John and Sem Wissler founded Salem in 1845

The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.

Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.

At the peak of his career, Sem Wissler, the founder of Salem, had visions of eclipsing Elora’s status as a major economic centre in central Wellington County. 

He succeeded in establishing a hamlet of minor significance, with a number of mills, stores and taverns, but Salem has never been more than a northern appendage of Elora in Nichol Township, failing to achieve a population sufficient for incorporation as a municipality.

Historical research on Salem presents a number of problems. For the early years, there are only scattered documents in the surviving papers of the Wissler and Gilkison families, and some references in letters and papers of the Bon Accord settlers.

John Connon’s research notes contain scattered references, covering Salem into the 1920s. For the later part of the 19th century, there are occasional references and stories in the Elora newspapers, but Salem was not covered as thoroughly as Elora.

Salem did have a newspaper in the 1860s and 1870s, the North Wellington Times, but no issues seem to have survived. As a consequence, there are considerable gaps in the historical record for Salem in the 19th century, and I must make the most of what exists. 

The Wissler family, of Swiss-German ancestry, emigrated in 1720 to Lancaster county in Pennsylvania, an area of the colony with a predominantly German population. The family prospered in its new home, and when members of this growing community began to move to Canada in the years after 1800. Jacob Wissler took advantage of the opportunities by purchasing some 7,000 acres of land in Waterloo county, which he subsequently sold to Pennsylvania expatriates and new immigrants from Germany.

Jacob Wissler never lived in Canada, but three of his sons, including Sem, the founder of Salem, abandoned the old homestead in the United States. Sem’s brothers, John and Levi, established a tannery about two miles north of Bridgeport in the late 1830s. At the age of 20, Sem Wissler joined his brothers in the business, known as Eagle Tannery, in 1839; within two years he replaced Levi as a partner.

John and Sem Wissler did well with their tannery, and with the saddle and shoe-making businesses they set up along side it. By the mid-1840s, they were seeking further expansion. The land along the Irvine river, north of Elora, seemed to be the best choice in the area.

Anyone with business sense at the time could see that this would soon be the site of a village. Considerable water-power potential existed in the Irvine river, although it was not as large or as reliable as dams on the Grand river; to the immediate east, the Bon Accord settlers were building thriving farms. To the west, the Pilkington lands were expected to be opened for sale very soon, and some squatters had already jumped the gun.

The land, lots 16 and 17, Concession 11, Nichol township, was still owned by Jasper Gilkison, the youngest son of the founder of Elora. John Wissler, the elder of the brothers, made an offer for it in October 1844. This documented offer was preserved by the Wissler family, and is now in the library at the University of Guelph. With its scrawled handwriting, missing punctuation and misspelled words, it shows that major business transactions could once be transacted without benefit to accountants and over-sharp lawyers. 

It reads as follows:

Mr Chasper T. Gilgeson,

Sir I was this day with my Brother on your Lots of Land No Sixteen and the halve of Seventeen and seen the same and did understand you have them for Sale we did take a yew of it and did conclude to give you an offer for the said Pieces of Land I hereby offer you one hundred pounds at the time we would get Possession and Seventy-five pounds in one year from date which would be Seven Hundred Dollars for one hundred and fifty acres Please to inform us by Beam if you can let us have it at that price or not as we want to get a Piece this fall and to make a beginning on it this fall yet

I am yours with respect etc. John Wissler

Jasper Gilkison responded with a counter offer of $790, stating he was not anxious to sell the property, but was willing to sell because he understood that the Wisslers planned to build a tannery. Working through Mr. Beam and John Miller, who were Jasper’s agents in Galt, the parties agreed to a price of $750, and the deal was closed in the first week of January 1845.

Jasper Gilkison needed the money at the time for some of his other investments in the Hamilton area; as well, the investments to be made by the Wisslers would raise the value of the remaining Gilkison land in Nichol township.

The tannery planned by the Wissler brothers would function as a branch of their Bridgeport operation, with Sem in charge of operations. They hired two men, Robert Bankwell and James Longman, to clear some of the land and build a shanty during the winter of 1845. Sem moved to the site with his young family in June.

The Wisslers brought some of their employees up from Bridgeport during the summer, and hired other local labourers and tradesmen to construct a sawmill. Once it was in production, they had lumber to build their tannery, which was to be the key industry in their future village, which they named Salem.

The large frame tannery remained for two years the only major structure in the new village. Sem Wissler did much of the tannery work himself, with the help, when necessary, of men from the Bridgeport operation. He and his family lived above the tannery, tolerating the smell, and kept a small store in one end of the building.

At this time, the tannery was not a significant industry. Sem Wissler had to rely on a meagre supply of hides from local farmers who did their own butchering, though it is possible that he brought in some hides from Waterloo county. He produced sole leather, most of which went to the shoe-making shop alongside Eagle Tannery near Bridgeport.

The Upper Canadian economy stagnated until the late 1840s, a result of the worldwide depression of the late 1830s and the 1837-38 rebellion, which gave Canada a reputation for political instability and scared away foreign investment.

The history of Sem Wissler’s business in Salem shows the effect of these economic conditions at the local level. Prior to 1850, only two additional businesses were set up in Salem: David Robinson’s blacksmith shop and John Pearson’s tavern.

Though only a mile from Elora, Salem at this stage remained a rather isolated settlement. The only road to the community went east to the Bon Accord Road, which was the extension of Irvine Street in Elora. 

Foot traffic had three other choices: the bed of the Irvine river, a rudimentary trail that connected with Geddes Street in Elora (which eventually became Union Street), and a second, more circuitous trail through land that is now the Elora cemetery.

Economic conditions improved dramatically in the early 1850s, and Sem Wissler was in an excellent position to take advantage of them.

The opening of Pilkington, Peel and Maryborough townships for settlement broadened Salem’s potential, and Sem Wissler began to feel confident that he could challenge Elora as a milling centre and market town.

*This column was originally published in the Elora Sentinel on Sept. 22, 1992.