Dilman Brubacher Shantz^{[1, 2, 3]}

1857 - 1939  (81 years)

• Name	Dilman Brubacher Shantz
  Born	18 Nov 1857	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1861	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [8]
  	Mennonite
  Residence	1871	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [11]
  	Mennonite
  Historic Building	1879	55 Margaret Avenue, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [12]
  	Built by Louis Breihaupt in 1879-1881 for Judge Lacourse, later owners included Dilman Shantz & Judge Herne. In 1978 is was listed in very good condition built of brick it is in the Renaissance Revival style.
  Interesting	story, business
  Invention	1881	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [13]
  	Button Polisher
  	https://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/patents/001038-119.01-e.php?&patent_id_nbr=13346&page_sequence_nbr=1&interval=20&page_id_nbr=37029&
  Occupation	1881	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [7]
  	Book Keeper
  Residence	1881	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [7]
  	United Mennonite
  Occupation	1889	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	merchant
  Occupation	1891	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [10]
  	Button Manufacturer
  Residence	1891	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [10]
  	Mennonite
  Occupation	1901	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Button Factory
  Occupation	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [9]
  	Manufacturer, Button Factory
  Residence	55 Margaret Avenue, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Residence	1911	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [9]
  	Methodist
  Eby ID Number	00110-6762
  Died	25 May 1939	Buffalo, Erie, New York, United States
  Person ID	I19557	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Mayor Jacob Yost Shantz,   b. 2 May 1822, near, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 28 Oct 1909, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 87 years)
  Mother	Anna "Nancy" Brubacher,   b. 19 Sep 1832, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1 Oct 1870, Pottstown, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA  (Age 38 years)
  Married	6 Dec 1853	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [14, 15, 16]
  Family ID	F243	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Elizabeth Martin,   b. 20 Nov 1863, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	18 Jun 1889	Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3, 5, 6]
  Children	1. Marjorie Shantz,   b. Jul 1891, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   2. Mary Wilma Shantz,   b. 25 Jul 1891, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   3. Arnott Shantz,   b. 9 Nov 1894, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Russell Shantz,   b. 28 Jul 1897, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F535	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Lizzie Martin,   b. 1863, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	Jun 1889  [10]
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F247346	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Dilman B. Shantz, "was born November 18th, 1857. He is married to Lizzie Martin. They reside in the town of Berlin where he is engaged in manufacturing vegetable ivory and pearl buttons. His family consists of two 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.]. _________________________ DILMAN BRUBACHER SHANTZ Dilman Brubacher Shantz is a well-known figure in business circles, being president of the Jacob Y. Shantz & Son Company, Limited, of Berlin, and also of a company operating under the same name at Buffalo, New York. In these connections he is engaged in the manufacture of buttons, and under his capable management the enterprise has developed to large proportions. The policy of the company has ever been a commendable one. All transactions are conducted on strict business principles and the trust of those with whom they have had dealings has been unequivocally given them. Mr. Shantz of this review was born in Berlin, November 18, 1857, his parents being Jacob Yost and Anna (Brubacher) Shantz, both of whom were natives of Berlin, where their parents settled in 1806. They came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the first representatives in the maternal line had settled on coming to America about 1650. The Shantz family was founded in the new world a few years later. His maternal ancestors bought their first land fifty miles west of Philadelphia and were among the very first settlers in that part of Pennsylvania. They were farmers and merchants and also built the first grist mill of the locality, which is still in possession of the family. In the year 1806 the parents of Jacob Yost Shantz came from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, to Canada, took up land and cleared the bush country in Waterloo county. They, too, were pioneer residents and aided in reclaiming a hitherto wild and undeveloped region for the purposes of civilization. They operated the first sawmill in this section and were in many ways connected with the material growth and upbuilding of this portion of the province. Being United Empire Loyalists, they followed the British flag into Canada. