Jean Theibault "Theobald" Spetz

1793 - 1847  (~ 54 years)

• Name	Jean Theibault "Theobald" Spetz
  Born	CA 1793	, France
  Gender	Male
  Interesting	story, pioneer
  Military	soldier under Napoleon
  Name	Theobold Spetz
  Possessions	1840	Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 027, Waterloo County, Ontario
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-59245
  Died	1847	Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I59245	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Family	Mary Ann Haenner,   b. 1793, , France ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	1. Joseph Spetz,   b. 31 Aug 1818, Lower Sulzbach, District of Thann, Upper Alsace, Germany ,   d. 20 Sep 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 83 years)   2. Theobold Spetz,   b. 1824, , France ,   d. Yes, date unknown   3. John Spetz,   b. 1831, , Germany ,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Jacob Spetz,   b. 1833, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	12 Nov 2024
  Family ID	F15385	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  The Theobald Spetz Site Historical Overview Waterloo County (now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo) was settled in the early 1800's by people of German descent who came to Canada mainly from the United States of America in their famous Conestoga wagons (Figure 12). The first Euro-Canadian settlers were Mennonites who arrived in 1801. A company of Pennsylvanian Germans was formed in 1806 who bought a tract of forty-five thousand acres at five shillings per acre. Population records indicate a rapid growth rate during the first half of the nineteenth century: 1,640 (1825); 4,424 (1841); and 7,759 (1850). In fact, Waterloo Township was second in 1850 only to York as the most thickly settled township in the Province (Smith 1852: 120). These pioneers brought with them their tradition of mixed field crop and livestock agriculture. Crops normally occupied 70% of the farmland although Lee (1943) describes one sample area that had up to 75% in crop. According to 1849/1850 tax assessment rolls, Waterloo Township had twenty-eight saw mills, twenty-seven schools and eleven grist mills plus over thirty-two thousand acres under cultivation. Wheat (135,000 bushels), oats (105,000 bushels), potatoes (80,000 bushels), turnips (44,000 bushels), peas (26,000 bushels), rye (25,000 bushels) Indian corn (7,000 bushels) barley (5,000 bushels) and buck-wheat (3,500 bushels) were the principal crops in addition to butter (61,000 lbs.), wool (26,000 lbs.) and maple sugar (22,000 lbs.). Animal husbandry included sheep (10,411), cattle (7,766), hogs (6,630), horses (2,137) and oxen (820). The nineteenth century forests in Waterloo County consisted of splendid pines and hardwoods such as sugar maple, beech, wild cherry and red oak. W.H. Smith (1852: 120) offers a stinging 1852 editorial comment still relevant today on forest conditions by reporting that ... the person clearing land to make a farm, be he an old settler, or a new arrival, commits indiscriminate slaughter among the trees, and makes a clean sweep - destroying everything, and leaving his dwellings unshaded and unsheltered for the next generation. Much of this absurdity, as far as the new settlers are concerned, must be attributed to the advise and assertations of the 'old inhabitants,' who are in the habit of telling them, 'Ohl its of no use trying to save trees, you can't do it, the wind will blow them all down.' The first Euro-Canadian occupant was Theobald Spetz [who actually settled on the land rather than land speculators], a German immigrant from the Upper Alsace region of France, who arrived in Waterloo Township by way of Pennsylvania with his wife Maria and their four sons around 1828. After having leased the land for some time and building a log cabin, he purchased it in 1840. Possibly because of his advanced age and poor health, Spetz sold most of the property in 1843 except for a five acre parcel which Maria inherited upon her husband's death in 1847. Joseph Spetz, the eldest son, purchased part of the surrounding land back in 1851 and lived in a new house just across the road from his mother until the late 1850's. Rechecking the Canada Census returns has determined their religion to be Roman Catholic and not Mennonite as was originally thought. In fact, they were probably the first Catholic settlers in Waterloo Township. Annual tax assessment rolls indicate that there were no structures on the property prior to the arrival of the Spetz family. While probate records state that a one and a half storey frame house and other outbuildings were erected, George Tremaine's 1861 map of Waterloo County shows only a single structure in the approximate location of the archaeological site (Figure 13). The 1881 version of the same map (Parsell 1881: 23) does not show any structure at all. It was apparently demolished during the mid-1860's when the homestead was incorporated into the surrounding agricultural field. Archaeological Fieldwork The Theobald Spetz site is situated