Mary Wanner Gingrich, daughter of John Wanner & his wife Elizabeth Wecklin Wanner

Married Michael Gingrich, son of David Gingrich & his wife Elizabeth Groh Gingrich

Children
1 Tobias Gingerich b 1825
2 Elizabeth Gingrich Scheifele b 1827
3 Veronica Gingrich Fischer b 1830
4 David W Gingrich aka Gingerich
5 Solomon Gingrich b 1838
6 Susannah Gingrich Donnenwerth b 1840
7 George Gingrich b 1842
8 Leah Gingrich Hershberger b 1844
9 Magdalena Gingrich Honsberger b 1847
10 Daniel W Gingrich b 1848

part of the family Gingrich & part Gingerich

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Gingrich - On the 12th of February, near Preston, Ont, Mary, widow of Michael Gingrich, aged 79 years, 3 months and 10 days. She died very suddenly and was buried on the 15th.

Funeral services were held by Jacob Gingrich, Benjamin Hall and Aaron Hunsberger from 2 Cor 5, and Phil 1:21.

She was a faithful member
of the River Brethren Church.

Hearld of Truth
Vol XXIII, No 8
15 April 1886

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*** her son David ...

1900 Easton Twp, Adams Co,WI - Gingrich, farmer head David W 71 Canada (parents b Canada,PA & married 48 yrs & immigrated 1894) & wife Catherine 70 Canada (both parents b Canada & immigrated 1894 & married 48 yrs & 4 children, 2 living)

1910 Adams Co Alms House, Jackson Twp, Adams Co,WI -Gingrich, inmate David W 81 Canada (both parents b England & married 30 yrs) & wife Catherine 80 Canada (parents b Canada,England & married 30 yrs)


Who Built the Govenor's House
By Patricia Wagner

After the creation of Waterloo County on May 3, 1852, the province required construction of a court house and gaol (jail) to administer justice. Dr John Scott, the new county warden, advertised for submissions for the project. On June 4, county bylaw no 2 awarded the jail contract to Mellish and Russell, architects in Brantford; the cost was not to exceed 4,875. The building reached completion by December 21, 1852. Apparently the firm designed no other local buildings.

By the early 1860s, the wooden walls around the jail yard had given way to a stone wall 14 feet high. The stone came from farmers' fields. Crowded quarters and the need for repairs led the county property committee to advertise in January 1878 for tenders for alterations to the jail.

By June, the county accepted a tender from Henry Braun, a local builder, for $5,225 and named David W Gingerich to supervise the work in return for five percent of the fee. Alterations were complete by December. This addition was the jailer's residence, or Governor's House.

David Gingerich was the great-grandson of Abraham Gingerich and Barbara Hunsicker (or Huntsicker), who came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1801 and settled on Beasley's Lower Block 5W, Waterloo Township.

David married Catherine Hoffman, and they had four children: Allan, Richard, Phoebe, and Albert.

He had an office in Waterloo. There has been no research on his life, but his architectural legacy is impressive.

David Gingerich signed a petition in 1888 to erect a new Waterloo Township Hall. He designed the old Waterloo City Hall; the former Dominion Life building on Erb Street, Waterloo; the New Hamburg Public School (1874-1958); and Castle Kilbride in Baden in 1877-78.

In Elmira, the building committee of Gale Presbyterian Church in 1885 accepted Hiram Walker's tender to construct the place of worship. Gingerich appeared before the committee at the last moment and presented new plans and specifications, which represented minor changes, and the committee adopted them. The structure opened on October 18, 1868.

Gingerich had a close relationship with the tanner Louis Breithaupt in neighbouring Berlin (Kitchener). When fire destroyed the Breithaupt Tannery on Adam Street in December 1870, the two men sat down at Breithaupt's kitchen table to make plans for its replacement.

Gingerich designed two houses in Berlin where Louis and his eldest child lived: Louis Breithaupt and Catharine Hailer's Waldeck (c 1870 - now demolished), at 166 Adam Street, and Louis Jacob Breithaupt and Emma Devitt's Sonneck (1874), at 108 Queen Street North.

The County Court House was demolished in 1964, and the jail (the oldest county building still standing in the Region of Waterloo) and Governor's House closed formally in 1978. In May 1981, Kitchener designated the buildings' exteriors under the Ontario Heritage Act. The structures stood empty until the Region of Waterloo in 1999 approved redevelopment of them as a millennium project.

More historical research might uncover Gingerich's contributions to the region's built heritage. The author and her colleagues in the Friends of the Governor's House and Gaol would be happy to receive additional information about Gingerich, especially about the buildings that he designed and built.

The Friends' major project has been the Waterloo County Gaol Garden (a millennium project), which landscape architect Wendy Shearer designed. Visitors are welcome. The Governor's House and Gaol has been a feature of Doors Open since that annual event began. Be sure to visit it on September 15.

Architectural Conservancy of Ontario
North Waterloo Region Branch Newsletter
Friends of the Governor's House and Gaol
May 2007