Magdalena "Martha" Snyder

Other Events:

• Name: Magdalena "Martha" Shantz
• Name: Magdalena "Martha" Simpson
• Eby ID Number: 00106-5923
• Grave Photograph - Find A Grave: Gravestone of Magdalena
• Residence: 1861, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Mrs. Joseph S. Shantz

The death occurred near Hespeler, yesterday of Magdalena Snyder, beloved wife of Joseph S. Shantz, in her 81st yesr. The funeral will be held on Saturday, June 6, at two o'clock, with a service at Wanner church. Interment will be made in the Wanner church, cemetery.

Kitchener Daily Record 4 Jun 1931 pg 21

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Magdalena Snyder, "was born February 21st, 1851. On April 9th, 1884, she was married to Alfred Simpson who died June 1st., 1886. On March 9th, 1887, she was again married to Joseph S. Shantz, a farmer. They reside near Hespeler, Ontario. She had no family with her first husband, but with her second husband there are four children"

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). 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a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

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Shantz.-Magdalena Snyder Shantz, beloved wife of Joseph S. Shantz, was born Feb. 21, 1851; died Wednesday, June 3, 1931. She was in her 81st year. On April 9, 1884, she was married to Alfred Simpson, who preceded her in death June 1, 1886. On March 9, 1887, she was married to Joseph Shantz. She united with the Mennonite Church in her teen age and remained a faithful member until death. She is survived by a sorrowing husband, 2 sons, 1 daughter, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. The funeral was held on Saturday, June 6, and was conducted by Bro. Oscar Burkholder. Text, Psa. 91: 1 and 16.

Gospel Herald - Vol. XXIV, No. 12 - June 18, 1931 - pp. 270-272

Magdalena married Alfred Simpson 9 Apr 1884, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Alfred (son of John Simpson and Elizabeth Mary Elvidge) was born 30 Jan 1835, Bridlington Quay, , Yorkshire, England; was christened 1 Feb 1835, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England; died 1 Jun 1886; was buried , Wanner Mennonite Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Magdalena married Joseph Stauffer Shantz 9 Mar 1887, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Joseph (son of Simon S. Shantz and Judith Stauffer) was born 13 Feb 1851, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1 Oct 1933, Fisher Mills, (Cambridge) Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried 3 Oct 1933, Wanner Mennonite Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00106-5923.3

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00106-5923.4

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• Eby ID Number: 00106-5923.5

Other Events:

• Business: 566 Fisher Mills Rd., Cambridge, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Speed Flour Mill
• Interesting: story, mill
• Name: A. J. Shantz
• Name: Junia Shantz
• Eby ID Number: 00106-5923.6
• Residence: 1952, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Notes:

SHANTZ, A. Junia

At Fairview Mennonite Home, 799 Concession Rd., Cambridge, on Monday evening, March 14, 1988, A. Junia Shantz, in his 97th year. Beloved husband of the late, Clara (Bechtel) Shantz (1984). The late Mr. Shantz, was predeceased by two brothers, Edwin and Hermice and is survived by a sister-in-law, Mrs. Evelyn Shantz of St. George and a family friend, Helen Shantz of Waterloo. Mr. Shantz, was born in Waterloo township, the son of the late Joseph and Mattie (Snyder) Shantz and was an active life-long member of the Wanner Mennonite Church. He was a pioneer in the formula feed business and operated the Fisher Mill Feed Store, in the Cambridge (Hespeler) area, for many years. He was a past president of the South Waterloo Agricultural Society. The family will receive friends at the Nelson Funeral Home, 1766 Franklin Blvd., Cambridge, on Wednesday afternoon and evening, from 2: 30-4: 30 and 7-9 p.m. The funeral service will be held on Thursday afternoon, March 17, at 2: 30 p.m., in the Wanner Mennonite Church, with Rev. Paul Martin officiating. Interment Wanner cemetery.

Kitchener-Waterloo Record 15 Mar 1988 pg B13

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Flash from the Past: Busy feed mill was at Fisher Mills

Waterloo Region Record

For much of the 20th century the story of the Hespeler-area hamlet of Fisher Mills ran parallel to the story of its mill and the mill's longtime owner, A.J. Shantz.

Last week's "mystery" photo showing Hespeler Feed & Farm Supplies in the 1960s inspired dozens of calls and emails from readers with ties to the hamlet, named for Jacob Fisher, a Chilligo Creek mill operator in the early 1800s. Fisher Mills was also the birthplace in 1841 of Waterloo distiller Joseph Seagram. His parents owned a hotel there.

The old mill, just east of Beaverdale Road and two kilometres from the heart of Hespeler (now Cambridge), was a place of business until 1990. It's now a home, backing on Maple Grove Road.

