He studied law at the University of Leipzig, and for many years worked as a civil servant in the town of Wernigerode.
[1] He is remembered for his paleobotanical research in the Harz Mountains of Germany.
As a taxonomist he circumscribed the extinct genera Weichselia and Ettingshausenia.
His collection of fossils were acquired by the University of Halle.
[1] The genus Stiehleria (fossil incertae sedis) commemorates his name.