David Sovereign Bowlby was born September 5th, 1826 to Adam Bowlby and Elizabeth Sovereign Bowlby. He was born on the family farm in Townsend, and, like his brothers began to be educated from an early age. He attended Upper Canada College, University of Toronto, Toronto School of Medicine and ultimately the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, graduating in 1853. In October of the same year he moved to Berlin (Kitchener) to temporarily fill in for his cousin Dr. J.W. Sovereign, and ended up staying on indefinitely. He also took on the role of County Jail surgeon, and coroner for many years. Besides his medical practice he was heavily involved in the community being a member of the village council, and on the Board of Trustees of Berlin High School as well as being warden and delegate to the synod for St. John’s Anglican Church. In 1856 David Sovereign married 18 year old Martha Esther Murphy (1837-1925) of Montreal and brought her to Berlin. Together they had five children: Janie Elizabeth Bowlby Clement in 1859, Emma Allen Bowlby Boyd in 1862, George Herbert Bowlby in 1855, Grace Bowlby Fennell in 1871, and David Shannon Bowlby in 1873.

In his later years David Sovereign suffered from bronchial troubles and died in 1903 while in Sicily on a trip to improve his breathing. Martha Esther Murphy lived for another 22 years in the family home in Berlin. Martha was extremely active in social and philanthropic organizations in Berlin including as a founding member of the Kitchener and Waterloo Ladies Hospital Auxiliary, organist of St. John’s Anglican Church, and first regent of the Princess of Wales chapter, Daughters of the Empire. Martha died unexpectedly at the age of 88 after her dressing gown caught fire from the gas heater in her home.

Jacob Hoffman (1809-1878) married Veronica Eby (1817-1876) and lived in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario. Their oldest child, Isaac Hoffman (1835-1898) married Caroline Harlen[1] (1838-) ca. 1854. Two daughters (of their six living children) are represented in the fonds: Caroline M. Hoffman (1857-) and Emma Sivina Hoffman (1862-).

Caroline M. Hoffman married John D. Barnes of Providence Rhode Island (date of marriage unknown, ca. 1878?). They had one daughter, Lillie Caroline Barnes.[2] As of 1895[3] they were living in Providence, R.I. but sometime after that Caroline and Lillie returned to the Waterloo area.

Lillie Caroline Barnes married David Shannon Bowlby, K.C. (1873-1938) in 1904. They had two children, foster daughter Carolyn Barnes Bowlby, and son Shannon Bowlby. (Source: "David Shannon Bowlby, K.C.," WHS 26 (1938): 45-46 and Ezra E. Eby, Biographical History of Waterloo, 1895-1896, p. 802).

Carolyn Barnes Bowlby married Norman Davison (1877-) in 1920. They had two children, Peter (1927-) and Carolyn, known as Patti (b. ca. 1930).
Carolyn Davison married J.W. Carlisle.

Emma Sivina Hoffman (b. 1862), married Cyrus Schiedel of Waterloo in 1885. They had one son, Wilfrid H. Schiedel. (Source: Ezra E. Eby, Biographical History of Waterloo, 1895-1896, p. 802)

[1] Spelled variously in sources Herlan, Harlen, Harlan.
[2] Ezra Eby gives her name as Lillie, probably after her aunt Lillie Josephine Hoffman. However, the name used by the donor is "Lillian".
[3] Date from Ezra Eby.

George Herbert Bowlby was born July 16, 1865 to David Sovereign Bowlby and Martha Esther Murphy Bowlby in Berlin (Kitchener), Ontario. Educated in Berlin at both the elementary and high school, he studied briefly at St. Jerome College before obtaining a medical degree at the Toronto University. After obtaining his degree he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London and also was a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. As a youth he was heavily involved in sports, playing soccer and cricket. At the onset of WWI he joined the Army Medical Corps of the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, became a Captain and was appointed Assistant Director of Medical Services. In 1894 at the age of 28 he married 22 year old Blanche Alexandrine (Adine) Seagram (1871-1919), the daughter of Joseph Emm Seagram, founder of Seagram Distilleries.

In 1917 while serving in WWI, George was walking the ground of Bath military hospital, where he was working, and fell off a cliff. He was found dead at the bottom of the cliff and was cremated in Bath. Adine was overseas at the time as well, volunteering for the Red Cross. After the death of her husband, Adine stayed on with the Red Cross for another year until she was forced to return to Berlin to look after her ill father. On July 19th, 1919 Adine was riding in a car with her brother Capt. Tom Seagram and her niece. The car was involved in a collision with another vehicle and Adine died of the injuries she sustained.

