Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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Significant transitional documents include: original flyer announcing the change of Leidig Brothers's Alvarado Street grocery store to the Model Grocery Co. in May 1903 in Monterey; agreements for sale of the E. K. Blood grocery business to Elizabeth Leidig and her son R. (Robert) G. Leidig in September 1907 in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Organized in four series: I. Business records; II. Correspondence; III. Correspondence courses; IV. Ephemera.
- Biographical / historical:
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George Leidig (1828-1899), born to German immigrant parents in Fayette County, Illinois, started his career as a merchant in Vandalia in Fayette County. A purveyor of dry goods and general merchandise, his occupation set an example for his sons to follow later in California. He married Arminda White (ca 1836-1878) in 1855 in Fayette County. After her death in 1880, he married Elizabeth Jeanette Henderson (1850-1947), who became the mother of their four sons. Elizabeth moved from Illinois to California in 1900, a year after her husband's death. Breifly visiting Los Angelos and San Francisco, the family moved to Monterey County, settling in Monterey. In 1902, Robert George Leidig (1879-1970), the eldest son, along with his brother Frederick (1880-1973), purchased stock from the former proprietor and opened a grocery on Alvarado Street, Leidig Brothers. Benjamin and Lawrence, the youngest two brothers attended school at this time. The older brothers incorporated their business in 1903 as the Model Grocery Company with Robert as manager. Robert Leidig also worked as a clerk in the newly constructed Preble Grocery on Alvarado St. in 1904. Moving to Carmel in 1907, the brothers at first worked in Devendorff's grocery then began working for the Preble Co., joining E. A. (Ernest Abraham) Preble in partnership in the Carmel Grocery in 1907. In 1910, Robert married Isabel A. Martin (1885-1961), born at Mission Ranch, Carmel, daughter of a prominent pioneer Monterey County ranch family. Robert's brother Fred (Frederick) married Clara Bell Black (1885-1977) of Salinas, California in 1909. About 1918, Robert left the grocery business to pursue a career in fire equipment sales, eventually becoming chief of the Carmel Volunteer Fire Department. The Leidig groceries were well-known features of early Carmel village and family descendants continue to live and work on the Monterey Peninsula.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Access by appointment only; contact Local History Librarian or designated staff.
- Terms of access:
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Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.
- Preferred citation:
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Leidig Store Papers. Monterey Public Library, California History Room Archives
- Location of this collection:
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625 Pacific StreetMonterey, CA 93940, US
- Contact:
- (831) 646-2091