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Jacob Yost Shantz
Jacob Yost Shantz (2 May 1822 – 28 October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario (which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held a succession of civic roles over a period of almost three decades, culminating in a term as mayor in 1882. Over the span of his life, Berlin was transformed from a rural agricultural settlement known as Ebytown into a bustling manufacturing centre; this was a change mirrored by Shantz, who began his adult life as a farmer and sawmiller, and ended it as a prominent local industrialist.
Late in his life, he travelled to the newly-colonized province of Manitoba, and subsequently helped tens of thousands of Russian Mennonites to immigrate there from the Russian Empire.
Jacob Yost Shantz was born and raised in Ebytown, Upper Canada, which later evolved into the city of Kitchener, Ontario. He was the sixth son of Jacob Shantz and Mary (or Maria) Yost, who were Mennonites from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His paternal great-grandfather was an earlier Jacob Shantz, who had been born around 1710 in modern-day Switzerland and emigrated to Montgomery County by the mid-18th century. Jacob and Mary purchased land in the Ebytown area in 1810 as a part of the original wave of Mennonite settlement in the German Company Tract led by Benjamin Eby. They established a 448-acre (181-hectare) farm, which would later be subdivided amongst their sons, following Mennonite custom. In 1829, the senior Jacob began operating a sawmill near his farmstead which was powered by a now-disappeared tributary of Schneider Creek called Shantz Creek. The mill was an early competitor for Joseph Schneider's sawmill.
Little was recorded about Shantz's childhood, but it was likely typical for the children of pioneer families in the area at the time. Pioneer youths were usually kept busy with farm duties such as carrying water, caring for animals, and chopping wood. Shantz received a basic education several months at a time during the winter, when less labour was required on farms. As his brothers reached adulthood, they dispersed to carve out their own farms from the heavily forested wilderness of the German Company Tract. Jacob's eldest brother, Isaac, was married at eighteen to Catharine Clemens and started his own farm across the Grand River. One of Jacob's younger brothers, Samuel, joined him there around a decade later with his own wife, Esther Erb. The Grand Trunk Railway mainline was later routed through Samuel's land, which became the site of a short-lived railway station called Shantz Station. A post office was also opened and there were plans for a village, but this never materialized and both the post office and railway station later closed.
As Jacob's older brothers left home and cleared their land for farming, he accompanied them to help maintain their camps and assist in clearing; by fifteen, he was highly skilled at the felling of timber. On his twenty-first birthday, Jacob married his cousin, Barbara Biehn, and soon took over his parents' farm. He later took over the management of his father's sawmill, likely sometime between 1845 and 1851, which "launched [his] entrepreneurial and civic career." The legal transfer of ownership of the mill did not occur until the senior Jacob died in 1867.
Around the time he took over management of the sawmill, Shantz began a partnership with two of Benjamin Eby's sons, Christian and Elias. The three partners owned a workshop enterprise called the Farmers' Manufactory. It was sold in 1851 to a series of businessmen, and eventually was used for furniture manufacturing. At the time it was sold, the property was valued at C£775, which was "no small sum." In exchange for the workshop, the partners received two properties along King Street in Berlin, marking the beginning of Shantz' involvement in the real estate business. These properties contained three dwellings, three barns, a blacksmith shop, and another workshop. Shantz was the active partner and was therefore the one who managed these assets.
Soon, Shantz became involved in the transformation of Ebytown, a rural village, into "Busy Berlin", a growing industrial town. Timber sources around the town became scarce as it developed, weakening the local lumber business. Local sawmills also began to be out-competed by steam-powered sawmills located in more rural areas, which had more direct access to timber. Adapting to these challenges, Shantz rebuilt his father's water-powered sawmill completely shortly after taking it over. When the rebuilding was complete, the mill was valued at C£150 and was said to produce 200,000 board feet (470 m3) of lumber per year, while employing two workmen. The older Schneider mill, in contrast, was valued at C£200, but produced only 100,000 board feet (240 m3) of lumber per year, and only employed one workman. Shantz also purchased several woodlots in the early 1850s, but needed customers. Luckily for him, Berlin's urban development accelerated through the 1850s, especially after the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway to Berlin in 1856, whose wood-burning steam locomotives made the Grand Trunk an obvious customer for Shantz' business. He also sold building materials to recently-arrived immigrants who were building homes in the settlement.
In 1854, Berlin reached 1,000 inhabitants; thus, it was able to become a village and to engage in municipal self-governance. Public offices were created, with Shantz being elected to be a school trustee. The village council soon engaged in a campaign of sidewalk-building. Shantz successfully bid on the construction contract and was subsequently paid C£300 for building sidewalks along portions of King Street, Foundry Street, Weber Street, and Frederick Street. The sidewalks were constructed out of pine lumber to a standard width of 6 feet (1.8 m) for secondary streets and 7 feet (2.1 m) on King Street. Shantz spent the next several years building numerous additional sidewalks in the village, receiving hundreds of pounds per year for his work and the value of his lumber. This was significant in helping to create a unified settlement out of the initial cluster of farmsteads and businesses strung out along King Street and in the surrounding area. During the 1850s, Shantz also periodically acted as the village tax collector and tax assessor.
