Joseph Ferres

1818 - 1848  (~ 30 years)

• Name	Joseph Ferres
  Born	CA 1818	of, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Crime	murder
  Interesting	murder, story
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-40080
  Died	26 Jun 1848	Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Cause: executed
  Person ID	I40080	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Ferres,   b. Abt 1790, of, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F33895	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  At the June assizes Joseph and Thomas Ferris were tried for the murder of Henry Wilson, in Wellesley, in March. A dispute had arisen respecting the ownership of a strip of land, and Wilson had obtained a writ of ejectment, and upon going to serve it, Joseph Ferris knocked him down and strangled him with his scarf, the other prisoner looking on while it was done. They were both sentenced to be hanged, when they made a full confession, and their sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. At the Quarter Sessions in July, Judge Powell had the gratifying duty to inform the Grand Jury that, for the third time, there were no prisoners for trial, and only one case was brought before the magistrates in Guelph during the whole year. The annals of the town of Guelph, 1827-1877 By Charles Acton Burrows pg. 60 ___________________________ MURDERS IN WATERLOO COUNTY The old, well-known school-teacher, Mr. Benjamin Burkholder brought to our attention that the article which appeared in the "Journal" under the above title was not complete, if one also counted in the murders which occurred in this area before the establishment of the County of Waterloo. In August 1828, Michael Vincent of Wilmot was hanged in Hamilton for the murder of his wife. A certain Ferres in Guelph, also met the same fate in 1846, for the murder of a constable in Wellesley. From our own memory, and information from Mr. John Kressler, former post-master in Heidelberg, we can add that, in 1847, during the construction of a building in Wellesley, a certain Kress, attacked a young man by the name of Pfeffer so fiercely that the latter died during the night following. Kress was tried in Guelph and condemned to 10 years in prison for murder. During the hay-cutting in 1849, Michael Huber in Wellesley got into a fight with his mother-in-law and threw a piece of wood at her head, which caused her immediate demise. Huber had to spend 10 years in prison because of his bad temper. In 1850, the inn-keeper, Bordon, died in Heidelberg (Wellesley township) under suspicious circumstances. A coroner's inquest was held and it was proven that he had been poisoned. Suspicion of having done the deed fell on his wife. She was arrested and imprisoned and the case was investigated at the fall assizes in Guelph. The investigation ended, however, with the accused women being found not guilty. BERLINER JOURNAL SEPTEMBER 4, 1895 PAGE 4 COLUMN 4

  
  

• Sources

  [S952] News - Christian Guardian - Death Notices from the Christian Guardian 1836-1850, 5 Jul 1848, pg 150-151. Joseph Ferres was exec uted the 26th inst. for the murder of Henry Wilson on March 27th in Wellesley Twp., survived by his brother Thomas and other brothers.1a 1aNew Item - Guelph Herald 27 Jul 1848

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - CA 1818 - of, Wellesley Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - Cause: executed - 26 Jun 1848 - Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth