My Genealogy Hound

ANDREW DOTTERWEICH, a public-spirited citizen, an energetic and successful business man, and the popular proprietor of the well-known “City Brewery” of Dunkirk, was born near the city of Bamberg, in Bavaria, Germany, September 7, 1834, and is a son of Joseph and Catherine (Scheitz) Dotterweich. Joseph Dotterweich and his wife were natives of Bavaria, and consistent members of the Catholic church. He was a brick manufacturer and farmer, and made a specialty of raising hops in which he was very successful. He was energetic and persevering, served as mayor of a village near the city of Bamberg for several years and died in 1879, aged seventy-eight years, while his widow survived him until 1887, when she passed away at the age of eighty-five years.

Andrew Dotterweich received his education in the public schools of Germany, and at twelve years of age left his father’s farm to learn the brewery business. He worked in the breweries of all the larger cities of Germany, where he became practically conversant and familiar with all the details of successful brewing, and received a diploma as being a scientific and practical brewer. While working at the brewing business he added to the education which he had received in the public schools, by attending night schools. In 1857 he came to Dunkirk, and became foreman in the brewery of his brother, George Dotterweich, who had located in that city about 849. He helped his brother to build up a large trade, while the superior quality and general popularity of their beer necessitated the frequent enlargement of their brewery plant. In 1884, at the death of his brother, George Dotterweich, who was a liberal and public-spirited citizen, he succeeded to the entire business, which he has so conducted as to constantly increase the number of his patrons and give his beer a wide reputation.

On October 13, 1860, in Dunkirk, he married Mary Teresa Boettinger, a daughter of Albert Boettinger, who was the King’s foreman of woods in Bavaria. For the purpose of bringing his bride to Dunkirk, he re-visited his native land in the early part of the year of his marriage. To their union have been born eight children, five sons and three daughters: George A. J., Andrew Charles, Mary S., Ellen, Edward, Frank, Emma, who died at eleven years of age; and Robert.

Andrew Dotterweich is an active democrat in politics, and an earnest member of the Catholic church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus whose corner-stone was laid June 11, 1876. He is also a member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, which was organized in 1876 at Niagara Falls, and holds membership in Dunkirk Branch, No. 21, of that organization at Dunkirk. Mr. Dotterweich owns a very handsome brick residence opposite his brewery, besides some valuable real estate in the city, and two good farms between Dunkirk and Fredonia.

The City Brewery is located on the corner of Sixth and Dove streets, and the entire plant covers a large area of ground. The main building is a substantial three-story brick 36x110 feet with cellar and sub-cellar. A wing extending from it is 35x120 feet. Attached to this wing and running parallel with the main building are the brick brewery barns and a brick ice-house connected with a double walled wooden reserve ice-house, which is capable of preserving ice for five years. The area inclosed on three sides by these extensive buildings is occupied by a drive-way, fountain and lawn. Adjacent to the brewery Mr. Dotterweich has constructed two ice-houses 40x70 feet, and an artificial lake, of one acre in area, at a cost of over one thousand dollars, which furnishes a never-failing supply of ice. In 1890 he added two ice plants of forty tons each, and put in two boilers of fifty horse-power to his thirty horse-power engine. He also uses two smaller pumping engines, and employs from twelve to twenty hands. His brewing and malting buildings, ice-houses, vaults, cellars and storage rooms have all been carefully planned and built. He uses yearly twenty thousand bushels of barley and eighteen thousand pounds of native and Bavarian hops. His annual output is over seven thousand barrels of beer, which is largely used in Dunkirk and western New York. A gentleman well acquainted with the different business enterprises of the cities of New York, says of Mr. Dotterweich and his establishment, that brewers from all other parts of the State have been unable to compete with Mr. Dotterweich, and that his beer is today the most popular beverage in his section of the country. Andrew Dotterweich is popular as a citizen and a business man on account of his generosity, affability and integrity. His life has been one of activity and usefulness, during which he has been remarkable for his energy, perseverance, prudence and business sagacity. He has been emphatically the architect of his own fortune, and with the characteristic energy of the grand old German race, has won his way from comparative obscurity to a prominent position in business circles.