JOHN MEYER, 1857

Source: History of Clark County, Wisconsin (1918), by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

John Meyer and Family

JOHN MEYER, who occupies a prominent place among the well-to-do farmers of Mayville township, was born in Manitowoc County, Wis., June 6, 1857, son of Fred and Sophia (Carson) Meyer, natives of Germany, who came to America when young, being married in New York State, where they settled and resided for awhile. In 1856 they came to Wisconsin, and bought forty acres of timber land in Gibson township, Manitowoc County, on which he built a log cabin, in which the subject of this sketch was born. There the father died in 1865; the mother survived him many years, and passing away in 1913, at the age of 85. They had seven children: Charles, who lives in Alabama; John, of Mayville township, Clark County; Fred, who resides at De Pere, Wis.; Robert, of Washington State; Mary, wife of Jake Faulk, of De Pere, Wis.; Christine, now Mrs. Ferguson, a widow of De Pere, Wis., and Elizabeth, now Mrs. Lewis Fuchsgruber, of Dorchester.

John Meyer left home in 1878 to come to Clark County and after arriving here purchased eighty acres of his present place in section 8, Mayville township, subsequently buying an additional tract of the same size to make a farm of 160 acres. The first land was covered with timber and he broke it with oxen, which he used for eight years. He lived in the log cabin for five years, after which he built a frame dwelling, which he has since enlarged into a fine nine-room house. A barn, 52 by 64 feet in size, was built in 1892, and another barn, on the other tract, 40 by 60 feet, the hay capacity of each being eighty tons. Other improvements have also been made as needed, and he now has an excellent and productive farm, raising chiefly oats, barley and potatoes. His principal stock consists of Guernsey, Holstein and Durham cattle, and he milks from fifteen to eighteen cows. In politics Mr. Meyer is a Republican. He served three years on the township board and has been nine or ten years on the school board.

He is actively connected with the Farmers' Co-operative Mercantile Co., of Dorchester. He was married Sept. 8, 1882, to Helen Lapp, who was born in New York, Aug. 8, 1860, daughter of John and Freda (Glassaw) Lapp, and died Mar. 10, 1918. Her parents came to Clark County in 1880, and bought a farm in Mayville Township, where they lived for some years, the mother dying in 1915 and the father in 1891.

They were the parents of seven children: Jacob, John, Lena, Albert, William, Rudolph and Herman, all living. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have had ten children: Anne, Edward, Elsie, Louisa, Albert, Charles, Herman, Harvey, Rosalia, and Emil. Anne, born June 6, 1884, married Elmer Hauk, and has two children. Edward, born Nov. 4, 1885, married Annie Geiger, and has three children. Elsie, born April 24, 1887, married Harvey Blue, and has four children. Louisa was born Dec. 24, 1889, married Edwin Guth and has one child. Albert was born Aug. 23, 1890, married Minnie Lessman, and has one child. Charles was born July 22, 1892; Herman, Sept. 15, 1894; Harvey, Oct. 4, 1896; Rosalia, Dec. 7, 1899; and Emil, July 4, 1902. The family faith is that of the German Lutheran Church at Dorchester.