“Tobias and his brother, Michael, came by boat from Wurtemburg, Germany. Tobias married Catherine Wolfe, of Hessendormstadt, Germany, the daughter of Henry Wolfe and Elizabeth Hartman. Tobias and his wife later settled in Dashwood. Their barn was on Lot 23, [SB Hay] in Dashwood, and their house on Block “A” in the village. They also lived in the Niagara district and later New York State. Tobias and Catherine had five children: Wilhelmina, Henry, Elizabeth, Caroline and Charles. Wilhelmina married Eugene Mapes, and had a daughter Katie, in the state of Iowa. When Wilhelmina lost her husband, she and her daughter came back to Canada and settled in Crediton where she married Christian Fahner. They had six children: Everett married Ella Beaver; Lily married Roy Finkbeiner; Mabel married Otto Ewalt; Emery married Lozetta Haist; Irvin married Elsie Sauer and Etta married Chester Mawhinney.

(left) North is up on the map. This map shows the “Hay side” of the village north of Dashwood Road. Lot 23, SB, Hay Township; the property acquired by Tobias Guenther when he and his family moved into Dashwood from a farm in Stephen Township at an unknown date, is situated in the northeast corner of the village, immediately to the west (left) of the farm labelled “W. Snell”. Unfortunately, a crease runs directly through the name that appears on the property on this copy of the 1879 Historical Atlas of Huron County and so I am unable to determine exactly who owned the property at that time. The farm was later owned by Tobias’s son Henry around the turn of the 20th century and eventually by J.C. Reid, George Edighoffer and Earl Gaiser. The property was acquired by the V.L. Becker family in 1949.

Tobias and Catherine’s son, Henry, married Jane Rennie [sic] [Ed. note: Jane’s maiden name was actually spelled “Rannie”; she was the daughter of Samuel and Leah Rannie of Slabtown.] and had six children; Earl married Clarice Hooper; Euloeen married Lloyd Edighoffer; Leeland married Pearl Siebert; Gladys married Fred Cords; Homer and Grace were single. Tobias and Catherine’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Solomon Martin, and had one daughter Lylyan. Caroline married John Hoffman and they had two daughters, Ora and Lily. Charles married Laura Emily Hooper Birk and they had eight children: Letta, Harold, Melvin, Rose, John, Edith, Florence, and Irvin.

Tobias and Catherine Guenther lived on a farm south of Dashwood for a short time before moving to Dashwood where they lived until his death. Catherine then lived with her daughter, Elizabeth Martin. Tobias was superintendent of the Sunday School and an elder of the Dashwood Evangelical United Brethren Church.”

extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pg. 440 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0