Biographical Sketch of Henry R. W. Hartwig, St. Joseph, Buchanan
County, MO

>From "History of Buchanan County, Missouri, Published 1881, St. Joseph
Steam Printing Company, Printers, Binders, Etc., St. Joseph, Missouri.
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Major Henry R. W. Hartwig, of the firm of H. R. W. Hartwig & Co., was
born at Niedermoellrich, near Cassel, Province Hessen, Germany on
April 11, 1837. Here he received his education. At the age of
seventeen years, actuated by a restless spirit of enterprise, he
determined to leave the home of his fathers and try his fortune in
the New World. Embarking at Bremen, he, in due time, landed in the
city of New York. After a short stay, he proceeded to Cleveland,
Ohio, where he remained till the fall of 1856. Eager to see the West
he visited the states of Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, and in the fall
of 1857, landed in St. Joseph, Missouri, where one year later, he
engaged in active mercantile business. His first experience was in
the retail grocery business, in which he met with highly encouraging
success. In 1863, he engaged in the grain and produce trade, ship-
ping largely up to 1864, when he embarked in the wholesale grocery
and liquor business. In 1870, he abandoned the grocery trade, and
confined his attention exclusively to the sale of wine and liquor,
engaging largely in importing. In 1869, his brother, Ernst F.,
engaged in partnership with him, creating the present firm, which
by well directed energy and scrupulous integrity, has achieved
merited success. Mr. Hartwig has always taken an active part in
public affairs, and has at different periods, held several important
positions, both civil and military. At the outbreak of the civil
war, he enlisted in Captain Harbine's company of Missouri Militia,
and on August 21, 1862, was promoted by Governor Gamble to the grade
of First Lieutenant. October 7, 1864, he was commissioned by Gov-
ernor Hall, Captain of Hartwig's Independent Artillery Co. June 29,
1865, he received from Governor Fletcher a commission as Major in
the First Regiment of Buchanan County Militia. His merits as an
upright and competent business man were fully recognized by his
fellow citizens, who elected him in April, 1870, to the Collector-
ship of the City of St. Joseph, a position the duties of which he
discharged acceptably to the close of his two years' term. He is
now First Vice President of the Board of Trade. He is also a
Director and First Vice President of the St. Joseph Exposition Co.
He is also a Director of the St. Joseph and Northwestern Missouri
Immigration Society, of which association he holds the office of
Treasurer. In 1867, Governor Fletcher showed his personal regard
for Mr. Hartwig by appointing him one of the Commissioners to
represent the State of Missouri at the Paris Exposition, an honor
which, however, in view of the sudden illness and subsequent death
of his child, he was prevented from accepting. Mr. Hartwig married
March 1, 1860, Miss Carolina Kuechler. He has had two children:
George Henry, born in 1860, and Ernst Charles, born January 1, 1864.
The former died in 1867.

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