Oliver S. "Willow King" Scheifele^{[1, 2]}

1883 - 1933  (50 years)

• Name	Oliver S. "Willow King" Scheifele
  Born	18 Apr 1883	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
  Gender	Male
  Business	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Willow King
  Family Photograph	Oliver Scheifle and wife Laura Hought
  		Scheifele,OliverS.andLauraHought-0001-WaterlooRegionRecord.jpg "Flash From The Past: Willow King’S Idea Leads To Decade Of Success". 2021. Therecord.Com. https://www.therecord.com/life/local-history/2021/02/19/flash-from-the-past-willow-kings-idea-leads-to-decade-of-success.html.
  Interesting	suicide, story, business
  Residence	1891	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [6]
  	Mennonite
  Occupation	1901	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Farmer Son
  Occupation	1909	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	Farmer
  Occupation	1911	Conestogo, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	Farmer
  Residence	1911	Conestogo, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	Mennonite
  Misfortune	1933
  	committed suicide
  Name	O. S. Scheifele
  Eby ID Number	00099-5556.7
  Died	18 Apr 1933	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Cause: suicide
  Buried	Saint Matthews Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, Conestogo, Woolwich, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I53708	Generations
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2025

  
  

  Father	Aaron G. Scheifele,   b. 6 Oct 1855, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 27 Jan 1940, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 84 years)
  Mother	Angeline Stauffer,   b. 16 Dec 1852, Bridgeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 12 Oct 1915, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 62 years)
  Married	10 Aug 1875  [8]
  Family ID	F13892	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Laura Naomi Hought,   b. Aug 1888, Peel Twp., Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 13 Jul 1979, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age ~ 90 years)
  Married	9 Mar 1909	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Children	1. Thelma Schiefele,   b. 10 Dec 1909, Conestogo, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 22 Jul 2004, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 94 years)   2. William Schiefele,   b. Apr 1911, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   3. John Morley Schiefele,   b. 24 Apr 1911, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 12 Jun 1911, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 0 years)   4. James Garfield Scheifele,   b. 24 Apr 1911, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 21 Oct 1911, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 0 years)   5. Audrey Scheifele,   b. 1914, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	29 Jan 2025
  Family ID	F165478	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Planting the seeds By Bob Vrbanac, Chronicle Staff We've all heard the story of how Abraham Erb's gristmill was Waterloo's first business and led to founding of the city. But did you know it was all a mistake? Erb was one of the Mennonite farmers who was attracted to the area from Pennsylvania because of the arable land. But when he arrived he found out the bottomland he owned was more than a little waterlogged. There was no way he could produce a decent crop. But the Beaver Creek, now known as Laurel Creek, did run through his property. It provided an excellent source of running water and lead to the construction of one of the area's first water-powered gristmills. Erb had no idea his little side project would become one of the best mill sites west of the Grand River, and farmers who needed their grain ground down to the flour of life would travel more than a day's journey to get in line with the others waiting for the service. That's just one of the stories on display at the City of Waterloo's newest exhibit celebrating the community's agrarian past called Agricultural Roots. "The grist mill formed the nucleus of the city and we grew out from there," said Karen VandenBrink, manager of heritage services for the city. "The exhibit starts out from our early origins and goes from there." And it's a colourful past. Have you heard of the story of the Willow King, who pioneered a novel solution to riverbank erosion that was patented and shipped around North America? Oliver Scheifele's revolutionary method of using willow branches to shore up the banks of waterways in 1921 might have been inspired by the willow trees he saw in Waterloo Park, said VandenBrink. He might have noticed how once a willow shoot was submerged in water it would quickly grow roots along its length and it would stabilize the earth around it. Scheifele came up with the idea of using hundreds of those poles interwined to hold riverbanks in place. He quickly won contracts with big players like Dominion Public Works, Ontario Highways and Canadian Pacific. He also branched out into the United States, winning contracts from the U.S. government to monitor the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, before opening an office in Buffalo. But the Great Depression seemed to affect his business like many others in 1931, and his enterprise began to struggle. He was down to working out of his own garage by 1933 and was fulfilling an order for London, Ont., to plant 4,000 willow shoots along the Thames River when tragedy struck. His wife became worried when he didn't show up for dinner on the night of April 18, 1933. She might have even had something special planned for his 50th birthday. She found him dead, and the official cause of death was suicide by gun shot to the head. Unfortunately, what could have been one of Waterloo's most interesting green businesses is now lost to the sands of time. His widow sold his business along with his patents, and his legacy was lost. VandenBrink said the only remnants of his business might be the willow trees that still populate Waterloo Park. "We think there are definite connections to the willows around Silver Lake," she said. While that provides some dramatic tension to the story of Waterloo's agricultural roots, there is still one business that continues to carry the city's banner into the world - Ontario Seed Company. Founded in 1906 by Otto Herald as the Pioneer Canadian Seed Growers in Waterloo, it was bought by Jacob Uffelman in 1916 and his family continues to run the business at its King Street location in uptown Waterloo. "They still operate it today, and it still is a huge business," said VandenBrink. It is still one of the largest wholesale seed suppliers in Canada, she said, as Ontario Seed Company ships out more than 40 million packets of seeds a year. If you want to see why it's been so successful for more than 100 years, the exhibit has some of the early advertising and seed catalogue's that helped establish the roots of the company. To call it artwork would be an understatement as vibrant colours and mouthwatering vegetables dominate the original advertising. It is interesting to see the use of language used in the print ads, loaned to the City of Waterloo for display. All of them have words like "massive" and "giant" implying the high yields that farmers would get. "Everything is luscious looking," said VandenBrink. The exhibit Agricultural Roots is on until Mar. 1 at the museum located at Conestoga Mall. To see its special holiday hours visit www.waterloo.ca/museum. Planting the seeds. (2012). WaterlooChronicle.ca. Retrieved 17 November 2018, from https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/whatson-story/5891294-planting-the-seeds/

  
  

• Sources

  [S10] Book - Vol II A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., 224. [S3108] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, 020586-09. Oliver S. Scheifele, 25, occ. Farmer, res. of Woolwich, son of Aaron Scheifele and Angeline Stauffer Married Laura Hought, 20, res. of Yatton Wellington Co., daughter of John Hought and Frances Harris, Witn: Lewis Weber of Berlin and Pearl Scheifele of Conestogo, 9 March 1909 in Woolwich [S177] Census - ON, Waterloo - 1901, Woolwich f-2 Page 1. [S148] Census - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - 1901, Woolwich F-2 page 1. [S348] Census - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - 1911, Div. 14 Page 1. [S1821] Census - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - 1891, Div. 2 Page 19. [S2121] Census - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - 1921, Sub Dist.. 13 Page 15. [S10] Book - Vol II A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., 523.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 18 Apr 1883 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Business - Willow King - - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Mennonite - 1891 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Farmer Son - 1901 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Farmer - 1909 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 9 Mar 1909 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Farmer - 1911 - Conestogo, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Mennonite - 1911 - Conestogo, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - Cause: suicide - 18 Apr 1933 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth