Born: 1850, Died: 1932
Married: Mary Anne Sauder
Menno Devitt, born in 1850, was the son of Barnabas Devitt, and the younger brother of Benjamin Devitt. Menno helped in the dry goods store that was begun by his brother Benjamin in the Devitt-Snider Block. Eventually, he became not only the sole owner of the store but purchased the whole Devitt-Snider Block where he continued his retail operation for many years. To the rear of the building he constructed an addition where he operated the Massey-Harris implement agency. During Menno’s ownership of the building, tenants included: Snyder-Roos Furniture, Princess Theatre, Waterloo Post Office, Waterloo Chronicle paper, Mutual Life, Equitable Life and many others. He also constructed an impressive white brick home on the corner of Bellevue (Tweed) and Devitt (Erb E) Sts. which was across the street from the Devitt homestead. About 1925 Menno suffered a heart attack which necessitated his retirement. In 1927 he sold the Devitt-Snider Block to one of the tenants – the Equitable Life Assurance Company. He never fully recovered from his heart disability and died in 1932.
Sources:
Obituary, Waterloo Chronicle, March 24, 1932.
Marg Rowell, Ed Devitt and Pat McKegney, Welcome to Waterloo, Waterloo Printing Company, 1982.
Ezra E. Eby, A Biographical History of Early Settlers and their Descendants in Waterloo Township, Eldon D Weber, Editor, Kitchener, 1971.
Menno Devitt Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Menno Devitt 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
- Date Of Event
- 1850-1832
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Devitt, Menno ; Sauder, Mary Anne ; Devitt, Barnabas ; Devitt, Benjamin
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.39 and ELP 63.42.8
- Collection
- Ellis Little Papers: Men and Women of Our Past
- Language of Item
- English
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and 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
