Marked business ability and cultivated scientific tastes are not as a rule found together, but this exceptional combination exists in August Koch, one of the well-known citizens of Williamsport. Mr. Koch is a German both by birth and ancestry and a representative of one of the best types of naturalized citizens.
August Koch was born April 1st, 1807, in Wurzach, in Wurtemberg, Germany, in early life attended the public schools, and when he grew to manhood enlisted in the German army for six years. While receiving his education he had been apprenticed to a millwright, and at an early age began taking contracts for the erection of flouringmills, building some of the largest structures of this kind in Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Baden and Hungary. After serving three years in the army it happened that the General wanted some buildings constructed and no one could be found who had the ability, so Mr. Koch received his discharge in order that he might be at liberty to superintend the work. With the profits which in the course of time accrued from his proficiency in his chosen trade he purchased a portion of an island on which stood an old cloth-mill. This mill he tore down and erected in its place a foundry and machine-shop. While engaged in this he was boring for water for his supply, and at a depth of about six hundred feet struck a mineral stream of great value. He immediately turned this to account by building a hotel and establishing baths which soon attracted an extensive patronage and became a source of much profit. When Germany, and indeed all continental Europe, was agitated by the revolutions of 1848, foreseeing the probability of being called upon for military service, he sold his property, and with a considerable sum of money, embarked for the United States. He landed in New York whence he proceeded to Reading, and after remaining there a short time moved to Wilkesbarre. Not liking the prospects in either of these cities, he went, about 1850, to Williamsport, and took up his abode in what is now the south side. There he bought four acres of land and established a brewery on so small a scale that it is said the product was delivered to customers on a wheelbarrow. After some years he built a flour and grist mill, but when the city water-works were constructed his water-power was destroyed, in consequence of which he abandoned the mill and devoted his entire attention to brewing. He added two acres to the land he had already purchased and confined his labor to one kind of product, namely, lager beer, and succeeded in building up an extensive and flourishing business. His sons, as they reached manhood, were taken into the firm, the title of which became Koch & Sons. He was a good citizen and a Republican in politics.
Mr. Koch married Wilhelmina Ferber, also a native of Germany, and they were the parents of the following children: 1. August, mentioned at length hereinafter. 2. Alvina, who became the wife of Anton Hart, and has five children: Edmund, who resides at Watkins, New York; William, who married and resides near Harrisburg; Albert F., who is a doctor in Williamsport; Minnie, who is the wife of George Mitchell, and has two children; and Annie, who married Harry Seaton, and resides in Washington, D. C. 3. Minnie. 4. Edmund G., who married Clara Fielmeyer, and has one daughter, Alvina, who is the wife of Dr. H. M. Ritter, and the mother of a son, Edmund Koch. The death of Mr. Koch occurred May 10th, 1873, in Philadelphia, where he was tinder medical treatment for an affection of the throat. His life is a sermon on the text "despise not the day of small things," and a lesson on the possibilities of a man who never fails to avail himself of an opportunity and who seeks success by just and lawful means, rearing the fabric of his fortune on the sure foundation of integrity.
August Koch, eldest child of. August and Wilhelmina (Ferber)
Koch, was born in 1837, in Germany, and was eleven years of age when
brought by his parents to the United States. After the completion of
his education he assisted his father in the business and was soon promoted to the position of superintendent. Subsequently he and his brother, Edmund G., were admitted to the firm. After the death of his father the title was changed from that of Koch & Sons to that of the Koch Brewing Company, with August, junior, as president, Edmund G., vice-president and Edmund Victor, secretary and treasurer. The company produces ten thousand barrels a year, for which it finds a ready market in every part of the country. Mr. Koch is an enthusiastic student of natural history, and for many years has devoted himself with special zeal to ornithology. His love for this branch of science developed in his boyhood, before he left his native land, when he occupied his spare time in stuffing and mounting birds. He now has the finest collection of mounted stuffed birds belonging to any private individual in the United States, many of his specimens being now out of existence. He has a fine fire-proof building on his place for the preservation of his treasures. He is a member of several European scientific societies, also all of the principal ones in the United States, and maintains a constant correspondence with savants in various parts of the world. Though feeling the interest of a good citizen in all that concerns the public welfare, Mr. Koch has never mingled in politics. He and his brother are Democrats.
Mr. Koch married, in 1861, Sarah E., daughter of Daniel Wise, of Lycoming county, and the following children have been born to them 1. Edmund Victor, who married Annie Luppert, and is mentioned above as a member of the Koch Brewing Company. 2. Laura M., who is the wife of Elmer Hiestand and has two sons, Harry and Edmund. 3. Ida, who married Dr. Alexander Allen. 4. Clara, who became the wife of Amasa Ball, and has since died, leaving one son, August Koch Ball. 5. Harry, who died aged nineteen years.
Source: Genealogical and Personal History of Lycoming County, John W. Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1906.
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