1925 Biography - Maurice B. Sachse

Maurice B. Sachse is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in the City of Baton Rouge, where he is secretary and treasurer of the Baton Rouge Electrical & Machine Works, Inc. He was born at Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 31, 1894, and his father, Victor A. Sachse, who was born in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, in 1866, passed the closing years of his life in Baton Rouge, where his death occurred November 11, 1921. He was a son of Theodore C. Sachse, who was born in Germany and who was a boy when his parents immigrated to the United States and established their home in Illinois, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father, Dr. Maurice Sachse, having received superior educational advantages in his native land and having become a leading physician and surgeon in Illinois, where he served as personal physician to Mrs. Lincoln, first wife of Abraham Lincoln. Theodore C. Sachse became a successful planter and merchant in Tensas Parish, and was a gallant soldier of the Union Army in the Civil war. He died in the City of New Orleans, and his wife, who was born in Germany and whose maiden name was Wilhelmina Weis, was a resident of Baton Rouge at the time of her death.

Victor A. Sachse was reared in Tensas Parish, and his educational advantages included those of Centenary College at Jackson, this state, in which he was graduated. He was for a term of years a successful traveling salesman, and during the last fourteen years of his life was thus a representative of the firm of Ely & Walker of St. Louis, Missouri. He was a young man when he established his residence in New Orleans, where he continued to maintain his home until 1900, the remainder of his life having been passed in Baton Rouge. He was a director of the Bank of Baton Rouge at the time of his death, and in the capital city was affiliated with St. James Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Baton Rouge Lodge No. 490, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. At Vicksburg, Mississippi, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Fannie Bloomenstich, who was there born in September, 1874, a daughter of Isaac Bloomenstich and Carolyn Frank.

Isaac Bloomenstich was a gallant soldier of the Confederacy, having served in the Eleventh Louisiana Regiment. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Sachse has continued her residence in Baton Rouge. Maurice B., of this review, is the eldest of four surviving children; Violet is the wife of Joseph Wolf, a principal of the Davis Safe Company at Shreveport, Louisiana; Victor A., Jr., is (1924) a student in the law department of the University of Louisiana; and Carolyn is a student in the literary or academic department of the same institution.

In the public schools of Baton Rouge Maurice B. Sachse continued his studies until he had profited by the curriculum of the high school, and in 1909 he was matriculated in the University of Louisiana, in which he continued his studies three years, at varying intervals. In 1914 he assumed a position in the employ of the Cahn Electric Company of Shreveport, where he remained two years. He then returned to Baton Rouge, and here he held for one year the position of sales manager for the Capital City Auto Company, a position from which he retired to enter service in connection with the World war.

Mr. Sachse was one of the very first volunteers to enter military service after the nation became involved in the World war, as is evident when it is noted that his enlistment occurred April 6, 1917, the very day that the United States formally declared war against Germany. He was sent to Camp Nicholls, New Orleans, and later was assigned to Camp Beauregard, this state, whence he was transferred to Leon Springs, Texas. With his command he disembarked at Brest, France, in August, 1918, as a member and sergeant major of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Field Signal Battalion. He took part in the historic Meuse-Argonne offensive and was several times in service on German soil. After the close of the war he finally returned to his native land, and at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, he received his honorable discharge in August, 1919. After the signing of the armistice he found opportunity to attend the University of Montpelier, France, where he specialized in the study of French language and also in international law.

After the close of his military career Mr. Sachse returned to Baton Rouge, where he has since been one of the interested principals in the Baton Rouge Electrical & Machine Works, of which corporation he is secretary and treasurer, this being the leading concern of its kind in East Baton Rouge Parish and its business being one of substantial order. Mr. Sachse is a progressive member of and worker in the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Retail Credit Men's Association of Baton Rouge, is aligned in the local ranks of the democratic party, and is affiliated with St. James Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Washington Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons, and Lambert Council. He is a member of Nicholson Post No. 38, American Legion.

June 16, 1920, recorded the marriage of Mr. Sachse and Miss Debora Kaufman, who was born and reared in Baton Rouge and whose youthful education included a course in the Southwest Louisiana Industrial Institute at Lafayette. Mr. and Mrs. Sachse have a charming little daughter, Annie Violet, who was born September 26, 1921.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 141-142.