Born 1818, Died 1909
Married: Marion Schaefer (2), Mary Greenfelder (1)
Jacob Bricker, born in 1818, was the second son of Peter Bricker who was one of the early Mennonites to come from Pennsylvania and settle in the Blair area. In his youth, Jacob learned the blacksmithing trade while working in Preston. In 1850, having mastered the trade, he moved to Waterloo where he opened a blacksmith shop on the south side of Laurel Creek near the Snider grist mill. He was married twice, first to Mary Greenfelder and then to Maria Schaefer and the family lived in a large home he constructed on Erb St. E and Queen St. (now Regina) at the rear of Bowman’s Hotel. Bricker soon expanded his early shop into a foundry where he made simple agricultural tools. The enterprise was called the Bricker Foundry and later the Waterloo Foundry. During the 1860–70s, farmers had cleared much of their land for farming and the demand for more complicated agricultural machinery such as reapers, cultivators and plows etc. was increasing. In 1888, after several expansions, the foundry was incorporated as the Waterloo Manufacturing Company. Bricker had retired in 1885 but his son Levi, along with partners Absalom Merner and E.W.B. Snider continued to lead the company to greater growth. Bricker was also interested in expanding the retail section of the Waterloo community and in 1857 he constructed the Commercial Block at the corner of King and Erb Sts and for a few years operated a general store in Unit #1 of his building.
Sources:
1. Obituary, Waterloo Chronicle, August 19, 1909.
2. Ezra E. Eby, A Biographical Sketch of Early Settlers and their Descendants in Waterloo Township, Eldon D. Weber, Editor, Kitchener, 1971.
3. Waterloo Mount Hope Cemetery Records.
4. Marg Rowell, Ed Devitt and Pat McKegney, Welcome to Waterloo. Waterloo: Waterloo Printing Company 1982.
5. Historical Atlas of Waterloo and Wellington Counties
6. One Hundred Years of Progress
Jacob Bricker Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Jacob Bricker from the Ellis Little Papers. This biography has been transcribed exactly as written. Ellis Little was a local historian, who was the principal of Elizabeth Ziegler Public School.On his retirement, he invested much of his time in researching and writing about Waterloo's history. The Ellis Little Papers consist of extensive notes, papers and historical works.
- Notes
- To see the original document please visit the Ellis Little Local History Room at the Main Branch of the Waterloo Public Library
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Bricker, Jacob ; Greenfelder, Mary ; Bricker, Peter ; Schaefer, Marion
- Corporate Name(s)
- Snider Flour Mill ; Waterloo Foundry ; Bricker's Foundry ; Waterloo Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.25 and ELP 63.41.21
- Collection
- Ellis Little Papers: Men and Women of Our Past
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
-
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.4668 Longitude: -80.51639
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- Copyright Statement
- Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Location of Original
- Ellis Little Papers
- Contact
- Waterloo Public LibraryEmail:askus@wpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:35 Albert Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 5E2
- Full Text
