dec 1854 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1855 - 49 Albert St., Waterloo, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Elected Office - Waterloo - councillor - 1861 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - merchant - 1861 - 2 King St. S., Waterloo, Ontario Elected Office - Councillor - Waterloo City - 1863 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 15 Dec 1874 - Seaforth, Huron Co., Ontario, Canada Occupation - German Consul - 1884 - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Died - 18 Apr 1921 - Burnaby Lake, British Columbia Buried - - St. Johns Cathedral Cemetery, Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada  = Link to Google Earth