Alwin Gundlach with daughter Edna Olive
(coutesy of Dolly Krallman)
Alwin Gundlach is my 2nd great grand uncle and his daughter Edna Olive Gundlach is my 1st cousin 3x removed. Frederick Gundlach and Sophie Roepe are my 3rd great grandparents. I would love to know more and talk to any relatives who may carry any information on the Pullman family as well as the Gundlach and Roepe families.
Below is an excerpt taken from "St. Louis, the fourth city, 1764-1909 (volume 2)"pg 749-750:
Alwin Gundlach is president and treasurer of the Excelsior Box & Manufacturing Company of St. Louis and in the upbuilding and development of this enterprise he has displayed the elemental strength of his character and his ready resource. He faced at the outset of his career in this undertaking conditions such as were unknown to the business world a half century or less ago. Today large corporations which have been formed seem to resent as an intrusion upon their rights the establishment of a new enterprise of similar character, and Mr. Gundlach in the organization and development of his business had to fight his way against grasping corporations, but regarding the worth of his output as his best advertisement he has steadily advanced through methods which neither seek nor require disguise, and the business has been almost phenomenally successful.
A native of St. Louis, Mr. Gundlach was born in 1865, a son of Fred and Sophia (Roepe) Gundlach. The father was born in Germany and as a young man came to St. Louis. He afterward went to California with the gold hunters, but returned to this city after an absence of three years and resumed the dry goods business, in which he had formerly been engaged. He continued in this field of activity until his demise in 1869, carrying on the store on Market near 7th street. He costumed for theatrical people and did an extensive business in that line. His wife, like her husband, was a native of Hanover, and she arrived in St. Louis a year after Fred Gundlach became a resident of this city.
Alwin Gundlach pursued his education in the public schools to the age of 13 years, when he was apprenticed to the trade of saddle and harness making. He never worked as a journeyman, however, but turned his attention to the leather business as a clerk in the employ of Henry Schwaner & Company. He determined to master the business and remained there until 22 years of age, being successively promoted to the position of bookkeeper, city salesman and eventually traveling salesman. He left that concern to become traveling representative for E. G. Willis & Brother, jobbers in leather, and was associated with the house until he withdrew to organize his present business of a capital of $2500. This money he had borrowed and he began operations on a small scale, but he soon outgrew the original quarters and has erected a new factory with every facility for the manufacture of boxes. The capital has been increased to $30,000 and the force of workmen has grown from 5 to 35. They manufacture all kinds of wood packing cases, selling mostly to the local trade, and they have considerable country trade. Business is conducted under the name of the Excelsior Box & Manufacturing Company and the enterprise has had a marvelous growth, facing the opposition of corporations and yet winning its way to a prominent place in industrial circles. Mr. Gundlach gives to the business his personal attention and active management, being president and treasurer of the company, with Louis F. Pullman as its secretary.
In 1887 occurred the marriage of Alwin Gundlach and Miss Cora B. Pullman, of St. Louis, and they have one child, Edna Olive, born February 6, 1889. Mr. Gundlach is a member of the Missouri Athletic Club, which he joined on its organization. He also belongs to the North St. Louis Turner Society, to the Royal Arcanum and to the Royal League. He is an ardent sportsman, delighting in hunting and fishing, and he belongs to many clubs of that character, including the Gilead Hunting and Fishing Club, of Calhoun county, Illinois. In politics he is a republican, but not a party worker. He stands today as a splendid type of the self-made man who has constantly developed his mental powers, as well as built up his fortunes, through hard work, unfaltering energy and unabating concentration.
