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75-734: The following is a list of numbered roads in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo , Ontario . Regional roads are maintained by the Waterloo Region Transportation Department, and highways are maintained by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation , except where they are locally maintained as Connecting Links . The following is a list of provincially maintained highways in Waterloo Region. Communities are ordered by where

150-588: A Sängerfest ("Singer Festival") that attracted an estimated 10,000 people. The festival continued for several years. By 1863, Berlin's German population exceeded 2,000. the community started the Friedenfest to celebrate the German victory in the Franco-Prussian war. The event continued annual until the start of World War I. By 1871, nearly 55 percent of the population had German origins, including

225-603: A "bee" to help newcomers erect large buildings, a custom that persists today among traditional Mennonite communities. In 1806, Joseph Schneider, of south German stock, arrived from Lancaster County. He bought lot 17 of the German Company Tract of block 2. A farmer, he helped build what became "Schneider's Road". By 1816, he had built a sawmill. In 1807, Pennsylvanians John and Jacob Erb, among others, purchased 45,195 acres (182.9 km ) of Block 3 (Woolwich township). The War of 1812 interrupted immigration from

300-601: A bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I, in Victoria Park. The monument would be destroyed by townspeople just after the start of World War I. By the early 1900s, northern Waterloo County – the Kitchener, Waterloo, Elmira area – exhibited a strong German culture and those of German origin made up a third of the population in 1911. Lutherans were the primary religious group. There were nearly three times as many Lutherans as Mennonites at that time. The latter primarily resided in

375-669: A farm near an area that is now the village of Blair. As of March 2021, the homes built by these families' next generation still stand on Pioneer Tower Road, Kitchener. Built circa 1830, they are listed as historically important: the John Betzner homestead (restored) and the David Schoerg farmstead (not yet restored). Other settlers followed, mostly from Pennsylvania, and also purchased land in Block Number 2, German Company Tract from Richard Beasley who had acquired

450-440: A large tract in that area. The settlement, Ebytown, was on the south-east side of present-day Queen Street. Ordained a Mennonite pastor in 1809, and later a bishop, Eby oversaw the building of the first church in 1813 and the confession's subsequent growth. Many Mennonite meeting houses, or places of worship, were basic frame buildings, a structure still common among Old Order Mennonites in rural Waterloo Region. Settlers often held

525-589: A massive territory previously owned by the Six Nations. The first school opened in 1802 near the village of Blair, then known as Shinglebridge; it became part of Preston, Ontario and then part of Cambridge, Ontario . The first teacher's name was Mr. Rittenhaus. After 1803, many Pennsylvania pioneers bought lots from the German Company, established by Mennonites from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The 60,000-acre section included most of Block 2 of

600-504: A population of about 400, also "mostly German", and more tradesmen than the village of Waterloo. Previously part of the United County of Waterloo, Wellington and Grey, Waterloo became a separate entity in 1853, with five townships. Galt and Berlin contended to be the county seat ; one requirement was the construction of a courthouse and jail. When local merchant Joseph Gaukel donated a small portion of his land for that purpose at

675-507: A winter among the Nation, during 1625–1626. A Franciscan Récollet , Father Joseph de La Roche Daillon , spent time with the Nation in 1626 and estimated the population as 40,000 at that time. About 14 years later, Brébeuf and Chaumonot visited 18 Neutral Confederacy settlements and stayed in ten villages. By that time, the estimated population was only "about 12,000 people and 4,000 warriors in about 40 villages and hamlets". After destroying

750-583: Is now King Street in Waterloo; its remains were unearthed in 2016. The road was probably built by Mennonites using technology acquired in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, between the late 1790s and 1816. The log road was buried in about 1840 and a new road built on top of it. A historian explained that the road had been built for access to the mill but was also "one of the first roads cut through (the woods) so people could start settling

825-514: The County of Brant (1920) said that the hunting grounds of the Attawandaron ranged from Genesee Falls and Sarnia and south of a line drawn from Toronto to Goderich . During their travels, Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre Joseph Marie Chaumonot gave each Neutral village a Christian name. The only ones that are mentioned in their writings were Kandoucho , or All Saints, the nearest to

