Christian Magnus was born March 19, 1834, in Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, the eldest child of Carl and Elizabeth (Selzer) Magnus; the 1901 sketch says Carl was a brewer, as his own father and grandfather had been. He crossed to America in 1857 and came to Cedar Rapids in September 1859, where he started a brewery for Jacob Wetzel and was its foreman for two years. After two years running a brewery at Kankakee, Illinois, he came back as Wetzel's partner, married Wetzel's daughter Mary A. in 1864, and bought out his father-in-law in 1868. The business was incorporated in 1898 and he retired; Mary died in 1906, and their two daughters had died in 1878 and 1881. Every fact below is cited to a public-domain Linn County history.
Where the family starts
Carl Magnus and Elizabeth (Selzer) Magnusthe earliest generation in the recordMost recent in our records
Christian Magnusborn 1834Tap a name to jump to that person.
Brewer of Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt
Proprietor of the Eagle Brewery; capitalist, Cedar Rapids
Among the prosperous business men and capable financiers of Cedar Rapids is numbered Christian Magnus, who has been a resident of this city since 1859. He was born on the 19th of March, 1834, in Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where he grew to manhood and received a thorough education in the higher schools and colleges. His father, Carl Magnus, was also a native of Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt, and was a brewer, as was also his father and grandfather. For many years Carl Magnus was actively engaged in the brewing business in Giessen, and was one of the prominent men of that city.
During his youth Christian Alagnus learned the brewing business with his father, and then traveled through Germany, working in different cities and thoroughly learning the business in all its branches. In connection with it he also worked two years at the cooper's trade in Frankfort and thus qualified himself for his chosen occupation. He traveled and worked in different cities of Germany for several years.
In 1857 !Mr. Magnus crossed the Atlantic, and took up his residence in Twin Springs, Winneshiek county. Iowa, where he started a brewery for a Frenchman, remaining there one year. He subsequently spent a short time in Chicago and Milwaukee, and in 1859. came to Cedar Rapids, where he worked in the brewery of Jacob Wetzel as head brewer for two years. He next started a brewery in Kankakee. Illinois, where he remained two years, then returned to Cedar Rapids and formed a partnership with Mr. Wetzel in the brewing business, that connection continuing until 1868, when Mr. Magnus bought out his partner. He began business here in a small way, but has enlarged his facilities from time to time to meet the growing demands of his trade until the capacity of his brewery is now twenty-five thousand barrels per year. He was at the head of the business when it was organized as a stock company with Mr. Magnus as a stockholder and director.
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