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Shantz took a very active and helpful part in laying out the early roads of the county and in otherwise advancing those interests which indicated that the seeds of civilization had been planted and that this was to become some day a populous and prosperous district. Jacob Yost Shantz, the father of our subject, was reared in Berlin, where he acquired a common school education. His early life was devoted to lumber interests. He engaged in the operation of a sawmill, conducted a lumberyard and became an extensive contractor and builder. He has also been prominently identified with manufacturing interests in later years, operating a factory for the manufacture of boots and shoes. In 1870 he established the button factory, becoming associated with a German button manufacturer and a few years later he bought out the interests of his partner, continuing to carry on the business in his own name until a few years ago, when he retired to enjoy a well-earned and richly merited rest. He is now eighty-five years of age. His life has been one of intense and well- directed activity, in which he has made good use of his opportunities, and he belongs, too, to that class of representative men who while promoting individual success also advance the general welfare. His family numbered twelve children, five sons and seven daughters. He has always been deeply interested in the welfare of Berlin, but has been content to do his public service as a private citizen, never seeking or desiring office. He acted, however, as mayor of Berlin for one year and brought to the discharge of his duties the same excellent business qualifications that characterized his career in commercial and manufacturing circles. Another important labor which Mr. Shantz has performed has been in connection with the development and upbuilding of Manitoba and the North-West. He began operations there in 1874 and on behalf of the Mennonites has devoted a large portion of his time up to the present to this work in making a general prospectus setting forth the advantages of the country, its natural resources and its climate in the districts mentioned. In order to accomplish these results he has given liberally of his own private fortune, and through his endeavors has secured large sums from other friends of the Mennonite Society for the purpose of forming the colony, and for the development of that country which constitutes the first white settlement in Manitoba and the North-West. He has thus been instrumental in thousands of the people of this sect becoming colonists in that district and thus settling up the country, aiding in its reclamation from a wild and unimproved district and converting it to the uses of civilization. Mr. Shantz of this review was the seventh in order of birth in his father's family and is a representative in the sixth generation of the family since the arrival of his ancestors in America and the planting of the name on the soil of the new world. His education was acquired in the Central public school of Berlin, supplemented by a business course pursued in the United States. At the age of twenty years he was admitted to partnership by his father and for many years has been the general manager of the button factory. When he entered the business he made it his duty to master it in principle and detail, thoroughly acquainting himself with every department of the work. The company was incorporated in 1891, at which time Mr. Shantz was chosen president and general manager. Employment is now furnished to two hundred operatives in the Berlin factory and an equal number in the Buffalo factory. The company are the largest button manufacturers of Canada and the trade extends throughout the Dominion, also to Halifax, New York and Chicago. The plant is equipped with the latest improved machinery for carrying on the business, and a spirit of justice and consideration is ever maintained toward the employees, while the many patrons of the house know that the company is thoroughly reliable and trustworthy in all its transactions. Moreover, Mr. Shantz has been not only a follower in the progress that has been made in the special line of his manufacturing interests, but has on the contrary been a leader. About seventy-five per cent, of the improvements made in the button industry have originated in his plant, to be adopted later extensively not only in Canada but also in the United States. Owing to the improved machinery which Mr. Shantz has invented the labor saving devices amount to sixty per cent. while the quality of the product has been developed to the highest standard. He has used every effort to acquaint himself with the business and served for a period under one of the leading professors of Berlin, Germany, for the acquirement of knowledge pertaining to the development of the button industry, including the styles and the processes of simplifying the methods of production. He also pursued a course for developing the basic in connection with the machinery from a mechanical point of view. His father, during the early manhood of the son, was largely interested in the development of Manitoba and the North-West, beginning his operations there in 1874, so that much of the burden and responsibility of the enterprise rested upon the shoulders of the young man, who resolutely took up his task and with the thoroughness which characterized him in all lines of life he gained a mastery of the business, which has placed him in the front rank as one of the representatives of the button trade in the new world. A visitor at the factory cannot but be interested and impressed with the methods that are there pursued. A most excellent system has been evolved whereby the maximum of result is attained through the minimum of labor. This is the secret of all genuine success that the output