B. 1885 D. Oct 5, 1970
Married: Irene Koenig
Fred Shinn’s Mother and Father came from St. Louis, Missouri where he was born in 1885. The family, particularily the mother, had relatives in New Hamburg, and they moved there when Fred was a baby. After a short spell in Toronto and Nova Scotia, they returned to New Hamburg where the Father J.K. Shinn hoped to buy the Surarus Furniture and Undertaking. This didn’t work out and the dad worked for a time at the Hahn Furniture in New Hamburg. In 1895 the family came to Waterloo where J.K. conducted a furniture store and undertaking business on King St N. The business was sold in 1907 to John Letter. When Fred grew up, he got a job as clerk in the local post office. From 1930 to 1950 he worked for Prudential Life Insurance Co. collecting the premiums from the company subscribers. Fred was a concerned historian and c1967 wrote a column for the Waterloo Chronicle, detailing the businesses and people of Waterloo during the early 1900s.
Sources:
1. Clayton W. Wells, A Historical Sketch of the Town of Waterloo, Ontario, Wat Historical Society, Vol. 16, 1928
2. Tweedsmuir History compiled by the Lexington Women’s Institute, Kitchener Public Library
3. Waterloo Chronicle, December 13, 1967, January 11, 1967, August 20, 2000
4. Saengerfest Souvenier Program, Town of Waterloo, 1902
5. Margaret J. Zavaros, Waterloo Post Office, Waterloo Historical Society, Vol. 80, 1992.
6. Fred Shinn Jan 24/68 (nearly 83) – Work of Mischief
7. Waterloo Chronicle, Oct. 8, 1970
Fred Shinn Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Fred Shinn 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
- Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see the transcribed text. To see the original document, please visit the Ellis Little Local History Room at the Main Branch of the Waterloo Public Library.
Newspaper clipping of the obituary for Fred Shinn's son, Earl Shinn, is attached to the original document.
- Date Of Event
- 1885-1970
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Shinn, Fred ; Koenig, Irene ; Koenig, Irma ; Shinn, Irene ; Shinn, Irma ; Shinn, J.K. ; Letter, John
- Corporate Name(s)
- Surarus Furniture and Undertaking ; Hahn Furniture ; Prudential Life Insurance Company ; Shinn's Undertaking and Furniture ; Shinn, Earl
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.194
- 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
