Louis Bauman
Values Codes I – E – L
Louis Bauman was born in 1812, in Hessdorf, Bavaria.
Along the way . . . .
As a 26 year old watchmaker, Louis Bauman journeyed to America in 1838.
In New York City, he entered the jewelry trade.
After his marriage, Bauman and his wife moved to Mobile, Alabama.
St. Louis
In 1844, the Baumans settled in St. Louis.
There, Louis and his brother-in-law, Meyer Friede, opened a jewelry store called Louis Bauman & Company.
Soon, their firm became the largest wholesale jewelry store West of the Mississippi.
Community
Louis Bauman was an early member of B’nai El Temple.
Fraternal
Bauman was active in the local Masonic Lodge.
Family
Louis Bauman married Marianna Friede while living in New York.
They had eight children. Two of their sons, Solomon and Meyer Bauman, took over Louis Bauman & Company in 1872.
Louis Bauman died in 1881.
In 1882, the firm was incorporated as L. Bauman Jewelry Company.
Sources
- Walter Ehrlich, Zion in the Valley: The Jewish Community of St. Louis, Volume 1 (Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press, 1997).
- Ellen Jane FreundSchwartz, Freund Family Chronicles (St. Louis, MO: 1992).
Samantha Silver is curator of this Louis Bauman exhibit.