Today is the birthday of Augustus Hoeveler (March 26, 1820-December 20, 1868). He was born in Ankum, Lower Saxony, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1837, settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his early twenties, in 1848, he opened a general store, but sold it a couple of years later to go into the glue business. I don’t know how that worked out, but a decade later he partnered with a cooper, John Miller, and they bought the Pittsburgh brewery started by Anton Benitz in 1842. The initially called it the Hoeveler & Miller Brewery.

I’m not sure how long he was involved in the brewery, but at least ten years from what I can tell. In 1863, he and Miller were joined by Edward Frauenheim, but by 1868, Hoeveler’s name was no longer listed and it became known as Frauenheim, Miller & Co. By 1888, the brewery became known as the Iron City Brewing Co. or the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., going back and forth and sometimes even known by both name simultaneously right through to the present where today’s it’s the Pittsburgh Brewing Co.

Augustus Hoeveler died in late December of 1868 at just 48 years of age. Here’s his obituary from the Pittsburgh Post on December 22, 1868:

Here’s one of the few ads I could find during the time when Hoeveler was involved:

And finally, here’s an unusual story about how someone apparently tried to murder Augustus Hoeveler and his family with an explosive device placed at his home from 1861: