Jacob Yost Shantz

Jacob Yost Shantz
Shantz, c. 1880
Born	(1822-05-02)2 May 1822 Ebytown, Upper Canada
Died	28 October 1909(1909-10-28) (aged 87)
Burial place	First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Other names	Jakob Yost Shantz
Occupations	Farmer Businessman Industrialist
Spouses	Barbara Biehn Anna "Nancy" Brubacher Sarah Shuh
Children	15
Parents	Jacob Shantz (father) Mary Yost (mother)
Mayor of Berlin, Ontario
In office 1882
Preceded by	John Motz
Succeeded by	William Jaffray
Signature

Jacob Yost Shantz (2 May 1822 – 28 October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario (which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held a succession of civic roles over a period of almost three decades, culminating in a term as mayor in 1882. Over the span of his life, Berlin was transformed from a rural agricultural settlement known as Ebytown into a bustling manufacturing centre; this was a change mirrored by Shantz, who began his adult life as a farmer and sawmiller, and ended it as a prominent local industrialist.^[1]

Late in his life, he travelled to the newly-colonized province of Manitoba, and subsequently helped tens of thousands of Russian Mennonites to immigrate there from the Russian Empire.^[2]