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SCHMIDT FAMILY
The
progenitors of the 19th Century Schmidt family at Ocean
Springs were Ernst Charles Schmidt (1852-1886), called Charles
Ernest Schmidt, and Laura Coyle (1857-1931). Charles E. Schmidt of
German ancestry came to Ocean Springs from New Orleans, his
birthplace, in the 1870s. He was the son of Ernst Schmidt
(1827-1873), a German immigrant from Baden, and Euphemie or
Euphrosine Schoser (1828-1870+), also a native of Baden, Germany.
Ernst Schmidt made his livelihood at New Orleans as the proprietor
of a bar room while Charles was a store clerk. Their other children
were: Louisia Schmidt (1858-1870+) and Marie Schmidt (1861-1870+).(1870
Louisiana Federal Census, M593R519, p. 402)
In
October 1874, Charles E. Schmidt married Laura Coyle, the daughter
of Menorcan immigrant, Francisco Coyle (1813-1891), and Magdalene
Ougatte Pons (1813-1904). At Ocean Springs, they reared six
children: Euphemia Magdalena S. Beyer (1876-1955+), Francis Ernest
“Frank” Schmidt (1877-1954), Theodore Charles Schmidt (1879-1962),
Louis Victor Schmidt (1880-1953), Magdalene Schmidt Joachim
(1882-1971), and Emilia Dolores Schmidt (1884-1884).(Lepre, 1991,
p. 303)
Charles Ernest Schmidt was called "Handsome Charlie". He owned the
White House (1877-1911), a bar and rooming house, located on
Robinson Avenue just south of the L&N Depot. In November 1879, Mr.
Schmidt opened a retail family grocery store on Washington Avenue.
The next year, he built a home adjacent to the store. It had
gaslights like the store building.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
April 23, 1880, p. 3)
In
1883, C.E. Schmidt was an unsuccessful candidate for Clerk of
Court. Unfortunately in 1886, Charles E. Schmidt met his untimely
death at the age of thirty-four. His corporal remains were interred
in the Bellande Cemetery.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, June 15,
1883, p. 3)
Widow
Schmidt
In
January 1894, widow Laura Coyle Schmidt sold her property on
Washington Avenue know as the Cowan Store to George Rupple. She
moved across Old Fort Bayou to her new home. In June 1895, Mr.
Laura Coyle Schmidt, married Michael J. Brady (1838-1919), a local
farmer. He was a native of New York of Irish immigrant parents.
They had a daughter, Mary Agnes Brady (1896-1974), who married Oscar
M. Mitchell (1893-1964).(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, January
12, 1894, p. 3)
Mrs.
Laura Coyle Schmidt Brady passed on October 17, 1931. Her corporal
remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery on Old Fort Bayou.
Euphemia Magdalena Schmidt Beyer
Euphemia M. “Effie” Schmidt (1876-1955+) was born at Ocean Springs
on February 11, 1876. In September 1894, she married Vincent Louis
Beyer (1874-1940), a native of Texas and the son of Charles David
Beyer (1842-1898) and Veronica Knecht (1848-1918). Charles D. Beyer
was born at New York of Dutch parents while Veronica K. Beyer was a
native of Louisiana and French parentage. Mr. Beyer was a career
military man who attained the rank of General. He was a Civil War
veteran and in 1880 he was a Captain in the US Army stationed at
Fort Bayard in the New Mexico Territory. In addition to Vincent L.
Beyer, their other children were: Charles Theodore Beyer
(1867-1880+), Edward Matthew Beyer (1869-1880+), Harry Hood Beyer
(1871-1880+), George Purlington Beyer (1876-1880+), Albert Cecil
Beyer (1878-1880+), and Percy Hoxie Beyer (1880-1900+).
General Charles D. Beyer, expired at San Luis de Potosi, Mexico in
September 1898. His wife applied for her Civil War pension while
residing at New Orleans in November 1898. Mrs. Veronica K. Beyer
passed on January 9, 1918 at New Orleans.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, September 23, 1898, p. 3)
Vincent L. Beyer
For
the majority of his life, Vincent L. Beyer made his livelihood as a
nurseryman or farm manger. Prior to marrying Effife Schmidt at
Ocean Springs in 1894, he was active here as a charter member of the
Ocean Springs Hook and Ladder Company, a volunteer fire department.