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900-516: The Grand River area in what later became Waterloo County. The region is still home to the largest population of Old Order Mennonites in Canada, particularly in the areas around St Jacobs and Elmira. Over time, after WW II, the anti-German sentiment faded. The Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest event, with beer halls and German entertainment, and a large parade, was established in 1969 to honour

975-754: The Huron , meaning 'people whose speech is awry or a little different'. The Iroquois called them Atirhagenrat (Atirhaguenrek) and Rhagenratka. Some of the tribes of the Neutral confederacy included the Aondironon, the Wenrehronon, and the Ongniaahraronon. They spoke Iroquoian languages but were culturally distinct from the Iroquois and competed with them for the same resources. The French called

1050-560: The Huron Nation ; Onguioaahra , on the Niagara River; Teotongniaton or St. William, in the centre of their country; and Khioetoa , or St. Michel (near what is now Windsor, Ontario). Reville described their territory as having been heavily forested and full of "wild fruit trees of vast variety," with nut trees, berry bushes, and wild grape vines. "Elk, caribou, and black bear; deer, wolves, foxes, martens and wild cats filled

1125-634: The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. By 1835, many immigrants were coming to Waterloo County from Germany and the British Isles. The Germans settled in areas like New Germany in the Lower Block of Block Two. In 1835, some 70% of the population was Mennonite; by 1851, that number had declined to 26% of a much larger population. The county's first newspaper, Canada Museum und Allgemeine Zeitung, came off

1200-656: The Mascouten or "Fire Nation", who were believed to live in what is present-day Michigan . In 1616, the Neutral Confederacy had an estimated 40 villages and 4,000 warriors. In 1641, after a serious epidemic, the Jesuits counted 40 Neutral villages, with about 12,000 people. The nation was unable to survive the changes. In the 1650s, after the Iroquois Wars , they dispersed. One source indicates that

1275-629: The Onondaga , Oneida , and St. Lawrence Iroquoians . It was superior for toolmaking to other local chert varieties around the St. Lawrence Lowlands. That important resource was used to make spearheads and arrowheads and so gave the Neutrals the power to maintain their neutrality. Once the neighbours began receiving firearms through trade with the Europeans, however, the possession of the flint grounds

1350-686: The Petun Nation and may have had shared ancestry. The Jesuit Relations in 1652 describes tattooing among the Petun (also called the Tobacco Nation) as well as the Neutrals: "And this (tattooing) in some nations is so common that in the one which we called the Tobacco, and... the Neutral. I know not whether a single individual was found, who was not painted in this manner, on some part of

1425-585: The East, along the St. Lawrence Valley basin . Iroquoian tribes were later known to historians for the fierce ways in which they waged war. A largely agrarian society, the Neutral Confederacy developed farmsteads that were admired and marveled over by European leaders writing reports to their sponsors. The Neutral Confederacy were primarily engaged in hunting; they traded with others through furs and animal skins. The largest group identified as Chonnonton ('keepers of

1500-651: The Hurons, the Iroquois attacked the Neutrals. Around 1650, during a period that is now loosely referred to as the Beaver Wars , referring to the theft of furs, the Iroquois Confederacy declared war on the Attawandaron. Some historians state that the Iroquois destroyed the Neutral society, which ended as a separate entity in 1651. However, the Neutral population had already been reduced by diseases such as smallpox and measles carried by Europeans. By 1652,

1575-526: The Iroquois had also destroyed the Huron, Petun and Erie Nations. Some of the Neutrals were incorporated into Seneca villages in upstate New York, and others were absorbed into various other societies. The Kenjockety family, one of the last known families to trace their ethnicity to the Neutrals, still lives among the Senecas. Anthropologist Jackes discussed the year 1651 as particularly significant: "during

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1650-512: The Ivan Elliot site was 4,000; the Neutrals lived in longhouses and used the village for about 20 years. Another nearby site, on the McPhee farm, owned by Raymond Reid, was excavated in 1983. The village had a population of about 1,000 around 1500–1530. The Neutral Confederacy decline and eventual end can be attributed to genocide. The final catastrophe that led to its end by the early 1650s

