My great grandfather, Louis Burg, was born in Rhinephaltz Bavaria, February 10, 1943, 100 years before I was born. My great grandfather Burg would never have dreamed that his great grandson would have an online shoe business offering Nautilus safety shoes, Dansko shoes, Birkenstock chef shoes, Rockport shoes, Ryka, and Sandro Moscolinoi shoes. He was the son of John Burg, who, with his family sailed from LeHavre, France on a ship with a cargo of cotton and docked at New Orleans 49 days after leaving France. The family came up the Mississippi by steamboat and arrived at Keokuk, Iowa. Later they traveled by steamboat to Burlington, Iowa and settled on a farm. When Louis Burg was 15 years old he moved in with a sister in Quincy, Ill. Louis attended the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate, sitting only four feet from Lincoln. Louis married his childhood sweetheart, Cordelia Behme, who he met on a steamboat trip from New Orleans to St. Louis. Louis was 10 and Cordelia was 7, and were married on St. Valentine’s day 1867. Louis and Cordelia had 8 children, 5 boys and 3 girls. Their first born child, Clara, died at birth. Louis’s daughter Flora Burg was my grandmother who was my father’s’ mother. I also met Flora’s sister Carrie Pettit whem my folks visited her in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Louis After returning to Burlington Louis became an apprentice blacksmith in the plant of Burg, Funk and Co. and during the Civil War he “ironed wagons” at the plant. Louis Burg was a blacksmith, entrepreneur, inventor, and business man.
Louis later moved to Farmington, Ia where he opened his own blacksmith business. He invented a balanced road cart that was more comfortable to ride on bumpy roads than the standard cart of that time. He opened a small factory under the name L. Burg Carriage Co. This new cart became so popular that he had to expand his factory. He shipped carts to Europe, South America, and Australia. In 1889 a fire destroyed two of the four factory buildings. This was ruinous to the Burg fortunes as this was before they had insurance. Burg borrowed money from his mother to buy a new suit and took the train from Farmington, Iowa to Dallas City, Ill. When the train arrived in Dallas City, a crowd who had gathered at the train station was surprised by this well dress man and asked him what brought him to Dallas City. Burg told them he was looking for a place to build his new factory. He was soon meeting with the local banker and business men. They were so impressed that they helped raise the money to build three 50′ X 150′ factory buildings, one of them a two story building which is the only one still standing. This building is now occupied by an Italian restaurant. By the time the new factory was completed the style had changed from carts to buggies. Louis Burg hired craftsmen from St. Louis and around the country who knew how to build his new line of buggies. As these employees moved on they were replaced by local people. The Burg buggy soon earned a reputation for durability and was in high demand. Lewis Burg was extremely successful in the buggy business. I hope we are as successful with our brand name internet store www.lionfootweardirect.com offering free shipping for Nautilus, Birko balance and Birko sport arch supports, Allegria shoes, K-Swiss, Rockport World Tour shoes, and Avia walking and running shoes.
phone: 1-800-831-0940
Nice reading the story of your Great Grandfather, I have been looking for information on a Road Cart that I have purchase a couple of years ago and will be restoring within the next year. It looks as if it is the Balanced Road Cart that your Grandfather manufactured in the late 1800’s. What makes it balace is the seat will slide back and forth over the axle so you could balace the drivers weight.
I was going to attach photo’s of it but can not through this like.
If you want you can contact me at larry@nebraskawagonworks.com and I will send you the photo’s of it that I have.
Larry Steinbrink
Pretty nice article to pay attention to at least as for me. A small question, why don’t you send it to social bookmarking sites? This may bring rather big traffic to this article.
BURG families of Burlington Iowa
My mother was Edna Frances Burg, b. 20 March 1913 in Burlington, Iowa. Died 07 May 1989 in Lakewood, Colorado. Her father was my grandfather, Herbert Erwin Burg, b. 08 Nov 1884 in Burlington, Iowa, died 10 Jan 1974 in Denver, Colorado. He closed the old Burg Wagon Company in Burlington, IA in 1911.
His father was John Henry Burg, Jr., b. 10 Jan 1854 in Burlington, IA and died 23 June 1922 in Denver, CO. His father was John Henry Burg Sr., b. 16 Dec. 1826 in Rhein, Bavaria, Germany, and died 07 Nov. 1899. He was an older brother to Ludwig (Louis) (Lewis) Burg (1843-1926). Their parents was Johann Burg, b. 02 September 1800 in Hegersweiler, Germany, died 04 September 1883 in Burlington, IA.
Johann’s wife was Margaretha (Celock) Zilliox, b. 13 March 1801 in Bramstedt, Denmark, Germany, and died 21 June 1878 in Burlington, Des Moines Co, Iowa. She was the daughter of Georg Heinrich Zilliox and Eva Margaretha Boheim.
Johann Burg, was the son of Ludwig Burg of Winden by Kandel; Pfalz, Bavaria, Germany and Margaretha Barbey of Germany.
This BURG family was a stong member of the Burlington, IA community, and have left there name in the cornerstone of the Methodist church. I have “endless” pictures of all this family, and have been to all their graves in the Aspen Grove Cemetery, as well as Dallas City, IL cemeteries. In 1988 I have seen the BURG mansion in Dallas City, IL and what was left of the BURG Factory. I Learne later it burned down. I have countless pictures of the BURG Autos, Buggies, all there years being built and have donated much of it to the Burlington, IA Library where I have also donated a lot of Family Genealogy there.
Regards – James E. Kunkle, Edgewater, CO (2010)