Martha Esther Bowlby (nee Murphy) was born July 23, 1836 in Montreal, Quebec. She came to Berlin (now Kitchener) in 1854, where she married Dr. David Sovereign Bowlby in 1856. An active member of the community, Bowlby was the first secretary treasurer of the Kitchener-Waterloo Ladies' Hospital Auxiliary, was a member of the St. John's Anglican Church, and served at one time as the first regent of the Princes of Wales chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. She died in 1925 after being badly burned in an accident at her home. Bowlby was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery alongside her husband, who died in Rome, Italy in 1904.

Ward Hamilton Bowlby was a Canadian lawyer born October 4th, 1834 to Adam Bowlby and Elizabeth Sovereign Bowlby. Like his siblings, Ward went to school originally at Upper Canada College and eventually to Toronto University where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in 1856 and a Masters of Arts in 1857. He obtained a Bachelor of Law in 1858 obtaining the first University gold medal in law awarded to Toronto University. In May of the same year he was admitted to the bar and moved to Berlin (now Kitchener). He founded the law firm Bowlby, Colquhoun and Clement with his brother-in-law E.P. Clement and F. Colquhoun. He would practice in this firm until 1903 when he retired from active practice. Bowlby was appointed King’s Council, as well as holding the positions of Crown Attorney and Clerk of the Peace of Waterloo County, a member of the Town and County Council, reeve of Berlin, and a member of the public school board.

Besides his law practice Bowlby also invested in many Canadian companies including Canadian Pacific and Merchant’s Bank. In 1861, at the age of 27, he married 22 year old Lissie Hespeler Bowlby (1839-1920), daughter of one of the founders of the Waterloo area, Jacob Hespeler. The couple lived in Jacob Hespeler’s now historic home from 1870-1877. The couple had one daughter, Annie Hespeler Bowlby Perley, who married an M.P. and who died in London, England after a sudden illness in 1910. Ward died in 1917 after a period of illness, and Lissie died in 1920.

Arthur Bowman was born on August 5, 1865.

He worked as a civil engineer and resided at Mahan, Pennsylvania.

Hervey Bowman was born on September 30, 1873.

Isaac L. Bowman was born to John B. Baumann and Nancy Baumann (nee Bechtel) near Freeport, Ontario on May 23, 1830.

He worked as a teacher in the public schools in Ontario. Around 1860-1861, Isaac was appointed inspector of public schools. He held this position until 1871. He then worked surveying land. He also served as the Treasurer of the Township of Waterloo.

Issac was a member of the United Brethren in Christ, of which body he was a local minister.

On December 25, 1862, he married Elizabeth Meyers (b. May 17, 1844) and together they had four sons. The family resided in Berlin, Ontario.

Isaac died of paralysis February 3, 1893.

Joseph B. Bowman was born October 3, 1837, oldest child of Samuel B. Bauman and Elizabeth Bauman. He married Nancy Huber on December 25, 1866. He died from tuberculosis on November 3, 1871 and is buried in Blair, Ontario.

Emma Allen Bowlby Boyd was born August 17, 1862 and died January 25, 1897.

James Boyd was born ca. 1910. He was made a Lieutenant with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1927. He became an orthodontist in Waterloo, Ontario. James Boyd married Mildred Eidt, widow of Dr. Thoman Burton Feick, sometime after Feick's death in 1956. James Boyd died sometime after 1965.

Barrie Phillip Nichol, who often went by his lower-case initials and last name, with no spaces (bpNichol), was a Canadian poet born in Vancouver in 1944. He became widely known for his concrete poetry in the 1960s. Concrete, pattern, or shape poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. The words are arranged in such a way as to depict their subject.

Nichol received his elementary teaching certificate from the University of British Columbia in 1963, but he only worked a brief stint as a teacher.
His most famous published work is probably The Martyrology, a long poem encompassing nine books in six volumes. In The Martyrology different ways of speaking testify to a journey through different ways of being.

Nichol also worked in a wide variety of other genres, including musical theatre, children's books, collage/assemblage, pamphlets, spoken word, computer texts, fiction, and television. Sadly, B.P. Nichol died due to complications following routine back surgery in September of 1988. Despite having such a brief lifespan, Nichol was highly prolific and produced a substantial volume of work.

Sue Bradnam was a photographer at the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in 1981.

Catharine [sometimes Catherine] Emelia Anthes was born April 30, 1864 to parents Jacob Anthes and Magdalena Stricker. She married Moses E. Braendle (date unknown) and the couple had a son, Harold Anthes born July 17, 1893, in Woolwich Township. Moses died in 1952 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Ontario. Catherine who died January 23, 1953. Son, Harold died in Florida, July 17, 1974.

