| Louisiana Division/City Archives | New Orleans Public Library |
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| MRS. AMBROSE LEITZ, SR. and MRS. AMBROSE LEITZ, JR.
Both Mrs. Ambrose Leitz, Sr. and Mrs. Ambrose Leitz, Jr. took over funeral homes following their husbands’ deaths, ran the businesses successfully for years after, and passed them on, intact and flourishing, to the next generation. |
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Louisa Ehringer Leitz was the wife of Ambrose Leitz, Sr., who learned the carpentry trade from his father, began making coffins, and opened an undertaking establishment on Tchoupitoulas Street before the Civil War. When he died in 1879, his widow, Louisa, took over the business and continued to run it until shortly before her death in 1911. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana wrote that “contrary to the general belief that women are not good business managers, she has not only done well, but has extended her patronage and has proven herself reliable, sympathetic, and experienced.”
(Daily Picayune, April 28, 1911) |
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The couple had nine children, five sons and four daughters. Their oldest son, Ambrose, Jr., opened an undertaking parlor of his own at the corner of Magazine and Philip Street. His wife, Mary Bernius Leitz was 37 when her husband died in 1893, and, like her mother-in-law, she found herself of necessity in charge of the business. And, also like the elder Mrs. Leitz, she did well and grew the company. She continued to run the business until 1910 when the firm was reincorporated as the Groetz-Leitz Company. When she died in 1912, her obituary called her “one of the best-known women in the upper section of the city.”
(Daily Picayune, November 23, 1912) |