Merner

Samuel Merner, member of the House of Commons for South Waterloo, and the leading business man at New Hamburg, was born in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, January 29, 1823, his parents being Jacob and Susan (Schluchter) Alerner. In 1837 the family emigrated to Canada and settled on a bush farm two miles west of New Hamburg, where the parents lived until their death, the father dying in 1873, aged 81 years, and the mother in 1876, aged 86 years. Samuel received a common school drill, and when fifteen years of age he went to Preston, County of Waterloo, learned … Read more

Frederick Merner, a prominent manufacturer, is a brother of Samuel Merner, M.P., mentioned on preceding pages, and was born in the same place, Canton, March 22, 1829. In 1837, when the family settled near New Hamburg, the country in this part was almost a dense forest; schoolmasters were scarce, and not of the highest grade, and Frederick acquired the best education he could, under the circumstances, at literary browsing. By additional application to books out of school, he obtained a fair knowledge of the several branches necessary for the transaction of ordinary business. His father raised no children to fill … Read more