Benutzer:Concord/Frederick Lauer
Frederick Lauer, ursprüngich (* 14. Oktober 1810 in Gleisweiler; † 5. September 1883 in Reading (Berks County, Pennsylvania)[1]) war ein deutsch-amerikanischer Brauer. Er war der erste Präsident der United States Brewers Association.
Leben[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Frederick Lauer wurde in dem damals zum Département Donnersberg gehörenden Gleisweiler in der Rheinpfalz geboren. 1822 wanderten seine Eltern, Johann Georg und Catharina Lauer, mit ihren sieben Kindern in die USA aus, wo sie in Baltimore ankamen. Im September 1823 zog die Familie nach Reading. Fredrick wurde zunächst zu einem Fleischer in die Lehrer geschickt.
Sein Vater eröffnete bald darauf im nahe gelegen Womelsdorf eine Brauerei, in der auch Frederick arbeitete. 1826 konnte die Brauerei nach Reading verlegt werden, und 1835 übernahm Frederick Lauer die Brauerei von seinem Vater. 1844 begann er mit der Produktion von Lagerbier neben den bereits vorhanden Sorten Ale und Porter. 1854 gründete er den Biergarten Lauer Park.
Frederick Lauer war vielfältig gesellschaftlich engagiert. Er vertrat seinen Wohnbezirk im Stadtrat und gehörte zu den treibenden Kräften hinter der Erhebung von Reading zur Stadt 1847. Viel Jahre gehörte er dem Vorstand der Berks County Agricultural Society an, ebenso dem Vorstand der Reading and Columbia Railroad sowie zahlreichen wohltätogen Organistionen und dem Kuratorium der Keystone State Normal School, der heutigen Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
LHis business interests forbidding the acceptance of political office, he declined offered congressional nomination. As a delegate to the memorable National Convention at Charleston, S. C., in 1860, Frederick Lauer determinedly opposed the heresy of secession, and earnestly endeavored to secure the adoption of a platform and the nomination of a candidate for the presidency, which would guarantee the preservation of the Union. True to his loyal principles, when the struggle for its maintenance came, he equipped, at his own expense, a full company of men, which served throughout the war in the 104th Pennsylvania Regiment.
Frederick Lauer was an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, a companion of De Molay Commandery of Knights Templar, and a Past Master of Lodge No. 62, of Free and Accepted Masons. He was a sincere Christian, Lutheran by denomination, and for many years a vestryman and trustee of Trinity Church, of Reading. He died on the 5th of September, 1883, in the seventy-third year of his age, and was buried in the family vault, in Charles Evans Cemetery.
Honorable as is this record of the life of Frederick Lauer, and much as we may esteem his private and public virtues, as a business man, citizen, philanthropist, patriot and Christian, of which it bears witness—he has endeared himself to us, has won our gratitude, and we have erected this monument to him for yet other and distinct reasons. Frederick Lauer stands there, for us, as the exemplar of true temperance, as the champion of personal liberty, as the exponent of the just claims of our time-honored trade, as its ever-ready defender and untiring promoter. Frederick Lauer felt and understood his social mission as a brewer, and that consciousness and that knowledge were the source of the earnestness and the perseverance with which he at all times labored for the common good of our trade. He foresaw the reforming influence which the development of the brewing industry in this country was to have upon the drinking habits of its people, and with honest indignation he looked upon every man and every measure, opposing the triumphant sway of the world-conquering brew of hops and malt. He had the satisfaction of seeing the brewing business of this country, in the sixty years during which he was actively connected with it, assume dimensions, reach an industrial importance and make use of technical appliances • far beyond even his own most sanguine expectations. That unpretending pioneer brewery, most primitive in appearance and appointments, which, three-score years ago, through the intelligence, industry and enterprise of the German immigrant, supplanted the log cabin of the Indian,—and the proud establishment of today, raising its stately and colossal structures to the wondering eye of the community, and employing every technical help which genius can devise and capital can procure—these are the prototypes of the lowly beginning and present magnitude of the brewing industry in this country. Towards this wonderful progress no man in this country did more than Frederick Lauer—his hand was ever on the plough, and his shoulder to the wheel. Wherever danger was to be averted; where ignorance, prejudice or malice were to be overcome; where invasion of the personal liberty of the people was to be met, or where the rights of the brewer were to be guarded—Frederick Lauer was eager for the fray, and ready to defend our cause with might and main.
