Hyman (Henry) Seigler

Went to Western Canada in first decade of 20th century. Lived in Edmonton, and also peddled in Northern Alberta. Traded furs with the Cree. Spoke German, Yiddish, English, French, Romanian and even some Cree. Eventually settled in Vancouver, where he died. 22 years old in Montreal in 1891 census (he and his brother Sam were lodgers together). In 1901 prairie provinces census listed as born Sep 6 1867. In 1940 Canadian Wartime registration, birthdate reported Oct 12 1867. Served as postmaster of Peace River, Alberta, from November 1928 to February 1946.

From a history of Vancouver BC jewish community: Born in Romania in 1867, Henry Sigler as a young man of twenty-one crossed the Atlantic to New York in 1888. The next year he found his way to Eastern Canada. In 1892, he came to the North West, where he engaged in general merchandising in Edmonton for fourteen years. In September 1898, Henry returned east to marry Fannie Lehrer in Montreal. They became the parents of two sons, David and Maurice. Sigler moved to Vancouver with his family in 1909, just in time to partake in Vancouver's real estate boom of 1909-12. He joined a group of Vancouver businessmen in the Progress Club, devoted to the development of the city and exploitation of the province's vast timber, mining and fishing resources. In 1911, Sigler organized the Alberta Financial Corporation of which he was elected president. In general community affairs, Sigler was a member of Edmonton Lodge AF & AM, then transferred this membership to Melrose Masonic Lodge in Vancouver.

In August 1914, Canada joined the British Empire forces in the Great War. British Columbia's pre-war boom period had crashed. Sigler, along with many other business entrepreneurs, left the province for better economic prospects elsewhere. Although a participant in Vancouver's Jewish community for only half a dozen years, in is roles in acquiring the Heatley Avenue property, in financing it and as building chairman, he had been a key mover in Vancouver's first purpose-built synagogue. Henry Sigler's important role in Vancouver's Jewish history has been long forgotten; hopefully, this paper will cored the oversight.