Johann Friedrich (John) Woelfle was born in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, 1870. He was the son of John Jacob Woelfle (1828-1888), a German emigrant who farmed and made and sold ploughs in Berlin, Ontario. John Jacob Woelfle married his second wife, Emilia Krug, in 1864 and of their nine children, John Woelfle was the second son, and Eduard E. Woelfle (born in 1873) was the fourth son.
At the time these letter were written John Woelfle was a commercial traveller for the firm of Callaghan and Company of Chicago, Illinois, a publisher of legal reports, digests and material of interest to lawyers and the legal profession. Eduard E. Woelfle, to whom the letters are addressed, was born in Berlin, Ontario on July 4, 1873. He served as a machinist's apprentice at Goldie and McCulloch in Galt, Ont., worked as a journeyman in the United States, and returned to Berlin in 1906 to open a business with his brother Gustave. This was incorporated in 1920 under the name of Woelfle Brothers, Limited. John Woelfle died in 1896.
Sources: Lamb, Kathryn Hansuld. "Bridgeport's Lancaster Hotel and its owners 1853-1989." Waterloo Historical Society. 1989. 77: 120-141, Middleton, Jesse Edgar and Landon, Fred. "Edward E. Woelfle and Gustave A. Woelfle." The Province of Ontario: a history, 1615-1927. Toronto: Dominion Publishing Company, 1927. vol. 4, p. 436, and Moogk, Peter N. "Nach Amerika: the Krugs of Eulersdorf come to Canada West." Waterloo Historical Society. 1992. 80: 142-155.