Voices of the Past will showcase an interesting person or family within the Cemetery each week.
August Colteryahn
Born: October 13, 1865,
Died: December 7, 1938, aged 73
August Colteryahn was best known as the operator of the Homestead Milk Company, located at 528 E. 8th Avenue, for the better part of 25 years. According to his 1938 obituary, he was born in Coraopolis and entered the milk business in 1898 at the age of 33, and continued his work there until his retirement in 1928.
If the Colteryahn name sounds familiar, it's because the family has been a dairy power-house since the late 19th century.
August was a member of the large Colteryahn's Dairy family, a business which has remained a staple in the area, and is credited as being the oldest dairy in Pittsburgh. The Dairy was originally founded in the South Side in 1893 by German immigrant, William Colteryahn, a cousin of August's, after arriving in Pittsburgh in the 1870s with his family. The location was moved to 1601 Brownsville Road in Carrick by William's son, Carl Colteryahn, Sr., in 1917, and has remained in operation there since. By then, the company had employed 50 people and was bottling, delivering, and selling milk from a storefront beside the plant. As new technology advanced and refrigerators became more common in homes, the company shifted to packaging milk and their expanding line of products, including juice and iced teas. In 1962, the Colteryahn family opened a chain of convenience stores called Stop-N-Go. The first location was opened on South Park Road in Bethel Park. Eventually, the franchise grew to nearly 70 locations throughout Pittsburgh. In 1986, the chain was rebranded as CoGo's.
August had been a member of the Zion Lutheran Church and Germania Lodge 509.
He died of cardiac disease in his residence, 4058 Brownsville Road of Brentwood, which has since been converted into shops at the Brentwood Town Square.
He was survived by his wife, Emma J. (Pfeiffer) Colteryahn; sons, Edward T., Carl A., and William A. "Red" Colteryahn; and daughters, Violet E. Colteryahn and Nellie O. Bugle.
He is laid to rest alongside his wife, Emma, aged 69; and a 17 year old son, John R. Colteryahn, who died of multiple sclerosis in 1926.
Information gathered from:
"Colteryahn Family's Carrick Dairy Owed Longevity to Diversifying," Pitsburgh Tribune-Review, 03 January 2012
"Obituaries: August Colteryahn," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 08 December 1938, p. 7
"The Colteryahns - The Little Dairy that Could and Did,"