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- BIOGRAPHY:
http://oceanspringsarchives.net/node/73
oachim Family
Benjamin Franklin ?Ben? Joachim (1847-1925), a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Rosa Madeline Bokenfohr (1861-1934), also a native of the Crescent City, were the progenitors of the Joachim families of Ocean Springs and Biloxi. Ben?s parents, Peter Joachim (b. 1819) and Barbara Dauenhauer (b. 1822), were natives of Bavaria, Germany. Rosa?s parents were William Frederick Bokenfohr (1823-1886), a German immigrant, and Madalena Garantz Markel (1823-1886+), a native of Gegenwort, Alsace, Germany. B.F. Joachim and Rosa M. Bokenfohr married at New Orleans on February 24, 1881. From this union five children were born: B.F. ?Frank? Joachim II (1882-1970), Josephine E. Joachim Lee (1884-1927), Frederick W. Bokenfohr Joachim (1886-1887), Uriah S. ?Jack? Joachim (1888-1970), and Elizabeth B. ?Queenie? Joachim Potin (1891-pre-1934).(Ellison, 1991, pp. 71-73 and Laura Joachim via Ancestry.com)
New Orleans
Ben Joachim began working at the age of nine as a messenger boy for the Quartermaster?s Corps at the Government barracks in New Orleans. When the Civil War ended, he and his brother established the Joachim Brothers, an organization that oversaw the distribution of all daily-published newspapers in the Crescent City. By the late 1880s, B.F. Joachim had been financial successful but his health was in shambles from years of toil and stress. Like many others, he sought the salubrious environment of Ocean Springs to recuperate and restore his ailing physical and mental maladies.(The Jackson County Times, January 24, 1925, p. 1)
Ocean Springs-The Joachim Cottage
In January 1887 and June 1887, Ben Joachim began acquiring land from John M. Hollingsworth (1814-1891) and Dr. Milton Clay Vaughan (1832-1903) along LaFontaine Avenue west of the present day Ocean Springs Harbor. Here he built a tourist home called the Joachim Cottage.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 8 , pp. 723-724 and Bk. 11, p. 88)
Mr. Joachim advertised his enterprise in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star on August 10, 1894 as:
JOACHIM COTTAGE
B.F. Joachim, Proprietor
Board by the Day, Week, or Month
In 1898, in addition to being the proprietor of a resort property, B.F. Joachim was employed by his brother-in-law, Jac Bokenfohr, as his Mississippi Gulf Coast sales representative. Mr. Bokenfohr was a produce merchant based in New Orleans. Ben Joachim worked seven years for the Bokenfohr firm before retiring.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, July 8, 1898, p. 3 and The Jackson County Times, January 24, 1925, p. 1)
In June 1902, Ben Joachim vended the Joachim Cottage property on LaFontaine to Dr. O.L. Bailey (1870-1938).(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 24, pp. 633-634)
B.F. Joachim House [in background]
Originally, No. 13 Bowen, on the northwest corner of Bowen Avenue and Kotzum, the Joachim house was demolished in the late 1940s. The young man in the fore ground is Earl Brumfield.
