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WILLIAM L. MEYER, a substantial and successful farmer of Eldorado township, in section 20, was born on the farm he now occupies, January 28, 1875. He is a son of Ernest and Eliza (Strankman) Meyer, the father born in Hanover, Germany, February 3, 1843. Ernest Meyer received a common school education in his native country, and in 1852 came to the United States with an uncle, locating in Guttenburg, Clayton county, Iowa, where he grew up and worked on a farm. He was married on May 20, 1865, and then began farming on his own account, renting in Clayton county. In 1869 he came to Benton county and located in Eldorado township, purchasing eighty acres of raw prairie land. There was then but one house between his farm and Vinton. He improved his land and added to it from time to time, and now owns three hundred and sixty acres in Eldorado township, besides six hundred and forty acres in Minnesota. In 1900 Mr. Meyer and his wife removed to Van Home and retired from active life. Mrs. Meyer was born in September, 1846. They became the parents of fourteen children, of whom twelve survive, namely: Henry, Anna, Ida, Ernest, William L., Herman, Clara, Matilda, John, Bertha, Emma, and Elizabeth.
William L. Meyer grew up on his father's farm and received a common school education. Upon the retirement of his father, in 1900, he took charge of two hundred acres of the farm, and has since successfully operated the same. He is a progressive, ambitious farmer, and a public-spirited citizen. In politics he is a Democrat, has served four years as constable and is now road superintendent. He is a member of the German Lutheran church, and takes an active interest in any good cause.
Mr. Meyer married, January 18, 1900, Clara Warkenthien, born in Dubuque county, Iowa, in 1880, and daughter of Theodore and Dorothea (Bobzien) Warkenthien, both natives of Germany. Mr. Warkenthien died in Van Home, Iowa, in 1904, aged sixty-four years, and his widow still resides in Van Home, having reached the age of sixty-eight. They came to the United States in 1874 and located first in Cook county, Illinois, later they removed to Iowa county, and later to Dubuque county, from where they came to Benton county in 1882. They lived in St. Clair township, and finally retired to Van Home in 1902. Mr. Meyer and his wife have two children, Glen T. and Mabel L.
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