Hugo Kranz was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-born businessman and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada. He represented Waterloo North

Waterloo North

Waterloo North was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in 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...

 from 1878 to 1887 as 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...

 member.

He was born in Lehrbach, Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, the son of Charles Kranz, was educated in Darmstadt

Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...

 and came to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 with his father in 1851. After four years, father and son moved to Berlin, Ontario (later Kitchener

Kitchener, Ontario

The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

). His father opened a general store there and Kranz took over its operation in 1875 after his father's death. In 1865, he married Catherine Seip. Kranz served as town clerk (1859 to 1867), reeve (1869 to 1870) and mayor (1874 to 1878) for Berlin. He also was trustee and treasurer for the local high school and a justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

. Kranz helped found the Economical Mutual Fire Insurance Company and served as its manager and president. He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1887 and 1891, losing to Isaac Erb Bowman

Isaac Erb Bowman

Isaac Erb Bowman was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Waterloo North in the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal member from 1867 to 1878 and from 1887 to 1896....

each time.