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 1836 - 1922 (86 years)
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| Name |
John Zurbrigg [1] |
| Born |
8 Apr 1836 |
Frutigen, Canton Berne, Switzerland  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
27 Oct 1922 |
Kurtzville, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario [2] |
| Buried |
Fairview Cemetery, Listowel, Perth County, Ontario |
| Person ID |
I12553 |
All |
| Last Modified |
4 Aug 2008 |
| Family |
Lydia Good, b. 24 Jun 1849, St. Jacob's, Woolwich Township, Waterloo County, Ontario , d. 23 Dec 1927, Listowel, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario (Age 78 years) |
| Married |
14 Oct 1867 |
Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario [2] |
| Children |
| | 1. Lavina Zurbrigg, b. 25 Jul 1870, Wallace Township, Ontario , d. 15 Aug 1931 (Age 61 years) |
| + | 2. Susan Zurbrigg, b. 16 Jun 1872, Canada |
| | 3. Samuel Zurbrigg, b. Abt 1874, Ontario |
| + | 4. William John Zurbrigg, b. 25 Mar 1876, New Hamburg, Wilmot Township, Waterloo County, Ontario , d. 20 Sep 1933 (Age 57 years) |
| + | 5. Henry A. Zurbrigg, b. 30 May 1879, Kurtzville, Perth County, Ontario , d. 3 Jul 1955, Stratford, Perth County, Ontario (Age 76 years) |
| | 6. Moses Franklin "Frank" Zurbrigg, b. 24 Mar 1882, Kurtzville, Perth County, Ontario , d. 17 Dec 1965, Listowel, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario (Age 83 years) |
| | 7. Lydia Matilda Zurbrigg, b. 27 Aug 1884, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario |
| | 8. Mary Ann Zurbrigg, b. 24 Sep 1886, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario , d. Bef 2006 (Age < 119 years) |
| | 9. Ida Matilda Zurbrigg, b. 31 Jan 1888, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario , d. 30 Sep 1888, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario (Age 0 years) |
| | 10. Alvin W. Zurbrigg, b. 8 May 1889, d. 14 Feb 1972, Listowel, Wallace Township, Perth County, Ontario (Age 82 years) |
| | 11. Emma Zurbrigg, b. 3 Oct 1891, d. Bef 2006 (Age < 114 years) |
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| Last Modified |
9 Mar 2010 |
| Family ID |
F3384 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Found at http://publish.uwo.ca/~kdieter/zurbrigg/john.htm
John was born Johannes Zurbrügg on 8 April 1836 in Frutigen, Canton Berne, Switzerland. He was eleven at the time of his families emigration.
From what we know, John's entire scholastic career was fit into 11/2 days - this time was spent at the wrong school section and the school being overcrowded, he was sent home. He never returned as the distance was too far to his own school and, more importantly, his help was needed at home.
It is unknown why he did not attend school in Switzerland, although I would guess that this was not unusual at the time. With the help of his future wife, Lydia and his time living with a family that also boarded a teacher, he learned how to read and write in German, along with some basic addition and subtraction. He never learned to read or write in English. Nevertheless, it was said that he was a good reader and often read aloud while Lydia sat knitting or doing some other work.
Soon after his father's remarriage, John set out on his own, as he did not get along with his stepmother. It is said that, at the age of sixteen, he gathered all his belongings together before he went to bed one night. Early the next morning he climbed out a window and quietly slipped away.
For the next eleven years, John lived with a variety of relatives and neighbours in the New Hamburg area. These included Gilgian Trachsel (possibly the husband of his first cousin, Susanna), John Schweitzer, Nickolaus (Nick) Schweitzer, the Linglebach's and the Merner's amidst others.
At one point John worked with his brother Peter, at their uncle's sawmill in Trowbridge. On Sunday's they would walk to the closest Evangelical Church, which happened to be the sixth line of Wallace - what is now Zion United Church. It was here that they first met a young woman by the name of Lydia Good.
Lydia was born on 24 June 1849 to Samuel and Eva [Stahl] Good. She was the eldest of twelve children, only four of whom lived long enough to have families of their own - Lydia; William (1855-1942), Levi (1857-1932), and Samuel S. (1864-1946). Her father was born on 27 July 1823 in Waterloo Township, the first of his family to be born in Canada after their emigration from Bowmansville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1818. Upon his families arrival, they bought 188 acres of land in what is know known as Waterloo. In fact, Samuel is reported to have attended the old log school, built in 1820, which is now located in Waterloo Park!
Samuel and his family moved from St. Jacob's (where he ran a sawmill and furniture business with his brother Joel) to the Third Concession of Wallace (lot 32) in 1862. There they bought a 125 acre farm and started clearing the land. He received the patent to this land in 1865. According to Albert Henry Zurbrigg, Samuel and his two oldest children, Lydia (then 15) and William (10) went ahead of the rest of the family in order to put up temporary buildings to house the family and stock.
Sometime during this same year John found himself employed in this same district. He was working as a journeyman labourer - offering his services to the highest bidder. This turned out to be Samuel Good - who engaged him both as a woodsman and to help out with the harvest.
