Conrad William Meyer, b. 28 Aug 1836

MUNDT, STORM, GUNDLEFINGER, AHLERS, STOLTZ

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/21/2004 at 11:48:00

The wealthy and prosperous German-American farmer is amply illustrated in the subject of this notice. He has a fine home with all improvements; he is also the owner of 430 acres of land on section 9 in Van Buren Township. Intelligent, popular, and blest with sound common sense, he is apparently in the enjoyment of a large proportion of the good things of life, not the least of which is a family of handsome children, upon whom he and his excellent wife look with pardonable pride.

We find by an examination of the family record of Mr. Meyer that he was born on the other side of the Atlantic, near the town of Nienburg in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover, and his birth occurred Aug. 28, 1836. His parents were Conrad and Mary (Mundt) Meyer, native of the same province as their son, and whose household included six children, namely: Fred, Caroline, who became the wife of Fred Storm, and died when about thirty-five years of age; Henry, Dedrich, who remains in the Fatherland; Conrad William, our subject; and Sophia, who became the wife of Charles Gundlefinger, and died in Iowa at the age of twenty-six. Fred and Henry are residents of Van Buren Township. The parents died at the present home of their son Conrad in this township.

Conrad W. Meyer was given a practical education in the schools of his native town, and at the age of fourteen years was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. He began at an early age to make himself useful, and worked on a farm in the vicinity of his birthplace until he reached his majority. About that time the family decided to emigrate to America. The father and mother, two sisters, and our subject set sail from Bremen in August, 1857, on the "John Long," and after an ocean voyage of one month, arrived safely in New York City. Thence they came directly to this county, where they had been preceded by their brother Henry.

The first business of young Meyer thereafter was to secure employment, and he worked five years on a farm. He then operated as a renter for two years, his mother keeping house for him. At the expiration of that time he was married Nov. 30, 1865, to Mrs. Charlotte Storm, (nee Ahlers), a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where she was born May 8, 1834. Mrs. Meyers had previously been married to Fred Storm, by whom she had two children, Fred, who is unmarried, and Mary, the widow of August Stoltz, and mother of one child, a son. Mr. Storm was drowned in Deep Creek on the 18th of March, 1865. He attempted to ford the stream at the mill near Spragueville, but the creek was high and the current rapid. Both he and his team were carried down the stream and finally overwhelmed by the waters. His body was recovered the day after the fatal accident.

Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are the parents of four children, the eldest of whom, Emma, is the wife of Charles Stoltz, a farmer of Washington Township, and the mother of one child, a son, Albert. Minnie, Dora and Arthur, are at home with their parents, the latter being a promising youth of fifteen years.

The first purchase of land by Mr. Meyers comprised eighty acres of land on section 9, which he secured the same year of his marriage, and this was the nucleus of his present large property. He had at one time 453 acres but sold fifteen acres to his brother Fred. He has not attained his present position, socially and financially, without the exercise of great industry, prudence, and perseverence. Without these, the qualities inherited from his substantial German ancestry, he could scarcely have attained to this present position. He fought with the usual difficulties attendant upon life in a new country, but just as long as he found himself making headway he felt there was cause for encouragement, and the result has favorably justified his hopes.

While necessarily Mr. Meyer has been busily employed in looking after his extensive farming interests, he has not suffered himself to dominate but has maintained an interest in the affairs of the community around him. He is a friend of progress and education, and has served as School Director in his district for the last eight years. Both he and his estimable wife are prominent members of the German-Lutheran Church, at Spragueville, to which they have contributed liberally, especially in the erection of the church building. Upon becoming a naturalized citizen, Mr. Meyer first identified himself with the Republican party, and cast his presidential vote for Lincoln and Grant. Later he considered he had reason to change his views and now affiliates with the Democracy.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)