1725-647: The Kassel site ( AiHd-71 ), a base camp, and the Blue Dart site (AiHd-89), which was likely a kill site ; this followed typical hunter-gatherer occupation patterns. Up to the 17th century, the Attawandaron (Neutral) nation inhabited the Grand River area. European explorers admired their farming practices. In the wake of a smallpox epidemic and European incursions, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and

1800-561: The Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area was rated Canada's third-best area to find full-time employment. The region was formerly called Waterloo County , created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973. The county consisted of five townships: North Dumfries, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich. Early Archaic hunters of the Bifurcate Base tradition were present in the area around 8300 years ago. They occupied

1875-548: The Neutral Confederacy has been extinct for more than three centuries, little is known about the Neutrals' language. Mithun (1979:145, 188–189) cites Jesuits pointing out that the Neutral language was different from the Wendat language, in that the Neutrals were "vne Nation differente de langage, au moins en plusieurs choses" (Thwaites 21.188) / "a Nation different in language, at least in many respects" (Thwaites 21.189). Mithun further cites work by Roy Wright (Mithun 1979:160) where

1950-496: The Neutral Confederacy hunted not only deer but also elk, moose, beaver, raccoons, squirrels, black bear, fox and muskrat. The remains of catfish, whitefish, salmon and trout were also common at many of the sites. In 1983–1985, another site was excavated. One of the largest Attawandaron villages, the location covered 13 acres of the Badenoch section of Puslinch, on the east side of Morriston, Ontario . The estimated population of

2025-821: The Pennsylvania Mennonites and European Germans. This group greatly outnumbered the Scots (18 per cent), the English (12.6 per cent) and the Irish (8 per cent). Berlin, Ontario was a bilingual town, with German being the dominant language spoken. More than one visitor commented on the necessity of speaking German in Berlin. In 1897, the Canadians with origins in Germany raised funds to erect a large monument, with

2100-493: The Region's German heritage. The events typically attract an average of 700,000 people to the county. During the 2016 Oktoberfest parade, an estimated 150,000 people lined the streets along the route. Neutral Nation Like others of Iroquoian language and culture, the tribes would raid and feud with fellow Iroquoian tribes. They were generally wary of rival Algonquian -speaking peoples, such as those who inhabited Canada to

2175-558: The Sun") who led several raids against the Mascouten (or "The Fire Nation"), who lived in territory in present-day Michigan and Ohio . A 1627 report called him the chief of all of the nation (Neutrals). Tsouharissen died around 1646. Within a generation (by the early 1670s), all of the nearby first nations, the Erie, the Huron, Neutrals, Tobacco tribes, and even the fierce Susquehannocks would all fall between rampaging epidemic diseases or in

2250-534: The United States. The pacifist Mennonite settlers were employed in camps, hospitals and transportation. Samuel and Elia Schneider arrived in 1816. A network of small settlements emerged. Abram Weber settled on the corner of later King and Wilmot Streets, and David Weber by the later Grand Trunk Railway station. Benjamin Eby encouraged manufacturers to move to Ebytown. Jacob Hoffman arrived around 1830 to start

2325-719: The Wendat (Huron) Confederacies waged war from 1642 to 1650. Invasion by the Haudenosaunee's Seneca and Mohawk nations ended Attawandaron independence. In 1784, in recognition of Haudenosaunee support during the American War of Independence and the consequent loss of its land in New York state, the British government granted the Grand River valley to the Confederacy. The latter settled in the lower Grand River Valley,

List of numbered roads in Waterloo Region - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-587: The area". In 1806, Abraham Erb, from Franklin County, bought 900 acres (360 ha) from the German Company in what would be later part of the City of Waterloo. The putative founder of the city, Erb built a sawmill in 1808 and a gristmill in 1816; the latter operated for 111 years and still stands in Waterloo Park. Benjamin Eby arrived from Lancaster County in 1806. The putative founder of Kitchener, he purchased

