The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 33

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 33

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Times being hard and employment difficult to obtain, he engaged in the lock factory of Williams, White & Churchill, until he received an offer of a clerkship in a bakery, which induced him to leave the employ of Messrs. Williams, White & Churchill, and accept the offered situation. After serving in this capacity for two years, he started a small bakery (with but one window) on his own account, at 265 Myrtle avenue, between Canton and Division streets. Here he laid the foun- dation for his future success, a success which has placed him among the prominent business men of Brooklyn. He is now engaged in the same business on an extensive and prosperous scale.

Mr. Jennings occupies and has occupied a prominent posi- tion as a citizen. When but fifteen years of age, he joined Sprague's First Battalion as a drummer; hut the drum corps being full, he entered the ranks and shouldered a musket. This battalion was afterwards consolidated with the 13th Regiment, after which Mr. Jennings was elected to the rank of second lieutenant, company B, now retired into the vete- ran service. He is now, and for several years has been, a member of the New York Produce Exchange. He is also a director in the East Brooklyn Savings Bank.

Mr. Jennings was united in marriage to Miss Alice S. Walker, at Dr. Tyng's Church, Stuyvesant square, New York, June 3d, 1873. Mrs. Jennings is a granddaughter of Edward Walker, a prominent publisher and binder of New York city.

Mr. Jennings is a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, having always adhered to the tenets of the church in which he was reared.

He has never been a politician, but has always endeavored to vote for those men who would best fulfil the duties of the offices to which they were to be elected.

Mr. Jennings is still a young man, honorably identified with the young business men of Brooklyn, than which no abler representatives of the business interests of the times exist in any other city.

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

769

It is no affectation to say that to their abilities and accom- plishments their beautiful city is largely indebted for the commanding commercial position it has attained.

The other leading bakers who sell their bread at wholesale and retail are: Richter Bros., Valentine Lambert, Horace W. Stearns, Perhacs & Dahn, Rudolph C. Bacher, John Kenny, John L. Patch, etc., etc. Nearly all of these have several stores, and from two to ten wagons, and most of them are doing a business ranging from $20,000 to $40,000 a year. The National Baking Co., already mentioned, is a New York as well as a Brooklyn company, and has an original method of doing business. Mr. Samuel Howe, of New York, is president. The company has 45 stores, of which 35 are in New York, and 10 in Brooklyn. We do not know the details of the man- agement of the New York stores, but the Brooklyn stores are all run by the same rule. Each has four bakers; uses 40 barrels of flour a week; each has the same number of wagons (four, we believe); all make cake as well as bread, and their out-put is nearly 21,- 000 barrels of flour a year, which produces a value of about $625,000 per annum in bread and cake.

The cracker bakers, though few in number, do a large business. The directory for 1883 names only three; but one of these, the great house of Hetfield & Ducker, is one of the largest cracker manufactories in the United States. Their large manufactory, 75 by 125 feet, and five stories in height, has all the machinery and appli- ances necessary for the prompt production of every description of crackers and ship-bread. The house was founded in 1844 by Miles Swaney, on the corner of Pearl and Nassau streets. In 1857, it came into the hands of David K. Ducker, a son of William Ducker, who was for many years a local Methodist preacher, connected with the Sands Street M. E. Church. Mr. D. K. Ducker had been, for some years, engaged in the flour business, opposite their present cracker factory, prior to 1857. In 1861, the business was removed to its present location. Mr. C. R. Hetfield, originally from Scotch Plains, N. J., came to Brooklyn in 1857, and in the year 1865 became a partner with Mr. Ducker. The firm was D. K. Ducker & Co. till 1879, and then changed to its present title of Hetfield & Ducker. Mr. D. K. Ducker died in 1876, and William M. Ducker, his son, became connected with the business at that time, and an equal partner from 1879. In 1882, R. W.

770

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

BROOKLYN CRACKER WORKS

HETFIELD & DUCKER'S CRACKER MANUFACTORY.

Steele, a native of Jamaica, L. I., who had been in their employ for fifteen years, was given an interest in the business.

From 1844 to 1857, their largest production was about 30 barrels of flour a week (1,560 barrels per year), and they employed 5 or 6 men. Since 1857, it has grown steadily, till it now consumes 150 barrels of flour per day, equal to 900 barrels per week, or 46,800 barrels per year; gives employment to over 200 hands, and turns out from 13,000,000 to 15,000,000 pounds of crackers and ship-bread in the year, of a value of more than $1,500,000. They send their goods all over the world, and there is but one opinion of the excellence of the manufacture.

