My Genealogy Hound

ADAM SCHEIDT, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, president and general manager of the Adam Scheidt Brewing Company, and one of the most enterprising and widely known of American brewers, comes from a family which dates back to the year 1700. His early paternal ancestor was Heinrich Scheidt, who was born at Schweissbacher Miihle (Landgericht Wolfstein Bezirk Kusel), Bavaria, Germany, and there died, in 1792. His sin, Nockolaus, who died April 15, 1831, was married to Katharina Ihrig, and their son, Johann Adam Scheidt, was father of Adam Scheidt, the immediate subject of this memoir.

Johann Adam Scheidt was born in the ancestral village before named, September 23, 1809. He was educated in Bavaria and learned the trade of a miller, which he followed until he was twenty-two years of age. After his marriage, in 1831, he settled in Oberweiler in Thal, where he carried on a grain business, lime-burning and farming until about 1868, when he retired from active business life. He was a man of intelligence and strength of character, as is attested by the fact that he held a number of government appointments, and was elected for several terms to the office of adjunct, a position corresponding to that of burgess of a borough in this country. He was a Lutheran in religion, and was elder in his church. In politics he was allied with the Conservative party. He died April 29, 1894, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, seven months and six days.

Johann Adam Scheidt was married, December 1, 1831, in Oberweiler in Thal, to Maria Katharina Pfleger, daughter of Philip and Maria Katharina (Rheinheimer) Pfleger. Her father was born in 1779, in Jettenbach, and died in Oberweiler, in 1836; his wife was born in 1782, and long survived her husband, dying in 1865, also at Oberweiler. They were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom were sons: I. Katharina, born December 6, 1832, died November 27, 1847; 2. Karolina, born November 14, 1834; 3. Jacob, born September 26, 1836; 4. Peter, born December 21, 1838; 5. Karl (Charles) born July 12, 1840; 6. Friedrich, born December 13, 1842; 7. Adolph, born June 23, 1844; 8. Ludwig, born May 28, 1846, died July 3, 1901; 9. Philippina, born June 15, 1849, now deceased; 10. Katharina, born July 11, 1851; 11. Adam, mentioned below.

Adam Scheidt, youngest child of the family last named, was born at the paternal home in Bavaria, February 14, 1854. He received his education in his native village and learned the trade of cooper and brewer, which he diligently followed until about the time of attaining his . He then entered the German army (December 12, 1874), in the Eighth Regiment, Third Company, which was then stationed at the historic fortified city of Metz. In March following he entered the Officers’ School for five months and then returned to his company, after which he was promoted and did active duty in his new grade. In September, 1876, he was assigned to a recruiting station at Zwybriiken, and promoted to a higher grade of non-commissioned office, where he performed various duties until the expiration of his term of service, when (in September, 1877) he was honorably discharged with an unblemished soldierly record. In March, 1878, Mr. Scheidt, then twenty-four years of age, came to the United States to join his brother Charles, who had preceded him and was located at Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he was conducting a small brewery, and a saloon in connection, at 18 West Main street, which is now conducted as the Hotel Finley. Adam Scheidt reached that place in the evening of Monday, April 1, and at once accepted a position with his brother. He gave his evenings to study of the English language, under the tutorship of Mr. Bloomaker, under whom he soon attained a degree of proficiency which fitted him for a participation in the business. He then became a partner with his brother, and half-owner of the brewing plant, the business being conducted under the firm name of C. & A. Scheidt, and this association was pleasantly and profitably maintained until October 9, 1884, when Charles Scheidt died, after a short illness, following an operation for the removal of a cancer back of the left eye, performed at the Jefferson Hospital, Philadelphia. The deceased was in the prime of life, aged only forty-four years, two months and twenty-seven days, and was unmarried.

Adam Scheidt was now left with the entire responsibility of the business, nor could one have been better equipped for the task. As a practical brewer he had no superior and few equals in America, having thoroughly learned his art in his native Bavaria, the model brewing region of the earth- and he was now entirely familiar with American business methods and had made an extensive acquaintance in business circles over a large territory. He purchased his deceased partner’s half- interest in the real estate at public sale, and the half-interest of the personal property at private sale, under the appraisement, from the father, who inherited from the son Charles, the latter named having died without issue. Mr. Scheidt retained the sole ownership until October 7, 1890, when he effected the incorporation of the Adam Scheidt Brewing Company, of which he at once became president and general manager, and in which two-fold capacity he has continued to the present time.