His brother H.H. Beyer was its first president.(Ellison, 1991, p.
41)
Before 1900, the Beyers relocated to Plaquemine Parish, Louisiana.
By 1910, they had returned to Ocean Springs as Mr. Beyer was hired
by Hernando Deveaux Money (1869-1936) to manage his Rose-Money Farm,
north of Ocean Springs. Immediately, Mr. Beyer commenced
improvements. He supervised the thinning out the pecan orchard,
grafted better variety pecans to poor bearing trees, and
experimented with growing Sea Island Cotton. In August 1910, he
planted five acres of cotton.(Lepre, 1991, p. 303, The Ocean
Springs News, April 23, 1910 and August 20, 1910)
Vincent L. Beyer and Effie Schmidt were the parents of twelve
children: Carlos Beyer (1895-1915), Frank Beyer (1897-1985), Ben
Beyer (1899-1920+), Eula Beyer (1902-1920+), Lydia E. Beyer
(1907-1920+), Doris M. Beyer (1907-1920+), Mary Alice Beyer
(1911-1920+), Mabel Beyer (1912-1920+), Jessie Beyer (1913-1920+),
Vincent L. Beyer (1914-1987), Laurie Beyer (1916-1920+), and Shirley
Beyer (1918-1920+).
Wiggins
Circa
1911, Vincent L. Beyer and family relocated to Wiggins, Mississippi
where he was manager of the Mississippi Farms Company, an enterprise
of the Finkbine Lumber Company. At the Coast Fair in Gulfport in
October 1911, Mr. Beyer exhibited nine varieties of forage such as
hay, grasses, kaffir corn, etc. and of root crops such as potatoes,
peanuts, and rutabagas, etc. In addition, there was a display of
nursery stock, cattle, hogs, and sheep. Beyer also related that a
canning factory to produce catsup, pickles, sweet potatoes, and
sauerkraut was planned for Wiggins. Recently, a group of investors
from Kansas had acquired 1100 acres of land from the Mississippi
Farm Company for $25 per acre. They planned to improve it in the
near future.(The Daily Herald,October 26, 1911, p. 1)
By 1918, V.L. Beyer was manager of the Beyer-Campbell Nursery at
Wiggins. In February 1918, he donated 150 camphor trees to the Home
Consolidated School at Big Level and demonstrated fruit tree
grafting and spraying to the students involved in agriculture.(The
Daily Herald, February 19, 1918, p. 2)
By
1920, the V.L. Beyer family had returned to Ocean Springs.
Sarasota
In
1921, Vincent L. Beyer and family left Ocean Springs and relocated
to Sarasota, Florida. Here he was the general manager of a farm.
Mr. Beyer expired at Sarasota, Florida on July 2, 1940. He was the
last of the seven Beyer brothers who were former residents of Bay
St. Louis and Ocean Springs. No further information.(The Jackson
County Times, July 6, 1940, p. 4)
Francis E. Schmidt
Francis E. “Frank” Schmidt (1877-1954) was born at Ocean Springs on
October 6, 1877. He married Antoinette Emma Johnson (1870-1956) of
Algiers, Louisiana. Her father was a Danish sea captain, Frederick
Oliver Johnson (Jenson) (1851-1938), and mother, Henrietta Hedman
(1855-1922). In 1910, Mr. Johnson operated a grocery store on
Washington Avenue. Mrs. Schmidt's sister was Carrie Ann Johnson
(1886-1968) who was married to Joseph B. Garrard (1871-1915) and
Alexander Fleet Everhart (1881-1957). Mrs. Everhart was in the
hardware business, raised citrus, and dealt in real estate at Ocean
Springs.(Lepre, 1991, p. 303)
Schmidt bakery
In
1900, young Frank E. Schmidt worked as an oysterman and resided with
his aging mother and stepfather, Michael Brady, north of Old Fort
Bayou. In January 1901, he took a lease from the F.J. Lundy Company
on the Illing bakery property located at 78-80 Washington Avenue,
recently the site of Le Croissant, also a bakery. Mr. Schmidt
called his business the City Bakery. In later years, it was called
the Premium Bakery.
