Gottfried Brockman

Gottfried became known as Fred Brockman in St. Louis and Kirkwood Missouri. He arrived at Castle Garden on the ship Kronprinz on May 1, 1882.

He arrived with his brother Hermann, and his cousins Peter Brockmann, and Peter's wife named Minna and Peter's daughter Emma. Fred had been educated in Germany in the craft of machinery and wood building.

Fred traveled to St. Louis where he established residence on Gano Avenue. Fred worked at various machine shops and hardware stores. He married Mathilda Hoffman a woman from the countryside of Gasconade County, probably because of a church connection between the congregation in the city and one in the farming community of Hope, Missouri.

Eventually he amassed enough capital to buy a home in a suburb nearby called Kirkwood. Kirkwood was located between two main train lines going west to the prairie and east to the city of St. Louis. His son Walter went to Kirkwood High School, starting in 1919 when the son was 16 years old. This better school may have been a factor in the move.

Fred started several business' dealing in farm mortgages or loans secured by notes leading up to the Depression. He also developed a manufacturing company in Kirkwood a short distance from the family home next to the railroad tracks. This company was called Success Furniture Company. They employed some immigrants from Germany to build beds and dressers for home use.

They also developed a line of Rolling Stepladders for use in buildings such as shoe stores and libraries. This company failed in the depression. Fred also developed a line of folding chicken coops used for shipping chickens from the farms to the city and returning the coops folded up back to the farmer. This business also failed due to the cost and lack of custody control over individual coops. They never made it back to the farmer that bought them.

Fred and his wife Mathilda Hoffmann had two children, son Walter, born in 1903, and daughter Esther, born in 1910. Esther was born with a cleft palette which was repaired. Esther never married and lived with her parents and near her bother all her life.

Fred died of stomach cancer, survived by his wife and two children.

Fred was naturalized as a US citizen in St. Louis on September 23, 1890.