Essex County NJ Archives Biographies.....Edward BALBACH, (Sr.) 1804 - 1890
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 8, 2008, 11:40 pm

Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor  (1917)

BALBACH, Edward,
Founder of Important Industry.

  There are very few names more prominently associated with the industrial
development of Newark, New Jersey, than that of Balbach, two generations of
which family, father and son, have been responsible tor the introduction and
growth there of the great business connected with the smelting and refining of
precious metals for which that city is famous. The immense mills founded by
Edward Balbach, Sr., and brought to their present proportions by both father and
son, are one of the two largest in the world, and the methods of carrying on the
work, devised and first put into practice there through the genius of the two
men, are those now universally employed.

  The Balbach arms are: Arms—Parti per fesse or and vert, the upper part charged
with three palm branches, placed one above the other, vert. The lower part parti
per bend wavy, argent. Crest—A young man issuant, habited parti per fesse or and
vert, collared of the last, cap vert, holding in each hand a palm branch vert.

  Edward Balbach was born March 19, 1804, in the city of Carlsruhe, Baden,
Germany, and passed the years of childhood and early youth in the place of his
birth. He was typical of the best class of his race, showing in his own
character the strong virtues and abilities that have given his countrymen the
place they occupy in the world to-day, the virtues and abilities that,
transplanted into this country, have formed one of the most valuable elements in
the development of our citizenship. His childhood and youth, too, were typical,
and he went through the same hard but wholesome training customary in that day
and country. His education was received at the local Volke-schule, and he showed
 marked intelligence and perseverance as a student, and a special aptness and
fondness for the subject of chemistry. His father was quite willing for him to
gratify so practical a taste, and every opportunity was given him, lad though he
was, to perfect himself in the subject. Of these he availed himself, and as he
grew older, so also did his taste grow, so that when he eventually came to an
age to chose a career in life, he determined that it should be something of a
kind in which he could exercise his knowledge. He finally decided upon the
refining of precious metals, an occupation for which he was especially fitted by
his studies. The knowledge of chemistry in those days was decidedly rudimentary,
of course, compared with that of to-day, and especially was this true in what
might be called the department of applied chemistry, the wonderful wave of
inventive activity which characterized the nineteenth century having only just
begun, so that much of what was known was of a purely theoretic value, and its
practical significance as yet unrealized. What practical knowledge existed in
his line at the time, Mr. Balbach possessed, however, and also that quality of
originality which makes the best use of opportunities at our disposal and
devises new ones—the originality, in short, that was responsible for the very
wave of invention already remarked.

  He began his operations on a small scale in his native city of Carlsruhe,
where he gradually worked up a successful trade, remaining there until the year
1848 and he had reached the age of forty-four years. The conditions imposed upon
labor of all kinds in his native land, as well as conditions in a more general
sense, were not at all satisfactory and had led up to the serious disturbances
known as the Revolution of 1848-49. The entire state of affairs was becoming
more and more intolerable to men of stong [sic] ambitions, especially if they
were also strong republicans in their beliefs and sympathies. Both of these Mr.
Balbach was, and he determined to seek some region where he could find a greater
opportunity for self-expression, and reap without unwarrantable interruption the
fair fruits of his enterprise and labor. It is only natural under the
circumstances that his thoughts should have turned to the great republic of the
west, as did those of so many of his countrymen at that time. Mr. Balbach was
not obliged, however, to hazard all on a stroke of fortune as did so many
others, and his natural prudence impelled him to first see for himself what
conditions in America were. He believed that, if they should turn out as
reported, his training and experience would insure him future success, but he
preferred to take nothing for granted, to trust little to the stories told, and
to witness with his own eyes the environment which he proposed to make his own
before taking an irretrievable step. Accordingly, in 1848, he sailed for the
United States and made here an extended visit, going carefully into conditions
with a thoroughness typical of his race, and doubly so of himself. Two facts
stood out most prominently in his mind after this investigation; he had found
many reports untrue or exaggerated, he had found his preconceived picture not
wholly accurate, but these two essentials he had seen for himself, and they
outweighed all other considerations in his mind. The first was that he would be
free of those trammeling regulations that had so cramped his efforts in his
native land, and he found that, in spite of the fact that there seemed to be a
large and growing demand for such work as he contemplated, he would have little
if any competition in that line. In his endeavor to find the best possible
location for the plant he intended establishing, he visited most of the large
and important cities of the United States, and, in spite of the inducements held
out by western points, and their nearness to the great mines of the country, he
finally decided on the city of Newark, New Jersey. Where Newark lacked in
proximity to the mines, it more than made up by its nearness to the great
markets; and then, too, the manufacture of jewelry was carried on there on a
large scale which afforded a double advantage, both as purchasers of Mr.
Balbach's product and because the dust and sweepings of such places offer a
splendid material for the refining process. This material at that time was
commonly sent to some European city for refining, and it was obvious to Mr.
Balbach that a great saving on all sides could be effected by doing it at home.
The business sagacity of Mr. Balbach had been obvious in the investigations
carried on by him in this country; what next occurred illustrates a very
different side of his character. While he was in the midst of them and when he
had about determined to open his business in Newark he received the sad tidings
that his brother and the latter's wife had both been seized with a trouble at
that time epidemic in Baden and their deaths resulted. This, as he knew well,
would leave eight little children orphans and, leaving everything else behind
him, he sailed at once for Germany to take charge of the helpless ones. So great
was his charity for them that he adopted all eight for his own, and thereafter
gave them a father's care and affection.