2475-590: The bloody Beaver Wars between themselves and/or to the last tribe standing with any significant military power, the Iroquois . The Neutrals quarried Onondaga chert from the Onondaga Limestone formation in their lands. Prior to European contact, they used this chert as a tool stone for arrowheads , bifaces , and other weapons and tools. This extended into the protohistoric and post-contact periods, and has been documented at sites associated with

2550-552: The body." The Museum of Ontario Archeology describes the society as "semi-nomadic", living in villages for about 20 years before abandoning a site after depleting the game and the soil of the area. A historian in 1997 stated that the Nation "also made use of hamlets, agricultural field cabins, specialized camps ... and cemeteries. Another source describes the Neutrals as a "hunter-gatherer society who lived in longhouses that sheltered multiple families". Research conducted by anthropologist Mary Jackes states that they remained neutral "in

2625-609: The conflicts between the Iroquois from south of the Great Lakes and the Ontario Iroquoians who lived to the north" and thrived through active trading instead of war, although the Huron nation aggressively worked to prevent trade between the Neutrals and the French.      The chief of 28 villages, villas, and towns in the last years of the Neutral confederacy was named Tsouharissen or Souharissen ("Child of

2700-402: The confluence of Mill Creek and the Grand River to found Shade's Mills. In 1825, the growing settlement had a post office. Despite settlers' reluctance, Dickson renamed the settlement Galt in honour of John Galt, a Scottish novelist and Canada Company Commissioner. Galt's visit in 1827 brought wider acceptance to the name change. Initially serving local farmers, Galt's industrial development in

2775-492: The corner of present current Queen and Weber streets , Berlin was selected. A courthouse and gaol were built within a few months. The first county council meeting was held in the new facility on 24 January 1853. Both buildings figure in the Canadian Register of Historic Places . The council included 12 members from the five townships and two villages; Dr. John Scott was appointed as the first warden (reeve). In

2850-488: The country of their birth. Anti-German sentiment during World War I was the primary reason for renaming Berlin Kitchener in 1916 to honour British Field Marshal Lord Kitchener , who had died that year when his cruiser was sunk by a German submarine. The Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower built in 1926 commemorates the settlement by the Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch or Pennsylvania German) of

2925-476: The deer'), partly because of their practice of herding deer into pens, a strategy used while hunting. Another group, the Onguiaahra ('near the big waters' or possibly 'the strait' – or something else, see Niagara Falls § Toponymy ), populated the more southern Niagara Peninsula and allegedly account for the origin of the word "Niagara". The Chonnonton territory contained large deposits of flint, which

3000-530: The existence of many villages southwest of Hamilton, comprising a Neutral Confederacy, which he believes to have been centred at the Walker site and was presided over by the chief Souharissen. Noble was instrumental in excavating and documenting other Neutral sites in Thorold , Grimsby , and Binbrook . Reports from those and other Southern Ontario sites near Milton ( Crawford Lake ) and Oakville have indicated that

3075-425: The final Iroquois onslaught...the Neutral fled into the woods and dispersed for the last time ... The years of famine and disease no doubt contributed to the rout".   The last reference to the Neutrals as an independent society is from the fall of 1653. A historical mention in 1864 refers to the "Huron de la nation neuter" and "Hurons neutres" (neutral Hurons). The Neutral Confederacy had much in common with

List of numbered roads in Waterloo Region - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-610: The following years, the region's physical and social infrastructure developed to include roads, bridges, agricultural societies, markets, and schools. The Grand Trunk railway reached Berlin in 1856, accelerating industrial growth. Over the next decade, comfortable homes replaced the early settlers' log cabins. In 1869, the county built a large " Poorhouse " with an attached farm, the House of Industry and Refuge. It accommodated some 3,200 people before being closed down in 1951 and later demolished. Located on Frederick St. in Kitchener, behind

3225-501: The former Grand River Indian Lands acquired by Beasley and previously owned by the Six Nations Indians . Many farms were 400 or more acres in size. Most settlers before 1830 were Pennsylvania Mennonites, often called Pennsylvania Dutch (an anglicization of Deutsch ) because of the German dialect they spoke from their origins in Germany and Switzerland. By the early 1800s, a corduroy road had been built along what

