My Genealogy Hound

MRS. ANNIE UHL, proprietor of Uhl’s Brewery, is a fine business woman, having carried on the enterprise formerly conducted by her late husband, Mathias Uhl, since his decease in 1887, assisted by Marcus C. Fetter, the executor of his estate. This establishment was founded in 1866, by John Schilling, who erected the buildings in which was brewed the first beer made in Bethlehem, and since its start upon a modest scale the business has undergone numerous enlargements, and the trade has steadily increased until it has assumed the proportions of a large and successful industry.

Mathias Uhl was born, at Steinach, Baden, Germany, where he learned the brewer’s trade. Coming to America when a young man, he settled in Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade. In 1870 he became a resident of Bethlehem, and became foreman in the brewery of the late John Schilling, remaining in that capacity for six years. He then purchased the business of his late employer, and carried it on successfully until his death, which occurred April 22, 1887.

Mr. Uhl was married in 1866, in Philadelphia, to Miss Annie Geiger, who was born near Buchau, Wurtemberg, Germany. Her father, Francis Joseph Geiger, was a hotel and restaurant man in Germany, and his wife bore the maiden name of Anna M. Weiler. Mrs. Uhl came to America in 1865, by way of Bremen to New York City, and thence to Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Uhl became the parents of three children. Bertha, Annie and Pauline, who are all at home. Mr. Uhl was in politics a Democrat, and was a member of the Catholic Church.

Since her husband’s death Mrs. Uhl has greatly improved and enlarged the brewery, and the plant now covers over half an acre of ground conveniently located. In 1892 the output was twenty thousand barrels per annum, and a specialty is made of the best and clearest grades of beer for bottling, this having acquired an excellent reputation for hotel and family trade. Much of the success of the brewery has been attained through the efficient management and painstaking efforts of Mr. Fetter, who has conceived and executed many improvements, and equipped the plant with modern appliances, among these being a twenty-ton ice machine.

Mrs. Uhl has shown herself to be a woman of unusual business and executive ability in the management of her husband’s large moneyed interests. She is a member of the Catholic Church of the Nativity, and is benevolent, having assisted many a poor person in material ways.