Few of us have the experience of turning our lives upside-down to pursue our career, and among those that do, most probably have not pulled up stakes and moved to another country, where you don’t even speak the language, just to take a job. But that is exactly what our ancestor William Burmeister did.
He was born in what was then Prussia (now Germany) in July of 1855. We know very little about his early life, apart from his skills as a carpenter, and the fact that he married his wife Elise Siemsen in 1880, at the age of 25. When friends of the family who were already living in St. Louis notified them that there was a high demand for master carpenters, William and Elise (who was pregnant at the time with their first child) jumped at the chance of a new life in the New World, and boarded the SS California in Hamburg for the arduous journey across the Atlantic.
They arrived in New York City on June 15, 1885, and according to our family history they made their way first to Chicago to visit friends who lived there, and then headed to St. Louis, to make their appointment with destiny.
At the time, the St. Louis Car Company was one of the largest manufacturers of railroad passenger cars and streetcars in the entire country, and the sumptuous interiors included inlaid wood decoration on the paneling and hand-crafted seats. William was a carpenter, but the city directories from that time list his occupation as a cabinet maker, which would suggest that his skills leaned more towards the artistic, rather than someone you would hire to frame your house.
The city directory listing above also shows the Burmeister residence at 1918 Newhouse. This house no longer exists, however, we do have a photo of it in our archive. It shows their modest bungalow with William, Elise, and their three boys (John, Charles, and William Jr.) standing in front of the house.
We believe William began working for the St. Louis Car Company when they commenced operations in 1887, so he was likely one of their very first employees. William also became a naturalized citizen in 1888. In 1902, he bought a larger house just a couple of blocks away and moved his family to 1521 Bremen Avenue, directly across the street from Hyde Park. The three boys would walk across the park and down Salisbury Street to Bethlehem Lutheran Church where they attended school and were confirmed in their faith. We don’t know much about William and Elise’s life during this time, but William Jr. had apparently become a fan of America’s pastime and had formed his own baseball team. In 1904, he placed an ad in the newspaper looking for “two good players” willing to join. Interestingly, that year Major League Baseball had not formed yet, and the World Series was still a very informal affair.
In 1926, as empty-nesters, William and Elise moved once again. They bought a four-family flat at 2508 Dodier Street, and presumably lived in one unit while renting out the others. Then, after 40 years working for the Car Company, William retired in 1928. Two years later his beloved wife Elise passed away. At some point, the house on Dodier Street was sold and William moved in with his son Charles Martin Burmeister, in the house next door to the filling station. William passed away in 1943, at the age of 87. He and Elise are buried at Bethlehem Cemetery.
