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Note: CC1 Worked as a Miller in Ball's Mill in Jordan, Ontario. It is likely that Isaac changed the spelling of his last name to HonsbergerKratz Family History page 19: Isaac & Mary were Mennonites. This is only record we have of Isaac Honsberger. No records of his parents have been found. THE HONSBERGERS - By H. Wray Honsberger Although the Honsbergers originally came from Switzerland and settled in Pennsylvania, the history actually begins with my great-grandfather, Isaac (Huntspurgur) Honsberger born in Bucks County 1787. In 1801, Isaac Honsberger, along with several other families, emigrated from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and settled at the “Twenty” in Lincoln County. Isaac was a miller and for a few years operated the flour mill built by John and George Ball, near Jordan, in 1807. In February, 1812, he bought Lot 22 in the Seventh Concession in Louth Township, containing one hundred acres - all bush - for 130 pounds. The land was part of a large tract owned by Butler Rangers. and was purchased from a Ranger. He immediately cleared enough trees away to build himself a stable to house his stock. He lived in the stable with his cattle and built a log house the same year. For three years Isaac cleared the land of trees to grow feed for his cattle. In 1815, Isaac Honsberger married Mary (Mollie) Kratz, daughter of Valentine Kratz, the first Mennonite minister in Canada. Isaac died at the age of fifty-seven (an old man). He and Mary are buried in the Moyer Mennonite burying ground on No. 8 highway at Vineland. I have in my possession a receipt for $7.00 in payment for the stone delivered by Hurd Bros., Hamilton, to burying ground four miles east of Beamsville on the Queenston-Hamilton stone road. In 1850, Henry Honsberger, oldest son of Isaac, built the fourteen room house which we now occupy in 1958. The large bank barn built in 1877 burned along with the original stable in 1946. Henry married Mary Fry, daughter of Jacob and Betty (Nash) Fry, who occupied an adjoining farm. At the death of Henry in 1901, his son William continued to occupy and farm the land. The land is all cleared now, except about ten acres of bush. The timber on the farm was mainly white pine, some reaching the height of a hundred feet or more. My grandfather sold large numbers of these trees for one dollar each. My father used to tell how Henry and his brother Valentine would chop down these huge trees just to hear them fall. In 1901, William sold to Great Britain all the remaining trees (pines) for one hundred dollars each to be used for shipmasts. He reserved one tree, however, the largest of them all - but the first electrical storm that summer shattered it to match wood. Those pine trees that sold for one dollar each a century ago would be worth at least three hundred dollars each today. In 1927, we sold white oak timbers to the Government to be used at the new Welland Ship Canal. These brought sixty dollars per one thousand feet. At present (in 1957) while employed there, I noticed some of the original timbers in the lock gates. William Honsberger, my father, died in 1941. I, Wray, and my wife, Hilda, live on the old farm today. Our family of four is the fifth generation to occupy the place, so you can see that is is truly an old homestead. I have in my possession the deed, dated February 13, 1812. We still have in our possession - along with many other valued treasures - my grandfather’s melodian and an old clock with all wooden works, both being the first in the district. I have heard father relate that when he was a boy, children would drop in after school and sit in a circle in the room and wait for the clock to strike the hour. Apparently, it was the first striking clock in the school district. My ancestors were devoted to their Mennonite faith. They observed the Sabbath and kept it holy. On Saturdays, enough wood was split to last through Sunday. Feed for the cattle was forked down the chute from the mow and bedding brought in from the straw stack to last over Sunday. The women did their baking and cooking on Saturday to have it ready to serve for Sunday’s dinner. I remember as a child, that we were forbidden to whittle with our pocket knives, or even whistle on Sunday. The newspapers were not read on the Sabbath. Boots were all shined on Saturday and grandfather would consider it a great sin to shave on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, grandfather would drive his oxen (in later years the heavy work team) up to the large step in front of the house at 9:00 a.m. sharp. The family knew that if they were not ready, he would go on without them. It was a three mile drive to church, which assembled at 10 o’clock. No sooner had the service started than grandfather would go to sleep, and sleep through the entire meeting. Once at the close of his sermon, the minister, J. G. Litt, asked Brother Honsberger (grandfather) to lead in the closing prayer. Receiving no response from the slumbering man, he said, “Well, Brother, I would rather that you sleep in church than not to have come at all.” We will now go back to 1850, the year that Henry Honsberger built the house which we now occupy. The material that went into this large frame house, made for two families, nearly all was obtained from the farm. Into the foundation went clay from the farm mixed with sand probably from Lake Ontario, also stone from the Twenty Creek, ¼ mile away. The hand made brick hauled from Jordan for the chimneys, fireplaces, and bake oven, etc. was purchased for the sum of six dollars per thousand. I have a bill for the brick to verify this statement. The woodwork, mainly white pine, all came off the farm. The shingles were hand made at the farm. Furniture, tables, bureaus, etc., mostly black walnut, were made by my great Uncle Peter Zimmerman of Jordan; chairs were made by Samuel Moyer of Campden. A few other crude pieces of furniture were made by the Honsbergers at home. Incidentally, a new roof and paint job today would probably exceed the cost of the original building in 1850. The house, now 108 years old, is still in good repair. The hand made shingle roofing was replaced with asphalt recently. The dry-house (the only one in the community and used before my time), is still in fairly good condition. The back kitchen with its antique pine beam ceiling and brick fireplace, the large wood shed and shop, smoke house, ash house, and outside privy are still in good repair. The covered well with old oaken bucket and windless has been gone for several years. The bake-oven collapsed in 1957. The large two-doored corn crib was converted a few years ago into a range shelter for chickens. The Honsberger farm was given the name “Walnut Ridge Farm”. First walnut trees still remain and produce an annual crop of first class nuts. Two are well over the one hundred year mark. All are on the east side of the house and shed. One of them is said to be the second largest walnut in the Niagara Peninsula, possibly in the province. It has a measurement of fourteen feet and seven inches at the stump, while the largest is fourteen feet, eleven inches at Grimsby Beach. I have a standing offer of one hundred dollars for the stump and roots which would be used as veneer for furniture. Father’s first cousin, the late Dr. Jerome Honsberger (father of Gordon Honsberger), of Kitchener, while attending a family gathering here in 1932, gave an after-dinner speech in which he told how as a child he took a nut from this particular black walnut tree to his home in Berlin and planted it in his back yard. The tree, in time, became so large that the neighbors presented a complaint to the city council and consequently Jerome was obliged to cut it down. Part of the lumber from the tree he had made into a desk which his daughter has in her possession today. These trees are old land marks, and I hope to have them remain so. Grandfather (Henry) was quite an athlete in his younger days. He held the local record in the standing broad jump. It has been said that he would stand at the end of a twelve-foot plank and clear it at a standing jump - I understand that they used weights in those days in jumping. He used to crack hickory nuts with his teeth. Today, I, his grandson, can barely bite the nut meats. Henry wouldn’t have a chicken on his place as long as he lived. He wasn’t going to contend with having “henkel dreck” on his walks and lawn.
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