DeSoto Parish, Louisiana; Biography: Charles Schuler - s460 --------------------------------- Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson Typed by Trudy Marlow ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Charles Schuler. The life of this gentleman has been rather an eventful one, and clearly dem- onstrates how much can be accomplished and ac- quired under the most unfavorable circumstances. He was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, January 18, 1840, to George and Agatha (Lehmann) Schu- ler, who came with their family to the United States in 1852, landing in the city of New Orleans, where he died the same year of his arrival at the age of forty-eight years. He was a graduate of a Ger- man university, was a government employe, a school teacher, but took part in the revolution of 1849, and afterward came to the United States, his time, after coming to this country until his death, being devoted to teaching his native language and music. His wife died in New Orleans, in 1886, at the age of eighty-three years, both having been earnest members of the Catholic Church. Six of the eight children born to them are now living: Pauline (widow of Ferdinand Zurcbmeddan, of Holland, she being now a resident of New Orleans), Matilda (widow of August Leuber, a watchmaker, of Louisville, Ky.), August (is a watchmaker an jeweler, of Cole Creek, Tenn.), Charles (come next in order of birth), Josephine (wife of Louis Leonhard, a merchant of New Orleans, but resides in Bay St. Louis, Miss.), and Ernest (of Keatchie La.). Charles Schuler was educated in Germany, and when a boy of twelve years was compelled to commence the battle of life for himself on account of the early death of his father, receiving for some time $1.50 per month for his services. He was compelled to work very hard for a long time in order to maintain himself and give some assistance to his mother, but nature had endowed him with a good constitution, and he was plucky and perse- vering, and consequently succeeded in his under takings, where many other boys would have failed Upon the opening of the Civil War he joined the Chalmett Regiment, and while on duty at Fort Jackson was captured April 24, 1862, and paroled but was kept at New Orleans until October, 1862 when he was exchanged and rejoined the Con- federate army, attaching himself to the Ordnance Department, but prior to this was with the expedi- tion which resulted in the capture of the "Queen of the West" and "Indianola," two Federal gun- boats, by the Confederates on the Mississippi River. He was promoted to first lieutenant in the Ord- nance Department, having charge of the ord- nance work shops in the district of Western Louisi- ana, and surrendered at Shreveport in the spring of 1865. He afterward clerked in New Orleans for a few months, then came to Keatchie and worked as a farm laborer for some time, after which he opened a store in the town and was there in business until 1871, when he resumed farming and gradually increased his acreage until he now cultivates 1,500 acres of land. His success has been the result of many a hard day's labor, and consequently is fully deserved. In 1874 he was elected to the Legislature from De Soto Parish, as- a Democrat, and during Gov. Nicholl's administra- tion he was president of the parish school board for three years. His marriage, which took place in 1865, was to Mrs. Nancy (Hughes) McBeth, of Port Gibson, Miss. They are members of the Presbvterian Church, in which Mr. Schuler is a ruling elder, and he is a Mason, and a Democrat, and the owner of 1,760 acres of land, but controls more than this.