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Jacob Yost Shantz
Jacob Yost Shantz (2 May 1822 – 28 October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario (which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held a succession of civic roles over a period of almost three decades, culminating in a term as mayor in 1882. Over the span of his life, Berlin was transformed from a rural agricultural settlement known as Ebytown into a bustling manufacturing centre; this was a change mirrored by Shantz, who began his adult life as a farmer and sawmiller, and ended it as a prominent local industrialist.
Late in his life, he travelled to the newly-colonized province of Manitoba, and subsequently helped tens of thousands of Russian Mennonites to immigrate there from the Russian Empire.
Jacob Yost Shantz was born and raised in Ebytown, Upper Canada, which later evolved into the city of Kitchener, Ontario. He was the sixth son of Jacob Shantz and Mary (or Maria) Yost, who were Mennonites from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His paternal great-grandfather was an earlier Jacob Shantz, who had been born around 1710 in modern-day Switzerland and emigrated to Montgomery County by the mid-18th century. Jacob and Mary purchased land in the Ebytown area in 1810 as a part of the original wave of Mennonite settlement in the German Company Tract led by Benjamin Eby. They established a 448-acre (181-hectare) farm, which would later be subdivided amongst their sons, following Mennonite custom. In 1829, the senior Jacob began operating a sawmill near his farmstead which was powered by a now-disappeared tributary of Schneider Creek called Shantz Creek. The mill was an early competitor for Joseph Schneider's sawmill.
Little was recorded about Shantz's childhood, but it was likely typical for the children of pioneer families in the area at the time. Pioneer youths were usually kept busy with farm duties such as carrying water, caring for animals, and chopping wood. Shantz received a basic education several months at a time during the winter, when less labour was required on farms. As his brothers reached adulthood, they dispersed to carve out their own farms from the heavily forested wilderness of the German Company Tract. Jacob's eldest brother, Isaac, was married at eighteen to Catharine Clemens and started his own farm across the Grand River. One of Jacob's younger brothers, Samuel, joined him there around a decade later with his own wife, Esther Erb. The Grand Trunk Railway mainline was later routed through Samuel's land, which became the site of a short-lived railway station called Shantz Station. A post office was also opened and there were plans for a village, but this never materialized and both the post office and railway station later closed.
As Jacob's older brothers left home and cleared their land for farming, he accompanied them to help maintain their camps and assist in clearing; by fifteen, he was highly skilled at the felling of timber. On his twenty-first birthday, Jacob married his cousin, Barbara Biehn, and soon took over his parents' farm. He later took over the management of his father's sawmill, likely sometime between 1845 and 1851, which "launched [his] entrepreneurial and civic career." The legal transfer of ownership of the mill did not occur until the senior Jacob died in 1867.
Around the time he took over management of the sawmill, Shantz began a partnership with two of Benjamin Eby's sons, Christian and Elias. The three partners owned a workshop enterprise called the Farmers' Manufactory. It was sold in 1851 to a series of businessmen, and eventually was used for furniture manufacturing. At the time it was sold, the property was valued at C£775, which was "no small sum." In exchange for the workshop, the partners received two properties along King Street in Berlin, marking the beginning of Shantz' involvement in the real estate business. These properties contained three dwellings, three barns, a blacksmith shop, and another workshop. Shantz was the active partner and was therefore the one who managed these assets.
Soon, Shantz became involved in the transformation of Ebytown, a rural village, into "Busy Berlin", a growing industrial town. Timber sources around the town became scarce as it developed, weakening the local lumber business. Local sawmills also began to be out-competed by steam-powered sawmills located in more rural areas, which had more direct access to timber. Adapting to these challenges, Shantz rebuilt his father's water-powered sawmill completely shortly after taking it over. When the rebuilding was complete, the mill was valued at C£150 and was said to produce 200,000 board feet (470 m3) of lumber per year, while employing two workmen. The older Schneider mill, in contrast, was valued at C£200, but produced only 100,000 board feet (240 m3) of lumber per year, and only employed one workman. Shantz also purchased several woodlots in the early 1850s, but needed customers. Luckily for him, Berlin's urban development accelerated through the 1850s, especially after the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway to Berlin in 1856, whose wood-burning steam locomotives made the Grand Trunk an obvious customer for Shantz' business. He also sold building materials to recently-arrived immigrants who were building homes in the settlement.
In 1854, Berlin reached 1,000 inhabitants; thus, it was able to become a village and to engage in municipal self-governance. Public offices were created, with Shantz being elected to be a school trustee. The village council soon engaged in a campaign of sidewalk-building. Shantz successfully bid on the construction contract and was subsequently paid C£300 for building sidewalks along portions of King Street, Foundry Street, Weber Street, and Frederick Street. The sidewalks were constructed out of pine lumber to a standard width of 6 feet (1.8 m) for secondary streets and 7 feet (2.1 m) on King Street. Shantz spent the next several years building numerous additional sidewalks in the village, receiving hundreds of pounds per year for his work and the value of his lumber. This was significant in helping to create a unified settlement out of the initial cluster of farmsteads and businesses strung out along King Street and in the surrounding area. During the 1850s, Shantz also periodically acted as the village tax collector and tax assessor.
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