Moses E. Braendle was born October 23, 1862 in Wellesley township, Ontario to parents Johannes "John" Braendle, and Rosina Barbara Eberwein. He married Catharine Emelia Anthes (date unknown) and the couple had a son, Harold Anthes born July 17, 1893, in Woolwich Township. Moses' occupation is listed as teacher in the birth record of Harold. In 1910 he is listed as a bookkeeper in a furniture factory in Waterloo, later in 1921 he is a stock clerk also in Waterloo. Moses died in 1952 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Ontario with Catherine who died February 23, 1953.. Harold died in Florida, July 17, 1974.

The Bray family were early white settlers of what is now southern Ontario. Members of the family are the descendants of George Bray (1795-1846) who was born in England on December 11, 1795. He married Ann Preston (b. 1796) and the pair had 10 children: Jemima (b.1816-1866), Abraham (1818-1901), Isaac (1819-1837), Sarah (b. 1821), Rebecca (b. 1824), Rachel (b. 1827), Ruth (1832-1837), Hannah (b. 1834), Mary (b. 1839) and Jacob (1840-1920).

Eldest son Abraham immigrated to Canada in the early 1840's where he settled in Zorra Township and began to farm. By 1845 he had married Sarah, also a British immigrant, and the couple had nine children: George (b. 1845), Elizabeth (b. 1847), Robert (b. 1849), James (b. 1853), Mary Jane (b. 1855), John (b. 1858), William (b. 1860), Marie (b. 1862), Joseph (b. 1867).
Abraham's youngest sibling, Jacob, settled in the Listowel area and there married Jane Brown (b.?). Jacob and Jane had son George (1873-1937) who later married Florence Murray (1874-1959).

(George) Murray Bray (1905-1974), lawyer, was born January 12 1905 to Florence Murray Bray (1874-1959) and George Bray (1873-1937) both of Canada. Born in Perth, Murray and his parents later moved to 70 Margaret Ave. in Kitchener. Murray studied law in Toronto and in 1929 he was called to the bar. He began working at his father's law office of Sims, Bray, McIntosh and Schofield in Kitchener. In 1928 Murray married Isabel Treacy (1906-1986) daughter of William (1878-1953) and Francis Crawford Treacy (1875-1929). Murray and Isabel had two children, William George, called Bill (b. 1929) and Judith (b. 1933). The family of Murray Bray lived in the Westmount region, at 145 Union Blvd. and later at 54 Rusholme Ave. Murray died in 1974 and Isabel in 1986.

Abraham Bray was born in England in 1818 to George and Ann (nee Preston) Bray. He immigrated to Canada in the early 1840's where he settled in Zorra Township and began to farm. By 1845 he married Sarah Jickling, also a British immigrant, and together they had nine children: George (b. 1845), Elizabeth (b. 1847), Robert (b. 1849), James (b. 1853), Mary Jane (b. 1855), John (b. 1858), William (b. 1860), Marie (b. 1862), Joseph (b. 1867).

Fiberglass fountain by Bruce Watson located outside of the southeast corner of the Mathematics & Computer Building.

Lester Paige Breckenridge was an engineer and inventor born in Meriden, Connecticut, on May 17, 1858. He received a Ph.B degree at Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School in 1881. From 1882 to 1891, Breckenridge was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lehigh University. He later taught at the Michigan Agricultural College from 1891 to 1893. Until 1909, Breckenridge was a Professor and Director of Engineering for the Experimental Station at the University of Illinois. From September 1, 1909, and onward, he was a professor at Sheffield Scientific School. In 1904, Breckenridge was also the engineer in charge of the boiler division of the United State Geological Survey fuel testing plant in St. Louis, Missouri. He was also an inventor, having created an automatic recording machine in 1901, as well as contriving and equipping dynamometers to cars in 1897 to 1899. Breckenridge was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Western Society of Engineers. He also wrote many articles in technical journals, reports, and bulletins.

Albert Liborius Breithaupt was a businessman and public official born in Berlin (later Kitchener) Ontario November 3, 1870 to parents Philip Ludwig (Louis) Breithaupt and Catherine Hailer. He married Lydia Louise Anthes June 2, 1901. The couple had six children: Frederick Albert; Marie; Rudolph Anthes; Ruth Anna Catherine; Arthur Liborius and David.

