Samuel Merner was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman and politician.

Born in Kien, Canton of Bern, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 with the last name of Muerner or Mürner, he immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1837 settling in Waterloo County, Ontario

Waterloo County, Ontario

Waterloo County, created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973, was the forerunner of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries...

. He later anglicized his last name to Merner.

A businessman, his career in politics started in 1857 when he became a member of the council of the village of New Hamburg, Ontario

New Hamburg, Ontario

New Hamburg is a community of approximately 8,739 in Wilmot Township, a rural township of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario...

. From 1873 to 1878, he was reeve of New Hamburg and served as Warden of Waterloo County in 1878. After losing a by-election in 1878 in the Ontario provincial riding of Waterloo South, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the federal

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

 riding

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 of Waterloo South

Waterloo South

Waterloo South was a federal electoral district and a provincial electoral district.Federally, it was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in the 1878 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1878

The Canadian federal election of 1878 was held on September 17 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression...

. A Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

, he was defeated in the 1882 election

Canadian federal election, 1882

The Canadian federal election of 1882 was held on June 20, 1882 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Canada.Prime Minister Sir John A...

 but was appointed to the Senate in 1887 representing the senatorial division of Hamburg, Ontario. He served until his death in 1908.

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