Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Reichmann, Joseph ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 28, 2008, 11:51 pm Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907 Joseph Reichmann, of Joliet, who for some years has lived retired from business life, owes the success which he has achieved not to any fortunate combination of circumstances but to earnest purpose and close application. He worked diligently in former years and by judicious investment gained a place among the men of affluence in his adopted city. His life record began in Donaueshinger, Baden, Germany, February 13, 1836, his parents being Joseph and Mary (Gasler) Reichmann. The family numbered nine children. The father, who was born and reared on a farm, engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout, his active life and became well-to-do. He passed away at the age of eighty-two years, while his wife died in 1840, when about forty years of age. Joseph Reichmann after obtaining a fair education, served an apprenticeship to the butchers trade. When eighteen years of age he came to America as a passenger on the Isabella, which sailed from Havre to New York, where he arrived in the spring of 1854, after a voyage of twenty-one days. The ship on which he sailed was the fastest of that period and was the first sailing vessel to cross the ocean in seventeen days. From New York Mr. Reichmann went to Buffalo, where he found work at his trade. Through the persuasion of friends he was induced to come to America to secure railroad construction work but after a day devoted to that labor he gave up his position and two weeks later went to Cleveland, Ohio. In the fall of the same year he removed to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was employed for a year and in the autumn of 1855 he made his way westward to Chicago, where he at once secured employment at his trade. Mr. Reichmann has been a resident of Joliet since the spring of 1857, save for a brief interval. For six months after his arrival he was employed in a butchering establishment and then started in business on his own account, opening a shop on Jefferson street near Scott, with Henry Biedermann as a partner. In 1860 he sold out to Mr. Biedermann and went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked at his trade for several months. The fall of 1860 found him in Pocahontas, Arkansas, where he spent the winter, returning to Memphis in the spring and opening a meat market outside the city limits, in conformity with a custom prevalent at that time. However, he was obliged to close out his business three months later owing to the outbreak of the Civil war. He was pressed into the Confederate home guard service but after the capture of Memphis and the evacuation by the Confederate army he secured work with a meat contractor who furnished meat to the army at Vicksburg. He followed the army as far as Grenada, Mississippi, from which point he was sent back to Memphis for more cattle but not desiring to return to the field he once more came north to Joliet. Following his second arrival in this city Mr. Reichmann formed a partnership with Jacob Adler, opening a store on Joliet street between Jefferson and Washington. The new enterprise prospered and in 1866 Mr. Reichmann erected a business block at the corner of Chicago and Jefferson streets and engaged in business alone. He was successful and continued in trade there until 1893, when he retired from active life and leased his store. At one time he bought and sold considerable real-estate and his operations were profitable, adding materially to his income. In 1874 he built a substantial and handsome residence on South Richard street, where he and his wife now reside. Mr. Reichmann was married in 1869 to Miss Anna Koch, a native of Cologne, Germany, born in 1843, and a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Dresler) Koch, the former a wealthy brewer and distiller of Cologne. Mrs. Reichmann came to America in 1868 with a sister and after visiting some friends in New York state made her way to Joliet, where she has since lived. Her sister Lena became the wife of Hubert Odenthal, of Los Angeles. California. Five children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Reichmann. of whom three are living. Anthony, the eldest, is now manager of the Joliet office for Nelson Morris, Chicago's multimillionaire packer. He married Clara Weishaar, of Joliet, and they have two children, George and Doras. Mollie, the only daughter, is the wife of William Braun, of Joliet, and they have one daughter, Frances Irma, who was born August 30, 1898. Mr. Braun died July 1, 1903, at the age of thirty-eight years. He was the only son of Joseph Braun, an old resident of Joliet. He attended the public schools of this city and following his graduation matriculated in Yale College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1884. Albert, the younger son of the Reichmann family, married Carrie Rub, and has two children: Carl, born March 15, 1902; and Anna, April 2, 1904. Albert Reichmann is a partner of the firm of Flexer & Reichmann, druggists of Joliet, and prepared for this line of business as a student in the Chicago College of Pharmacy. Joseph Reichmann is a Roman Catholic and in political faith is a republican. He belongs to the Joliet Sharpshooters and the Joliet Saengerbund. He has done much for the upbuilding and improvement of the city in which he has so long-resided and the enterprise and diligence which he has manifested in his business career make his example one well worthy of emulation. Additional Comments: PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/reichman2705nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 6.2 Kb