Samuel Liebmann
Samuel Liebmann was a German-born American brewer and founder of S. Liebmann Brewery in Brooklyn, New York. Introduced after his death, the main brand Rheingold Extra Dry was one of the most popular beer brands in New York City in the 1940s to 1960s.
Biography
Samuel Liebmann was born to a Jewish family in 1799 in the Aufhausen, a district of the municipality of Bopfingen, the son of Berta and Joseph Liebmann. His father was a merchant and religious instructor. He had three brothers and two sisters and attended elementary school in Aufhausen. After the death of his father in 1832, Liebmann and his brother Heinrich left their hometown and bought the estate Schloss Schmiedelfeld which they operated with economic success.Liebmann moved to Ludwigsburg in 1840. There he acquired the Gasthaus "Zum Stern" with attached brewery, which he also led successfully. He was a supporter of the revolutionary movement during the German Revolution which led to the government banning royal soldiers, the majority of his clientele, from visiting his establishment. This combined with the failure of the revolution led to his immigration to the United States. In 1850, he sent his son Joseph Liebmann to America to build a home; in 1854, he officially immigrated with the rest of his family to New York City.
He leased the Maasche Brewery on Meserole Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which he renamed as the S. Liebmann Brewery. After the lease expired, he established a new brewery under the same name on the corner of Forest and Bremen Street in Bushwick. Three years after the death of his wife in 1865, he retired from active management of the brewery giving the management of the brewery to his sons.
Personal life
In June 1828, Liebmann married Sara Wasserman Selz. They had six children:- Bertha Liebmann Stein, married Samuel Stein in 1859
- Rosa Liebmann Obermeyer, married David Obermeyer in 1858, 7 children
- *Frederick Obermeyer, died as a child
- *Theodore Obermeyer, married Bertha Heller
- *Ernst Obermeyer, married Henrietta Harris
- *Joseph Obermeyer
- *Edwin Obermeyer
- *Robert Obermeyer
- *Emmeline Obermeyer, married to photographer Alfred Stieglitz
- Joseph Liebmann
- Fanny Liebmann, married Joseph Liebmann in 1861, 7 children
- *Betty Liebmann, married Myron J. Fuerst
- *Clara Liebmann, married Julius Rosenfeld, parents to writer Paul Rosenfeld
- *Sarah Liebmann, married Leopold Cohn
- *Henry L. Liebmann, married Clara von Ende, divorced and remarried to Dolores Zohrab Liebmann
- *Lily Liebmann, married Carl Gutmann
- *Martha Liebmann, never married
- *Johanna Liebmann, died in infancy
- Henry Liebmann
- Charles Liebmann