Louis Eschenbacher was born in Germany in 1857 or 1858 and came to America in 1879. He and his wife raised a family in St. Paul as he worked as a stone cutter. He died here in 1926.

Joseph Eschenbacher, great grandson of Louis, provided the following information.

"Louis Eschenbacher arrived in St. Paul in the 1870's and married Amelia Frei (Feb 8, 1860 to July 13, 1936) on Sept 11, 1882 in St. Paul. They had four children, Emil (1882 - ?) Louis G. (1884-1969), William Christian (March 10, 1886- December 22, 1969) and John (Hans) (1882 to ?).

Amelia was originally from Switzerland, and spoke little English. My father, Joseph Aloysius, recalls writing to her family in Switzerland, and also remembers her getting the train crews on the Milwaukee short line, which ran near their home at 331 Clifton St., to drop off coal for her. It is assumed that Amelia was fairly tall, and Louis her husband, less so (in my father's memory), because all four boys were very tall, with William having the nickname "short" (though he was 6'3" tall). Emil lived on the west side of St. Paul, John lived in Chicago, and Louis G. lived in St Paul. Louis did take a trip back to the "old country" in 1908. There are no details about the trip except for the ship manifest showing him as a solo traveler.

William Christian Eschenbacher (my grandfather) had asthma and at age 13 was apprenticed to Henry Jacke, a jeweler/watchmaker in St. Paul who had established his business in 1885 on West 7th St near the Schmidt Brewery. William eventually bought Jacke's business and renamed it "William Eschenbacher Jewelers". The store was located on East 7th St. (#245 for most of the time) and served the railroad industry with watch repairs, jewelry and friendly chat.

William married Anna Rothmeyer ( October 15, 1885- May 28, 1968) on July 12, 1910. They established their home at 776 James St after marriage and had four children. Margaret, Melvin, Joseph and Lucille. Joseph apprenticed in the jewelry store, took vocational training, and after service in World War II, took over the business. He married Caroline J. Schweitz in 1940 and they had one son Joseph (me). Joseph and Caroline moved the business to downtown in 1957 and operated it until 1980 in the First National Bank Arcade, the Minnesota Building and finally in the American National Skyway.

An interesting link between the families is that Louis Eschenbacher, and Lorenz Schwietz (my mother's grandfather were both buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul on the same day in 1926, so theoretically my parents first met at age 9 at the cemetery."