Biographical Sketch of Hermann Haas, Jefferson County, Missouri >From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888. ********************************************************************** Hermann Haas, coal contractor for the Crystal City Plate Glass Company, at Crystal City, is a native of Prussia, born in 1832 and received a good common school education. He was engaged in merchandising for four years, and in 1851 came to the United States, and from 1853 to 1857 was contractor for furnishing rock for St. Louis by river. In 1852 he was clerk on the steamer "Warrior," on the Mississippi River, where he had the misfortune to lose his eye by the explosion of the boat. One year later he purchased the "Clermont" a tow boat, and in 1855 purchased one half interest in the steamer "Burnette." From 1853 to 1876 he was en- gaged in business with a Mr. Schreiber, the firm title being Haas & Schreiber. He was married in 1855 to Miss Anna M. Neun. From 1857 to 1862 Mr. Haas was at Alton, Ill., coal mining and rock quarrying, and erected the levee at East St. Louis. He was also, for six months dur- ing the war, deputy collector of customs at Alton. In 1863 he returned to St. Louis, and was rock contractor until 1876, building a large por- tion of foundation for the levee in St. Louis. From 1876 to 1881 he was engaged in furnishing rock for the Government works from the quarr- ies at St. Louis, giving employment to 150 men. In 1881 he came to Crystal City, and for five years operated a hotel in connection with his other work. He was owner and ran the tow boat "Dictator," from 1868 to 1872. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================