Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 2. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 524.
 
BERNARD ALBERS

     The career of Bernard Albers, former president of the Albers Brothers
Milling Company and proprietor of the United States Mills of Portland, was from
many standpoints a remarkable one.  A few years after holding an obscure
position in a local feed mill he had risen solely through his own unaided effort
to a place of responsibility and trust in the industrial world and at the time
of his death ranked as one of the successful and most enterprising business men
in his line of trade in the northwest.  He was likewise recognized as an
unexcelled expert in the milling business.
     Mr. Albers was born in Lingen, Germany, in the principality of Hanover,
March 6, 1864, and was the eldest of nine children born to John Herman and
Theresa (Voss) Albers, both also native of Hanover, Germany.  John Herman Albers
was a grain merchant in Lingen for many years.  He came to Portland in 1896 and
here died the following year.  His wife, whose father was a miller, died in her
native land.
     Bernard Albers after becoming established in the milling business took in
several of his brothers, but it is a well known fact that Bernard was the
organizer and leading figure in the enterprises that he fathered and promoted.
After graduating from the gymnasium at Lingen, Mr. Albers familiarized himself
with the grain business conducted by his father; and the thorough training
received under this experienced merchant was undoubtedly responsible to a large
degree for the success which rewarded his mature efforts.
     In 1887 Mr. Albers came to America and for two years was employed by the
firm of Hulman & Company, wholesale grocers in Terre Haute, Indiana.  In 1889 he
came to Portland and for four years was employed by the feed concern of Rogge &
Storp.  In this connection he established a foothold in the business world of
Portland and in 1893 inaugurated an independent business as head of the firm of
Albers & Tuke.  This business was begun on modest lines and scarcely prophesied
the immense cereal business done by the firm of which Mr. Albers was the active
head.
     The increase in trade was such that in order to meet the requirements for
the growing demand for their products new quarters were soon found necessary.
So in 1898 Mr. Albers built a commodious milling establishment at the corner of
Front and Main streets, called the United States Mills, and in 1899 added to his
responsibilities by the purchase of the Merchant Roller Mills, which he utilized
for the manufacture of rolled oats and other cereals.  Later purchase was made
of the Peerless Pure Food Company plant, which was dismantled and consolidated
with the above mills.  An important adjunct to that business was the feed and
hay enterprise located at Front and Lovejoy streets, with warehouse and splendid
shipping facilities, including a dock one hundred and fifty by two hundred and
sixty-five feet in dimensions.  The hay business proved a source of large
revenue and a hay compressor turned out an average of one hundred tons per day.
The firm had the government contract for all shipments of hay to the Philippine
Islands during the war with Spain and in 1901 shipped for the government to
these islands thirteen thousand tons.  The local hay establishment was augmented
by a hay compress plant at Forest Grove, established by Mr. Albers in 1900,
which had a capacity of two hundred tons per day.
     The Albers & Schneider Company was incorporated in 1895, with Mr. Albers as
president and manager.  The enormous cereal output which was developed under the
capable management of the head of the concern permitted of shipments to all
parts of the east as well as the intermountain Pacific states and British
Columbia.  The United States Mills had a capacity of two hundred barrels of
rolled oats and one hundred barrels of other cereals daily.  The Cascade Cereal
Company of Tacoma, of which Mr. Albers was president and held the controlling
interest, produced one hundred and fifty barrels of rolled oats and one hundred
and twenty-five barrels of flour daily.  The Seattle Cereal Company, in which
Mr. Albers held the controlling interest, had a capacity of two hundred barrels
of rolled oats per day.  These great concerns, all developed and brought to
their high standard of efficiency under the guiding hand of one man, illustrate
what is possible where there is a willingness to labor and deal fairly with your
fellowman.
     Mr. Albers had no extraordinary advantage, coming to America without means,
but had the qualities that make for success everywhere -- honor, honesty and
ambition.  On March 1, 1903, the concern of which he was head was
re-incorporated under the name of Albers Brothers Milling Company.
     Mr. Albers first married Herminie Sommer and to them were born three
daughters:  Agnes, now Mrs. Daniel P. Hogan; Theresa; and Herminie.  He was
married the second time in April, 1902, to Miss Ida Wascher, daughter of William
and Marie Wascher, and of this marriage three children were born, namely:
Bernard and Alfred, students in the Columbia University; and Ernest.  Mrs.
Albers had five nephews in the World war, one being killed in action.
     Mr. Albers was a representative of the best citizenship of Portland -- a
striking type of the self-made man.  He was a thorough believer in his adopted
country and its laws and customs and in the great northwest he found opportunity
for the display of his talents and the results were the attainment of a splendid
success.  He passed to the great beyond March 4, 1908, leaving to his widow and
children not only worldly means but an untarnished name.
 
 
Transcriber's additional notes:
 
"Men of Oregon"
Published by:  The Chamber of Commerce Bulletin
Portland, Oregon; 1911
 
ALBERS BROTHERS, Cereal Manufacturers.
Came to Oregon in October, 1891, started in business in 1893, and in the milling
business on June 1, 1895.  Now largest concern of its kind on the Pacific Coast.
Mills located at San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma.
 
Albers, Henry; Born at Lingen, Germany, April 13, 1866
Albers, William; Born at Lingen, Germany, December 29, 1869
Albers, George; Born at Lingen, Germany, March 12, 1872
Albers, Frank; Born at Lingen, Germany, December 15, 1874
 
 
 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2006 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.