Albert worked for his father's leather company, and also founded and developed three other Kitchener companies, founding one of the city's first rubber industries which became part of the Dominion Rubber Company, the Berlin Trunk and Bag Company, and co-founding the ladies wear firm Star Whitewear. Interested in community service, Breithaupt served as an alderman for several years, a member of the Kitchener high school board, a member of the Berlin Light Commission, and he taught in the Sunday school at Zion Evangelical Church. Interested in woodworking, he made many pieces of furniture for his Georgian Bay cottage. His last business interest being in sales work with a company he started, the Shoe Findings Company.

After Lydia's death in 1942, Albert married Gladys Eileen Baechler. Albert died in a boating accident on Georgian Bay on July 22, 1955. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener with Lydia.

Arthur Liborius Breithaupt was born in Kitchener (Berlin) Ontario December 22, 1912 to parents Albert Liborius and Lydia Louisa Anthes. He married Martha Anne Frisbie March 27, 1936 and after her death in 1969 he married Betty Anne Combs. Arthur died in 1999 and was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener.

Barbara Catharina Goetz was born October 19, 1801 in Germany and married Liborius Breithaupt in Allendorf, German on October 24, 1826. The couple had a son, Philip Ludwig (Louis) born November 8, 1827, also in Allendorf. A daughter Marie Elisabeth Frederica, born June 14, 1829, died May 13, 1834. In 1843, Liborius, Cattharina and Louis emigrated from Hesse, Germany to Buffalo, New York. While there, they had another daughter, Catharina, born February 18, 1847. Liborius died in Buffalo in May of 1851. Catharina applied for US naturalization in June of 1851, however, she and her two children later moved to Kitchener, Ontario in 1861. She died January 12, 1887 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener.

Carl Louis Breithaupt was born in Berlin (later Kitchener) Ontario on July 27, 1896 to parents John Christian Breithaupt and Caroline Catherine Anthes. He attended Kitchener Collegiate Institute from 1910 to 1915 and was then employed by the family-owned Breithaupt Leather Company Limited of Kitchener. Carl enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1917 and went to England where he was detailed to Signal Company schools in south of England. He advanced to wireless operator, returning to Canada in March 1919.

Carl was educated as an chemical engineer and became an American citizen. While working in Boston, Massachusetts married Alice Kranz of Pennsylvania on October 11, 1933 in Ohio. In the 1940 United States census, Carl and Alice were listed as living in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with children Carl W. aged 5 and Walter, aged 1. On August 14, 1946 Carl drowned while on a fishing trip in Parry Sound, Ontario with his brother, Walter. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener. Following his death Alice and their children stayed in Ohio. She died May 25, 1984.

Catharine Hailer was born August 16, 1834 in Berlin, Ontario to parents Margaret Riehl and Jacob Hailer, purportedly the first native German to settle in what is now the Region of Waterloo Ontario. She met Philip Ludwig (known as Louis) Breithaupt of Buffalo when he visited Berlin on business. The couple married February 8, 1853 in Berlin. Together Louis and Catherine had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood, and some of whom played an instrumental role in the growth and development of what is today Kitchener, Ontario. The family lived in Buffalo until relocating to Berlin in 1861.

Catharine was active in community affairs, most notably the Zion Evangelical Church. After her husband's death in 1880 she travelled to Germany, the Pacific Coast, as well as to the United States to visit family and friends, and seasonally to the family cottage "Bay View Cottage" in Penetaguishene, Ont.

Catharine died July 5, 1910 and was buried with Louis.

Catherine Louise Breithaupt was born December 3, 1872, the daughter of Philip Ludwig (known as Louis) and Catherine Hailer. She died as a young teenager of appendicitis on April 14, 1886. She was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener with siblings Daniel and Adolph, who both died as children.

Daniel Edward was born October 30, 1868 in Berlin (later Kitchener) Ontario, the son of Philip Ludwig (known as Louis) Breithaupt and Catherine Hailer. He died as a child on July 19, 1871 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener.

David John Breithaupt was born in Kitchener, Ontario in 1916 to parents Albert Liborius Breithaupt and Lydia Louisa Anthes. His siblings were Frederick Albert; Maria Martha Louise; Rudolph Anthes; Ruth Anna Catherine; and Arthur Liborius.

David attended the University of Toronto medical school, graduating in 1941. In 1943 he is listed as temporary Surgeon Lieutenant on the Royal Canadian Naval volunteer and reserve lists through 1948. He lived in Wellington North, Ontario in 1945 with his wife Mary (surname unknown), eventually residing in Toronto, employed as a medical director. He died in October of 2003 in Toronto.