25 Dec 2009

Klostermeier Selected Documents

Immigration

Immigrant Ships Passenger Arrival Lists, NARA.

Steamer 'Deutschland' from Bremen to New York
Arrived 16 Sep 1867
p.15

Chr. Klostermeyer, age 50, male, farmer, from Prussia.
Carole. Klostermeyer, age 44, female, from Prussia.
Chr. Klostermeyer, age 17, male, from Prussia.
Aug. Klostermeyer, age 15, male, from Prussia.
W[m?] Klostermeyer, age 7 yr 6 mo, male, from Prussia.
Henr. Klostermeyer, age 6 yr 6 mo, male, from Prussia.
Frdr. Klostermeyer, age 5, male, from Prussia.
Carl Klostermeyer, age 4, male, from Prussia.
Fredke. Klostermeyer, age 19, female, from Prussia.
Carl Klostermeyer, age 9 mo, male, from Prussia.

Published Book

History of Kansas, state and people: Kansas at the first quarter post of the twentieth century, Vol. 5, by William E. Connelley, 1928

HENRY F. KLOSTERMEIER, a resident of Atchison since 1879, is one of the oldest active business men and merchants of the city, connected with the well known and old established house of Klostermeier Brothers Hardware Company.

He was born in Preus Minden, Germany, June 9, 1860. In 1868, when he was eight years of age, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Christ Klostermeier, came from Germany and settled near Newburg in Warrick County, Indiana, and subsequently moved to a farm near Boonville in southern Indiana. Christ Klostermeier spent the rest of his life in that community and died at the age of seventy-two. His widow finally came out to Atchison and died there in 1901, at the age of seventy-three. Their children were: Louis, a brick-maker at Boonville, Indiana; Frederica, who married Melcher Roth, of Atchison; Christ, a dairyman at Atchison; August, who died at Boonville, Indiana; William, the other partner in the Klostermeier Brothers Company at Atchison, who was born in 1858; Henry F.; Frederick, who was drowned in the Missouri River in 1886; Carl and Ernest, of Kansas City.

Henry F. Klostermeier had the limited educational opportunities supplied to boys in southern Indiana during the '60s and '70s. The best of his early schooling came to him before he left Germany. He attended a school at Newburg, Indiana, and after coming to Kansas was in a night school at Atchison. He learned the tinner's trade at Boonville, Indiana, and was nineteen years of age when, in 1879, he came to Atchison, and in August of that year found work with Andy Wilde, a tinner and hardware merchant. He was with the Wilde establishment four or five years and then started a small tinshop of his own on Commercial Street. After three years he became associated with John Wolf in the firm of Klostermeier & Wolf, hardware merchants. The following year his brother, William Klostermeier, came into the firm, buying out the Wolf interest, and since 1888 the Klostermeier Brothers Hardware Company has been regarded as a permanent fixture in the commercial district of Atchison. For many years they were altogether engaged in a retail business, but in recent years have expanded as wholesalers, and now have three men covering the territory tributory to Atchison. Henry Klostermeier probably did not have a dollar in cash when he arrived in Atchison, and the capital that enabled him to start in business was the accumulation of savings and earnings from work at his trade. From these modest beginnings his success has been more than ordinary. Mr. Klostermeier was one of the founders of the American State Bank of Atchison and is its first vice president, his brother William being second vice president. He is also connected with the Atchison Brick Company and has owned much valuable real estate on Commercial Street, including the site of the Klostermeier store. Mr. Klostermeier is a republican in national politics, but has never been a candidate for public office. He is one of the officials of the Trinity Lutheran Church.

He married at Atchison in September, 1886 [1885], Miss Mary Weik, a native of Atchison County. Her father, Christ Weik, came from Wurttemberg, Germany, and settled on a farm northwest of Atchison. He was a Union soldier in the Civil war. Mrs. Klostermeier was born in 1863 and was one of a family of six daughters and one son, the others being Mrs. Lizzie Hagen, Mrs. Carrie Miller, Mrs. Dora Stevens, Mrs. Lydia Hecklenkemper [Hekelnkaemper], Mrs. Rosa Graves, and John Weik.

Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Klostermeier the oldest is Carlina, wife of Fred Fiss, of Atchison, and mother of a son, Fred H. Fiss. The oldest son, Christ A., now associated with his father's business, married Ressie Richardson and has a son, Carl Henry. The second son, Henry C., also in the hardware business of Klostermeier Brothers, married Charlotte Newman. The third son, also associated with the firm, is Louis A., who married Evelyn Logeman. The daughter Ruth married W.R. Caseley, of Independence, Kansas, and has a son, W.R., Jr.

Two of the sons, Henry C. and Louis A., were with the colors during the World war, both being supply sergeants. Henry spent all his time in camp at Manhattan, and Louis was on duty at the Presidio at San Francisco. Both sons are members of the American Legion Post.

Wedding Anniversary

Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, KS, [newspaper].

5 May 1933

GOLDEN WEDDING CELEBRATION, MR AND MRS WILLIAM KLOSTERMEIER

Mr. and Mrs. Klostermeier were married in Atchison 49 yrs ago yesterday at the German Lutheran Church. A daughter of the Klostermeiers, Mrs C. C. Cooper, entertained with a family dinner at her home, 917 Santa Fe St, yesterday noon to celebrate the event. the Klostermeiers have two other daughters, Mrs. Alfred Stolp of 1102 Kansas Ave and Mrs C. W. Greinke of Santa Monica, Ca. Mr. Greinke is a former teacher in the Atchison Lutheran parochial school. The Klostermeier name is an institution in Atchison. It has been since the family first came here in 1879 from Newburg, Indiana. That was 54 years ago, and 46 years ago Will, Henry and Chris Klostermeier founded the Klostermeier Bros. Hardware Co. Chris has retired from active business but the other two brothers continue the trade. The Klostermeier Bros. first opened their business at 725 Commercial St, the building which is occupied now by the Dunn Cafe. Five years later, they moved to 616 Commercial Street, and ten years after that they purchased the building in which they are located today. Later the Klostermeiers built an addition to their building. Twenty years ago Klostermeier's increased their concern by adding a wholesale branch. Louis Klostermeier now dead, was the first of the family to come across to America from the home place in Westphalia territory, Germany, where the father farmed. Two years later, Louis's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Klostermeier, sailed with their nine children on the steamboat Deutschland. They settled in Newberg, Indiana, where Mr. Klostermeier again took up farming. Only six members of the original family are now living, Will, Henry and Chris, all of Atchison; Charlie of Kansas City, Mo; Ernest of Springfield, Mo; and Mrs. Milgo Roth, who is making her home with a daughter in Bethany, Mo. Only seven business houses remain in Atchison today which were here when the Klostermeier's settled in the town, as the Klostermeier's remember.

Obituary

Atchison Daily Globe, Atchison, KS, [newspaper].

6 Mar 1939

A Prominent Citizen Dies:

Henry F. Klostermeier, 79, for 55 years a prominent hardware merchant deceased last evening at the Atchison Hospital. Coming to Atchison in 1879, Mr. Klostermeier was a resident of this city for 60 yrs. The Klostermeier business was dissolved December 11, 1937. A few months later, at the age of 78, Henry Klostermeier re-entered the retail business here, opening a store in his building at 703 Commercial St. Mr. Klostermeier was making a real success in his smaller business.
Henry Frederick Klostermeier, Sr was born in Pressia, Minden, Germany, June 9, 1890 [1860]. When he was seven yrs old, his parents, Christian and Caroline Klostermeier came to America and settled in Newburth, Indiana, near Evansville. His father died a few years after the family reached America.
It was in 1879 that Henry Klostermeier, who was then 19, his widowed mother, five of his brothers, Christian, Will, Fred, Ernest and Charles, and his sister Mrs Freda Roth, came to Atchison to live. Two of the brothers Louis and August remained in Indiana, going to Booneville.
September 27, 1885, Mr. Klostermeier and Miss Mary Weik, daughter of Christian Weik, early Atchison pioneers, were united in marriage at the Trinity Lutheran Church.
In 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Klostermeier bought the Charles Kaffer residence at 1120 Kansas Avenue and remodeled to suit their needs. Mrs. Klostermeier died September 17, 1933.
All of the members of his immediate family preceeded him in death. Surviving two daughters, Mrs Fred Fiss, Sr of Atchison; Mrs W R Casserly of Independence, Ks; and four sons, Carl and Henry Jr, both of Atchison; Chris of Huntington Park, Ca and Louis of Kansas City, and grandchildren. A daughter died in infancy.