My Genealogy Hound

Ernst Soest, farmer, and agent at Rolla for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, of St. Louis, is a native of the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, born in 1844, and is the son of Ernst and Emily von Soest. Ernst von Soest, Sr., was a farmer by occupation, and the subject of this sketch was reared to agricultural life on a North German estate. In 1863 he was one year in the regular army, and in 1867 came to the United States and direct to Rolla, Mo., where he purchased a farm of 310 acres, one and one-half miles east of the county seat, where he has since resided. In 1872 he established an ice house on the farm, and has since supplied the city of Rolla with ice, putting up 250 tons per annum. In 1885 he became agent for Anheuser-Busch, of St. Louis, to handle their beer, and his territory includes Pulaski, Phelps, Texas, Dent, Shannon, Maries and Crawford Counties. Mr. Soest has 250 acres under cultivation, and has one of the finest farms in Phelps County. He has the farm well improved, with fine buildings, pastures, fish ponds, etc., and has a beautiful place. Mr. Soest is a good business man, and one of Rolla’s most solid citizens. In 1875 he married Miss Anna Schelling, who is a native of Germany, born in 1854, she having come to this country in 1872. They have three children: Adelia, Walter and Herbert. Mr. Soest is a Republican in politics, is a member of the Knights of Honor, also the Knights of Pythias, and he and wife are members of the German Lutheran Protestant Church.