Daniel Canty, of 532 Grand street, E. D., is also a cracker baker of fair reputation, who has been engaged in the business about eighteen years, and makes excel- lent goods. He uses about 3,600 barrels of flour in a year, employs 10 hands, and sends ont six delivery wagons. His out-put is probably something like $100,000.

Louis P. Vogel, of 174 Twelfth street, is also a cracker baker; but we have not been able to obtain any particulars of his business.

The fancy bread bakers are very numerous, and sev- eral of them have achieved an excellent reputation. The best houses are also cake bakers. James Morton was, for a long time, at the head of this class, and Anderson & Co., Waite & Co. (the successors of Kernan & Co.), Thomas Swany, of 241 Court street, and his son, Theodore A. Swany, of 634 Bedford avenue, etc., etc., are among the most prominent members of it.

The cake-bakers are also very numerous, and of every degree of excellence. Many, and, perhaps all, of those we have named as fancy bread bakers, have also a high reputation for their cake; but there are also many others, who conduct their business on a smaller scale,

who have a high local reputation for their cake. Many of these bakers have an annual produc- tion not exceeding $10,- 000; but their cakes are not the worse for that. To name some of these might seem invidious, since those of equal merit who were omitted might deem themselves wronged. From careful inquiry, we judge that the number of these cake bakers, of ex- cellent local reputation, exceeds 40.

The pastry cooks and cake makers attached to the great hotels and first- class restaurants, as well as the caterers, of whom there are five or six, are a class by themselves; and while they are really very highly skilled as bakers, they do not affiliate with the bakers generally. Of these, W. D. C. Boggs, J. T. Henson, G. W. Swain, Jr., Wm. Vines, and Miss Emily Murray, and the chefs of Dieter's, Hubel's, Gage's, the Wall House, the Pierre- pont House, Thompson's, etc., etc., are those best known to the public.

It remains to speak of the pie bakers. Of the ten or twelve of these, the Brooklyn Pie Baking Co. and the Metropolitan Pie Bakery are the largest; John Kobbe is the manager and principal proprietor of the former, and John Albohn of the latter. Edwin Chenoweth, Jacob Enners, F. Gramlich, Valentine Guthy, Caspar Koester, Henry Loutz, Thomas Lindsay, Anton Miltner and Louis Volz, are also largely en- gaged in this business. It is worthy of notice, that while the pie, in all its dyspepsia-producing varieties, is essentially a Yankee institution, yet all these pie bakers, with a single exception, are Germans.

But these pie bakers do not enjoy a monopoly in the manufacture of pies. Very many of the fancy bread and cake bakers also make pies for their cus- tomers, and the quality of these often surpasses those of the professional pie makers.

Summing up now the bread and bakery products, we find that in the wholesale bread and the cracker de- partments alone, the annual product of not more than nine or ten houses exceeds $4,000,000, and the number of hands they employ is about 650. Of the remain- ing 612, probably more than forty do a business of $20,000 or more, and employ at least eight hands each, making an aggregate of not less than $850,000, and 325 hands; one hundred and fifty produce $10,000 or more, and employ at least four hands each, aggregating about $1,500,000 and 600 hands; of the remainder, not

771

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

less than 250 produce $5,000 or more, and employ two or three hands each, aggregating $1,250,000 and about 600 hands, and the remaining 162 do a business of from $2,000 to $3,000 each, and employ not more than one hand beside their own labor. The aggregate for these would be about $400,000 and 162 hands. This would make a grand aggregate of $8,000,000 annual product, and the employment of 2,337 hands. We think no one who has gone carefully over the ground, as we have, can doubt the substantial accuracy of these figures.

SUBSECTION I .- Confectionery.