may be produced at the low- est possible cost, yet not at the sacrifice of good results. This study of the economy of time, labor and machinery has brought forth the captains of industry and with this class Mr. Shantz deserves to be numbered. In 1889 Mr. Shantz was married to Miss Elizabeth F. Martin, a daughter of Amos Martin of Waterloo county, also a representative of one of the early pioneer families on the frontier, the Martins having resided here since about 1811. They, too, were United Empire Loyalists and of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Shantz have been born three children : Mary Wilma, Arnott Martin and Russell Ellsworth. Mr. Shantz is a Methodist in religious faith and in politics is a Conservative. He has served as water and park commissioner, but otherwise has held no public offices, having devoted his entire time to his business interests. Various positions of public trust have been tendered him, but he has not desired to become an official, and he feels that he has done more for his city in the establishment of industries which have furnished employment to a large force of workmen. A man of strong individuality and indubitable probity, one who has attained to a due measure of success in the affairs of life and whose influence has ever been exerted in the direction of the good, the true and the beautiful, this prominent manufacturer and worthy citizen assuredly deserves representation in this volume. A History of Ontario: its resources and developement ______________________ Daman Shantz - A former button manufacturer of Kitchener, and widely known here, Dilman Shantz, 81, died Thursday in Buffalo after an eight weeks illness. Born in Kitchener on Nov 6, 1857, Mr. Shantz was associated with his father in the button firm of Jacob Y. Shantz and Sons, Berlin, for many years. The local firm established branches at Buffalo and New York, and Mr. Shantz went to Buffalo about 20 years ago to take charge of the plant there. Mr. Shantz was known in the industry in Buffalo and abroad as the inventor of a basically new movement in machinery that is still in use in the manufacture of buttons all over the world. An able business executive, Mr. Shantz trained many capable young men in his plant. He studied abroad as a younger man and at that time had met Kaiser Wilhelm. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Shantz, a daughter, Mary, and two sons, Arnott M. Shantz, advertising manager of the Buffalo Automobile Company, and Russell E. Shantz, a government inspector. The Waterloo Chronicle May 26 1939 pg 3

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] Book - Vol I 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..., 354. [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..., 408. [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..., 46. [S137] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1901, Berlin (Town/Ville) A-4 Page 10. [S4] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, 012135-89. Dilman B. SHANTZ, 31, merchant, Berlin, Berlin, s/o Jacob & Anna married Lizzie MARTIN, 25, Woolwich Twp, Waterloo Twp, d/o Amos & Esther, witn Henry M. & Solomon BRUBACHER both of Berlin, 18 June 1889 in Waterloo Twp. [S21] Bible - Shantz, Dilman & Lizzie Martin. [S158] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1881, Div 1 Page 71. [S123] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1861, Div. 4 Page 41. [S340] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1911, Div. 38 Page 5. [S1592] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1891, Sec. 5 Page 63. [S229] Census - ON, Waterloo, Berlin - 1871, Sect. 2 Page 16. [S872] Book - Historic Building Inventory - Kitchener. [S461] Patents - Canadian Patents, 1859-1919. Shantz, Dilman - button polisher.jpg [S3] Book - Vol I 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... [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..., 406. [S244] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Deutsche Canadier (1841-1865) - Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages Announced in the Deutsche Canadier, Berlin, Canada West. originally indexed by Simone Nieuwolt and Sylvie Kuppek..organised by Rosemary Ambrose. BRUBACHER, Anna married 6 Dec 1853 To Jacob Y. SCHANTZ. Both of Berlin. minister Joseph Hegy newspaper date 8 Dec 1853 Pg: 49

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 18 Nov 1857 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Mennonite - 1861 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Mennonite - 1871 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Historic Building - 1879 - 55 Margaret Avenue, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Invention - Button Polisher - 1881 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Book Keeper - 1881 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - United Mennonite - 1881 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - merchant - 1889 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 18 Jun 1889 - Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Button Manufacturer - 1891 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Mennonite - 1891 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Button Factory - 1901 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Manufacturer, Button Factory - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - - 55 Margaret Avenue, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Methodist - 1911 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 25 May 1939 - Buffalo, Erie, New York, United States  = Link to Google Earth