on very gently sloping to level topography with Martin Creek to the north and unnamed tributaries of Fowell, Cedar and Laurel Creeks just to the east, south and southwest respectively. The general area is classified as a drumlinized till plain in the Waterloo Hills physiographic region (Chapman and Putnam 1984: 113 and Map 2225) within a transition zone between the Carolinian and Canadian biotic provinces (Janusas 1987: 2). Figure 14 (adapted from Presant and Wickland 1971:Map 19) illustrates the dominant Heidleberg fine sandy loam soil type on the site. The surface artifact distribution encompassed approximately 2,000 square metres immediately adjacent to Westmount Road on Lots 94 to 97 of the plan of subdivision. Except for widely scattered isolated findspots, no substantial amount of nineteenth century cultural material was found anywhere else in the ploughed field. This confirmed that the major residential occupation was confined to the area excavated. Removal of the topsoil exposed four structural features - a large root cellar and three stone-filled pits that could be privies/outhouses (Figures 16 to 20). Two juvenile animal burials were also found. Irregularly-shaped subsoil disturbances throughout the excavated area are related to root burns and tree stump removal during forest clearing operations of the pioneer settlers. Although a wide range of material was recovered from the cellar, few artifacts, if any, were actually related to cellar use. All of the material was apparently deposited after the house was demolished. The cellar was intermittently filled-in during several sequential episodes with building rubble, midden deposits and fist-sized stones gathered from the adjacent fields. The Julian Baker and Theobald Spetz Sites: Two Nineteenth Century Pioneer Homesteads in Southwestern Ontario - prepared by Robert G. Mayer ___________________ The Rev. Theobald Spetz, C.R. D.D. Among the men whose career is worthy of record and remembrance in the Annual Historical Records of Waterloo County, perhaps none more deserves honorable mention than the Catholic Priest, whose name stands at the head of this article, one extra reason being that he encouraged the beginnings of these records and was an intimate friend of Wm. H. Breithaupt of The Waterloo Historical Society which originated and publishes them. The late Father Spetz was a native of Waterloo County, born at Erbsville, near Waterloo May 13th., 1850, and so loyally attached that he never wished to live elsewhere. He was greatly interested in all local matters, throughout his life. His grandfather, also named Theobald, was, it appears, the first immigrant from Europe to this section of Canada. He was a native of Rovern, Upper Alsace, had made the calamitous campaign under Napoleon to Moscow, later on married Ann Haehner and settled as farmer and teamster in Lower Sulzbach. Deciding to go to the new world he and his family drove in their own conveyance across the Vosges mountains and by way of Paris to Havre. Then 96 days was occupied in the slow voyage to New York on a sailing vessel. Then another 16 days up the Hudson and by canal boat to Lockport, with a laborious journey on foot as far as Buffalo. Here the sturdy pioneer family attached themselves to a body of Mennonites and accompanied them to the upper end of Waterloo Township where Theobald Spetz bought a farm in the wilderness. Later the son Joseph, only nine years old at the time of emigration, took over the farm, and here the late Father Spetz was born. When the family later moved to this city, the young man attended St. Jerome's College, then newly founded, from 1866 to 1870 as one of its first students. From 1870 to '72 he studied and taught at St. Mary's College, Kentucky, then taken over by the fathers of St. Jerome's College. After that he went to Rome to study for the priesthood and there joined the congregation of the Resurrection, who had charge of the colleges named. He was ordained priest, Sept. 23rd., 1877 and returned to St. Jerome's College, in 1878, where he remained as professor, disciplinarian and president until 1901. Father Spetz, in addition to his duties at the college, was active for many years in parish work. He assisted the late Dr. Louis Funcken at first in the work of St. Mary's church . From August 1878 to June he had charge of the mission at New Hamburg, where in 1883 the present splendid church building was erected. In 1890 Rev. T. Spetz undertook the establishment of a Catholic congregation in Waterloo and began the erection of a new church building. It speaks well for the community spirit among the people of Waterloo that Father Spetz was able to secure subscriptions amounting to about $1500 from Waterloo non-Catholics in aid of the new building. The total sum collected for the purpose was $5490 and when on Jan. 6, 1890 the new church was dedicated there remained a debt of only $2500. on the edifice. In 1911 Father Spetz assumed charge of St. Mary's parish here after the death of the late Rev. W. Kloepfer. For four years he remained in charge until the burden became too heavy, owing to his increasing years. The beautiful decoration of the interior of the church and the installation of an improved lighting system were carried out under him. Since 1915 he has assisted at parochial work here and in Waterloo. 