The Town of Hespeler3

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Title:	The Town of Hespeler3
Document Type:	Original Document
Keywords:	Wm. Crooks, Geo. Guenther, Isaac Groh, Chas. Miller, John Groh, Jos. Zryd, Jeremiah Pickup, Jonathan Topham, Abram Glick, Thos. Tremble, Hespeler, village, historian, record, Robert W.S. MacKay, Messrs. H. Parsell, W.H. Breithaupt, Wm. W. Evans, Waterloo County Gazetteer, directory, Joseph Shantz, J.J. Ashworth, Alex W. Brodie, O. S. Eby, Thomas Arntfield, J.D. Ramsay, Jacob Hespeler, Michael Bergy, Bergy-town, W.A. Kribs, Abram C. Clemens, Cornelius Pannebaker, Joseph Oberholtzer, George Randall, Lewis Kribs, Archibald Brydon, Andrew B. Jardine, Canada Machinery Corporation, Hall-Zroyd Foundry Co. Limited, The Hespeler Furniture Co. Limited, The Stamped and Enamelled Ware Co., The Universal Lightning Rod Co., The Robt. Stewart Lumber Co. Ltd., The Hespeler Wood Specialty Co., Brown-Proud Rug Co., The Hugo Brix Slipper Mfg. Co., W. A. Coward, The Hespeler Toy Company, Adam Shaw, Conrad Nahrgang, David Rife, Charles Karch, Col. George Hespeler,
Author/Source:	Mayor D.N. Panabaker
Transcribed Text:	Continued from The Town of Hespeler2 Compares it to the City of Rome built upon its seven hills, but it mioght be as aptly compared with the beautiful City of Florence, the main difference bing that it is built upon the banks of the “Speed” instead of the “Arno.” The area, 464 acres, now within the town limits is largely composed of land first settled by the writer’s great grandfather, the late Abram Clemens (U.E.L.) who came from Montgomery County, Pa. in 1809 and purchased 515 acres from the Indian Lands which had come into the possession of Richard Beasley, and deeded by him to Clemens, Dec. 23rd, 1818, This deed was not registered until more than three years later, probably indicating the delays which were perhaps frequently caused in those times by the absence of any post-office facilities, which did not materialize in Hespeler until 1848. The area on the west side of the river can scarcely be considered as showing any industrial development until Jacob Hespeler became its owner by purchase form the heirs of Abram Clemens, Feb. 6th 1845, and on three later occasions making additional purchases, the last of which being made Dec. 15th, 1853, and placing Mr. Hespeler in possession of 145 acres of the Clemens property. The first purchase of land by Jacob Hespeler included the water-power on the Speed, which had been previously developed to some extent by Michael Bergy, who is credited with having erected the first log-house in the present business section of the town, about five hundred feet to the West of Guelph Avenue on Queen St. Michael Bergy erected in 1830 the first saw-mill and small foundry which he located a little north of the present R. Forbes Co. site, near where a small spring creek joins the Speed. This streamlet was in those days considerably larger than its present volume. The writer’s father told of having fished trout from it in his boyhood. The ruins of this old saw-mill, which has been described by some as a pail-factory and foundry, was a favorite playhouse for the boys a few decades back. Mr. W.A. Kribs, ex M.P.P. recalls the presence of old foundry patterns lying about the place in his boyhood days. We must continue with the activities of Mr. Bergy who brought the second saw-mill in Bergey-town into existence. It was perhaps with the commencement of this second venture that the name of the place was changed to New Hope, but by the year 1840, Mr. Bergey’s hop or interest in the second mill had faded to such an extent that he resold the 216 property to Abram C. Clemens from whom he had purchased the land. This second saw-mill was the one included in Jacob Hespeler’s purchase. It was situated where another streamlet enters the Speed, the site being afterwards occupied by Mr. Hespeler’s grist-mill near the stone dam which Hespeler placed in fron of Bergy’s wooden dam. Before pursing the worthy enterprises of mr. Hespeler further, we should note the other ealier developments farther down the river. About the year 1840, the third saw-mill in New Hope was erected. It was located just below the Forbes Mill site by a partnership composed of another great-grandfather of the write, the late Cornelius Pannebaker, and one Joseph Oberholtzer, whose sister was married to Bergy. Cornelius Pannebaker arrived from Montgomery County, Pa. in 1810 and was the son of a Mennonite minister who lived on the Schuylkill Rover at the present site of Spring City. Joseph Oberholtzer was evidently a native of the same county in Pennsylvania and located here probably in 1826 and information in hand also points to his having been the son of a Mennonite preacher. The family was of Swiss descent, while Pannebaker was descended from a Dutch family which had migrated for a few years into Germany about Kriegsheim near Worms, before participating in the exodus of Quakers and Mennonite to Pennsylvania, about the year 1700. It would appear that Bergy’s first saw-mill was too fat up the river and the partnership mill too far downstream to quite meet the tastes or requirements of the times, for within a few years Cornelius Oberholtzer erected the fourth saw-mill about midway between these two points, and with it a small foundry shop, probably for mill repairs etc. Some particulars of this fourth mill are available. It continued in operations until sometimes in 1864, although it evidently changed ownership, September 27th, 1863, to a partnership composed of George Randall, then of Berlin, Herbert M. Farr of Waterloo and Shubel H. Randall of New Hampshire, the purchase price according to the Galt Reporter files of theat time being $8,000. The old mill was used to saw the timber and lumber for the Randall-Farr Woollen Mills, two stone structures erected in 1864, but as the saw-carriage had capacity only for logs up to 16 feet in length, the large timbers for the new Woollen Mills had to be hewn and were not sawn. It has been said with perhaps some little exaggeration, that the process of sawing logs of a large diameter with the vertically operated drag-saw then 217 Continued on The Town of Hespeler4
Language:	English