Mathias Hermann - Bios ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** File transcribed and contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Carmella Kranz on Sun, 11 Oct 1998 USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non- commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ****************************************************************** Surnames: Hermann Mathias Hermann, was born March 29, 1839 in Grosselgingen, Prussia ( now Germany ). Emigrating to the United States about 1856, he enlisted in the Union Army on October 6, 1861 and served as a carpenter, a military job that would stand him in good stead upon discharge. Serving in company B, Second Artillery Regiment, he was honorably discharged on August 24 , 1863, at age 22, as a private. Upon leaving tha Army, Mathias Hermann embarked on a career as a successful cabinetmaker. A local undertaker, as they were called back then , asked the young man to fashion a casket for him. He was then asked to make another and another , and the ideal eventually dawned on him to go into the business of not only making caskets but selling them. He founded the Math Hermann Funeral Home the latter part of 1863 and it contiunes today. Mathias Hermann married Pauline Messmer in 1865, and to that union were born six children . Mathias Hermann died November 23, 1908 at 3521 North Broadway, St. Louis , Missouri and was buried at Calvary Cemetery on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1908 He had been a G.A.R. member of the Harry P. Harding Post 107 in St. Louis. The Funeral Home is now called Math Hermann and Son.