Louis Gunner and his wife Rochel (Rachel) were about 20 years old, in the early 1920's, when they left the Ukraine and travelled through Romania to England and then to Canada. Rochel's family had been killed in a pogrom and she narrowly escaped death by hiding under a pile of wood. Louis Gunner's sister, a Mrs. Slack was already in Ottawa so they followed her here. Mr. Gunner took up peddling using a horse and wagon to pick up rags, old textiles, metal etc. There were many peddlers already on Murray Street, where they lived. They sold their loads to Baker Brothers (owned by Manny Glatt) which was located off Scott Street in LeBreton Flats.

Mr. Gunner was an orthodox Jew who wouldn't work on the Sabbath. He would even give up smoking cigarettes from Friday night until sundown Saturday. He was very involved with the affairs of the Murray Street synagogue (Congregation Machzikie Hadas) serving as their secretary for many years. He used to make wine, buying the concord grapes on the market, which he would give as presents to his customers at Christmas. Mrs. Gunner had a fine singing voice. Her son Sol, who later became a musician remembers her singing lovely Yiddish songs. His father never asked Sol to help him on his route or to help out while he made stand-alone ovens out of fireproof bricks and tin in the back yard. He worked alone, going out on his route in all kinds of weather until he was well into his 70's. He never learned to drive, but he managed to make a good living and raise a family as a recycling peddler.

Sol recalled "It's an interesting thing about his horses, he always gave them regal names like "King" or "Prince". I don't know what was the reason, but I'm sure it was kind of ironic. But, he always took care of his animals, he fed them before he ate. He would go to the stable on the back of the house feed the animals first. He used to travel through Lowertown and he'd travel out to what is now Hintonberg and he'd go into the Glebe and those areas and he'd head back around 5 o'clock you'd see the horse coming down Friel Street and Murray Street and into the yard. He'd put the horse in the stable behind the house at 361 Murray Street. Now, the soil around there was very fertile!"

The Gunners lived in two different homes on Murray Street. Sol Gunner recalled many of the Jewish families and businesses along the street in the 1940's such as "the Levine's (parents of author Norman Levine), the Nadrich family, the Pleet's, the Slack's, the Schwartz family, Glustein's, Robillard's, Goldfield Brothers Meats and Applebaum's Tinsmith shop. Across the street were the Weiss family, the Kerzner's and some more Taller's".