J. A. Huegel, proprietor of the Central Hotel, at Jefferson City, Mo., was born in Newark, N. J., on the 13th of July, 1847, and is a son of Joseph I. and Mary (Mack) Huegel, who were born in Manheim and Heidelberg, Germany, respectively. In the spring of 1846 they came to America on the same vessel, and in the summer of the same year were married, and located in Newark, N. J., where the father was engaged in the bakery business, which trade he had learned in his native land, and also kept a stock of groceries. In 1856 he purchased a farm near the city, and until the fall of 1867 was engaged in the dairy business and in raising vegetables. At the latter date he sold out and went to Minnesota, locating at St. Cloud, but being dissatisfied with the country, he came to Missouri and purchased a farm in Cole County, on which he resided until his death, in August, 1881. His first wife died in 1854 of cholera, having borne three children, two of whom are living: Joseph A. and Annie A., wife of Albert Cooper. To his second marriage four children were born: Katie, Theresa, Kunigunda and Jacob. Three children were born to his third union: Dena, William and Clara. Our subject, Joseph A. Huegel, was educated in Newark, N. J., and moved with his parents to Minnesota, where he began learning the carpenter's trade, but was obliged to give it up on account of sickness. He was then engaged in teaming and other work until the fall of 1869, when he came to Jefferson City and worked on his father's farm till December, 1870, when he served several months as guard at the State's Prison. He next tended bar for Joseph Glutz until August, 1872, and then started a bar on his own account in the Nichols House, where he continued until December, 1873. On the 1st of January, 1874, he leased the Central Hotel, furnishing it new throughout, and in 1884 bought the property, and now keeps a first-class hotel. The house is a three-story building, containing twenty-eight rooms, and has also a large basement. Mr. Huegel as a landlord has few equals, and is attentive and courteous to his guests, and commands a large share of the public patronage. He served as a member of the city council one term, and is treasurer of the Catholic Knights of America, being also a member of the Bay State Beneficiary Association. In 1880 he was appointed one of the enumerators of the Western District of Jefferson City, and in his public as well as his private life has won many friends. He is a Democrat politically. On the 10th of September, 1872, he was married to Regina Braun, a native of Elsas, Germany, and a daughter of Franz I. and Frances (Fisher) Braun. His union has been blessed in the birth of seven children: Charles P., Lawrence B., Henry A., Victor P., Louis J., Eugene W. and Josephine R. L.

Transcribed from:
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries, and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Company (1889).