Alexander L Baumgartner Biography

     A. L. BAUMGARTNER. In preparation of this brief outline of the life history of the best man of German birth who ever made his home in Adams County, facts appear which are greatly to his credit. His intelligence, enterprise and integrity, as well as many other estimable qualities, have acquired for him a popularity not derived from any fictitious circumstances, but which is a permanent and spontaneous tribute to his merit. Looking back upon Mr. Baumgartner's ancestors, it is found that they were Germans on both sides, and that his father, Frank Baumgartner, followed the honorable and useful calling of a school teacher, in which occupation he won distinction for himself as an able educator and a fine disciplinarian. The maiden name of our subject's mother was Burkart, and her family was highly respected throughout the region in which they resided.
     A. L. Baumgartner was the youngest of four children that were given to the union of his parents, and up to the age of fifteen years he was an attendant of the public schools of Baden, where his career was marked by faithfulness to his duties, and by fair progress in his studies. He had heard much of the advantages offered to young men of push and enterprise in the New World, and with the laudable ambition of bettering his financial affairs, and gaining a secure foothold upon the ladder of success, he came to America May 31, 1840, landing at New York City. After a short residence in the metropolis of the United States, he removed to Clarion County, Pa., where, for fifteen years, his attention was devoted to the successful conduct of a mercantile establishment. He displayed marked ability in the management of his business affairs and accumulated considerable means, but became dissatisfied with his location, disposed of his stock of goods and turned his footsteps towards the West.
     In 1855, he took up his abode in Quincy, Ill., at which place he opened a grocery store, and for five years thereafter his attention was devoted to this calling. In this capacity he became well known to the citizens of Adams County, and acquired the reputation of an honorable, upright man of affairs, whose desire was to please and accommodate his patrons, as well as to gain a competency for himself. He kept a well-stocked establishment, handling all necessary articles in his line, and his career as a man of business is one of which he has no occasion to be ashamed. Since becoming naturalized, Mr. Baumgartner has supported the principles of Democracy, and for two years acted in the capacity of Assessor of Quincy.
     In the month of July, 1849, his marriage with Miss Elizabeth A. Walley was celebrated, but after a very short period of wedded happiness he was left a widower, and in the month of December, 1851, he took for his second wife Miss Fannie Walley, sister of his former wife and daughter of Nicholas Walley, a Pennsylvanian. Mr. Baumgartner's first union resulted in the birth of one son, Samuel Otto, who is a resident of Quincy, and is a well-known man of business, as well as an honored citizen. Mr. Baumgartner has a very comfortable residence at No. 1107 Hampshire Street, where he and his wife give cordial welcome to their numerous friends.

[Source:Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County, Illinois containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892, Page 121, transcribed by Debbie Gibson]

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