1916 saw the completion of his church history of Waterloo County, a work to which he devoted many years of close study and research. In public life Father Spetz took much active interest. As member of the executive of the Children's Aid Society and the Waterloo Historical Society his advice was greatly valued. Father Spetz was active in church work up to a very short time before his death. About the middle of September, 1921, he had a slight paralytic stroke. As he became gradually weaker he was taken on September 27 to St. Joseph's hospital in Guelph. There a gradual decline set in. Sometime later he became absolutely helpless until death called him away at 3.15 o'clock Thursday afternoon, Dec. 1, 1921. Some incidents as characteristics that would go on the screen to show the persistent activity of the subject of our sketch, might be added. More than once, on his visits to St. Agatha, he walked to the tombstone of his grandfather in the cemetery and took care that age and atmosphere would not injure it. Joseph Spetz, his father, was a brewer, on Frederick Street, with considerable property at the time of his death. Father Spetz in his young days not only worked on the farm, but also handled the beer kegs in his father's brewery* with skill and dispatch. With his brothers and sisters he formed a musical choir in his home where some of his fellow students on frequent occasions joined around the piano in rendering German folk songs. In Rome he was leader of the choir and instructed the students of his college in plain chant with great patience and success. Among his pupils was Father Fehrenbach, later his successor at St. Jerome's College . As superior, as pastor in Kitchener, in Waterloo, even on his visits to outlying missions, he wore such a quiet unassuming manner that he was termed "the silent man" by a priest's housekeeper. He was so absolutely unconscious of self, and absorbed in his thoughts, that he would pass by his relatives and friends on the street without noticing them ; and in winter, quite unknowingly, wearing a summer coat, an out-of-date hat or old shoes, leaving canes and umbrellas or even valuables in strange places, without reclaiming them. When busy with his greatest accomplishment, the establishment and building of St. Louis Church in Waterloo, he was found in shirt sleeves digging, grading, engaging in all kinds of useful work, usually neglected. He was always ready to advocate and promote public enterprise, his advice and counsel in such matters being valuable and frequently asked. A permanent monument of his untiring energy and active interest in local affairs is a book he wrote and compiled with great patience and perseverance entitled " A History of the Catholic Church in Waterloo County," in which the origin of the various parishes, the advent of pioneer settlers, the growth of the missions, the lives of the clergymen connected with them, descriptions and other data in great number, gathered from many sources, are illustrated and historically recorded with great care and tact. The book was published in 1916, a neat volume, in fine binding, containing in its 126 pages a most interesting account of facts, which would have been forgotten completely, unless written down when laboriously obtained from old settlers whose memories had to be stirred up vigorously and repeatedly. Father Spetz specialized in history. His favorite class in college was general history. His erudition, particularly in modern history, was extensive, his critical judgment pro- Of which the buildings, converted into dwellings, are still standing, on Spetz St., off Frederick St.-Ed..... found, his views unbiased. Whilst taciturn in company, he could, when roused by questions or stirred up by contrary views, discourse on most any subject, even modern politics, interestingly and widely. Public men in Europe and America, their merits and failings, were disclosed from the stores of his memory, without hesitation and with surprising accuracy. On his countenance, dignified and mild, indignation with an ominous scowl would emerge when unconsidered or faulty assertions were made. After his first paralytic stroke he seemed to be mentally preoccupied and aware of his approaching life's end, remarking to a friend : "This is the beginning of the end." Thus closed the earthly career and usefulness of a many-sided man, who of humble origin, by unselfish ambition and religious faith attained a few comparatively great objects in his civil and priestly life. J. F Tenth Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, 1922, Pages 261-264

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - CA 1793 - , France Possessions - 1840 - Waterloo Township - German Company Tract Lot 027, Waterloo County, Ontario Died - 1847 - Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth