TSCHIRGI, Mathias

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=breamefford&id=I17734

TSCHIRGI, Matheus "Mathias". (St. Gallen, Switzerland, Oct. 25, 1824--Dubuque, IA, Nov. 11, 1903). Matheus Tschirgi learned brewing in Wurtemburg and came to the United States in 1845. (1) He worked for a year in St. Louis at the Washington Brewery before moving to Dubuque in 1846.

Tschirgi and Gehrig began the DUBUQUE BREWERY around 1846, but Gehrig's sudden death forced Tschirgi to ask Anton HEEB to come from St. Louis to help him. In the six months, Heeb needed to close out his business in Missouri, Tschirgi attended to the brewery and Gehrig's family. According to Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of Iowa, Tschirgi during this time ground the grain in a coffee mill and distributed his product to customers by wheelbarrow. Sales were very slow due to competition from a brewery in Galena. Eventually sales along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER increased, but Tschirgi later admitted, "I became despondent and wanted to return to the old country, but could not get my money out of the brewery so I remained." (2)

In 1848 the "Mathias Tschirgi" brewery, with a capacity of six barrels per brew, was located on Main between 6th and 7th Streets. The company sold the first beer in St. Paul where there was no brewery. Tschirgi purchased more land including an old mine shaft sixty feet deep, ten to twenty feet wide, and three hundred feet long that was used as a malt cellar. (3) In 1850 the company became M. Tschirgi and Co. on Julien St. in Dubuque.

In 1854 Tschirgi constructed a new brewery of brick that had a capacity of twenty-five barrels daily. He formed a partnership with Jacob SCHWIND through which they developed the WESTERN BREWERY, one of the largest BREWERIES in Iowa, at the corner of Delhi and Julien avenues. By the 1860s the brewery had a capacity of seventy-five barrels. The death of his partner, however, put too much pressure on Tschirgi, so the company was rented. Under the name of Tschirgi & Schwind Sons, it remained in business until the consolidation of breweries that led to the DUBUQUE BREWING AND MALTING COMPANY. (4)

For the 1870 Census, Tschirgi changed the spelling of his first name to Mathew. His oldest son, Matthew TSCHIRGI, Jr. (then 20) also changed his name.

In 1873 Tschirgi attended the Brewers' Convention in Vienna, Austria as a delegate of the United States Brewers' Association. He continued in the business until 1886 when he retired.

Tschirgi took an active interest in the careers of his sons. One son, Arnold TSCHIRGI, was established in the brewing industry of Sheridan, Wyoming. George TSCHRIGI and Frank were provided with improved ranches near that city. His daughter Catherine married Adam Francis JAEGER, Jr. while his second daughter, Louise, became the wife of J. Traut.

In 1879 Tschirgi purchased an interest in the HILL STREET AND WEST DUBUQUE STEAM RAILWAY COMPANY. (5)

Matheus Tschirgi and Louis Kammuller were awarded patent #57221 in August 1866.

Unlike others in the brewing business, Tschirgi was interested in inventing. He perfected beer reservoirs and coolers and received patents for them in 1865 and 1866. In 1870 he patented a pressure regulator for fermenting beer. (6)

See: PATENTS

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Source:

1. "M. Tschirgi's Reminiscences," One Hundred Years of Brewing: A Complete History of the Progress Made in the Art, Science, and Industry of Brewing in the World. Published in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Western Brewer, Chicago: H. S. Rich and Company, 1901, p. 168. Online: http://books.google.com/books?id=dPI7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=Dubuque+beer+consumption&source=bl&ots=r7SEL1ABlc&sig=QI7YGjxMGXQwoWghnxslld3Qjc8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IseOUp-RMuLr2QWh44DoCw&ved=0CEwQ6AEwAzgU#v=onepage&q=Dubuque%20beer%20consumption&f=false

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, February 18, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790218&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

6. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, March 23, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790323&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Gue, Benjamin F. Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of Iowa, p. 544

Tschirgi History Page - Tschirgi, Fred, www.tschirgi.net/history.html‎

"Matthew Tschirgi," Dubuque County Genealogy, http:www.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1894, p. 228