Intimately connected with the bakery business is that of the manufacture and sale of confectionery. Some of the fancy bread and cake bakers are confectioners also, and many of the confectioners deal, in a moderate way, in cakes and comfits as well. The census of 1880 reported 104 confectionery mannfactories in Brooklyn, having $236,235 capital, employing 228 hands, paying $79,477 wages, and producing $822,843 annually. There were eight confectioners also in the county towns, making 112 in all, and giving a total product of about $866,000. We doubt if all these were really manufacturing confectioners, but as they probably in- cluded the ice cream manufacturers, of whom there are a considerable number, the number may not be overstated. The Brooklyn directory for 1883 gives the names of 505 confectioners and ice cream manufac- turers, but we know that more than one-half of these are dealers in confectionery only. It would probably be much too large an estimate to put down the manu- facturing confectioners as 200. Some of these do a large business. Among these, the largest house is Mason, Au & Zollinger, of 83 Fulton street; while James Duckworth & Son, Huyler, James S. Buchanan, Henry Josenhans, Henry M. Crowell, F. C. Smith, L. D. Fleming & Co., Herman Giese, Charles Mollen- hagen, George T. Riley (who is also a fancy baker), George E. Stevens, Frederick Schlobohm, are all large manufacturers; and among the ice cream makers, who are not general confectioners, are J. M. Horton (who, in addition, makes a specialty of Charlotte Russes), Thomas Denham, Dixon & Wilson, Peter Arnaud, and Robert Reid.

The present confectionery and ice cream manufac- ture in the county employs more than 500 hands and produces over $1,150,000 annually.

SECTION XXIII. Distilleries and Breweries.

The distilling and brewing industries of Kings county are of great extent, and their production of very large amount.

The census of 1880 does not report these industries under the head of Manufactures of Twenty Cities, nor

under the county statistics, reserving them for its gen- eral and State statistics of distilled and malt liquors, which were kept separate from other manufactures. They do not distinguish between the distilleries and the breweries. By personal application to the census office, we have been able to obtain the following statement of the manufacture in Kings county, in manuscript :- Liquors distilled and malt liquors-42 establishments; capital, $3,888,500; average number of hands employed, 1,102; wages paid, $547,594; raw material used, $2,- 814,792; annual products, $4,993,772. We have tried to check these by the reports of the Internal Revenue Office, but, as the revenue district includes Queens and Richmond counties as well as Kings, and the largest distillery in the United States has part of its works in Queens and part in Kings (and, we believe, also, one of its distilling houses in New York city), we have been unable to make any very satisfactory comparison of their figures with those of the Census Office. We have encountered other difficulties also. Both the distillers and brewers are wholly opposed to giving any statistics of their business for publication. The census did not make any distinction between them, though they had the legal power to obtain it; and the task of securing these returns, when attempted by a private citizen, is almost hopeless.

We have, by persistent and protracted effort, suc- ceeded in obtaining information which satisfies us that the capital, the number of hands, and the annual pro- duction are each much greater than they were stated to be in the Census report; and that, if they were not understated then, there must have been a wonderful and extraordinary increase, within the last three and a half years, of which we can find no evidence.

Our returns from the DISTILLERIES are not so full as we could wish. There are eight of them, of whom two are reported as having offices in New York city. They are all of large size, but the Ridgewood Distilling Co., which is, we believe, Gaff, Fleischmann & Co.'s Kings County Distillery; Edward Kane's extensive distillery in South Brooklyn; Oscar King & Son, on First street; E. D. Fischer Bros., in Third avenue; H. & H. Reiners, in Stagg street, and John L. Hasbrouck & Co., in Front street, are the largest.

Most of them, and perhaps all, are engaged princi- pally in the production of high proof alcohol, or " high wines," as they are called, for which there is a large market for chemical, medical and manufacturing pur- poses, as well as for export. Much is sent to France, and a part of it, in the present depressed condition of the wine production there, comes back to us, after a year or so, duly doctored, and bearing the inscriptions, "Pure Old Cognac," or "S. O. P. Brandy, 1838, 1848, or 1858," or some other dates from thirty to fifty years old. Whiskey is not made to any considerable extent, as it can be produced so much more cheaply in the grain growing regions of the West, and genuine rum,

772

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

gin and brandy can be made more profitably in other sections than here. The production of these eight dis- tilleries cannot be ascertained very definitely, but from the best information we can gather, we conclude that they employ between 400 and 500 hands, and that their annual product is not less than $1,700,000, and perhaps reaches two million dollars.

In regard to the BREWERIES, our knowledge is more definite, though obtained with the greatest difficulty.

There were in Kings county, in January, 1884, thirty- five breweries. One or two had failed, and two or three had changed hands during the preceding year. Of these, eight manufacture weiss beer, a very mild beer, containing only from 4 to 6 per cent. of alcohol, and classed by the saloon keepers among the temper- ance drinks. Weiss beer is always sold in bottles, con- taining a little more than a wine pint. The retail price per bottle, the bottles being returned, is five cents. The wholesale price is, we believe, about 35 cents per dozen. The whole production is not far from 4,500,000 bottles a year, and the annual product may have a value of $150,000. Of the eight manufacturers, Henry Deventhal is the largest, his production exceeding a million of bottles a year. Anton Manuel follows; and the two Marquardts, F. W. Witte, H. Immen, John Menninger and W. Gunther succeed in about the order we have named.

