March 20, 2012 by

Alexander J. Wigle House (1884)

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Categories: 1880s, Tags: , ,

111 Division Street South

Designated in 1987 as the Coda-Leach House

In 1883, after being in Kansas for a year, Alexander J. Wigle and his wife Elizabeth moved back to Canada. Before Kansas, A.J. had been a Gosfield South farmer. But when he moved to Kingsville, A.J. opened up a “mercantile business” on the north side of Main Street West. A.J. and Duchess (as Elizabeth was “affectionately known by the family and close friends”) had Thomas Jenner design this “gothic villa” brick house and it was completed in December 1884. When their daughter Grace was married in this home to Herman Woelz of Colorado, the house was called “Park Place.” Major renovations to this house were completed in 1915 and included an “English stairway” and a “French doorway.” A.J. and Duchess lived in this home together for 34 years. After A.J.’s death in 1918, Duchess moved to Colorado to live with family until her death in 1936.

Petty thieves are again at work in the village. Last Saturday night, the 2nd inst., or early on Sunday morning, Alex. Wigle lost 23 quart cans of fruit out of his cellar at his residence on Division street. An entrance was effected through the cellar window. Mr. W. says he does not mind the thief filling up on the fruit, but he thinks there has plenty of time elapsed in which to return the cans.

Amherstburg Echo, June 15, 1888 p.6

Passing of Alexander J. Wigle

After an illness lasting for over a year, during most of which time he was confined to his home, Alexander J. Wigle passed away on Saturday in the 68th year of his age. Deceased was the eldest son of the late Theodore Wigle and was born on the farm now owned by his younger brother, Nelson, on the lake front. On coming to manhood’s estate, he married in 1874 at Dayton, Ohio, Miss Elizabeth Dunn, of Cincinnati.

[. . .]  Mr. Wigle had been a Methodist for about forty-one years. He was one of the building committee on Epworth Methodist Church when that structure was built in 1893. He was also a member of the Kingsville Council for some nine years, and made an efficient member of the board. He leaves to mourn his demise a widow, one son and two daughters, as follows: Ed C., of Eaton, Colo.; Mrs. R.E. Shultz, of Detroit, and Mrs. Herman Woelz, of Longmont, Colo. He also leaves two sisters, Mrs. E.W. Sandison, of Hollywood, Cal.; Mrs. Bisbing, of Detroit, and one brother, Nelson C., Gosfield South.

The Kingsville Reporter, March 21, 1918 p.4

Mrs. Elizabeth Wigle

[Longmont (Colo.) Times-Call, Dec. 5, 1936]

Funeral services for Mrs. Elizabeth Wigle, who passed away Wednesday evening in the home of her son, E.C. Wigle, at Windsor (Colo.), were held Saturday afternoon in the home of her daughter, here, Mrs. Herman Woelz.

[ . . .] Mrs. Wigle passed on as the result of a heart attack with which she was stricken Tuesday morning.

[ . . .] Mrs. Wigle was born in Lockland, Ohio, October 5, 1854. Since the death of her husband (Alex. J. Wigle, of Kingsville) in 1918, she had made her home with her children. She loved the West and its people, and for the past 15 years had spent most of her time at Windsor and Longmont.

The Kingsville Reporter, December 17, 1936 p.1

© 2012, KMHAC. All rights reserved.

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