Few men are as conversant with the rise and growth of the city of Hamilton, during the last half century, as the subject of this notice. For fifty years he has been in business here, and of all the astonishing changes which have taken place in that time he has been an interested witness, and has contributed his share to make the city what it is. When he first came here, most of the land on which the city is built, was farming property. There were but two stores and one tavern, and very little business for even them to do. North of the Bay was a considerable tract of timber, through which but one road led from the village to the water. As one of the “old settlers” who has been and still is actively connected with Hamiltonian progress, John Winer may well be ranked as one of its representative men.
He was born in the township of Durham, Green County, New York, in August, 1800. He is of German descent on the side of his father, who was Dr. Andrew Winer, a well known physician in his time. In 1811 the family moved to Auburn in the same State, where our subject was principally educated, and where he lived until 1821. In this year he visited the Niagara District, Upper Canada, where he spent the next nine years, living in different places engaged in no particular business. In 1830 he settled in Hamilton and opened a drug store. Here his home has since been, and with gratifying success (though once burned out) he has continued in the same business. There are none others in Hamilton, and probably few in the Dominion, who have run a business for a similar period preserving throughout a reputation untarnished, and a credit uninjured. All others who were in business here even ten years after (1840) have either failed, died, or sold out. Mr. Winer conducted his business alone until 1853, when a partnership was formed with Mr. Lyman Moore, which continued for four years, and was then dissolved. Mr. George Rutherford a former apprentice and clerk was then taken into partnership, and the firm of John Winer and Co., as it exists today, was formed. Since 1862, the retail department has been wholly discontinued in favor of the wholesale, and they have built up an immense and profitable business. In 1863 they started a glass manufactory which has since become an important branch of their business. Especially during the last year or so it has rapidly increased, furnishing employment sometimes to as many as 250 men and boys.
In 1876, Mr. Winer became president of the Canada Fire and Marine Insurance Company, a position he still holds. Although it lost heavily in the great St. John fire, the company is a successful one, and it is largely owing to his being at its head that it has secured the confidence of the people.
Always interested in the affairs of the city, Mr. Winer was for many years an active participant in municipal matters. For eight years previous to obtaining the city charter in 1844, he was chairman of the Board of Police, the then governing body of the city, and has spent about twenty years altogether in the council, in addition to being a magistrate for a quarter of a century.
In politics Mr. Winer has taken little interest until within a few years, and is a firm adherent of the Conservative cause. In religious views he is an Episcopal, and worships in Christ’s church cathedral.
In 1822, he married Sarah Ryan, daughter of a farmer living near Beaver Dam, Ontario, by which union there were one son and three daughters. The son studied medicine, and in 1854, took up his residence in Chicago, where he became a physician of considerable distinction. He was a surgeon in the Union army during the rebellion, and died in Chicago in 1873.
Mrs. Winer as well as her husband has a vivid recollection of the exciting events and stormy times of 1812-14. It was near her home that Col. Fitzgibbon with about one hundred regulars and a few Indians, captured by a successful ruse, nearly seven hundred Americans, and it was Sarah Ryan who volunteered to carry the dispatches to Niagara. It was a long and perilous ride for a young girl to undertake on horseback, but she accomplished her mission successfully, though several times passing in view of American soldiers, who regarded, unsuspiciously, a girl apparently taking a ride for pleasure.