Of the remaining 27 breweries, seven manufacture ale of varying quality, one of the seven making lager bier also, and twenty manufacture lager bier exclusive- ly. The prices of both the ale and lager bier vary within certain limits, according to their quality; but, on investigation, we find that $8 per barrel of 30 gal- lons is a fair average price. Our returns show that the annual production of the 27 breweries does not vary much from 981,000 barrels, being rather over than un- der that amount. This would give an aggregate pro- duction of $7,848,000, and adding the weiss beer- $150,000-a total sum of $7,998,000, or, in round num- bers, $8,000,000.

This is an enormous advance on the Census reports ; for, adding our lowest estimate of the distillery pro- duct, which is undoubtedly too low, we have a grand total of $9,600,000 as against the $4,993,772 of the Census -- just about double. Astonished at this result, we have consulted the men who, from the nature of their business intercourse with the brewers, were most likely to be well informed in regard to their produc- tion, and the answer has been in all cases that our fig- ures were too low. We have checked off the produc- tion of each brewery very carefully, but with the same result. We cannot, then, doubt the correctness of our estimate.

There are, probably, two reasons for this difference: one, that, despite the authority with which the agents of the census were armed, they were often deceived in regard to the production of manufacturers, and were

particularly liable to be deceived in this matter, where the products were sure to be heavily taxed; the other that, by the introduction of new methods and appli- ances, of which the refrigerating machine was the most important, the capacity of the breweries has been greatly increased, and their expenses in the manufac- ture reduced. The ale and lager bier of Kings county have always borne a high reputation, and that of some of its breweries is not surpassed anywhere. This fact has led to an increased demand for their products from other cities and states, and this demand has been met by a larger manufacture. The increase in production has, perhaps, with our rapidly augmenting population, caused a greater home consumption, but much of the new product has been consumed in other states and cities.

The leading brewers of Brooklyn are the Williams- burgh Brewery, lager, about 80,000 barrels a year; Warren G. Abbott, ale and lager, and S. Liebmann's Sons, lager, each about 75,000 barrels. These are fol- lowed very closely by Otto Huber, H. B. Scharmann & Co., Obermeyer & Liebmann, the Boulevard Gar- den Brewery and N. Seitz's Son, whose portrait and biography grace our pages. Mr. Seitz has a very fine brewery, with all the latest and best appliances. He employs about 50 men, sends out 22 wagons, and keeps twice that number of the gigantic Norman horsés, which brewers so much affect, and his lager bier has a very high reputation.

NICHOLAS AND MICHAEL SEITZ .- Nicholas Seitz, a native of Bavaria, came to America in 1843, and was employed for nearly three years by F. & M. Schaeffer, brewers, of New York. In 1846, he established a brewery on Thirteenth street, New York, and carried on a measurably successful business there for a year and a half. During the year 1848, he removed to Williamsburg, and began brewing at the corner of Maujer and Waterbury (late Remsen) streets. His business flourished, and subsequently he removed to a place directly across Maujer street, and later to the site of the brewery now owned by his son, Michael Seitz.

The buildings now in use by Mr. Seitz, his father began to erect in 1866. The establishment is very large of its kind, occupying nineteen lots lying on Waterbury street, and be- tween Maujer and Ten Eyck streets. In 1871, Mr. Seitz trans- ferred the business to his sons, Michael and Joseph, and his son-in-law, Frank X. Bill. In January, 1873, Michael and Joseph Seitz purchased the interest of Mr. Bill, and, five years later, Michael Seitz bought the share of his brother, Joseph, and has since been sole proprietor.

Nicholas Seitz married Catherine Stahl, of New York, and she bore him seven children, named, in the order of their nativity, Michael, Joseph, John, Catharine, Theriasia, Anna and Mary, all of whom are living except John, Catharine and Anna.

