Category: Inmates

The core of this museum exhibit was guided by a desire to better understand the everyday lives, struggles and successes of the inmates that resided in the House. In this section, you will find profiles of the inmates that lived and sometimes died in the House. Piecing together information about the lives of over 3000 people before, during and after their time at the poorhouse from often little archival information is not an easy task, but the work continues. We encourage you to contact us if you have questions or stories to share about people in the House Register or in the profiles.

Margaret Heddle

Margaret Heddle was allegedly abused by the Keeper and Matron of the time, Mr. and Mrs. Martin, and wrote a letter to the King of England asking to be taken out of the House due to the ongoing abuse.

Frederick and Rosena Schlegel

Frederick and Rosena Schlegel were originally shoemakers from Germany and were committed to the Poorhouse in 1907.

Annie and Edward Dollar

Edward Dollar lived at the Poorhouse for the first 2 years of his life with his mother in 1906. After they were discharged from the House, Annie sent Edward to an orphanage. Edward was eventually sent to the Orillia Hospital for the Feeble-Minded at the age of 9.

Nancy Lassert

Nancy was committed to the Poorhouse on November 22, 1905, listed as an “Idiot”. She remained at the House until 1908 when she died of paralysis.

Valentine Reichert

Valentine entered the House of Refuge after being sick for years and no longer having anyone to care for him. He stayed in the House for 9 months before he died from paralysis.

Margaret Wirsching

Margaret Wirsching was admitted to the Poorhouse in 1899 for having “Weak Intellect” and was later sent to the Hamilton Asylum in 1911.

James Smith

James was committed to the Poorhouse February 2, 1899 and absconded 8 months later. He went to Toronto where he committed suicide.

August Drexler

August Drexler was born near Halle, Germany around 1821. His parents and family are mostly unknown...

Louisa Finkelstein

Louisa Finkelstein entered the Poorhouse due to “insanity” and was sent to the County Gaol where she would die a few months later due to her presumed infliction.

Noah Shantz

Noah Shantz was a seasonal worker who would enter the Poorhouse during the winter months and leave in the spring to find work on a farm.

Levi Carroll, Emeline Aylstock and William Aylstock

Levi Carroll was a well-known ex-slave who lived in the Kitchener-Waterloo area during the nineteenth century.

Mary and John Walden

Mary and John Walden were a couple of the few people who were racially identified on the Register of Paupers, Vagrants, and Idiots received at the House of Industry and Refuge.

Wieland Family

A family that was committed to the House on several occasions due to destitution and the father’s intemperance.

The Marti Family

“Of all the inmates of the Waterloo County House of Industry and Refuge throughout the years none was better known than Bismark, the deaf mute who spent his waking hours trudging up and down Frederick Street within the bounds of poor-house property dressed in the red coat of a British soldier. “

Annie Watson

Annie Watson was fifteen years old when she became pregnant and entered the Poorhouse in 1891.

Joseph Clough

Joseph or John Clough was first admitted to the poorhouse on September 17th 1890. The logbook states that he was crippled, 54 years old, and Living in Galt for 30 years before. He escaped from the poorhouse on August 21 1891.

Hibner Family

Several of the Hibner family members came to live and die in the Poorhouse during the second half of the nineteenth century. Daniel Hibner, who never stayed in the Poorhouse but had many relatives that did, became a prominent figure in Kitchener from being the mayor of Berlin in 1894 and founding a furniture under his name.

Meinrod Ochsner

Meinrod Ochsner was the only inmate recorded as having a physical altercation with the then-Keeper of the House, Peter Itter.

Jemima Frame

Jemima Frame came from a well-off marriage but unfortunately due to becoming a widow and having no other source of income or financial security, Jemima was treated very poorly when she lived in the Poorhouse which amounted to her death in 1888. The incident is brought to light during the 1893 trial against the Itter’s management.