# John Derst

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{{short description|German businessman (1838–1928)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = John Derst
| image              = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| other_names        = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = 3 May 1838
| birth_place        = [Worms](/source/Worms%2C_Germany), [Grand Duchy of Hesse](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Hesse), Germany
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1928|7|16|1838|5|3|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [Savannah, Georgia](/source/Savannah%2C_Georgia), U.S.
| resting_place      = [Laurel Grove Cemetery](/source/Laurel_Grove_Cemetery), Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
| occupation         = 
| known_for          = 
| spouse             = Caroline Kraft (1863–1893; her death)<br />Emma E. Hartfelder (–1928; his death)
}}

'''John Derst''' (3 May 1838 – 16 July 1928) was a German businessman based in [Savannah, Georgia](/source/Savannah%2C_Georgia), United States.  A prominent baker, his product, [Captain John Derst's](/source/Captain_John_Derst's) Good Old-Fashioned Bread, is still produced by Savannah's Derst Baking Company, which he founded in 1867. He was also a city [alderman](/source/alderman) for four years.

== Life and career ==
Derst was born in [Worms](/source/Worms%2C_Germany), [Grand Duchy of Hesse](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Hesse), in 1838, to Justus Derst and Catherine Krug.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida: Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public and Many Early Settled Families in These States |publisher=F.A. Battey & Company |year=1889 |pages=234}}</ref> In 1855,<ref name=":3" /> he emigrated to the United States with his parents and three older brothers (Jacob, George and Peter), and settled in [Savannah, Georgia](/source/Savannah%2C_Georgia), via New York City. His father died when John was sixteen years old.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Averitt |first=Jack Nelson |title=Families of Southeastern Georgia |publisher=Clearfield Company |year=2009 |isbn=9780806350998 |pages=23}}</ref>

He served four years for the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War). Captain of the German Volunteers (in which he served alongside his good friend [Cord Asendorf Sr.](/source/Cord_Asendorf_Sr.)),<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Russell K. |title=Our Connection with Savannah: History of the First Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, 1862-1865 |publisher=Mercer University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780865549166 |pages=157}}</ref> he was stationed for two years at [Fort McAllister](/source/Fort_McAllister), before becoming a baker at a Confederate hospital in Atlanta.<ref name=":0" /> After the war, he protected the flag of his old company, the DeKalb Rifiles, from occupying forces by hiding it in the Planters Hotel, at the corner of [Bryan Street](/source/Bryan_Street) and [Barnard Street](/source/Barnard_Street) in Savannah.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=Walter Gerald |title=The Story of Georgia, Volume 4 |publisher=[American Historical Society](/source/American_Historical_Society) |year=1938 |pages=146}}</ref>

In July 1867, after starting out as a barber, he opened a small bakery, under his own name, on Savannah's [Broughton Street](/source/Broughton_Street), at the corner of [Abercorn Street](/source/Abercorn_Street),<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.captainjohnderst.com/history |access-date=2022-06-11 |website=Captain John Derst's |language=en-US}}</ref> across from [The Marshall House](/source/The_Marshall_House_(Savannah%2C_Georgia)).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=BJ's |title=BJ's Wholesale Club |url=https://bjs.com/ |access-date=2022-06-11 |website=BJ's Wholesale Club |language=en}}</ref>

He was elected an [alderman](/source/alderman) in 1883, and served until 1887. He was also a trustee of the [Lutheran Church of the Ascension](/source/Lutheran_Church_of_the_Ascension_(Savannah%2C_Georgia)) from 1878.<ref name=":3" />

He married twice – firstly, in 1863, to compatriot Caroline Kraft (daughter of Justus Kraft),<ref name=":3" /> who died in 1893, aged 49. They had two children, daughters Henretta and Katie.<ref name=":3" /> He remarried, to Emma E. Hartfelder, with whom he had three known children: Edward John (born 1896), John Frank (1897) and Karl Koerner (1910). Edward became chairman of the board of his father's baking company, then the largest independently owned bakers in Georgia, upon his father's retirement in 1917. It was incorporated as the Derst Baking Company in 1925,<ref name=":0" /> a year after it had moved to larger premises at [Oglethorpe Avenue](/source/Oglethorpe_Avenue) and [Habersham Street](/source/Habersham_Street). The bakery moved to its current location, on Mills B. Lane Boulevard, in 1949.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gunther |first=Justin |title=Historic Signs of Savannah: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society |publisher=Arcadia |year=2004 |isbn=9780738516745 |pages=71}}</ref>

== Death and legacy ==
Derst died in 1928, aged 90, as possibly the last Confederate veteran in Savannah.<ref name=":2" /> He was interred beside his parents and brothers in Savannah's [Laurel Grove Cemetery](/source/Laurel_Grove_Cemetery). His second wife, who survived him by a decade, was buried in the city's [Bonaventure Cemetery](/source/Bonaventure_Cemetery). It is not known if she remarried after becoming a widow.

Derst's bread, now known as Captain John Derst's Good Old-Fashioned Bread, is still produced by the Derst Baking Company.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derst, John}}
Category:1838 births
Category:1928 deaths
Category:German bakers
Category:19th-century German businesspeople
Category:20th-century German businesspeople
Category:Businesspeople from Savannah, Georgia
Category:Bankers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Hesse to the United States
Category:People from Worms, Germany
Category:Foreign Confederate military personnel
Category:Burials at Laurel Grove Cemetery

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Derst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Derst) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Derst?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.