1902 B.F. Joachim house
It appears that after selling the Joachim Cottage, Ben Joachim erected on the northwest corner of Bowen and Kotzum what was described as, ?one of the most attractive homes at Ocean Springs?. The Joachim home at 13 Bowen Avenue was a large, two-story, frame dwelling with a cross-gabled roof, which featured imbricated shingles in the gables. It had large wrap around, ballustraded galleries, which were supported by turned posts. The B.F. Joachim lots, Lot 4 and Lot 6 of Block 1 in the Kotzum Addition, were acquired from Dr. O.L. Bailey, in June 1902.(Ocean Springs, Ms.-1915, JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk.25, pp. 17-18)
The Joachim house was acquired by William P. Spiers (1898-1960), a native of Carriere, Mississippi, and Mary Tyress Spiers (1900-1976), his spouse, in December 1941, from the Ocean Springs State Bank. The Spiers conveyed it to Noel C. Wells in January 1949.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 72, pp. 35-36; Bk. 104, pp. 310-311)
Noel C. Wells (1907-1987) came to Biloxi from Harahan, Louisiana and operated the Biloxi Sewing Machine Shop at 434 Reynoir Street. He had the old B.F. Joachim home demolished and contracted with Clarence E. Galle (1912-1986) to build a four unit apartment building.(The Gulf Coast Times, January 21, 1949, p. 5)
Dr. Richard T. Furr, the current owner of this property, bought it from the Wells family in March 1983. The Furr family owns a two-story, tenement house here today at Bowen Avenue.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 758, p. 263)
The Builder?s Supply Company
The Builder?s Supply Company was incorporated in the State of Mississippi in 1905, by George W. Davis (1842-1914), E.S. Davis (1859-1925), Dr. Jasper J. Bland (1850-1932), J.L. Clark (1850-1914), Peter Geiger (1858-1923), W.H. Bell, Frank Marquez (1840-1914), George E. Arndt (1857-1945), Joseph A. Wieder (1877-1960), John Burr (1875-1916), B.F. Joachim (1847-1925), Narcisse Seymour (1849-1931) and H.C. Seymour (1876-1913). B.F. Joachim was the manager of this local enterprise, which was situated on Old Fort Bayou, just north of Dr. Powell?s Bayou Inn, now Ronnie Hamilton?s Aunt Jenny?s Catfish Restaurant. Here Ben Joachim sold lumber, shingles, molding, brick, and associated building products. Two local lumber mills supplied the wood products for Mr. Joachim?s bayou lumberyard. Some of the local extant buildings at Ocean Springs that utilized the Builder?s Supply Company materials for their construction were: The 1912 Albert C. Gottsche grocery store, now the Blossman Gas Building at 809 Washington Avenue; the 1913 Farmers and Merchants Bank Building at 929 Washington Avenue; and the 1913 Joseph E. Catchot-Sam Guagliardo residence formerly at 1109 Ames Avenue, which was demolished by Maria Mavar in 1990.(Ocean Springs, Mississippi, 1915, p. 37)
The land in Section 19, T7S-R8W, where the Builder?s Supply Company was located Old Fort Bayou was acquired in June and July 1905, by George W. Davis and E.S. Davis. They bought approximately .65 acres from William Eugene Shaw and Sarah S. Shaw of Winneshiek County, Iowa. The parcel had a frontage on Old Fort Bayou of one hundred forty-two feet and the sale included the warehouse and wharf on the Shaw tract. This plot was once owned by Antonio Franco (1834-1891) and his spouse, Jane Rodriquez Franco (1844-1915), who conveyed it to Jesse B. Shaw in May 1890. The Widow Franco sold Messrs. Davis a narrow tract, fifty feet by one hundred sixty-eight feet in July 1905. (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 33, p. 4; Bk. 11, pp. 149-150; Bk. 33, p. 5; and Bk. 33, p. 6)
In October 1907, the Davis Brothers conveyed these lands to the Builder?s Supply Company for $630. In general terms, the Davis lands conveyed were described as: bounded on the north by Old Fort Bayou; east by Jane Franco and E.M. Westbrook; south by Iberville Avenue; and west by Dr. O.L. Bailey.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 33, pp. 6-7)
In September 1915, Mrs. Emma A. Powell sold Builder?s Supply a small strip of land on their eastern boundary with her. It measured twenty feet by sixty-six feet.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 57, pp. 568-569)
Sale
Before his demise in January 1925, B.F. Joachim had acquired all the stock of the Builder?s Supply Company. In June 1925, his legatees conveyed the Builder?s Supply Company to Captain Ellis Handy (1891-1963) for $5500. The sale included: sheds, machinery, and improvements.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 55, pp. 629-630)
In late May 1925, Captain Handy announced his purchase of the business and planned to take over the daily operations on June 15th. He planned to enlarge the business and trade in multiple types of building materials.(The Jackson County Times, May 30, 1925, p. 3)
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1853 - 1925 (71 years)