3300-413: The largest city, is the seat of government. The region is 1,370 square kilometres (530 sq mi) in area, with a population of 587,165 as of the 2021 Canada census, though an end of 2023 estimate puts the population above 673,910 people. Waterloo Region forms the tenth-largest metropolitan area in Canada , with recent population growth almost entirely fuelled by international students . In 2016,

3375-614: The late 1830s eventually earned it the nickname "The Manchester of Canada". It remained the area's main town until Berlin overtook it at the beginning of the 20th century. According to the City of Waterloo, indigenous people lived in the area, including the Haudenosaunee , Anishinaabe and the Neutral Nation . One report states that at least two "aboriginal settlements from the 1500s can now be identified near Schneider and Strasburg Creeks" in Kitchener. The finds include

3450-407: The later Waterloo Township started in 1800 (in an area that is now Kitchener) by Joseph Schoerg (later called Sherk) and Samuel Betzner Jr. (brothers-in-law), Mennonites , from Franklin County, Pennsylvania . Joseph Schoerg and his wife settled on Lot No.11, B.F. Beasley Block, S.R., on the bank of the Grand River opposite Doon, and Betzner and his wife settled on the west bank of the Grand River, on

3525-434: The latter notes from the Neutral name given to Chaumonot that the Neutral language did not have sound changes that distinguish Wendat from other Northern Iroquoian languages. Hanzeli (1969), referencing Thwaites (21:228–230), notes Brébeuf and Chaumonot considered Neutral different enough from Wendat to write a separate Neutral grammar and dictionary, now lost. The Southwold Earthworks , near St. Thomas, Ontario , contains

3600-681: The line reached Hespeler, Berlin (Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover. The electric rail system ended passenger services in April, 1955. Some sources estimate that roughly 50,000 European Germans arrived in the Waterloo area from 1830 to 1860. Unlike the largely German-speaking Mennonites from Pennsylvania, the later arrivals – from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and present day and Poland, France and Russia, were of other denominations. The first groups were predominantly Roman Catholic; those who arrive later were primarily Lutheran. In 1862, German-speaking groups held

3675-627: The north of the Neutral. They throve on trade, rather than war." Jackes re-examined French reports including the Jesuit Relations and the artefacts found in the Grimsby site. When grounds were prepared for a new housing development in Grimsby, Ontario, in 1976, a Neutral Confederacy burial site was uncovered in sheltered embayment of the Niagara Escarpment. The excavation by Kenyon was closed after only two months in 1977, and

3750-462: The north shore of Lake Erie from the Niagara Peninsula to the Detroit River, perhaps as far north as Toronto in the east and Goderich in the west." They had population concentrations on the Niagara Peninsula and in the vicinity of the present-day communities of Hamilton and Milton , Ontario. In addition to this main territory, there was a single population cluster to the east, across the Niagara River , near modern-day Buffalo , New York , which

3825-446: The now Frederick Street Mall, it sought to help indigents and convicts before social welfare programmes became available. A 2009 report by the Toronto Star stated that "pauperism was considered a moral failing that could be erased through order and hard work". A new streetcar system, the Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway (later called the Grand River Railway ) began operation in 1894, connecting Preston and Galt. In 1911,

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3900-548: The people "Neutral" ( French : la Nation neutre ) because they tried to remain neutral in the many wars between the confederacy of the Huron tribes and the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy . During the late 16th and the early 17th centuries, the territory of the Attawandaron , as they were called by the Huron Nation, was mostly within the limits of present-day southern Ontario . The Museum of Ontario Archaeology summarizes that territory as follows: they "inhabited dozens of villages in Southwestern Ontario stretching along

3975-400: The population of Waterloo Township, within Waterloo County, consisted primarily of Pennsylvania Mennonites and German immigrants who had brought money with them. Many spoke no English. There were now eight grist and twenty saw mills in the township. In 1846 the village of Waterloo had a population of 200, "mostly Germans". It had a grist mill, a sawmill and some tradesmen. Berlin (Kitchener) had

