The Schantz Family in North America is large and widespread; alternative spellings of the last name includes variations such as Tschantz, Shantz, Shonts, and Schanz. The family descended from Jacob Schanz (June 12, 1710-February 5, 1781) who emigrated to the United States of America in 1737 and settled in Pennsylvania. In 1810 Jacob’s son Christian Shantz (1769-1857) came to Waterloo County and settled at Freeport on the Grand River.
Christian’s son Benjamin Shantz (1811-1868) was an early Waterloo County inhabitant and one of the founders of Port Elgin, Ontario where he settled in 1854 and established a grist and flour mill. Benjamin married Lydia Kolb (1814-1862) on April 10, 1842 and together they had ten children; Josiah K. Schantz (1834-1913), Catharine Schantz (May 17, 1836-February 28, 1917), Hannah Schantz (April 1, 1838-August 20, 1841), Christian Schantz (January 20, 1840-?), Tobias Schantz (1842-1925), Abraham K. Schantz (September 20, 1844-?), Benjamin K. Schantz (December 5, 1846), Menno K. Schantz (January 31, 1849-July 6, 1888), Lydia K. Schantz (August 17, 1851-July 16, 1900), Sarah K. Schantz (April 1, 1854-April 10, 1878), and Enoch K. Schantz (October 7, 1856-May 25, 1888).
When Lydia died in 1862, Benjamin remarried his housekeeper, Margaret Swinton. Benjamin and Margaret left Port Elgin, Ontario and settled in Dallas County, Missouri. Correspondence in the collection between Benjamin and his son Tobias recount Benjamin’s settler experiences in Dallas County, Missouri.
The Schantz Russell Family Papers centre around Tobias Schantz, his wife Mary Schantz and their descendants, drawing together primary sources relating to several early white settler families of Waterloo County, primarily the Schantz, Moyer/Meyer and Bowman families, and material relating to descendants of the Moyer settlers of Lincoln County, Ontario.
Published
23 letters.
Date and Place from: September 28, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: October 25, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: October 31, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: November 11, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: November 20, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: December 7, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: December 30, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: June 29, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: July 8, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: July 13, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed. This letter includes details about an electrical accident that Clarke's nephew Max had.
Date and Place from: July 27, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed. This letter includes details about an electrical accident that Clarke's nephew Max had.
Date and Place from: September 11, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed and two newspaper clippings. The newspaper clippings are about tourist traffic in Chatham, and are not mentioned in the letter.
Date and Place from: September 16, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: January 18, 1929 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: January 29, 1929 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: March 11, 1929 Highgate [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: August 12, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: July 27, 1930 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: No envelope.
Date and Place from: August 28, 1930 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: September 23, 1930 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: October 26, 1930 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: November 24, 1930 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Date and Place from: July 22, 1928 Chatham [Ontario] To Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine, 1879-1938 From Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 Attachments: Contains an envelope with the stamp removed.
Donated by Harold and Lynne Russell in 2003.
Revised by NM in January 2019.