Frank
E. Schmidt bought the Illing Bakery Lot from H.F. Russell
(1858-1940) in December 1903. Here for the next thirty-five years
he and Harry Hill (1896-1968) baked fresh bread, cakes, rolls, pies,
and cookies. In the early years deliveries were made twice daily
using a horse drawn bread wagon with the product selling for a
nickel a loaf. JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 27, pp. 417-418)
Bakery
buildings and home
At the
time of the Schmidt purchase of the Illing bakery lot, there was a
two-story, 1750 square-foot, wood frame building on Washington
Avenue. This structure was probably utilized as a residence
upstairs and sales room on the lower floor. The bakery house, which
housed the coal-fired, oven was to the rear of the house. A small
stable lie just south of the bakery house.(1904 Sanborn Map, “Ocean
Springs”, p. 2)
The
Frank Schmidt's started their family in 1902, with the birth of
their first son, Frank Oliver Schmidt (1902-1975). Two additional
sons followed, Charles Ernest Schmidt (1904-1988), and Harry Johnson
Schmidt (1905-1997). With this growing family, Schmidt had the
impetus to tear down his residence and build a larger one. He also
built a bakery sales shop separate from his residence. The only
building on the Schmidt property to survive into the 21st
Century was the old sales shop at 504 Washington Avenue. In recent
years, Le Croissant, a small bakery, under the proprietorship of
Parisian native, Christian Fraisse (b. 1943), occupied the old
Schmidt sales shop. This historic structure was demolished on April
2, 2004 by the First Baptist Church of Ocean Springs and is now
planted in sod. C’est dommage!
Between 1904 and 1909, F.E. Schmidt erected a two-story, wood frame
structure with a living area of 1600 square-feet. It was located
about twenty feet east of Washington Avenue and had an upper and
lower gallery.(1909 Sanborn Map, “Ocean Springs”, p. 2)
Frank
E. Schmidt sold his bakery to Harry S. Hill (1896-1968), his former
employee, in December 1938, and retired to No. 45 Jackson Avenue on
the northwest corner of Jackson and Cleveland. Here the Schmidts
watched the progress of their sons who were very successful in their
career endeavors.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 71, p. 626)
In
late March 1947, a butane gas stove blew up in the former Schmidt
home, which was owned by H.V. Hayden (1904-1969), the son of H.H.
Hayden (1881-1954), at this time. Mrs. Aline Sylvester was the
occupant of the eight-room structure. The subsequent fire from the
exploding stove destroyed the roof and second story. The downstairs
suffered considerable water damage. The East End Fire Company of
Biloxi assisted the local volunteer fire fighters in attacking the
conflagration. Later the derelict structure was demolished.(The
Jackson County Times, March 19, 1947, p. 1)
45
Jackson Avenue
In
January 1934, the Heirs of Laura C. Schmidt Brady conveyed the old
Charles E. Schmidt (1852-1886) family home at 45 Jackson Avenue to
Frank E. Schmidt. This post mid-19th Century cottage
is situated at present day 505 Jackson Avenue and now in the
possession of Patrick Mitchell, the great grandson of Laura C.
Schmidt Brady (1857-1931). It apparently once belonged to Pauline
Ryan Bellman (1815-1899), the spouse of Charles F.N. Bellman
(1806-1868), a German immigrant from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
They were the progenitors of the large Bellman family of Ocean
Springs and Biloxi.
C.E.
“Uncle Ernie” Schmidt (1904-1988), in his Ocean Springs French
Beachhead (1972) states that:
It is known that the Widow Bellman took in a few pupils at the old
house still standing at the northwest corner of Jackson and
Cleveland. One of her pupils, Laura Coyle, remembered years later
that Mrs. Bellman excused the class so they could go to the railroad
to see the first official train go through. That happened on
October 29, 1870.(p. 67)
Frank
Schmidt served Ocean Springs as Ward One alderman (1915-1922 and
1925-1930) and Mayor from 1935-1938. He ran unsuccessfully for the
Jackson County Beat Four Supervisors post in 1929, seeking the seat
vacated by the death of James K. Lemon (1870-1929). He lost to
Alfred P. “Fred” Moran (1897-1967).
