C.F. and Albert H. Meyer
C.F.Meyer
The German element in this country is one of great importance and has been one of the great factors in the growth of this country. The revolutions in Germany during the past century were the cause of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people leaving that country and making their homes in the United States. As is usually the case, it was only the most ambitious and energeticmen who left their native land and the result was that this country received some of the best citizens of Germany, and wherever they settled in this country they became prosperous and substantial citizens and influential factors in their respective communities. O'Brien county, Iowa, has been fortunate in attracting hundreds of German settlers and without an exception they have proven among the most worthy citizens of the county, and among them there is no one who occupies a more honored place than C. F. Meyer, who is now living a retired life in Paullina.
C. F. Meyer, the son of Christopher and Marie (Plelcke) Meyer, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1848. His father was a farmer and lived all of his days in the land of his birth, his father and mother both dying in Germany in 1873. They reared a family of eleven children, nine of whom are still living. C. F. Meyer received a good education in his native land and when twenty years of age came to this country to seek his fortune. He first settled in Minnesota and later went to Wisconsin, where he remained a short time, after which he went to Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand for ten years, and while living in that state was married, after which he rented a farm in Illinois and lived on it for three years, and by true German frugality and thrift saved enough money so that he was enabled in 1880 to come to O'Brien countv and buy one hundred and sixty acres of land. He located in Caledonia township, and paid three dollars and a half an acre for his quarter section of unimproved land, and today his farm is worth at least two hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre. He and his wife started in to make a home for themselves on the wide prairie and within a few years had one of the most substantial homes and attractive farms in the county. He has prospered as only German settlers do prosper and has added to his land holdings from time to time until he is now the owner of six hundred acres of fine farming land in O'Brien county, this state, and six hundred and fifty two acres in Minnesota. In addition to his land holdings he is a stockholder and director in the Farmers State Bank at Paullina and a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company, of the same place.
Mr. Meyer was married in 1877 to Alvina Hoermann, who was born in Cook county, Illinois, in 1854, and to this union there were born four children : Frederick, deceased ; William, who is now farming his father's home place in Caledonia township: Emma, at home with her parents, and Albert H., the present cashier of the Farmers State Bank at Paullina.
Politically, Mr. Meyer is a staunch Democrat, but, owing to his extensive agricultural and business interests, he has never had the time to participate in active politics. Religiously, he and the members of his family are loyal adherents of the German Lutheran church and he was for a long time a trustee of his church in Germantown, Caledonia township. In 1907 Mr. and Mrs. Meyer retired from the farm and moved to Paullina, surrounded bv all the comforts and conveniences of modern life.
Albert H. Meyer, who was born in 1887 in Germantown, this county, is still living with his parents in Paullina. He was given a good education and when only eighteen years of age became a bookkeeper in the bank at Marcus,Iowa, and a yearlater he came to Paullina. where he assumed a similar position in the Farmers State Bank. He rapidly acquired the details of the banking business and within two years was promoted to assistant cashier, a position which he held until made cashier in June. 1914. He owns seven and one-half acres in the Isle of Pines, near Cuba, and is the owner also of one hundred and sixty acres of land near Pipestone. Minnesota.
He adheres to the same political faith as his father, is actively interested in the civic and political affairs of his home town and is now acting as city clerk of Paullina. He is a zealous member of the German Lutheran church and is treasurer of his church in Paullina. He is very much interested in music and is now president of the Paullina Concert Band, an organization which has more than a local reputation. Mr. Meyer is still unmarried and has a bright and promising future before him.
From Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties Iowa 1914