Under Mr. Scheidt’s masterly management the business has been extended and the plant correspondingly enlarged. Through purchase from time to time, the ground occupied has been increased to about seven and one-half acres, the brewing plant occupying the east side of Stony creek, between Marshall and Elm streets, and the bottling plant the northwest side of the creek, and both provided with railroad sidings. To the brewing plant new buildings have been added at frequent intervals and the old ones have been remodeled and modernized. Obsolete wooden construction has been replaced by steel and iron, until every building is fireproof; the latest and most improved machinery has been installed, much of it having been specially constructed for this establishment; and an efficient electric plant upon the premises is utilized not only for lighting, but also for driving the major part of the machinery, the pumping apparatus included, to the displacement of steam. The equipment also includes three ice machines, with a daily refrigerating capacity of two hundred and thirty tons; a carbonic acid gas collecting plant; and all other scientific appliances now applicable to the art of brewing. In every stage of manufacture, all malt liquors here made, of whatever description, are safeguarded through a strict regard to chemical laws effecting their fermenting, aging and keeping properties. Only filtered air is allowed to come into contact with the liquors, which are also cooled in closed rooms impervious to unfiltered and bacteria laden air.

The bottling plant now in use is entirely new and contains every device which long experience has demanded, either of necessity or for convenience. All the machinery is driven by electricity. The electric wires, steam pipes, water pipes, refrigerating pipes, carbonic acid gas pipes and air pipes are carried to the bottling house from the brewing plant by a trunk line which crosses the mill race and Stony creek and is supported by the railroad trestle bridge crossing the creek. Malt and other supplies, and also coal, are brought to the plant in cars and put in proper places by means of elevators and conveyers.

The product of the Scheidt Brewing Company comprises various kinds of ale, porter, brown stout and lager beer, and includes the famous Lotos Export Beer and Twentieth Century Ale, of which the Scheidt Brewing Company is the sole manufacturer. The annual capacity of the plant is more than one hundred thousand barrels, and the output for the year ending January, 1904, was sixty-seven thousand seven hundred and fifty barrels. Shipment is made in refrigerating cars, built for and owned by the Scheidt Brewing Company, and which are cooled by ice manufactured on the grounds of the Company. The company maintains branch houses in Philadelphia, at 963-971 North Ninth street, and in Baltimore, at 312 South Eutaw street, and distributing depots in Lansdale, at the Broadway House, and in Conshohocken, adjoining the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad freight station, besides many agencies both within and outside the state.

In 1891 the ale and porter brewing and bottling establishment of A. R. Cox, now deceased, at the corner of Main and Markley streets, adjoining the Hartranft Hotel, in Norristown, was bought by the Adam Scheidt Brewing Company and the business removed from the Cox property to the Scheidt plant, with which it was consolidated.

While giving constant and careful personal attention to the conduct of the extensive business of which he is the head, Mr. Scheidt is also connected with various other important corporations, being president of the Penn Trust Company, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and a stockholder in the Norristown Trust Company, the First National Bank of Norristown, the Central Trust Company of Philadelphia, and other manufacturing corporations in Pennsylvania and other states. In religion he is a Lutheran, having been baptized in the church and confirmed in the place of his nativity, and received by certificate into Trinity Lutheran church of Norristown. He has always been a liberal supporter of the church and of its various benevolences, as well as of other deserving charities. In politics he is a Republican. Being too much occupied with the cares of business to engage in party affairs he has never sought or held public office. He holds membership in a number of fraternal and social clubs and societies. His personal characteristics are those becoming to the well- equipped man of affairs, who has through his own industry and intelligent efforts acquired means and an honorable position in life and stands secure in the respect and confidence of the community in which he lives and the various circles, business and social, in which he moves. As a citizen he bears a full share in promoting the interests of his city and in enhancing its importance and prestige. Habits of close observation and wide travel have afforded him a broad knowledge of men and affairs and aided in making him a congenial companion to those who are brought into association with him. While a thorough American in his tastes and habits, he at the same time cherishes a laudable affection for his native land and his kindred there. Before his father’s death, the son Adam paid a visit to his father and relatives in 1891, and on that occasion made numerous off-trips to different parts of Germany to renew old acquaintances. In his youth, before coming to America, in following his occupation, he had been located in various parts of Germany and France.

Mr. Scheidt was married, January 30, 1883, at No. 144 West Marshall street, Norristown, to Miss Rosa Isabella Hindennach, who was educated in the public schools of that city and is a member of Trinity Lutheran church. Her parents are Jacob Friedrich and Christina (Koelblin) Hindennach, both natives of Germany. Mr. Hindennach is a cooper and brewer and yet follows that occupation. He has been active in promoting the usefulness of St. Paul’s German Lutheran church in Norristown, and has served as superintendent of its Sunday-school for many years.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Scheidt, all of whom are affiliated with Trinity Lutheran church, are: I. Adam Jacob, born April 11, 1884; 2. Harry Adolph, born March 25, 1886, died July 19, 1886; 3. Anna Amelia, born April 4, 1888, died December 4, same year; 4. Nina Rosa, born April 27, 1891; 5. Helen Christina, born September 22, 1892; 6. Katharina Augusta, born July 25, 1894; 7. Karl Friedrich, born April 5, 1896; 8. Louis Paul, born February 4, 1898.

Adam Jacob, eldest son of Mr. Scheidt, has attended the Norristown high school, and is now in his third year at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, Chester, Pennsylvania.