4050-404: The powerful Iroquois Five Nations Confederacy, who were also Iroquoian speakers. That dissolved in 1639, with devastating effects, particularly to the Wenrohronon. The Wenrohronon made an alliance with the Huron , who were located farther away and could not offer much support. Traveling south from Midland, Ontario , Étienne Brûlé passed through the Attawandaron territory circa 1615 and spent

4125-453: The present Brant County , and sold land in the upper Grand, now part of Waterloo Township, to Loyalist Colonel Richard Beasley. In 1816, William Dickson, a Scottish-born land speculator, acquired 90,000 acres (360 km ) along the Grand River, in present North and South Dumfries Townships, and the city of Cambridge. Dickson planned to divide the tract into lots to sell to Scottish settlers. He and American-born miller, Absalom Shade, chose

4200-423: The press on August 27, 1835. Written mostly in German with some English articles, it was published for five years. By the 1840s, the growing German-speaking population had made the area a popular choice for German immigrants. They founded communities in the south of the Mennonite area. The largest was Berlin (now Kitchener). In 1841, the population count was 4,424. Smith's Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 states that

4275-409: The reasons included "wars, diseases and famine". The remaining members became a part of various other Iroquoian nations. Historical records kept by the French do not discuss the Neutrals as a nation or confederacy after 1672. The Neutrals' name for themselves was Chonnonton , or 'people of the deer', or, more precisely, 'the people who tend or manage deer'. They were called '' Attawandaron'' by

4350-419: The regions's first furniture factory. Immigration continued strongly in the 1820s, driven by a severe agricultural depression in Lancaster County. John Eby, druggist and chemist, arrived from Pennsylvania about 1820 and opened a shop west of present-day Eby Street. In the same year, after clearing a farm and creating a rough road, Joseph Schneider built a frame house on the south side of the future Queen Street;

4425-432: The remains of a First Nations village, estimated to be 500 years old, discovered in 2010 in the Strasburg Creek area with "artifacts going back as far as 9,000 years". In 2020, a site at Fischer-Hallman Road was found to include artifacts from a "Late Woodland Iroquois village" that was inhabited circa 1300 to 1600. Archeologists found some 35,000 objects including stone tools and a 4,000 year old arrowhead. Settlement of

4500-427: The remains of a precontact Neutral village and is a National Historic Site of Canada . It is known for conspicuous earthworks, which were rare in southern Ontario, and are well preserved. The Museum of Ontario Archaeology in London, Ontario , is located adjacent to the Lawson site . It is another 500-year-old Neutral village which has been under study since the early 1900s. An Ontario historical plaque commemorates

4575-431: The renovated home still stands. The settlement around "Schneider's Road" became the nucleus of Berlin. In 1830, Phineas Varnum established the centre of later Berlin (Kitchener). Leasing land from Joseph Schneider, he opened a blacksmith shop on the site of the later Walper House (now the Walper Hotel ). A tavern and store opened there at the same time. Still considered a hamlet, Ebytown became Berlin in 1833. By 1830,

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4650-441: The route encounters them (either from south to north or from west to east). Regional Municipality of Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo ( Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo ) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario , Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge , Kitchener and Waterloo ( KWC or Tri-Cities ), and the townships of North Dumfries , Wellesley , Wilmot and Woolwich . Kitchener,

4725-498: The rural areas and small communities. Before and during World War I, there was some anti-German sentiment in Canada and some cultural sanctions on the community, particularly in Berlin, Ontario. However, by 1919 most of the population of what would become Kitchener-Waterloo and Elmira were Canadian by birth; over 95 percent had been born in Ontario. Those of the Mennonite religion were pacifist, so they could not enlist, while others who were not born in Canada refused to fight against

4800-417: The site "is among a cluster of Attawandaron villages in this part of the region". In 1976, a Neutral Confederacy cemetery was unearthed in Grimsby, Ontario . The area that now comprises Morriston in Puslinch, Ontario is said to have been inhabited by the Neutral Confederacy, in a village of 4,000. This region may have had the largest Neutral Confederacy settlement in Ontario, at one time. Onondaga chert

