Joseph C. Fretz

1885 - 1956  (70 years)

• Name	Joseph C. Fretz
  Born	25 Sep 1885	Markham, York Co., Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1938	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	book store owner
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-69381
  Died	22 Aug 1956
  Buried	Wideman Mennonite Cemetery, Markham, York Co., Ontario
  Person ID	I69381	Generations
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Joseph Cober ("J. C.") Fretz: historian and church leader; born 25 September 1885 in Markham, Ontario to Manasseh and Mary Ann (Cober) Fretz. He was the oldest child in a family of eight sons and four daughters. On 18 March 1918 he married Martha Reesor (1888-1960). They had two sons and two daughters. Joseph died 22 August 1956 of a heart attack while in his car. He was buried in the Wideman cemetery in Markham, Ontario. In addition to the usual primary and secondary school education in Markham, Joseph Fretz obtained normal school training and graduated from Goshen College in Indiana. He taught in public primary schools in Ontario for about twenty years at a variety of locations, including Scotia Junction, Rainham Centre, the Rittenhouse School in Vineland, Merriton and at Baden. J.C. Fretz also encouraged the distribution of Christian Mennonite literature. In 1938 when the Mennonite Publishing House of Scottdale, Pennsylvania purchased the privately-owned Golden Rule Book Store in Kitchener . Joseph Fretz became the manager, a position he held until September, 1953. During these years the Publishing House built a new bookstore in downtown Kitchener and Fretz traveled widely through Canadian Mennonite communities to solicit business for the Publishing House and the store Steiner, Sam. "Fretz, Joseph C. (1885-1956)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2002. Web. 25 February 2011. https://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/F7483.html.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 25 Sep 1885 - Markham, York Co., Ontario, Canada Occupation - book store owner - 1938 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth