Formerly as a clothing merchant and later in the real estate and insurance field Alvin G. Baumeister has made for himself a most creditable position in the business circles of Walla Walla, where he has been conducting his interests as a member of the firm of Shaw & Baumeister. He is a native son of the city in which he resides and the course which he has pursued throughout his entire life has been such as to commend him to the confidence, goodwill and high respect of all with whom he has been associated. He was born in this city January 23, 1883, and is a representative of one of its oldest and most honored pioneer families, his parents being Max and Alvine (Schweiker) Baumeister, of whom more extended mention is made on another page of this work.
Alvin G. Baumeister began his education in the schools of Walla Walla, passing through consecutive grades to the high school. On the 1st of February, 1905, when he was a young man of about twenty-two years, he was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle E. Wilson, a daughter of P. H. Wilson, one of the prominent farmers of Walla Walla county and one of its well known pioneer citizens. With a good education and now with a home for which to provide, Mr. Baumeister seriously took up the duties of life and in the year of his marriage became identified with the commercial interests of Walla Walla, establishing and conducting a clothing and furnishing goods store. He carried on the business with growing success for about three years or until 1908, when he disposed of his store and removed to Seattle. He remained for nine months in that city and was employed in a clothing store, but upon his father's death in 1909 he returned to Walla Walla and became his successor in the real estate and insurance business, in which he has been engaged until recently. He had one of the large agencies of this character and negotiated many important realty transfers. He thoroughly understands property values and has handled business interests of importance in this line. He also had a well organized insurance department, representing a number of the most reliable companies, and he wrote a large amount of insurance. Thus his interests were profitably managed and his course illustrates what may be accomplished by serious endeavor. Recently he has sold his insurance business in Walla Walla and has now identified himself with a new organization, established in St. Louis, Missouri. This new company is to be known as The Liberty Insurance Corporation of which all capital is to be invested in liberty bonds.
Mr. Baumeister also figures prominently in fraternal circles. He has membership in Walla Walla Lodge, No. 7, A. F. & A. M.; in Walla Walla Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M.; in Washington Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; in Oriental Consistory, A. & A. S. R., of Spokane; and in El Katif Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., also of Spokane. His name is likewise on the membership rolls of Trinity Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F., and of the encampment, and he belongs to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B. P. O. E. He likewise belongs to the Commercial Club and is a member of the Walla Walla Golf Club—associations that further indicate the nature of his interests. In politics he is a republican, well versed on the questions and issues of the day and believing firmly in the principles of his party, yet he does not seek nor desire office, preferring to concentrate his energies and attention upon his business affairs. He ranks with the leading and representative business men of Walla Walla, where his entire life has been passed. His record is a commendable one, for at all times his course has displayed no esoteric phase. In all things he is open and aboveboard and an analyzation of his career shows that it is close application and indefatigable energy which have placed him in his present enviable position in real estate and insurance circles.
EDWARD BAUMEISTER.
In Saxe-Weimar, Germany, on June 24, 1848, was born the subject of this sketch. His father, Ernest Baumeister, was a native of Erfurt, Germany, and came to the United States in 1854, bringing his family. Settlement was made in New York state and so thoroughly did the elder Baumeister identify himself with the interests of the country of his adoption, that upon the breaking out of the rebellion, he promptly enlisted in a New York regiment of volunteer cavalry and served with distinction and valor until the last conflict at Fredericksburg when he was wounded and soon gave his life for his country. He had married Miss Charlotte Schroeder, also a native of Germany.
Our subject was but a lad when his father died and the same spirit that pervaded the breast of the ancestor, was found well planted in the heart of his son. He, too, has taken up the cause of his country in a determined and loyal way, championing those measures and principles which are for the upbuilding of our free institutions. After attending the common schools of New York until he was twelve years old, he accompanied his brother, Max, to California. For two years he served an apprenticeship there as a barber and in April, 1863, he and his brother moved to Washington and settled in Walla Walla where for nineteen years they followed the barber trade. Then selling out they engaged for two years in the real estate and insurance business.
In 1885 Edward Baumeister moved to Lewiston and accepted a position in the general store of John P. Vollmer & Company. For seven months he served faithfully there and in the fall of 1885, came to the town of Asotin, then located farther up the river than at present. Mr. Baumeister selected the place where Asotin now stands and opened a fine general merchandise establishment. This general store was, for many years, the commercial center of the county. The upper rooms of the building were used for lodge and court room purposes. During the panic of 1893-5, the firm practically financed the county. Much of the grain and live stock of the county was bought by the company and shipped away. At one time, several hundred horses were driven by the firm back to Missouri and Illinois. During these years, the store acted as the bank and financial clearinghouse of the county and in 1900, the first bank in the county was opened in connection with the business. In 1908, the general store was sold but the bank was retained, and is still doing a leading business in the county.
