Selected Families and Individuals

Notes


Anton Oppenheimer

OPPENHEIMER, ANTON (1840-1906). Anton Oppenheimer, merchant and banker, was born in 1840 in Burgkunstadt, Bavaria, to Joseph and Yetta Oppenheimer, the third of eight children. His brothers included Daniel Oppenheimer. Anton immigrated to the United States in 1858 when his older brother, Daniel, sent for him to become a full partner in a new business, D. and A. Oppenheimer. From 1858 to 1861 they operated as small merchants in Rusk, Texas, and the surrounding area near Palestine. In 1861 they joined the Confederate Army. They served the entire years of the Civil War in different brigades. Anton served in Hood's Texas Brigade and has also been reported as serving in Ector's Brigade. At the end of the war the brothers moved to San Antonio. By bartering and trading their merchandise for cattle when ranchers had no cash, the brothers became significant cattle and land owners. In the 1890s the wholesale business was incorporated into the American Hat and Shoe Company. By 1902 the retail store was closed. In 1908 they sold their ranch and cattle for $1 million and invested it in the D. and A. Oppenheimer bank, one of the oldest banks in Texas. Anton married Adelaide Pfeiffer of New York, and they had three daughters and a son. For thirty-two years Anton was a member of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith. He died on March 16, 1906, in San Antonio at the home of his brother Julius, whom he had been visiting for two months. Anton at the time was living in New York, where Adelaide preferred to live. After his death his remains were shipped to New York. He was survived by two brothers, Daniel and Julius Oppenheimer of San Antonio, three sisters in Germany and one in New York, and four children. The bank continued to carry the name D. and A. Oppenheimer for eighty-two years after his death; it closed on December 1, 1988.
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Daniel and Anton Oppenheimer were another set of brothers who branched out beyond the dry goods counter. They came to Texas from Bavaria in the 1850s. After fighting for the Confederacy, the brothers moved to San Antonio and opened a general store. According to the San Antonio Express in 1880, their store, D. & A. Oppenheimer “is one of our best known dry goods houses. They transact an enormous business and are known in mostly every household in Western Texas.” In the late 19th century, Texas law banned state banks, and so many of the Oppenheimers’ customers asked to keep their money in the store’s safe. Ranchers also used such merchants to front them credit for their endeavors. This banking service to their store customers soon grew into a side business. Around the turn of the century, the brothers closed their store to focus on their banking business. D. & A. Oppenheimer remained a private bank; it did not belong to the Federal Reserve and did not have FDIC protection. Such private banks were later banned in Texas, but the D & A Oppenheimer bank was allowed to continue since it predated the law. The bank remained a family business, with Dan’s son Jesse later running it. Dan’s grandson Herbert Oppenheimer, its last president, decided to liquidate the bank in 1988 when there was no longer anyone in the family who wanted to run the business.

Julius Joske came to San Antonio by himself in 1867, opening a small dry goods store. Once he was established economically, he sold the store and returned to Germany to retrieve his wife and four children. Bringing them back to San Antonio in 1873, he opened a new store, which grew into the largest department store in the region. Joske’s great innovation was the introduction of penny pricing. Previously, stores in San Antonio sold merchandise at five cent intervals, with a nickel being their lowest price. In 1886, Joske announced the new penny pricing and their receipt of a huge supply of copper pennies from the United States mint to make change for their customers who would now get a few cents back instead of prices being rounded up the nearest nickel. Despite its penny pricing, J. Joske was not a discount store; at the same time they advertised their new pricing policy, they also announced their hiring of a permanent New York buyer who would send the latest big city fashions to the San Antonio store. Joske’s sons Alexander and Siegfried joined the business, which later became known as Joske Brothers. Alexander bought out his brother in 1903 and greatly expanded the store. In 1929, the store was sold, and was later bought by Allied Stores, who built Joske’s into a chain of department stores across Texas.


Julias Oppenheimer

Groom's Name: Julius Oppenheimer  
Groom's Birth Date:  
Groom's Birthplace: Nat. Of Bavaria  
Groom's Age:  
Bride's Name: Fannie Rouff  
Bride's Birth Date:  
Bride's Birthplace: Nat. Of Texas  
Bride's Age:  
Marriage Date: 07 Mar 1883  
Marriage Place: Victoria, Texas  
Groom's Father's Name: Joseph Oppenheimer  
Groom's Mother's Name: Henrietta Koenigoberger  
Bride's Father's Name: Elias Rouff  
Bride's Mother's Name: Caroline Halfin  
Groom's Race:  
Groom's Marital Status:  
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:  
Bride's Race:  
Bride's Marital Status:  
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:  
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M71034-1  
System Origin: Tennessee-EASy  
Source Film Number: 978425  
Reference Number: Cert10


Fannie Rouff

Groom's Name: Julius Oppenheimer  
Groom's Birth Date:  
Groom's Birthplace: Nat. Of Bavaria  
Groom's Age:  
Bride's Name: Fannie Rouff  
Bride's Birth Date:  
Bride's Birthplace: Nat. Of Texas  
Bride's Age:  
Marriage Date: 07 Mar 1883  
Marriage Place: Victoria, Texas  
Groom's Father's Name: Joseph Oppenheimer  
Groom's Mother's Name: Henrietta Koenigoberger  
Bride's Father's Name: Elias Rouff  
Bride's Mother's Name: Caroline Halfin  
Groom's Race:  
Groom's Marital Status:  
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:  
Bride's Race:  
Bride's Marital Status:  
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:  
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M71034-1  
System Origin: Tennessee-EASy  
Source Film Number: 978425  
Reference Number: Cert10