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Thursday, June 5, 1817   Andrew Leicht

 Andrew Leicht was born in Bavaria.  Despite being a fairly prominent New Jersey brewer, not much is known about his early life.

In 1854 his son-in-law John Roemmelt took Andrew in as a silent partner in a new brewery at 147/153 East 38th Street, in New York City. Roemmelt was apparently dissatisfied and left the brewery about four years later, after which Leicht brought in Anton Hupfel as a junior partner (or possibly lessee).  By 1861 Hupfel had purchased Leicht's stake and ran the brewery thereafter alone.  Leicht and Roemmelt left New York and, in 1857, built a new brewery in Jersey City Heights, New Jersey.

Apparently, Leicht was the owner, as the 1860 census lists Leicht owning an estate of $25,000 and Roemmelt having no estate of value.  The 1870 census states that Leicht and Roemmelt owned a combined estate value of $300,000 with personal estates totaling $200,000.  But the Panic of 1873 hit hard, and the business never recovered.  In 1875 their brewery declared bankruptcy, and Roemmelt left the firm.  Leicht consolidated and carried on the business without him, but the newly-organized business failed again in 1879, and Leicht was declared bankrupt.

In around 1841, Andrew married a woman named Maria, and they had four children and an apparently adopted girl named Ann.  In 1879 Andrew's sons Charles and John, who had cut their teeth in the Jersey City Brewery, purchased the town brewery in Newburgh, New York, and renamed it the Leicht Bros., Highland Brewery.  Andrew followed them to Newburgh and apparently worked in the business as a brewer.  Andrew Leicht died sometime in 1884.

 

Learn more at the links below

Associated Breweries

John Roemmelt & Andrew Leicht of Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Highland Brewery of Newburgh, New York, USA
J. Chr. G. Hupfel Brewing Corp. of New York, New York, USA

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