Prominent among the younger representatives of the legal profession in Schenectady is Mathias P. Poersch, Jr., who is successfully engaged in practice as senior member of the firm of Poersch & St. Louis. A worthy native son of Schenectady, he was born on the 21st of February, 1897, his parents being Mathias P. and Agnes (Fritzen) Poersch, both natives of Germany. The father was a youth of about sixteen when he crossed the Atlantic to the United States and took up his abode in Schenectady, New York, where he became the first baggageman in the service of the New York Central Railway, being thus employed for a considerable period. He was subsequently engaged in the grocery trade for more than a quarter of a century and at the present time is devoting his attention to the insurance business with excellent success.
In his youth Mathias P. Poersch, Jr., attended the public schools, and following the completion of his high school course by graduation in 1914 he continued his studies in Union College of Schenectady, which in 1918 conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His professional training was acquired in the Albany Law School, from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1921. Admitted to the bar on the 15th of September of that year, he took up the work of his chosen profession in the office of Leary & Fullerton and later formed a partnership with Messrs. Judge and Lyons under the firm name of Judge, Lyons & Poersch. This association was maintained until October, 1922, when Mr. Poersch joined Arlen T. St. Louis and has since practiced in Schenectady as a member of the firm of Poersch & St. Louis. A sketch of Mr. St. Louis appears on another page of this work. Mr. Poersch is accorded a clientage of extensive proportions. He is remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. At no time has his reading ever been confined to the limitations of the questions at issue. It has gone beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. Mr. Poersch is a member of the Schenectady County Bar Association.
On the 19th of January, 1922, Mr. Poersch wedded Miss Ethel Louise Benzie, daughter of John F. and Catherine (McMahon) Benzie, both natives of New York, the former born in Troy and the latter in Hudson. John F. Benzie is in the service of the General Electric Company. Mr. and Mrs. Poersch have two children: Constance Phyllis, who was born in November, 1922; and Mathias Philip, born October 29, 1924. The family residence is at No. 151 Furman street, in Schenectady.
In 1923 Mr. Poersch was defeated as a candidate for the state assembly on the democratic ticket. He joined the United States navy at Albany on the 15th of July, 1918, was sent to the training station at Pelham Bay and was still in the Officers Training School when discharged on December 12, 1918. He belongs to the American Legion. A Catholic in religious faith, his fraternal connections are with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is likewise a member of the law fraternity known as Delta Chi, and while attending Union College he joined the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. In Schenectady, where he has always lived, the circle of his friends is a wide one.