Michael Seitz, eldest child of Nicholas and Catharine (Stahl) Seitz, was born in New York, October 16th, 1844, and re- moved to Williamsburgh with his parents, where he, early in life, attended the public schools, to which his educational advantages were limited. When he was about fourteen years of age, he began to assist about the work in the brew- ery; and, when he was only seventeen, his father being sick,

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

773

A.LITTLE:

Michael Saint

he assumed and creditably discharged the duties of foreman. On the recovery of his father, he was placed in charge of the brewery as superintendent, and so continued up to and most of the time since he became proprietor. Mr. Seitz's early and long acquaintance with the details of brewing renders him one of the most expert lager beer manufacturers in, or in the vicinity of, New York. The products of his brewery find a ready market and a large sale, and his already very extensive business is constantly increasing.

In August, 1878, Mr. Seitz married Elizabeth Huwer, of Williamsburg, and they have three children, named Mary, Michael and Anna.

Other brewers, of nearly the same rank, are: Joseph Burger, Charles Lipsius, Ferdinand Münch, all lager; The Leavy and Britton Brewing Company, William Ulmer and Ochs & Lehnert, each lager; while Henry Kiefer, Leonard & Eppig, Joseph Fullert and Charles Frese, each lager, and Howard & Fuller, ale, produce somewhat less, though still large manufacturers. Of those whose production ranges from $150,000 to $200,- 000 per year, there are the Budweiser Brewing Com- pany and Metzler Brothers, lager; and the Long Island Brewing Company, George Malcom and Streeter & Denison, ale. Two others produce not more than $100,000 a year. One of these makes lager and the

other ale. The whole product is fearful to contem- plate-nearly a barrel and a half of beer for every man, woman and child in the county. It should be said, indeed, that not less than one-half of this great product is sold to other markets than ours; but, on the other hand, considerable quantities of beer and ale are brought here from New York, Newark, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and from Great Britain and Ger- many.

The census statistics are equally in fault in regard to the number of hands employed in the manufacture. The rule is that, including the drivers of wagons, por- ters, etc., as well as the workmen engaged directly in brewing, the allowance should be two hands for every thousand barrels of annual product. The weiss beer men exceed this proportion, but the largest ale and lager brewers have brought their machinery to such perfection that they do not quite come up to it. Eight- een hundred is, however, a low estimate of the entire force employed by the brewers; and this, with the 500 hands in the distilleries, gives 2,300 as the entire num- ber of hands in the distilleries and breweries of Kings county-a little more than double the number reported by the census.

774

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

SECTION XXIV. Rubber and Elastic Goods.

The manufacture of rubber and elastic goods, though of considerable amount, and embracing many varieties of these goods, has not attained to the magnitude which it has reached in the States of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island or Connecticut. It is note- worthy, however, that this manufacture is one which attains its highest productiveness in small cities and towns rather than in the large cities. Only four of the cities of over 100,000 inhabitants report manufactories of rubber goods in the census. These four are: Boston, $1,095,000 of product; New York, $1,037,768; Brook- lyn, $922,857; and Chicago, $35,600. New Brunswick, N. J., Waterbury and Colchester, Conn., two or three of the smaller cities and towns of Massachusetts, as Malden, Springfield, Andover and East Hampton, and the small towns of Rhode Island, produce the greater part of the rubber goods in the United States. The reported production of New York city was only $115,000 more than that of Brooklyn, and left almost a million for the production of the smaller cities and towns of the state.

The actual production of rubber goods, in Brooklyn and Kings county, is considerably larger than is reported in the census, as we have found was the case with many other manufactures. The census figures are : 6 establishments; $298,837 capital; 273 hands; $120,885 wages paid; $664,335 of material used, and $922,857 of annual product.

The directory gives the names of twelve establish- ments, of which one and probably two or three are only dealers in rubber goods, but there are certainly nine and possibly ten manufacturers. Of these, Mr. Francis II. Holton seems to have been the pioneer. Mr. Holton, whose portrait graces our pages, and whose biography will be found below, removed from Boston to Brooklyn in 1856, and after starting a rubber factory in New York, in that year, removed it to Brooklyn in 1860, and commenced here the manufacture of surgical, medical and stationery articles of rubber. In 1870, Mr. C. B. Dickinson became his partner, and in 1874, bought his interest in the business, and has since conducted it at 660 and 662 Atlantic avenue, Brooklyn. Mr. Holton immediately started another rubber factory in New York city, and in 1877 removed that to the foot of Adams street, Brooklyn. Both establishments are now doing a large business, Mr. Holton employing about one hundred hands, and turn- ing out more than $200,000 of goods annually, while Mr. Dickinson's number of hands and out-put are about the same. Meanwhile other houses have gone into other branches of the manufacture of rubber goods and with remarkable success.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 33

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345