Transplanted from Hesse-Cassel, Germany, to Albany, New York, the Reissig family have flourished and prospered in the western world, as for centuries their ancestors did in the eastern. The family seat was Steinbach, Halenburg, Hesse-Cassel, Germany, where they were leaders in the activities of the place. They formed with their connections a large portion of the population, and it is still the home of many of the name. One, of the family went to Russia, where he gained the favor of the Czar and became a government official of prominence. Another nephew of the Russian official and brother of Christian Reissig was an officer in the Russian army and fought in the Russo-Japanese war. Christian Reissig was a son of Frederick Reissig, a manufacturer of horseshoe nails in the days prior to machine-made nails. This seems to have been one of the family industries, others of the name having been engaged therein. Frederick had four sons and two daughters. Two of the sons preceded Christian to the United States; one settled in Pennsylvania where he died, another settled in Springfield, Ohio, where he married and founded a family; a third son was the Russian officer referred to and the Russian official was Frederick's brother.
(II) Christian, son of Frederick Reissig, was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, October 29, 1835, died in Albany, New York, September 1, 1897. He was a machinist and learned the family trade of horseshoe nail making, in which his father was engaged. He was successful in business and accumulated a sufficient fortune to bring him to the United States in 1884, with his wife and family, settling in Albany, New York, where he purchased a comfortable home and lived a retired life. During his thirteen years of residence in Albany he acted with the Republican party, after becoming a citizen. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. He married, in Germany, Eliza Susan Uspeck, born February 4, 1842, a native of the same town and principality in Germany as her husband, whom she survives, (1910) a resident of Albany. Her father was a gunsmith and died in Germany at the age of thirty-one years. She had an uncle who fought in the Napoleonic wars and lived to the great age of one hundred and seven years. Children, all born in Steinbach, Halenburg, Hesse-Cassel, Germany:
- Minnie, born December 9, 1866; married Charles Scheneck, a builder, of Syracuse, New York; daughter Minnie.
- Ernest, born 1868; a blacksmith engaged with the Van Heusen Manufacturing Company of Albany; married Annie Worker; children: Louis, Anna, Hilda, Louis (2) and Mary.
- Gustafus (or Gustave), born July 17, 1870; junior member of Seim & Reissig, wagon manufacturers of Albany; married Catherine Van Derzee, of an old Dutch family of Albany; children: Elsie, Olna, Alice, Ernest, Jane, Walter R., deceased.
- August, born 1872; telegraph operator with the United Press Association; unmarried and resides in Albany.
- Ernest Richard, see forward.
- Magdalena, married Henry Bruder, a merchant of Kenwood, New York.
- Anna, unmarried; resides with her mother and brother August in the Albany homestead of the Reissigs.
(III) Ernest Richard, son of Christian and Eliza Susan (Uspeck) Reissig, was born October 9, 1874. He was ten years of age when the family settled in Albany, where he went to school until he was fifteen. He apprenticed himself to a baker and confectioner of Albany, with whom he remained until having mastered the business he established a similar business of his own in 1898. He located his new and modern bakery in the South End on Second avenue, where he is well established as baker and caterer. He has been successful in his business undertakings and is a prosperous citizen of his adopted city. He is a member of the Lutheran church (as is his wife), and is affiliated with the Republican party. He married, April 22, 1909, in Albany, Eliza M., born in Delmar, Albany county, New York, March 25, 1885, daughter of John and Catherine (Weber) Heebe. John Heebe died in Delmar in 1905, aged fifty-seven years. He was a native of Albany county. Catherine Weber, his wife, was born in Germany, came to the United States when a young woman, married and settled at Delmar. Their children are:
- Eliza M., married Ernest Richard Reissig;
- John H., born February 2, 1887;
- Joseph, born September 1, 1889.
Mrs. Catherine Heebe survives her husband; resides in Albany with her daughter, Mrs. Reissig.