MEESTER, Antje 1850-1943

MEESTER, EVERTS, ENGELKES

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/18/2016 at 07:00:10

Mrs. Jacob Meester Dead; Came Here 75 Years Ago

Mrs. Jacob Meester, who came to Grundy county three-quarters of a century ago and who spent nearly all of those years on one farm in Pleasant Valley township, died at this old farm home two miles west of Fern last Friday from old age and complications. She would have been 93 years old had she lived until next September. There is no other person now living in Pleasant Valley township who spent so many years there as she. There are none living there who have reached so advanced an age.

Mr. and Mrs. Meester accounted for a family of 104 people who are now living. Very few marriages bring forth such a large family tree during the lifetime of its founders. Ten of Mr. and Mrs. Meester's children are living. There are 39 grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren, making a family of 104 members who are living.

Funeral Services Monday
Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at the home and later at the Colfax Presbyterian church. The services at the home were conducted by Rev. A. Linneman and at the church by Rev. G. H. Swalve and Rev. J. E. Drake. Burial was by the side of the husband in the cemetery adjoining the Reformed church two miles west of Fern.

Casketbearers at the service were the same as those who served at the death of the son Daniel. They were Ben Wiltfang, Jake Everts, Henry Muller, Carl Voss, Alfred Peters, Dirk Werkman.

Obituary
Mrs. Jacob Meester, nee Antje Everts, daughter of William and Hattie Engelkes Everts, was born in Visquard, Germany, on Sept. 5, 1950[sic], and died Apr. 2, 1943, at the age of 92 years, 6 months, 27 days.

At the age of 16 she emigrated to America with her brother Fred, coming to Forreston, Ill. Two years later she came to Grundy county, Iowa, at which place she was married to Jacob Meester on Dec. 10, 1869, by Rev. Meinders, at that time pastor of the Christian Reformed church west of Wellsburg. Following their marriage they began housekeeping on their farm in Pleasant Valley township where she made her home for 75 years, except for 12 years she and her husband lived in Parkersburg.

This union was blessed with fourteen children, three of whom died in infancy, and one son, Daniel, died May 21, 1942.

She is survived by six sons and four daughters, namely: Joe J., Hillerd, William, John E., Harry and Andrew, all of Parkersburg; Susie, Mrs. J. J. Bergman, Stout; Hattie, Mrs. Joe A. Meester, of Grundy Center; Jennie, Mrs. John H. Oelman, Parkersburg; and Nettie Meester, Parkersburg; three sons-in-law and five daughters-in-law; by 39 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren; one sister-in-law, Mrs. Martha Everds of Cedar Falls, and three aged cousins, Omko Engelkes of Sibley, Hillerd Jacobs of Stout, and Mrs. Henry DeGroote of Parkersburg, and many other relatives and friends. Since her husband's death on June 26, 1925, she made her home with her children on the farm where she enjoyed fairly good health until June 26, 1937, when she suffered a fall; since that time she was an invalid. She was given loving care by her daughter Nettie and sons Daniel and Andrew.

Mrs. Meester was a charter member of Colfax Presbyterian church. For several years she attended divine services regularly. Later she transferred her membership to the Reformed church west of Fern where she again became a charter member. Here she again attended regularly, as much as health and other circumstances permitted. During the twelve years she lived in Parkersburg, she attended the Christian Reformed church there.

Grandma Meester was a sincere Christian woman, always willing to do whatever she could for the furtherance of the Kingdom. She was a generous giver at all times, never faltering in doing her share.

She was the possessor of a very keen mind, taking a great interest in current events. She had a good memory and loved to tell her children and grandchildren about her early adventures and experiences.

Grandma Meester was a hard-working, thrify and industrious woman, and will be missed by all of those who knew her.

Relatives and friends from a distance at the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hinrichs of Ellsworth, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Russell Brandt, Oelwein; George Spies and daughter Grace of Dunkerton; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Boelman of Ackley, and Omke Engelkes of Sibley.

Crossing The Bar
Sunset and evening Star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.

For tho from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
(Tennyson)

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 8 April 1943, pg 1, 12