My Genealogy Hound

Richard W. Zierlein, D. D. S., of Washington, is a native of St. Louis, Mo., born April 3, 1839, and is a son of Henry L. and Henrietta L. (Eshback) Zierlein, natives of Berlin, Prussia, born December 26, 1799, and April 8, 1810, respectively. The father was a hardware merchant by occupation. He married in 1829, and the following year immigrated to America, settled in St. Louis, and was one of the first German merchants in the city. He died October, 1864. The Zierlein family are of old ancestry of Prussia, and have their coat of arms. The mother of our subject is now living, and is a resident of Washington, where she has lived for the past twenty-three years, She is the mother of four children: Dr. Richard W., Clara V. (wife of Ernst Wattenberg, wholesale hop dealer and importer in New York City), Robert F. and Emily E. Richard W. received his literary education in St. Louis. After clerking in a hardware store a short time, in 1856 he commenced studying his profession, dentistry, his preceptor being Dr. Henry McKellops, of St. Louis, with whom he remained five years, during which time he took half a year’s course in Pope’s Medical College, and afterward a full course in St. Louis Dental College, graduating as Doctor of Dental Surgery. Dr. Zierlein commenced his practice in St. Louis in 1862, and in 1864 went on a traveling expedition through England, Germany and France, being absent eighteen months. He returned in the end of 1865, and located in Washington, where he has continued without interruption, and where he has met with exceedingly good success. In 1866 he married Miss Kate Patchin, a native of St. Louis. She died October, 1879, and in October, 1883, he married Miss Laura Cheatham, a native of Franklin County, Mo., who bore him two children: Clara Frances and Alice Edwina. The Doctor is a Democrat in politics, was chairman of the Democratic Central committee of Franklin County four years, and is one of the leaders of that party in the county. He is a Master Mason and a member of the A. O. U. W., a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his wife of the Baptist. He is a great lover of geology, having the largest private collection of any man in the State. His specimens are from all parts of the world and are very valuable.