Hotel Photo Tells A Story …

From the Tavistock Gazette, November 14, 1984 (by Bill Gladding)

The recent barn fire in Sebastopol has sparked renewed interest in the history of the hamlet, at least from myself.

From Belden's Perth County Atlas, 1879, we read that Sebastopol "was founded at an early date by Mr. Henry Heyrock, who was its first settler and built its first house". We know that Henry Eckstein settled there in 1845, then proceed- ed southward in 1848 to establish the village of Tavistock on the new railway line. For that reason Tavistock overshadowed Sebastopol's growth and its population dwindled.

Old photographs of the hamlet are difficult to locate, yet two photos are presently available. The one above (also printed on page 20 of Fact & Fantasy) comes to us courtesy of Mr. Harry Weitzel of Kitchener, adirectdescendentof George H. Kaufmann.

Although I have not exhausted archival resources for information on the hotel, the census of 1861 shows G. H. Kaufmann as a 29-year-old tailor living in South Easthope township. Ten years later, in the 1871 census, Mr. Kaufmann is listed as a 41-year-old hotelkeeper. Obviously his age is in question, having aged 12 years in ten.

The hotel, reproduced here from the faded original albumen print taken in the 1880's by an unknown photographer, was destroyed by fire in 1892. A large brick residence now stands at the Sebastopol corner where Kaufmann's hotel once welcomed travellers. Later hotel owners at the location were Foersters and Feicks.

To the right of the hotel you will notice the brick residence now occupied by Mrs. Gilbert Wettlaufer since 1940. Earlier residents of the home were Hohners and Yausies.

The other Sebastopol photo, mentioned earlier in this brief, is one of Oscar Wettlaufer's residence, cider mill and wagon shop, and Trinity's original frame church. But that, in itself, is another story.

The Editor