John G. Stroh Biography

B.: 1849 D.: 1935
Married: Elizabeth Lizzie Seyler

Jacob Gaukel Stroh was the son of Henry Stroh of Berlin who had come to Waterloo Co with his family in 1837 as a young lad. Henry married Susannah Gaukel, daughter of Frederick Gaukel who had operated Gaukel’s Tavern at Queen and King Sts in Berlin. When Jacob came of age, he took a job in the Breithaupt Tannery in Berlin. He learned all the aspects of the business. After 1871, he decided to open his own tannery business. He opted for Waterloo as a location and he purchased a large lot on Erb St E on which he built the Spring Tannery. Also a large brick home was erected adjacent to his business. Besides this business venture, he was very influential citizen of Waterloo in those early times. He was for forty years on the Waterloo Public Library Board. The life of the aboriginal inhabitants that had lived in the area was of his passions. He assiduously collected many artifacts of Indian culture and displayed in his home. He donated a tanning stone and a corn grinder to be displayed in Waterloo Park where they remain today. He was one of first conservationists, being concerned about the rapidly disappearing wildlife in this part of Ont. He maintained a private zoo on his property. Stroh was caught up in the new science of photography and we owe him a debt of gratitude for recording many early views of Waterloo and vicinity which are preserved today on glass plate negatives. He was also concerned about family history and wrote in 1926 the Stroh history going back to early 1880s to the village of Lehrback, Kreis Absfeld, Groz Herzogthum where the Strohs originated. Stroh too was concerned about disappearing built heritage in Berlin and Waterloo and as a result wrote his reminiscences of these two communities which were published by WHS in ____. He was one of the leading members of the Church of New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) and also led the revolt along with Richard and Rudolf Roschmann when in 1891 the church split apart. This splinter group set up the Academy Church on King St. just across from KCI and the Roschmann homes. This Church was later known as the Carmel Church. After 70 years in the tannery business, he retired from the tannery business in 1926 but continued operating Strohs Hide Warehouse. He suffered in later years from goitre problem which probably contributed to his death in 1935.

Sources:
1. Obituary, Waterloo Chronicle, May 30, 1935.
2. History of Stroh Family, Ellis Little, private file
3. Kathryn Hansuld Lamb, Tannery Creek, Waterloo Historical Society, Vol. 87, 1999.
4. Waterloo County Hall of Fame.
5. Waterloo Chronicle: June 12, 1902; December 1, 1904; February 12, 1920; January 7, 1926; Apr 7, 1932
6. Swedenborgian Church Records, Kitchener Public Library.