BUFF Ludwig

Preamble
Ludwig BUFF was not the “inventor” of the BOERHAAVE Magen-Bitter, although its composition
could have possibly been the subject of a patent of invention. He was, however, a creator of a very popular long-lasting consumer product (still on the market in 2026) and therefore, in the eyes of the writer, an individual who deserved to be investigated and documented. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig BUFF was born in Magdalenenhausen (Hessen) on 14 June 1814. His father was in the military. The latter died in 1845, at the age of 83 in Wetzlar (Hessen) with the rank of “königlich niederländischer Major a.D.”. Ludwig BUFF’s mother, Melusine STAEDELER, 20 years younger than her husband, died in Diekirch in 1855, at the age of 73.
The couple BUFF-STAEDELER had 7 children, all born between 1805 and 1820, in Hessen. The family must have moved to The Netherlands in the 1820s.
In 1830 Ludwig, at the age of 16, joined the Dutch army. The military records of the Dutch infantry show that he left The Netherlands for Luxembourg in 1843 as Ober-Lieutenant and was first stationed in Echternach and later in Diekirch, Grevenmacher, Echternach and finally in Luxembourg-city. He became a member of the Corps des chasseurs luxembourgeois. He retired from this Corps in 1868. He had remained single.
Around 1870 he left Luxembourg to take up residence in Trier but in April of 1876 he returned to Echternach where he opened a Wein- und Zigarrengeschäft. Two months later he obtained a licence for acting as insurance agent for the Magdeburger Feuerversicherungs-Gesellschaft, and in December 1876 BUFF announced that he could offer a Magen-Elixir based on a recipe created by the Dutch medical doctor “BOERHAVE”.
In 1878 BUFF presented his “Elixir de Boerhave” at the Universal Exhibition in Paris where he earned a mention honorable.
After advertising the launch of the Boerhave Magen-Bitter in 1876 and presenting his elixir at the Paris exhibition, BUFF did not promote the drink as such in the local press. He probably did not have the capacity of producing large quantities of his drink and was relying on the sales in his Echternach shop and to a limited number of retailers, mainly “hostals”.
BUFF died in Trier in 1887, at the age of 73. He had no direct descendants to take over the Echternach business, which was acquired by Paul OSSYRA, a German immigrant who was running a drink business in Echternach.

FamilySearch database (MZGG-6KP)