When the enactment of the internal revenue law, at the outbreak of the civil war, made the relation of the brewers of this country to the Government, as tax payers, one of common interest, and resulted in the formation of the United States Brewers’ Association, who was there, so worthy and so fit, to be placed at the head of the new organization, as Frederick Lauer? He was chosen president at the first convention of brewers, held in the City of New York, November 12th, 1862. The services rendered by him to the brewing trade at that critical period of our country's and our trade's history, while acting, often unaided, as mediator between the Government and the brewers,—a loyal and patriotic supporter of the former, and a vigilant, faithful, active and capable representative of the latter,should never be forgotten. By his circumspection and his zeal he was instrumental in adapting the burden of the tax, and the mode of its collection, to the exigencies of the brewing trade, thereby conferring upon it a great and lasting benefit. Frederick Lauer was a member of the United States Brewers’ Association for twenty years, holding positions of importance and honor; and during all that long time he discharged every duty and every trust committed to his hands with unwavering fidelity. He was present at every convention, receiving the hearty greeting of every delegate, from far and near; and now, when the tall form and the earnest and kindly face of Frederick Lauer are no longer seen at our yearly gatherings, and his cheery voice is no longer heard from the platform, in the committee rooms, at the festive board and in social chat,-we feel that there is a void which no other man can fill. Let this monument proclaim to coming generations of brewers our and their great and lasting obligation to Frederick Lauer. Let it remind them of the trials and tribulations of the brewing industry in its early period, in this country. Let it admonish them to meet, manfully and unitedly, as their fathers have done, any encroachment on the personal liberty of the people, and any attack on the just rights and claims of their useful and time-honored trade. But let this monument also stand as our emphatic and enduring protest to the people of this country against the charge, made through ignorance, unreasoning prejudice or ill-will, that the brewing business is antagonistic to the progress of this country and to the welfare of its people. We stand here to-day with the firm conviction that long before a single line is obliterated of the inscriptions on these tablets, or a single feature of this benign and earnest countenance is effaced by time, a clearer and a better understanding of the true relation of the brewing industry to the economic and social interests of the people, than now exists, will have justified and sanctioned, by popular verdict, the erection by the United States Brewers' Association of this monument to the pioneer brewer of Reading, Frederick Lauer. But if on this memorable occasion we feel ourselves impelled to give public testimony of our unalterable belief in the triumph of the cause, to which Frederick Lauer gave his best life-efforts, it no less behooves us, fellow-members and colleagues, to declare our firm resolution, and to pledge our faith to each other, that we will do all that is within our power to bring about that final victory, to which we so confidently look forward. And what is the first and foremost duty we take upon us by this resolution and this pledge? It is our allegiance to the United States Brewers' Association. In no way can we better further the cause we have at heart, or prove ourselves worthy to be the successors and representatives of the founders of our Association, than by our warm and active sympathy for the organization, which they have left us as an inestimable inheritance. And while we now dedicate this monument to Frederick Lauer, as the inscription upon it says, “in grateful remembrance of his unselfish labor for the welfare of the brewing trade in this country,” and to the end, “that his example may tell the brewers of this country, to maintain good-fellowship, to preserve their Association and to defend their rights,”—it is but fitting that those should share in our grateful remembrance, who shared with him the merit, the toil and the honor of founding and fostering our Association, and whose illustrious example speaks to us like his own
He was born on October 14, 1810 in Gleisweiler, Bavaria. He emigrated to Baltimore in 1822 and the family moved to Reading, Pennsylvania.[2] His two sons were Frank P. Lauer and George F. Lauer; he turned the business over to them in 1882. He died on September 12, 1883.[3]
Seit 1838 war er verheiratet mit Mary R. Guldin. Das Paar hatte zwei Söhne, George Frederick und Frank Pierce Lauer.
Literatur[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Dedication Of The Lauer Monument At Reading, PA., On The 23d Of May, 1885. In: United States Brewers Foundation (Hrg.): Proceedings of the Annual Convention, 25 (1885), S. 94–100
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- Concord/Frederick Lauer in der Datenbank Find a Grave (englisch) (mit falschem Todesdatum)
Einzelnachweise[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
- ↑ Todesdatum und -ort nach der Todesnachricht in der Reading Times vom 6. September 1883.
- ↑ Frederick Lauer. Archiviert vom am 22. Januar 2008; abgerufen am 14. Februar 2007.
- ↑ Frederick Lauer story. (Born on October 14, 1810 in Gleisweiler, Bavaria, Fredrick Lauer was an early emigrant to the America. Landing in Baltimore in 1822, the family soon found its way to Reading, Pennsylvania.) Abgerufen am 14. Februar 2007.
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[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1883 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American brewers]]