Mary Ratz

1856 - 1943  (87 years)

• Name	Mary Ratz
  Born	14 Dec 1856	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Gender	Female
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138950357
  Residence	1881	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	Evangelical Association
  Residence	1891	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	Evangelical
  Residence	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Evangelical
  Died	24 Dec 1943
  Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region	Bef 2012	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [6]
  	Charity work
  Name	Mary Kaufman
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-39422
  Buried	Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I39422	Generations
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2025

  
  

  Father	Henry Ratz,   b. 9 Nov 1830, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 5 Jul 1881  (Age 50 years)
  Mother	Christina Eidt,   b. 30 Jun 1834, , Hesse-Cassel, Germany ,   d. 31 Oct 1887, Gadshill, North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario  (Age 53 years)
  Family ID	F24889	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Jacob S. Kaufman,   b. 1847, , Germany ,   d. 20 Apr 1920, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 73 years)
  Married	5 Mar 1877	North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada   [3, 5]
  Children	1. Christina A. Kaufman,   b. CALC 16 Oct 1877,   d. 7 May 1879  (Age ~ 1 years)   2. Edward Kaufman,   b. CALC 10 Feb 1880, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 2 Jan 1883  (Age ~ 2 years)   3. Emma Ratz Kaufman,   b. 27 Aug 1881, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1979, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 97 years)   4. Albert Kaufman,   b. Apr 1883,   d. 1 May 1883  (Age ~ 0 years)   5. Alvin Ratz "A. R." Kaufman,   b. 11 Feb 1885, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1 Feb 1979, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 93 years)   6. Matthew Kaufman,   b. 1886, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   7. Milton Ratz Kaufman,   b. 30 Sep 1886, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 6 Nov 1980  (Age 94 years)   8. Edna Mary Louise "Mary" Kaufman,   b. 21 Dec 1891, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 3 Jun 1983  (Age 91 years)
  Last Modified	4 Mar 2025
  Family ID	F10299	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Mary Ratz from Mary C. Hamm
  		Mary Ratz from Waterloo Region Hall of Fame
  		Mary Ratz Kaufman

  
  

• Notes

  Mary Eidt Ratz was born December 14, 1856, the first of five daughters and eight sons born to Christine Eidt and Henry Ratz. Henry Ratz owned and operated a sawmill at Gads Hill, north of Stratford. He had been born during the voyage of his parents to Canada in 1828, from Hessen, Germany. When his parents arrived in Waterloo County his father, Valentine Ratz, opened a blacksmith's shop in Waterloo and his mother, Anna Gertrude, contributed to the family income by knitting items of clothing to sell to her neighbours. The first small family sawmill was opened at St. Jacobs, and then a larger mill at Gads Hill which in time was operated by Henry. As the oldest of Henry and Christine Ratz's large family, independent and practical Mary played an active role in the family business, tromping around the bush to mark the trees to be felled by the men with saws. She was also, like her four sisters, actively employed in the household: the employees at the sawmill usually boarded at the Ratz home, and there were sometimes as many as 20 men to be fed in addition to the many family members. In 1869, a young man named Jacob Kaufman became one of Henry Ratz's sawyers, living like most of the other workers at the sawmill - in the Ratz family home. Jacob had been born in 1847 to John Kaufman and Annie Stroh Kaufman; John had emigrated from Elbire, Germany to New York some 15 years earlier, and after three years there had moved to New Hamburg where he bought a small farm; Annie arrived from Germany in 1842. Eight years after Jacob Kaufman came to work for Henry Ratz - in March of 1877, when Mary was 20 - Jacob and Mary were married. Shortly after their marriage, Mary and Jacob moved to Berlin, where Jacob established the first of many enterprises to bear his name, this one in co-operation with his father-in-law: the Ratz & Kaufman Planing Mill. Mary and Jacob's first home in the city was half of a yellow frame house situated where the large Kaufman factory at 410 King Street West was later built. During those first years in Berlin, when Jacob was establishing his business and money was tight, Mary provided room and board in their home for workers at the mill. Woman of Waterloo County edited by Ruth Russell

  
  

• Sources

  [S137] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1901, Berlin (Town/Ville) A-12 Page 4. [S158] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1881, Div. 2 Pg. 75. [S721] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, marriage certificate 8940 (1877), Jacob Kaufmann-Mary Ratz. Jacob Kaufmann, lumber dealer of Gadshill, Ontario, Birth Place: Germany Age: 29 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1848 Father Name: Joseph Kaufmann Mother Name: Annie Kaufmann Spouse Name: Mary Ratz, residence Gadshill, Spouse's Age: 20 Spouse Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857 Spouse Birth Place: Woolwich Ont Spouse Father Name: Henry Ratz Spouse Mother Name: Christian Ratz Marriage Date: 5 Mar 1877 Marriage Place: Perth, North Easthope [S340] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1911, Div. 37 Page 2. [S1592] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1891, Section 1 Page 52. [S220] Waterloo Region Hall of Fame Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 14 Dec 1856 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 5 Mar 1877 - North Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada Residence - Evangelical Association - 1881 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Evangelical - 1891 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Evangelical - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region - Charity work - Bef 2012 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth