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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Altheimer Bros., are members of one of the oldest and most influential business houses in Pine Bluff. The firm is composed of Joseph, born in 1842, and Louis, born in 1847, at Eberstadt, near Darmstadt, South Germany, who were the sons of Benjamin and Mina Altheimer, natives of the same country. Louis left home in his boyhood and came to America, settling in the far West, and Joseph followed three years later. In 1868 they both left the western country, and settled in Pine Bluff, where they founded the mercantile house of Altheimer Bros., which is now the oldest firm under the name in the city. Pine Bluff, as well as the whole of Jefferson County, at that time was known only to the outside world as the backwoods, but the brothers being far-sighted men, and having the fullest confidence in its future prosperity, invested every dollar in real estate and plantation lands. They opened up the land out of the forests, cut immense ditches to drain the water off, and converted many swamps into productive and blooming farms, contributing alike to their own wealth and to the value of the surrounding country. They are also the founders of the young and growing town of Altheimer, which the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad named in their honor. This town is situated eleven miles northeast of Pine Bluff, located in the heart of the most fertile land in Arkansas, and whenever the country tributary to Altheimer becomes more open and settled, its future is assured, as it is on the main line of the Cotton Belt, and is also the terminal point of the Little Rock & Eastern Railroad. The building of this branch road is due to the efforts of Messrs. Altheimer Bros., who not only called it into life, but contributed very liberally to its construction. They erected a depot and donated all necessary grounds for side tracks, and also reserved ten miles of right of way free of charge to the company. The first house in Altheimer was built in the fall of 1885. Some years after becoming established in Pine Bluff, Joseph Altheimer returned to Germany on a visit, and while there was married to Miss Matilda Josaphat, by whom he has had two children, Benjamin J. (born in 1877), and a daughter named Hennie (born in 1880). Louis also went to Germany, and while in Frank fort-on-the Main was married to Miss Inlia Sussholz, to which union were born Ulysses (in 1869), Maurice (in 1872), Fennie (in 1874), Blanche (in 1876), Beno (in 1878), Isaac (in 1880) and Hortense in 1883. Both of the brothers are among the leading men in commercial circles, and held in high esteem by the entire community. Mr. Louis Altheimer was nominated by the Republican party in 1886 as treasurer of the State, but was defeated by his Democrat opponent, Mr. William Woodruff.

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This family biography is one of 136 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Jefferson County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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