John was married to Lydia Good on 14 October 1867 in Wallace Township. Their first home was a frame house on Concession 2, Lot 32, Wallace Township, just across from Samuel's house.
It is said that John was hired to make shingle's for the church in Augusta. Most likely this took place in 1868, when an Evangelical Association was organized just a few lots down from John and Lydia's place (Concession 3, Lot 37). It would only make sense that they would have attended this church, which held its services in German for many years.
Shortly after this, John and Lydia bought a fifty acre farm near the village of Trowbridge where they remained for about a year before moving on to New Hamburg to be near John's father, Antoni, who was not well.
After Antoni's death, the family decided to move on, and in 1879 they moved to Kurtzville where they would remain for over 25 years.
Once in Kurtzville, John built a cooperage right next to his home that employed up to five people. The shop made coffins, wooden pails, washing tubs, barrels, cisterns, cabbage slicers, churns, and other utensils made of woods. During the long winter nights, John would often work in his shop until ten o'clock or later. Sometimes one or two of his neighbours would drop in to help while away the time. The only nights he wouldn't be there would be prayer nights and Sunday nights.
During the summer John also helped farmers out with their harvest. On many occasions this meant helping out with the folling of peas. He had a horse drawn rake especially for this purpose. This rake was a dump type, which means it was dragged along the ground until enough peas had been pulled to make a sizable bundle and then it was dumped. The children would follow along behind and roll up these bundles to make room for the next trip around.
One of John's other endeavours included house building in conjunction with Jacob T. Doersam in Kurtzville. Homes that had been situated at the back of the lots were now being rebuilt on the "Main Road". Many of these houses are still standing today.
At one time John also operated a milk route, in which he collected milk from farmers and carted it to the cheese factory where it was processed. He did this with a horse and wagon with wooden wheels and steel tires.
The 1881 Ontario Census for Wallace shows that Jacob Orth was living with John and Lydia Zurbrigg. Jacob was single at the time and his occupation was listed as that of carpenter. This ties into the fact that John Zurbrigg, who was a brother-in-law of John Kurtz, was the principle builder in the village over the next several years.
Unfortunately the cooper business was discontinued when, like many other businesses, it lost out as steel utensils became more popular. After its closure (which appears to have been sometime before October 1890), John became involved in the clearing of swampland on the north half of lot 48, plan 458and cultivation of farmland. He had 40 acres that he later sold to his son William, when he and Lydia retired to Listowel.
As of 1901, John and Lydia were living in North Wellington (125/L/3) with six of their children (William, Henry, Moses, Mary Ann, Alvin, and Emma). They belonged to the Evangelical Association at the time and were living on the 1/W of lot part 48, Concession 4 which includes one house with eight rooms, three barns or stables and 29 acres of land.
Lydia's mother, Eva [Stahl] passed away on 17 September 1905 and her father Samuel, on 19 April 1915.
In their later years, their poor health encouraged John and Lydia to move in with their daughter Susan and her husband, Noah Bowman. For most of his last two years of life, with the exception of two or three weeks during the summer of 1921, John was confined to his bed. Suffering from stomach problems for the greater part of his life, there had often been times during his life when he was compelled by sickness to be off his feet for weeks at a time. Despite this, however, he ran a cooperage in Kurtzville for over twenty-five years and, with the assistance of his sons, cleared forty acres of swampland adjoining the village.
John passed away on Friday 27 October 1922 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Noah Bowman, third line Wallace. A service was held at the home, as well as in the Evangelical Church in Listowel where John was a member. According to his obituary
"it was necessary to place chairs in the aisles in order to accommodate the large numbers who gathered to pay final respect to one beloved because of his integrity and sterling Christian character...with the exception of Mrs. Klemmer, all the other members of the family were here for the funeral on Sunday, which was in charge of Rev. M. L. Wing, Evangelical minister, who was assisted by Rev. F. Meyer of Wallace and Rev. Capt. Edwards of the Listowel Methodist church. Interment was made at Fairview cemetery. Pallbearers were the five sons and a son-in-law, Mr. Noah Bowman."
Lydia passed away at the home of her son, Frank, on 23 December 1927. Six weeks previous she had had an attack of pneumonia and never fully regained her strength. On 17 December pleurisy developed and heart trouble resulted in her death. She was buried next to her husband.
Over the years, John and Lydia had fifteen children - Levi, Lavina, Susan, Samuel, William John, Albert Henry, Moses Franklin, Frances Lucinda, Lydia Melinda, Mary Ann, Ida Matilda, Alvin Wesley, Margaret Selina, Emma, and Milton. Of these, Levi, Frances Lucinda, Lydia Melinda, Ida Matilda, Margaret Selina, and Milton, all died in infancy.
- From Magnified Memories: The History of Wallace Township p. 82
Henry Fisher, Ferninand Karges and John Zurbrigg were the first trustees of the Emmanuel Evangelical church in Kurtzville, Ontario. A Sunday school was also organized with Henry Fisher as the first superintendent. Membership of the church from 1898 to 1901 was 50.
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| Sources |
- [S069903] 1901 census.
- [S099638] www.ezraeby.com -- Ezra Eby Revived.
- [S083288] http://publish.uwo.ca/~kdieter/zurbrigg/oldworld.htm.
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