In 1932, when he was 40, Ammon Junia (A.J.) Shantz became owner of the feed mill his father Joseph Shantz began there in 1890. Powered by water from a man-made pond, the Shantz mill was built on the foundation of an earlier flour mill that in 1888 was dismantled and moved to Birtle, Man. One of A.J. Shantz's first steps as owner was to add a diesel engine.

Shantz grew up working at the mill but also trained at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph in the 1920s. He lived with his parents on a farm that is partly visible on the far left in the photo.

Shantz is remembered as an honest, kind and astute man who kept pace with changing business realities. A Shur-Gain franchisee, producing livestock feeds was his key focus. But his mill also did seed cleaning, grain chopping and saw milling. It made apple cider, fruit juice, molasses and apple butter (the latter venture was directed by his mother, Mattie), plus its own brand of dog food, promoted by a litter of 16 Irish setters, Shantz acquired.

A description in the 1957 volume of the Waterloo Historical Society noted: "Mr. Shantz also deals in fertilizers, fencing, twine and many other lines of farm supplies. An electrical appliance shop stocking deep freezers, TV sets etc. has recently been added to his establishment."

For 22 years Shantz also owned the Speed Mill north of Hespeler. It was both a flour and feed mill.

Lois Anne Snyder of Waterloo recognized the Shantz Mill photo. She grew up in Fisher Mills and her grandfather and father, both named Alf Tuletzki, worked for Shantz, as did her sister Betty, who had a job in the mill office.

"We used to go down there sometimes with my dad in the mornings," Snyder recalled. One of the first things her father would do was go to the basement and start an engine that would get all sorts of belts and pulleys moving throughout the building.

Don Baker of Kitchener phoned to say his father, Art, bought farm supplies at the mill and worked there in the 1960s and 1970s. He is certain the car in the photo is his father's 1962 Mercury.

Bill Bartels of Kitchener has a special reason to recall A.J. Shantz. In 1924, his grandfather Jacob J. Bartels, arrived in Waterloo with his wife and four children, along with other Russian Mennonites who had fled persecution in their homeland. When they stepped from the train, a man shouted "family of six" and A.J. Shantz stepped up to say he could offer them temporary housing.

The Bartels family lived briefly at the Shantz farm. Jacob later acquired a Niagara-area fruit farm that he ran with Bartel's father, Jacob Jr., who raised his own family in Hespeler.

Bartels said he can recall going to Shantz's mill as a boy with his father in the 1940s with apples and tomatoes from the Niagara farm.

"I was pretty impressed with the idea that you could squeeze a tomato and get juice that you would put in a can."

When Shantz retired in 1970, he sold the mill to Howard Cressman, who had grown up in Shantz's home, where his mother was the housekeeper. Cressman incorporated as Chilligo Farm Supply, Ltd. and for a time had Bill Miller as a co-owner.

They made many innovations, but manufacturing was gradually discontinued. The mill became a retail site called The Feed Store.

Ron Hattle of Elora phoned to say his father, Charles, worked for Cressman in the 1970s and in retirement wrote about the mill.

From his journal: "The staff at the time was Howard Cressman, Stewart McDonald, Alf Tuletzki, Art Baker, Karol Warenholtz and Charlie Hattle. Shortly after when things got going with the pellets, they hired Guy Hawshaw. Alf's daughter was the bookkeeper."

Shantz was a very visible figure in Fisher Mills and at the nearby Wanner Mennonite Church. In the late 1930s he and his farmhand, Wilfred Becker, took two Percheron horses to Toronto and won a prize at the Royal Winter Fair.

One curious aspect of Shantz's life is that he and his wife, Clara, wed in 1918, lived apart for years, she in Kitchener and he at Fisher Mills. Their only child had passed away in 1921 while still a tot.

Miriam Cressman of Cambridge knew the couple well as the wife of Howard Cressman, who died in 2004. Clara and A.J. were fond of each other, she said, but as young people were pressured by their strong-willed mothers. Clara's mother insisted her daughter live with her in Kitchener. But A.J. found it hard to run the mill from so far away. As well, his own mother wanted him at Fisher Mills.

In later life the couple did live together again at Fisher Mills. Clara died in 1984, A.J. in 1988.

jfear@therecord.com

Flash from the Past: Busy feed mill was at Fisher Mills . (2017). Therecord.com. Retrieved 29 January 2017, from https://www.therecord.com/living-story/2620139-flash-from-the-past-busy-feed-mill-was-at-fisher-mills/

Ammon married Clara Regina Edna Bechtel 21 Aug 1918, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Clara (daughter of Menno M. Bechtel and Sarah Ann Wahl) was born 24 May 1895, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1984; was buried , Wanner Mennonite Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-331513