death_date death_place birth_place office birth_date term_start image article_title term_end name
18 april 1921 vancouver , british columbia baden-baden , grand duchy of baden member of the legislative assembly of manitoba 29 december 1830 1900 wilhelm hespeler.jpg william hespeler
 1903 william hespeler
william hespeler

william hespeler -lrb- december 29 , 1830 -- april 18 , 1921 -rrb- was a german - canadian businessman and immigration agent and a member of the legislative assembly of manitoba .
he served as speaker of the legislature and as honorary consul of germany to winnipeg and the northwest territories .
he was awarded the order of the red eagle for his services to germany .
born as wilhelm hespeler in baden-baden , grand duchy of baden , the son of georg johann and anna barbara -lrb- wick -rrb- hespeler , hespeler was educated at the polytechnic institute at karlsruhe .
he left school at the age of nineteen and emigrated to canada with his mother in 1850 -lrb- his father having died in 1840 -rrb- .
he worked for his older brother jacob hespeler before becoming a partner in the firm of hespeler and randall , which ran both a distillery -lrb- which later became seagram 's -rrb- and a grain mill .
he married a canadian woman and became a naturalized british subject at some time before 1867 , adopting the first name of `` william '' .
in 1870 he returned to baden-baden , serving briefly as a stretcher-bearer during the franco-prussian war before being hired by the government of canada as an immigration agent in 1871 .
while he was in baden he heard that a number of mennonite families in russia were intending to immigrate to the united states .
he reported back to his superiors in canada , who sent him to russia to persuade the mennonites to choose canada instead .
despite considerable opposition both from british and russian authorities , he was able to arrange for thousands of mennonites to immigrate .
most settled in the area around winnipeg .
impressed with his success , the minister of agriculture , john henry pope , appointed him dominion immigration and agriculture agent for manitoba and the northwest territories .
hespeler moved to winnipeg , residing in the suburb of fort rouge for the rest of his life .
he arranged for further mennonite immigration and also encouraged icelandic immigrants and jewish refugees from germany and elsewhere to settle in manitoba .
during this time he combined his work for the government with his private business of grain merchant , but he also worked to ensure the welfare of new immigrants through the provision of emergency supplies and temporary shelter .
he planned the town of niverville , manitoba and -lrb- with his son -rrb- erected the first grain elevator on the canadian prairies .
in 1876 hespeler was elected alderman for winnipeg 's south ward and was appointed a justice of the peace and a member of the council of keewatin .
in 1882 the german government appointed him honorary consul for winnipeg and the northwest territories ; in 1903 he was awarded the order of the red eagle in thanks for twenty years of service to the german empire .
hespeler was elected to the legislative assembly of manitoba in the 1899 general election as an independent for the rural riding of rosenfeld .
on march 29 , 1900 he was elected speaker of the legislative assembly , one of the first men not born a british subject to be appointed to this level of government in the british empire .
despite his conservative leanings he did not support the government of conservative premier hugh john macdonald .
redistribution eliminated the riding of rosenfeld in 1903 and hespeler chose not to run again .
his retirement was marred during world war i by hostility from residents of winnipeg arising from his german connections ; he was opposed for attempting to assist german immigrants who had lost their jobs due to anti-german sentiment .
after the war he found himself forgotten by the city and the province he had helped to populate .
hespeler was married three times .
after the death of his third wife in 1920 , hespeler moved to vancouver to live with his son alfred .
he died the next year at the age of 90 .
hespeler avenue in winnipeg 's east kildonan ward was named for william hespeler .
hespeler road in steinbach , manitoba and rural municipality of hanover and hespeler park in niverville are also named after him .
