Vernon

hey i am a vernon to i live in New Canaan C.T.

Family connections

Hi Jake,

My name is Alexa Holleran, and I am Helen Sillick-
Holleran's granddaughter, by her third child and second
son, Romer Holleran.  I, too, am currently involved in
writing a family history, though smaller in scale than
yours, from the sounds of it.  I'm looking for
information on Jacob Ruppert, Jr. (your...great-
grandfather?), and I came upon your postings through
Google.  Could we talk?   You can drop me an email
directly at alexa.holleran@williams.edu.  Thanks!

Your very distant cousin,
Alexa

hi

nice to meet you to but i dont think we have meet

Eichler brewery

Hello Jacob,
My name is Thomas DiDonato.
My G.G.Grandfather is John Eichler, i have just started researching subject. Until a few years ago we didnt know we had a brewer
in family.  Anyway my info says that J. eichler was your G.G.Grandfathers brewmaster.
Is this correct?? He also worked for Kolb
before he bought his Brewery. Well got to run,
for now.   Thanks   T D

Eichler Brewery

Mr. DiDonato:

Yes, you are correct.  In 1854, a young and eager aspiring brewmeister named John Eichler did arrive on the doorstep of Franz Ruppert's Turtle Bay Brewery located on West 45th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue's in NYC.  Franz is my gx3 grandfather.  The Eichler name was very powerful in the Bronx as the brewery was very successful and operated for over 80 years.  From what I recall from my late father, Rheingold (Liebmann Breweries) bought the brewery in 1947.  There are collateral family names in the Eichler line; most namely the Heinz Family.  An Eichler daughter married John C. Heinz who was very active in the brewery for his life.  Louis Heinz, in later generations, was very big in Bronx politics.

John Eichler depended more on Franz Ruppert than just a job in his youth.  The year John died (1892), a woman came from Germany claiming to be his wife, and later, his widow, stating that they were married before he immigrated to the US.  With 2 alleged widows, a trial ensued and Franz Ruppert's records (Franz died in 1883)proved that John was in his employ as early as 1854, negating the possibility of John fathering her alleged putative children.  She and her adult son were arrested for extortion.

Also, you and I are related by affinity.  As you may have learned, the brewery family dynasties of NYC intermarried (my family intermarried with the brewery families of Ehret, Gillig, Oppermann and Schalk to name a few).  Eichler was one of them.  Jacob Siegel Sr. married Mina Eichler (John's daughter).  Their son, Jacob Siegel Jr., married Amanda Gillig, niece of Anna Gillig (Mrs. Jacob Ruppert Sr.).  Amanda's parents were John George Gillig and Katherine Elizabeth Oppermann.  It's all like a "Brewery-6-Degrees-of-Separation."

Now, about two years ago, a gentleman contacted me in NYC from Norfolk, CT stating that he was an Eichler descendant and fondly remembered playing in the Brewery after it was boarded up decades later after Rheingold purchased it (The building has been gone for years now).  I never learned the consanguinous relationship, but he stated that he is also distantly related to the actor Jon Voight (father of Angelina Jolie).  You may have more famous relatives than you think!  I have his e-mail address should you wish to contact him.

Meanwhile, I cherish my Eichler Brewery blob-top beer bottle in my office.  I have also visited and photographed John Eichler's gravesite for our expanding portfolio of family history.  You are welcome to a copy.  It is located in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.  Curiously, he is buried next to another famous fellow German brewer: Adolf G. Hupfel (both with identical twin monuments).

Where in the US are you?  Have you done a genealogy?  If so, where do you fit in?

A pleasure meeting you, and feel free to write any time.
JACOB

Jacob

Family Connections

Hi, Alexa...so nice to meet you.  I see your 3rd cousin, once removed (Ruppert)has also found this site.  So great to meet both of you here!  Jacob

Marx Brothers

Great!  I'd love to hear some of the stories that your Pop shared with you.  Do you have any pictures?  What a great legacy you have.

Yes, The Marx Brothers did claim to steal apples from the Ruppert's backyard orchard; however, it turns out that the Marx Brothers were mistakenly remembering another brewer given the address of their citrus shenannigans.  They were stealing from the yard of George Ehret, not Jacob Ruppert!

Ruppert site(s) in NY

Yes, very little is left.  You can visit the old brewery site on Third Avenue between East 90th and 94th Streets.  The site now is 3 massive apartment complexes, each named to preserve the memory: Knickerbocker Tower, Yorkville Tower and Ruppert Tower.  In Ruppert Tower, last I checked, there is a display case with items from the brewery that were discovered when laying the foundation for the building.  There is also a photo of Col. Jacob Ruppert, Jr. there as well.  Just ask the front desk and they will direct you as it is not in the main lobby but off a small hallway therefrom.

Col. Jacob Ruppert, Jr.'s apartment building is still there (he was an original tenant)located on the NE corner of East 93rd St. and Fifth Avenue.  At the other corner, the SE corner, was the site of the former Ruppert mansion which was distroyed in 1926 soon after his mother's death (she was the last resident).

You may wish to visit the Kolping House, a German youth hostel, that was built in 1888.  In the lobby is a huge marble tablet with the names of the brewers, including Ruppert, who donated toward its construction.  Kolping house is located 165 East 88th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues.

Enjoy your trip!

Ruppert Brewery

I'm looking for information on and explosion that occurred at the brewery, which apparently killed my great grandfather, John Vollz. This is what I've been told by other family members, but I can not locate any specifics. You can email me at efarr@ptd.net. Thank you.

Brewery Property

I am a decendent of Daniel Fanshaw early NY printer. My middle name is his. He was a strong morally upright man who opposed tobacco and strong drink. Family legend said that his widow sold his Yorkville home to a brewery. I recently found that this was indeed true and that Ruppert Brewery was that party.  I have a print of his home in Yorkville at 91st and 3rd. Anything you have on this would be of interest.

Brewery Property

Warren Rollins:
I tried to e-mail you at the address you provided but it was bounced back.  Tell me, what year are we talking about concerning this sale of the house to the brewery?

I'm so interested in your research....

K. Jacob Ruppert
jacob@jacobruppert.com

my email

OOPs.. forgot to add my email

steve@ruppert.com

Historical Find

E-mail for bill WMUR938920@aol.com