| Notes |
- Ernst was born in Aviston, Illinois, but after the death of his parents, he and his brother were brought up in the Herman Buhrman home in Nashville, Illinois. Here he attended the German School of the Ev. Church (called the old cow-bell).
As a young man he took his jeweler and watchmaking apprenticeship under Peter Ziegel, Nashville. He married Mary Augusta Smith, daughter of Catherine and Morand Smith, owner of the Nashville Lumberyard. Because of a small pox epidemic, Ernst could not come to Nashville to be married, so Mary and her brother Myron went to Poplar Bluff for teh wedding. Ernst had started in the jewelry business in Piedmont, Mo., but soon after their marriage they moved to Springfield, Mo., wehre Ernst, with Mary's help, owned and operated a jewelry store for more than 50 years.
Here he was a charter member of Rotary, a Shriner and 32nd Degree Mason, served on the Springfield Public School Board over 15 years - also serving as it's president. He was elder for many years of the First and Calvary Presbyterian Church.
He dropped the "h" in Buhrman about 1918 or 20, when problems arose in business as to spelling and pronunciation. They are buried in East Lawn Cemetery and the marker reads Burman.
From "Hoffmans 1662 - 1972"
compiled by Bernice Reinhardt
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1878 - 1967 (89 years)