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GALLERY
WHO'S WHO
ATLAS
MYTHS DEBUNKED
FAMILY TREE
CONTACT THE AUTHOR
UPCOMING EVENTS
REVIEWS
CHICAGO HISTORY LINKS
READING SUGGESTIONS
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Christian Heinrich Lütgert
Adolph Luetgert’s father, who was known as Henry. He was born February 3, 1817, in Gütersloh, Prussia (now part of Germany). Read about Gütersloh. On February 5, 1839, he married Margreta Sophia Severin.
They had sixteen children: Johann Heinrich (1841-??), Heinrich Wilhelm (1842-1842), Heinrich Wilhelm (1843-1927), Adolph Ludwig (1845-1899) and his twin Heinrich Friedrich (1845-??), Friedrich Wilhelm Arnold (1848-1848), Christoph Heinrich August (1848-??), N. (1849-??), Heinrich Arnold (1850-1908), Catharina Theodora (1850-??), Heinrich Peter Ferdinand (1852-??), Heinrich Ludwig Gustav (1854-1855), Adele Friederike Charlotte (1856), Carl Heinrich Gustav (1857-1897), N. (1859) and Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1860-??).
His wife died in 1882, and he died on April 7, 1899, just a few months before his son Adolph died in prison. It isn't known whether Adolph was aware of his father's death.
Asked about the earlier history of the Lütgert family, descendent Jim Luetgert writes: "Over the last three hundred years there have been two general areas of business that Luetgerts have been involved in: distilling and tanning. In 1689 Adolph's great-great-great-great-grandfather, Conrad Lütgert, founded a whisky distillery, Kornbrennerei Lütgert, in a building in Gütersloh built by his father's father-in-law in 1623 which is ... the oldest building in the parish. The distillery is the oldest in Germany. His son, Johan Friedrich, born in 1700, establish the family distillery in its present location in Gütersloh in 1729. J.F. Lütgert had two sons, Christian and Johan Christian. At this point the family diverges.
"The elder, Christian, born in 1740 was Adolph's great-great-grandfather. This line of the family has since been largely engaged in dealing wool and hides. Adolph's great-grandfather, Johan Friedrich, was born in 1792...
"The second son, Johan Christoph, 1743-1812, ran the distillery until his death. His son rebelled and studied law rather than going into business and ultimately became the Supreme Provincial Court attorney/judge in Breslau at the time of his death in 1842. His sister, Christine Luise, inherited the distillery, which became Elmerndorfer following her marriage to Ernst Friedrich Elmendorf. The family still runs the distillery in Gütersloh."