After
an illness of several months, Frank E. Schmidt died at Mobile,
Alabama on May 26, 1954. He was a Roman Catholic practicing his
religion at the St. Alphonsus Church. Mr. Schmidt was a Knight of
Columbus and member of the Holy Name Society. He was interred in
the Schmidt Family plot at the Evergreen Cemetery.(The Daily
Herald, May 26, 1954, p. 1)
F.E.
Schmidt children
Frank
Oliver Schmidt (1902-1975) was the first native son to practice
medicine at Ocean Springs. He married Helen Richard (1905-1959), a
native of Plaquemine, Louisiana. She was the daughter of Dr. John A.
Richard and Irene Pope. They had two children: Frank Ernest
Schmidt, who married Sidonie de la Houssaye Evans and Mary Jane
Schmidt who married Donald Kopal. Like his father, Frank E. Schmidt
became a physician. He practices medicine as a thoracic and
cardiovascular surgeon in New Orleans. Mrs. Donald Kopal resides at
New Canaan, Connecticut with her family. Dr. Frank O. Schmidt died
on February 25, 1975. He is interred in the Schmidt family burial
plot at Evergreen Cemetery.
After Helen Richard Schmidt died in 1959, Dr. F.O. Schmidt
married Maria Rosario Crowe Bailey (1920-2001). Rose Schmidt was a
native of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. She had two children by a prior
marriage: Jonathan A. Bailey of Charlotte, North Carolina and Robyn
Cawthon of Albany, Georgia. Rose Schmidt expired at Ocean Springs
on January 25, 2001.(The Sun Herald ,January 26, 2001, p. A-9)
Charles Ernest “Uncle Ernie” Schmidt (1904-1988) was a mechanical
engineer who invented the hydrolevel and other technical devices.
He also wrote the only comprehensive history of Ocean Springs,
Ocean Springs French Beachhead, which he published in
1972. Ernest Schmidt was active in local politics. In 1947, he
entered the political arena at Ocean Springs and was elected
alderman-at-large for one term. He often battled Beat Four County
Supervisor A.P. "Fred" Moran (1897-1967) over the best utility of
the Ocean Springs Inner Harbor. In the spring of 1948, Schmidt
resigned in a furor from his position as Secretary of the Commission
for Sea Food Development. He was an outspoken advocate for
industrial development in Jackson County and wanted the harbor
developed for commercial fishermen. Supervisor Moran favored the
inlet as a haven for pleasure craft and recreational sailors. Like
his father, Schmidt was also elected mayor of Ocean Springs. Ernest
Schmidt expired on January 14, 1988. His corporal remains were
buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.(The Ocean Springs Record,
January 21, 1988, p. 1)
Harry
Johnson Schmidt (1905-1997) like his elder brother, Frank, was also
a physician. Dr. Schmidt practiced internal medicine at Convent,
Louisiana and Biloxi for decades. On May 25, 1935, at St. Alphonsus
Catholic Church, he married Margaret Mary Heath (1908-1983), the
daughter of Maurice Heath. Their children were: Dr. Harry J.
Schmidt II, Dr. Robert J. Schmidt (1937-2000), and Dr. Richard C.
Schmidt. Dr. Harry J. Schmidt died at Biloxi on August 31, 1997.
His corporal remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery on Old
Fort Bayou.(The Daily Herald, May 11, 1935, p. 5 and The Sun
Herald, September 3, 1997, p. E-2)
Charles Theodore Schmidt
Charles T. Schmidt (1879-1962) was born at Ocean Springs on March
11, 1879. He married Myrtle Cunningham (1893-1986), a native of
Texas. They were the parents of five children: Charline Schmidt
Matinolich (1909-1989) married Andrew K. Martinolich (1898-1989);
Coyle T. Schmidt (1911-1986) married Georgia Favre (1914-1998);
Alton L. Schmidt (1913-1987); Laurine Schmidt Cuevas (1915-1980)
married C.E. Cuevas; and Dr. Frank L. Schmidt.(Lepre, 1991, p. 303)
In
1920, Charles T. Schmidt was a resident of Mississippi City where he
owned a grocery store. He later joined the Illinois Central
Railroad as a conductor and was employed here until retirement age.