  In 1850 he was able to return once more to Newark, and it was not long before
he erected the first of the great series of buildings that have since become so
intimately associated with his name. Upon its completion he began operations,
the first venture being the refining of the jewelers' sweeping. So satisfactory
was his work that it was not long before his reputation spread far beyond the
confines of the city, and he began to receive shipments of the sweepings from
far distant points as well as from those near at hand. His business grew with
phenomenal rapidity, and his greatest expectations as to his success in the "New
World" were far surpassed. He was obliged to add greatly to his equipment of
machinery, to erect several new buildings, and increase greatly his force of
men. This, however, was but the beginning, and a small beginning to what
followed. In 1851 Mr. Balbach extended his operations into new fields and began
the smelting of silver bearing lead ores for the extracting from the waste of
both these metals. He drew his materials from the mines of New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania in the first instance, but soon went farther afield for his
main supply. All this, of course, necessitated the further extension of plant
and equipment, and this was accomplished accordingly, although increases could
hardly keep pace with the growing demands put upon its capacity. By 1861 Mr.
Balbach was receiving ores from Mexico, and a business with that distant country
was thus begun which exists to this day. The main source of these ores, however,
was the great mines of Nevada, from which enormous quantities of gold and
silverbearing materials were shipped him, so large, indeed, that it finally
became necessary to construct wharves and warehouses to take care of the
enormous consignments, to say nothing of the increase in the plant itself. The
majority of the great western mining States followed the lead of Nevada, and
these ores were sent him from Montana, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Arizona and Lower
California. Notwithstanding the huge size of the smelting business thus built
up, the original industry was not lost sight of, and the jewelers' sweepings are
to this day cared for in the great establishment. One of the very important
products of the plant is that form of lead required for the manufacture of white
lead, which prior to this time had only been produced in Europe and had to be
imported by our manufacturers here.

  The year 1864 saw the admission into the concern of Mr. Balbach's son, Edward
Balbach, Jr., who had inherited his father's genius for chemistry and business
talent. The same year the younger man made himself famous in the industrial
world by inventing a simple process for the separation of the precious metals
from the lead ore. which before had only been accomplished at great trouble and
expense. This notable invention reduced both the time and expense elements
enormously and gave a new impulse to the whole industry. An account of it,
however, belongs and will be found with the sketch of Edward Balbach, Jr., which
follows in this work. There, too, will be found some word of the latest chapter
in the development of the great concern, its venture into the copper refining
industry, where it has been so successful, and its recent growth since the death
of its remarkable founder in 1890, at the venerable age of eighty-six years.

  Mr. Balbach was married to Miss Margaretta Raab, of Ettlingen, Baden, where
she was born in 1806. To them were born four children, as follows: Amalia,
Mathilda, Emilia, Edward.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN

VOLUME III
MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK,  NEW JERSEY
1917


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