Schantz, Mary

• Moyer, Mary

• Schantz, Mary Moyer

Mary was born to Abraham Bechtel Moyer and Mary Gross Moyer (nee Nash) on July 1, 1840 in Cayuga, Ontario and raised alongside her nine siblings. She was raised in a pioneer Mennonite farming family and moved throughout her childhood to Norfolk County, Lincoln County, Pelham, and Cainsville, Ontario.

Mary was also a descendant of Samuel Meyer who came to Lincoln County, Canada West in 1800.

At the age of 16, Mary acquired a position as a school teacher in the Niagara Peninsula. She eventually accepted a teaching position in Port Elgin, Ontario.

On August 6, 1863, Mary married Tobias Schantz in Port Elgin. The couple had eight children: Orpheus Moyer Schantz, Etta Lydia Mary Schantz, Sophie Emma Schantz, Austin Tobias Schantz, Franklin Abram Schantz, Arthur Benjamin Schantz, Florence Annie Catherine Schantz, and Herbert Cecil Palmer Schantz.

From 1864-1865, Mary lived in Poughkeepsie, New York while Tobias attended the Eastman National Business College. She returned to Port Elgin, Ontario in 1866 with her family.

In 1867, she stayed with her mother and brother in Campden, Ontario while her husband travelled to Missouri with his father.

Mary moved to the village of Hawkesville in Waterloo County in 1870 later to the village of Conestogo in Waterloo County in 1877 as Tobias found work in local mills.

In 1884 Mary and her family moved to Berlin, Ontario and lived in a house on Benton Street. In 1887, the family purchased two aces of land from Samuel Schneider’s farm for $1,100.00. In 1888, the family built an Italianate style home at 43 Schneider Avenue. It was the first house built on the street and cost $1,725.00 to build.

Mary died on January 28, 1935 and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery.

Revised by NM in 2019.

• English

• Mary Moyer - Waterloo Region Generations
• Mary Schantz - Find a Grave
• Schantz Family of Berlin: Mary Moyer (1840-1935) And Tobias Schantz (1842-1925) by Harold Russell. SCA118-GA391-2-68