Marie (Mary) Elvora Reinhardt was born in Niederkirche, Bavaria. She moved to America in 1848, part of the mass migration of Germans in that era called the "forty-eighters".

By 1862 she had made her way to Chicago, Illinois where she married Karl Ferdinand “Charles” Leslin, a brewer. The Leslins eventually continued west and by 1871 had found a new home in Wabasha County, Minnesota. In around 1870 Charles partnered with Samual Burkhardt to form a brewery in the small Mississippi River village of Reads Landing. Within 2 years Leslin's sold Burkhardt his stake in the company and formed a brewery of his own a couple miles downriver, a mile north of the town of Wabasha. Charles ran the brewery for two years, then for some reason ownership passed to his wife Mary. She ran it for another decade before selling the brewery to John T. Ginther.

Charles died in 1890 at age 57. Mary died on the 17th of January, 1913 at the age of 80. The company the Leslins founded, renamed the Wabasha Brewery, outlived them both. Prohibition finally shut its doors on January 16th, 1920.

Charles Ferdinand Leslin was born in Bavaria. He emigrated to America some time in around 1850 and lived in New York for a while. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois where in 1862 he married fellow Bavarian Emigree Marie (Mary) Elvora Reinhardt. In around 1870 the Leslins moved west once again to Wabasha County, Minnesota. Charles first partnered with Samual Burkhardt to form a brewery in the town of Reads Landing, right on the Mississippi River. Two years later Charles established his own brewery one mile north of the town of Wabasha. He ran the brewery for two years before his wife took it over in 1874. She managed it until 1884, then sold it to John T. Ginthner. Charles Leslin died on October 7th, 1890 at age 57 years. The brewery he founded, renamed the Wabasha, operated until prohibition.