Today is the birthday of Benedictus Sigg (August 22, 1824-July 19, 1901). He was born in Jestetten, Waldshut, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I’m not sure when he came to the U.S., but it must have been before 1857, because that year he married Anna Maria Spielmann in Dubuque, Iowa, and started going by Benedict. He was initially in the saloon and grocery store business in Dubuque, and even opened a second location in Poynter. In 1869, he started a one-man brewery operation in nearby La Porte City known simply as the Benedict Sigg Brewery.

Unfortunately, the brewery didn’t last very long, so there’s very little … okay, no … information whatsoever about the beer or the brewery, apart from this, from Tavern Trove.

Benedictus operated a tavern [in Poyner] from 1864 through 1867. By 1869 he had established a one-man brewery 13 miles south of there, in La Porte City, on the banks of Wolf Creek. The brewery sustained his family until 1877 when he was arrested and found guilty of re-using revenue stamps. The brewery at this time was over mortgaged and as a result fell under the auctioneers hammer.

The Siggs moved back to Dubuque and Benedictus returned to the saloon and grocery business. He died some time around 1901.

And his Find-a-Grave page has this short obituary, though I couldn’t find the original.

Today is the birthday of Johann Baptist Wager, known more commonly after emigrating to the U.S. as John B. Wager (August 18, 1821-December 17, 1899). He was bornin Dautmergen, Wuerttemberg, Germany, but came to American when he was 31, in 1852, and settled in Ohio, where he met and married Alwina ‘Aline’ Becherer. The couple had twelve children. When she passed away in 1868, he remarried Maria ‘Mary’ Anna Schaub in 1870, and the pair had eight more, so I suspect it was a very full house. Somehow, he found the time to open the John Wager Brewery in Dayton, Ohio, in 1866.

Here’s some history of the brewery’s early years:

John B. Wager established the Hydraulic Brewery at the South West corner of 1st & Beckel Streets in Dayton in 1866. Four years later, Wager sold the business to father and son investors, Henry and Clem Ferneding. The two sold shares of their business to Nicholas Metz and Anton Braun. In 1877, Metz sold his share to Braun and the company was renamed Anton Braun Brewing Co. Braun died in 1880 and the business went into the hands of Nicholas Thomas and George Weddle.

The brewery went through several owners and name changes, and was most often known as the Hydraulic Brewery, and after prohibition was repealed as the Mill Valley Brewing Co.

Here’s Wager’s short obituary from the Dayton Daily News.

Today is the birthday of Johann Adam Hauck (August 17, 1796-June 25, 1865). He was born in Annweiler, Pfalz, Germany, and trained as a brewer in Bavaria. He married Eva Margaretha Walz when he was 35 and the couple had two childrem, including George Hauck, who became a brewer, as well, and opened his own brewery in upstate New York. He brought the family to the U.S. in 1844, settling in New York City. He immediately open his own brewery, the Adam Hauck Brewery. In 1852, he brought his two sons into the family business, and renamed it the Adam Hauck & Sons Brewery.

Tavern Trove finished his story:

There was strong demand for Hauck’s beer, and expansions to the manufactory were ongoing. George and Peter, in addition to their public education, were learning in the brewhouse the art business of brewing beer. When Adam retired to Bavaria (circa 1860) the sons were well trained to take over the operations of the family business.

Adam Hauck died in his hometown of Annweiler on June 25th of 1865. His son Peter guided the family brewery through its further expansion and removal in 1869 to its new location in Harrison, New Jersey. George Hauck established his own brewery in Kingston, New York.