Adolphus Busch’s unlikely story of friendship
While searching for historical objects regarding the Saint Louis region, I decided to focus on a famous German American as a guide for my searching. I decided on Adolphus Busch, and with that, I came across an interesting object. It is a volume that has been converted to microfilm, and in it is a typed manuscript of a story. On the first page, a title page identifies this as 995, which is the number of the collection at the state historical society, as well as the volume number, 3 and the item number, 88. It then has a brief description and rough citation of the work. “Espy, James C., “Story of the Enduring Friendship between Senator George G. Vest and Adolphus Busch” then a handwritten portion appearing to say “5L, typescript” which I believe is an indication of font. The description underneath is this, “Story told to the author by Aleck S. Vest and Mollie Vest Jackson, children of Senator George Graham Vest, about the latter’s friendship with Adolphus Busch. At the bottom of the page, there is a date: February 27, 1934. This is followed by the name and address of the author, James C. Espy and a final word after that “Gift”. I surmised that Aleck and Mollie may have asked or paid him to write down this story.
The story of their friendship comes from an event that Senator Vest attended. This was the double wedding of brothers Adolphus and Ulrich Busch to sisters Lilly and Anna Anheuser. Adolphus’s business partner was their father, Eberhard Anheuser. They owned what the author calls a “Bavarian Brewery”. The date of this event was March 7th, 1861, and the wedding took place in South Saint Louis. According to the author, a friend asked Vest if he had ever been to a German wedding, and he said no. His friend then told him of the wedding and asked if Vest would like to join, saying it would be a good time. Vest went, and his friend introduced him to all the notable and prominent German Americans present, including all that lived in Saint Louis as well as the brides and grooms. Adolphus and Vest took an immediate liking to each other.
Busch went on to invest in the brewery while Anheuser moved on to a profitable soap business. In 1865 he invested in the brewery and joined management. Him at Lilly went on to have thirteen children. Only his son, August Busch, survived to adulthood and he became second in command at the brewery, eventually taking over leadership after Adolphus’s death. Vest had a lengthy political career as a senator, although him and Busch had significant difference in political viewpoints.
Despite political differences, later in life, Busch cared deeply for his friend. Vest spoke highly of Busch, saying that he was
“the kind of friend that sticks whether one is in or out” of office.
He also said Busch made him two offers, first offering his persona railway car to Vest so he could go anywhere he wanted with his family. Vest declined, and then Busch offered to financially care for the family if his financial affairs were not in order. Vest declined this as well, saying his finances were fine. Busch said that he had only just heard of his illness, and that if Vest needed it, he was prepared to hand over $100,000 if Vest said the word, and that he wanted to put his mind at rest. Vest declined, thanking him, and told his family that Busch’s visit and offers were “one of the sweetest things in my long life”. They were eventually buried in the same cemetery in Saint Louis.