Mr. Schmidt was a Roman Catholic and worshipped at Our Lady of the
Gulf in Bay St. Louis. He was a member of the Order of Railway
Conductors and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.(1930 Federal
Census-Harrison County, Mississippi, T626R1146, p. 3A and .(The
Daily Herald, October 27, 1962, p. 2)
In
1942, Charles T. Schmidt relocated to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
He expired here on October 27, 1962. Myrtle C. Schmidt died in
October 1986, at Pass Christian, Mississippi. C.T. Schmidt’s
corporal remains were interred in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Bay St.
Louis.(The Daily Herald, October 27, 1962, p. 2)
Louis
Victor Schmidt
Louis
V. Schmidt (1880-1953) was born at Ocean Springs on July 7, 1880.
In 1889, he joined the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad firing a steam
shovel. Before his twentieth birthday, Schmidt had been promoted to
engineer. He retired from the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad division
of the Illinois Central Railroad in January 1953, after fifty-three
years of continuous service.(The Daily Herald, October 26, 1953,
p. 7)
Circa
1907, Louis V. Schmidt had married Jesse M. Jordan (1883-1953+), a
widow from Brookhaven, Mississippi. By 1910, the Schmidt family was
residing in Columbia, Marion County, Mississippi with their two
children, Doris Schmidt Chapin (1907-1989) and Louis C. Schmidt
(1909-1980).(1910 Marion County, Mississippi Federal Census,
T624-R751, p. 252)
By
1920, Louis V. Schmidt had relocated to Gulfport, Mississippi. He
remained with the railroad as an engineer. The Schmidts had another
child, Dorothy Schmidt Herbert (1913-1993).(1920 Harrison County,
Mississippi Federal Census, T625-R876, p. 259)
Louis
V. Schmidt expired at Sarasota, Florida in late October 1953. He
had been visiting with his sister, Mrs. Vincent L. Beyer. His
corporal remains were sent to Gulfport for burial in the Evergreen
Cemetery.(The Gulf Coast Times, October 29, 1953, p. 1 and The
Daily Herald, October 26, 1953, p. 7)
Magdalene Schmidt Joachim
Magdalene Schmidt (1882-1971), called Lena, was born at Ocean
Springs on March 10, 1882. She married Benjamin Franklin Joachim II
(1882-1970), the son of B.F. Joachim (1847-1925) and Rosa M.
Bokenfohr (1861-1934). Their children were: Mark Oscar Joachim
(1904-1955), B.F. Joachim III (1908-1974), and Mary Frances Joachim
Milner (1916-1987). Mrs. Joachim died on February 18, 1971. Her
corporal remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery at Ocean
Springs.
Emilia
Dolores Schmidt
(1884-1884).
Emilia Dolores Schmidt was born at
Ocean Springs on September 3, 1884. She expired in her infancy
after her baptism at St. Alphonsus on September 24, 1884. Emelia’s
remains lie at rest in the Bellande Cemetery on Dewey Avenue.(Lepre,
1991, p. 303 )
REFERENCES:
Jerome
Lepre, Catholic Church Records Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi,
Volume I, (Catholic Diocese of Biloxi: Biloxi-1991), p. 303)
Journals
The
Daily Herald,
“Prospectors Buy Lands of Miss. Farms Company”,
October 26, 1911.
The
Daily Herald,
“Louis Schmidt Final Rites Tuesday Morning”, October 26,
1953.
The
Daily Herald,
"Former Mayor Ocean Springs Dies In
Mobile",
May 26, 1954.
The
Daily Herald,
“Stone
County”,
February 18, 1918.
The
Daily Herald,
“Ocean Springs”, May 11, 1935
The
Gulf Coast Times,
"Louis V. Schmidt dies suddenly at
Pensacola",
October 29, 1953.
The
Jackson County Times,
“Vincent Beyer”,
July 6, 1940.
The
Jackson County Times,
“Fire
Destroys 2nd Floor of Hayden Building Tuesday”,
March 29, 1947.
The
Ocean Springs News,
“Local
News”,
April 23, 1910.
The
Ocean Springs News,
“Local
News”,
August 20, 1910.
The
Ocean Springs News,
“Local
News”,
July 1, 1911.
The
Ocean Springs News,
“Carlos Beyer”,
December 16, 1915.
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By
Ray L. Bellande