Colonel Francis S. Daeufer  was born in Pirmasens, Bavaria.  He emigrated to America with his parents in 1855, the family settling in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  He came of age at the start of the Civil War and was by accounts eager to join the Union cause.  He enlisted in Company I of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry and retired a Colonel, a title to which he would answer for the rest of his days.

In around 1850 his older sister Fredericka was married to William Koenig. Koenig owned a large restaurant in Allentown and by 1860 the whole Daeufer family was living in the restaurant residence.   According to the 1860 census Francis was an apprentice barber, his brother George D. was a cooper and their father Jacob had no occupation listed, but was likely a brewer. 

After the war Koenig shifted his business into that of brewery saloon and the Daeufer brothers shifted their skills to match.  Francis became a cooper and George became a brewer and their father, still living on the premesis with his daughter, was a teamster.  When Henry died at age 49 in 1873 the Daeufers took over.  Jacob, at age 69, was the new owner and his sons were on the fast track to managing the brewery business.

The brewery thrived under the new proprietors, and continued as the Daeufer Brewing Co. until the brothers retired in the early 20th century.  In 1915 the brewery merged with Allentown's oldest brewery, the Liebermann Brewery, and the newly named Daeufer-Liebermann Brewery continued, stronger than ever.  But Prohibition put a stop to it all in 1920.   While the brewery eked by during the 13 dry years, the world had changed by Repeal day in 1933 and, the Daeufer-Liebermann, like many firms during the Great Depression, did not survive to see the end of the decade.  They closed their doors forever in 1938.  Production shited to the Liebermann plant but they too closed in 1949.

Francis S. Daeufer died on April 14th, 1917 at the age of 76.

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