Sommer, Emile

The following data is extracted from Biographies of Pulaski County, Georgia.

Emile Sommer, son of Samuel and Fannie Brown Sommer, born in Shierhoffen, Alsace, France, October 10, 1853, came to America and to Fort Valley, Ga., at the age of fourteen, joining his elder brother, Aaron, with whom he became associated in the mercantile business.

Four years later Aaron died, and shortly thereafter Emile was joined in Fort Valley by his mother, three brothers, Albert, Willie, and Emanuel, and two sisters, Palmyre and Rosa. The brothers became closely associated in business, operating under the name of Sommer Brothers.

In the year 1889 the firm and the entire Sommer family moved to Hawkinsville, where there has been some member of the family living since, and where the name has been continuously affiliated with the upbuilding of Hawkinsville and Pulaski County. In that same year, two nephews, Leopold and Sylvia Sommer, came from France to make Hawkinsville their home.

In 1898 the mother of the family passed away and soon the entire family, excepting Emile and his immediate family, moved from Hawkinsville. Palmyre (Mrs. H. Kahn) moved to Lorman, Miss., with her husband and children: Anna, Sue, Theresa, Sylvia, Dan, and Henry.

Rosa, who had become Mrs. Abe Mohr, moved to Montgomery, Ala. To them were born three sons, Jake, Sam, and Mike.

Emanuel moved to Macon, Ga., where he was living at the time of his death in 1903.
Willie moved to New York and married Rosalie Ballin, and was living in New York at the time of his death in 1911. Their children are Fannie, Marie, and Louis.
Albert moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where he married Leah Halle in 1910. His interest in Hawkinsville and Pulaski County never ceased, and he made frequent visits to the home of his youth up to the time of his death in 1932.

Leopold moved to Baton Rouge, La., where he married Harriet Moise, and was living in that city at the time of his death in 1933. Their two daughters are Ray and Liddie.

Sylvia moved to Raynes, La., and married Marguerite Kahn. To them was born a son, Adolph, and Allan is a grandson.

In 1887, Emile Sommer was married to Fannie Baruch, daughter of Henry and Theresa Baruch of New York City. Their four children are: Palmyre (Mrs. S. H. Fried), of Pensacola, Fla.; Floretta (Mrs. Ernest Michael), of Athens, Ga.; Theresa (Mrs. Albert Klein), of Pensacola, Fla.; and Samuel, of Hawkinsville, who married Jeanne Wolff, of Pensacola, Fla.

The grandchildren are: Anna and Emile Michael, E. J. Fried, Amelia and Albert Klein, Jr., and Fannette, and Selma Jeanne Sommer.

Emile Sommer was an active member of the Hawkinsville City Council for a number of years; also of the City Board of Education, of which body he was a member at the time of his death, November 15, 1909.

Source: Biographies of Pulaski County, Georgia

  Go Back