Charles Teubner Sr. Photo courtesy of Vicki Shepperd Chin
Charles Teubner
Charles Teubner was born March 8, 1808, in Stolberg, Germany.
While living in Germany, Teubner was a shoemaker. He traveled around Europe for a bit before boarding a ship in France on April 23, 1838, with St. Louis, Missouri, as his eventual destination. From St. Louis, Teubner traveled to Kahawba, Alabama, where he owned a Weinstube (wine bar)/billiard hall/grocery, and he stayed there until September of 1846, when he made his way to Hermann.
The following February, Teubner purchased 200 acres of land and established his plant nursery and vineyard along the Missouri River just east of town. He began construction on the Greek Revival Teubner-Husmann home, which stands as the centerpiece of Hermann Farm today, in 1847.
An avid hunter, Teubner one day found himself on Martin Husmann’s neighboring property during a hunt. There, he met Josephine and soon became a regular Sunday visitor to the Husmanns. Martin Husmann, Josephine’s father, approved of Teubner and the house and wine cellar he had already begun building. With this paternal approval, Josephine and Charles were married on September 20, 1847 in the old orchard on Charles’ land. As Charles had become a well-liked and valued member of the community, many of Hermann’s inhabitants were present at the wedding.
Martin Husmann suffered a tragic and unexpected death due to an accident at the town’s mill, which today operates at Tin Mill Restaurant — there are differing accounts, but he either died during an explosion or was crushed to death by machinery. After the accident, Josephine’s 20-year-old brother, George, moved in with the couple and apprenticed under Charles. This sparked a partnership that would lead to George’s long and storied career as a viticulturist and wine maker. Today, George Husmann is known as the father of Missouri wine, one of the founders of the Napa wine industry and also one of the key players in helping to save European vineyards from phylloxera.
Charles Teubner Jr., the son of Charles and Josephine, was just a small child when his father died in 1851. Photo courtesy of Vicki Shepperd Chin
Teubner died of unknown causes only three years after his marriage, on September 10, 1851. He had hardly gotten to know his eldest son, Charles, and he would never get to know his youngest, Frederick, with whom Josephine was pregnant at the time of his death.
In his will, Teubner mentions his wife, his two sons, his mother, his brother Fred, his sister Christian (sic.) and his niece Francisco (sic.), for whom it seems they were caring at this time. In addition to his family members, Teubner also mentioned Hermann’s Masonic Lodge and the Oddfellows, two organizations with which he was affiliated.
When Josephine died only three years later, Charles was reburied with her in a double coffin in the small cemetery situated on the cliff overlooking the Missouri River, just west of the Teubner-Husmann house.
Josephine Teubner
Born May 5, 1822, in Meyenberg, Germany, Josephine Teubner came to America with her family in 1836, first settling in Philadelphia. In 1838, her father bought shares in the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia and they moved to Hermann. There she lived with her father and brother and was described as the “light of the darkened household.”
After meeting Charles Tuebner, his Sunday visits gave rise to an attachment that “ripened into love.”
She gave birth to two boys, losing her husband Charles while she was pregnant with the second. In 1854, a ship arrived at Hermann from St. Louis full of passengers sick with cholera. As she assisted and treated the sick, Josephine herself contracted cholera and became fatally ill. She died on May 19, 1854, and in her will, written just a few days before her death, appointed her brother George Husmann guardian of her sons.