4875-459: The site, which was occupied by Neutrals in the 1500s. About 1000 to 2000 people lived in longhouses in the fortified community. Scientific excavation was first completed in 1921–1923, when the site was owned by the Lawson family. The searches have recovered 30,000 artifacts and the remains of 19 longhouses. Some of the longhouses and the pallisade have been reconstructed. The McMaster University professor William Noble has excavated and documented

4950-433: The skeletons were reburied near the original site. It was estimated that over 100 bodies were recovered at the time. "Natural disruption, disease, famine and years of severe weather would have been sufficient to begin population decline. Intensifying war, with many killed, taken captive or forced to become refugees, led to almost complete population collapse." Jackes suggested that this burial site "had significance and that it

5025-432: The village of Preston was a thriving business centre under the impulse of Jacob Hespeler , a native of Württemberg . He later moved to the village of New Hope, renamed Hespeler in 1857 in recognition of his enterprise and public service. Jacob Beck, from the Grand Duchy of Baden, founded the village of Baden in Wilmot Township and started a foundry and machine shop. Jacob Beck was the father of Sir Adam Beck , founder of

5100-430: The winter of 1626–1627. Daillon visited 28 Neutral villages, including the capital, which the French referred to as Nôtre Dame des Anges. The fertile flats of the various oxbows that Big Creek makes three miles from its mouth at Grand River , were ideal for long-term settlement. Noble uses the term "Neutralia" to designate the concentration of Iroquoian -speaking natives in the area. F. Douglas Reville's The History of

5175-426: The woods." According to the City of Waterloo, Ontario , the indigenous people who lived in the area in the precontact era included the Neutral Confederacy. In 2020, a site in nearby Kitchener, Ontario was found to include artifacts from an Iroquioan village that was inhabited circa 1300 to 1600. Archeologists found some 35,000 objects including stone tools and a 4,000 year old arrowhead. Another source states that

5250-400: Was a dialect of Iroquoian. They believed that all three groups had once been a part of a single group. Their neighbours, the Wendat (Wyandot, or Huron) Nation referred to the Neutrals (Chonnonton) impolitely as "Attawandaron," meaning "Those whose speech is awry" because their dialect was different. (Apparently, the Chonnonton referred to the Wendat by the same term.) Because the language of

5325-450: Was a valuable resource for sharp tools, fire-starting and, eventually, firearms, which, as a primary resource, allowed them to trade simultaneously with often-warring Huron and Iroquois tribes. Since they were not at war with the Huron or the Iroquois in 1600, Jesuits travelling in the area of what is now Hamilton, the lower Grand Valley and Niagara, called them the Neutrals. However, the confederacy had feuds with an Algonkian people called

5400-401: Was investigated by the archaeologist Mary Jackes. The demise of the Neutral Confederacy occurred in spite of reports by the French, who first met it, "in 1610 as strong, healthy and numerous. They lived in the most fertile and warmest part of Ontario. They were determined to remain neutral in the conflicts between the Iroquois from south of the Great Lakes and the Ontario Iroquoians who lived to

5475-402: Was much less of an advantage. Flints were still used in trade for the flintlocks on guns. The Neutral continued to trade commodities such as maize , tobacco , and black squirrel and other high-grade furs for steel axes, glass beads, cloaks, conch shells, gourd containers, and firearms. Records left by Jesuit priests in the 1600s indicate that the Neutral language was similar to Huron and so

5550-667: Was plentiful in Neutral lands due to the presence of the Onondaga Limestone formation. This tool stone was also available to the Five Nations Iroquois in their own lands, but not to other neighbouring peoples. The Neutral territory marked the furthest northern and western extent of useable chert deposits, even though the Onondaga Limestone runs further. The Neutrals had an alliance with the Wenrohronon , also Iroquoian-language people, to defend against

5625-540: Was west of the Wenro people. – Souharissen was the warrior chief who lived in a village called Ounontisatan, which was visited by the French in 1625-1626. His trade agreement with the Neutral people provided protection for them by his warriors. The principal headman took on and defeated the Fire Nation in what is present-day Michigan . The Recollect priest Joseph de la Roche Daillon lived with him for five months in

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