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www.4meyers.com/meyers
HISTORY OF MICHAEL MEYER Father of Johann Adam
Michael was born in 1796 to Adam Joseph Mayer and Maria Elizabeth Langshausen, The family lived in Mosbruch, Rhineland, Germany, Michael was christened in the Catholic Church on April 2, 1796, He was the fifth child, with three sisters and a brother, Michael was to have many losses of the women in his life, with the first being his mother, Maria Elizabeth passed away only four days after his christening, on April 6, 1796, Adam Joseph now left with a young family to care for, met and married Gertrude Jainger the following year on July 3, 1797, This marriage brought two little sisters and two little brothers for Michael to play with while growing up,
Michael, now in his late twenties found a sweet girl to marry, She was from the near by village of Bruchhausen, Her name was Maria Elizabeth Halfman, She was the oldest daughter of Mathias Halfman and Maria C, Stephani, They married on April 26, 1825 in the Catholic Church of Bruchhausen, A year later, Gerard, their first son was christened on April 12, 1826, A second son, Johann Joseph was born on January 13 and christened the following September 30, 1827,
Tragedy struck the family within the next year with the death of Michael'''''''' s wife, Maria Elizabeth, I don''''''''t have a record of when this took place, but the next record of the family names the second wife of Michael, A third child, Maria Clara was christened on July 18, 1829 to Michael and Anna Gertrude Halfman in Bruchhausen, I have no other record of Anna Gertrude to know who her parents were, On Clara''s death certificate her mother is named as Anna Maria, Clara must have not known her mother, Anna Gertrude, That makes me think she must not have lived very long after Clara was born,
Once again records of Michael and his family appear only now he has moved his family to village of Allscheid, In 1834, Michael is a farmer by trade, A third marriage has taken place sometime between 1829 and 1833, Paul Mayer (a descendant of Michael''s son Gerard), wrote of this marriage: "The father of Michael and the parents of Anna Marie were present at their wedding in Bruchhausen, Information from a civil marriage certificate indicates that Michael''s father Adam Joseph was widowed, Anna Maria and her mother, Maria could not sign the marriage certificate because either could read or write, This ceremony took place in Nurburg and was performed by the village mayor," Michael married another Halfman daughter, Anna Maria was the younger sister to Maria Elizabeth Halfman, Michael''s first wife, The remaining three children to Michael were born in Allscheid through this third marriage,
Johann Adam was christened on February 23, 1834, Two and a half years later, Gertrude was christened on August 13, 1836, Nikolaus, the last child was christened on March 12, 1839, Tragedy struck the family once again with the death of Michael''s wife, Anna Maria on January 10, 1840, Once again Michael was left with a young family to raise alone, I am sure the older children took over some of the care of the younger children and the farm,
Michael''s brother-in-law, Gerhard Halfman, and his family, left Germany and arrived in New York City in August of 1845, They must have written the Meyer''s and let them know about the wonderful land in Wisconsin where they had settled, Most of the villagers of Allscheid by 1846 had a desire to leave Germany and go to America, The village was very poor and barely had enough food to go around,
Germany had a mandatory draft, so Gerard and Johann Joseph must have left home for a while to serve when they were twenty, During this time, (December 20, 1848), Clara married Joann Willems and started a family of her own, While in the service, Johann Joseph met Christina Willems, Clara''s husband''s sister, He married her on December 18, 1849. With Michael''s children marrying and starting their own families, talk of America became more of a common place in the home, After Michael''s death on October 30, 1851 there was nothing keeping the children from leaving Germany, They sold the farm for little money and headed for Belgium to board the ship, Antartic,
On September 3, 1852 they arrived in the New York Harbor, From there they traveled down to Wisconsin to start their lives in America, Everyone must have learned to work hard, for their lives are full of stories of hard work and struggle, Music must have been part of the family, for some of John Joseph''s children were very musical, The family starting out in America numbers eleven counting the wives and children, Today we are in the thousands, dotting the whole United States with the descendants of this family, What a great heritage we have from such small beginnings.
This was written by Cathy Meyer on June 12, 2005 for the reunion held in Carpenter, Iowa on July 2, 2005, I have tried to be accurate in my account of the above history, I have used German Catholic Church records for all dates mentioned, I have used some family stories and a history of Allscheid to add to the history,
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090831/GPG04/908310456 August 31, 2009Coming to America: The story of a German immigrant
by Lee Meyers
Special to the Press-Gazette Johann "Adam" Meyer was 18 years old when his family left their home in Allscheid, Rheinland, (Eifel) Germany in 1852 (more than 150 years ago). The town was located in the western part of present-day Germany, about 100 miles west of Frankfurt.
Johann "Adam''s" father, Michael, had recently passed away, and his mother, Anna Maria, had passed 10 years before. Without their parents, the Meyer family decided to sell their larger possessions and land in order to buy passage to America.
Led by older brother John Joseph, the Meyer family included four brothers (John Joseph, Gerhard, Johann "Adam" and Nicholas) and two sisters (Catherine and Gertrude) along with John Joseph''s wife, Christina, and their infant son, Gerhard.
Actually the entire town of Allscheid (about 80 people) decided that America offered opportunity and sold their land to the neighboring town of Steiningen. All of the buildings were torn down (except the chapel), likely to convert it to cropland.
The Allscheid emigration group included families with the last names of Becker, Williams, Heim and Schaeffer. They traveled across western Germany and Belgium to board the sailing ship Antarctic on the coast of Belgium.
After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, they arrived in New York on Sept. 3, 1852.
The Meyer family headed directly for the Fond du Lac area, as an uncle (their mother''s brother, Gerhard Halfmann) had settled in Taycheedah. Gerhard Meyer first settled in Sheboygan County and John Joseph in Calumet County, north of Fond du Lac, as indicated by census records.
The younger brothers, Johann "Adam" and Nicholas, traveled north toward Green Bay (Nicholas is buried in Brown County). In his travels, Johann "Adam" met and married Catherine Schaden in 1858.
Catherine Schaden had also emigrated from Rheinland, Germany, the same region as Johann, so they spoke the same kind of German. Born in 1839, she was five years younger than Johann "Adam." There are no details on their actual meeting, but one can only speculate it was at church or at a German social gathering.
Johann "Adam" and Catherine farmed a small piece of land in the town of New Demark, at a place called Pine Grove (south of Green Bay). The location is along the present-day designated Heritage Road "Green Bay Ethnic travel."
Over 29 years of marriage, Johann and Catherine had 11 children, 10 who survived to adulthood (seven boys and three girls).
The family traveled north occasionally, as in October 1871 they were in Peshtigo with their eldest children — Peter, Casper and Nicholas — and all are listed as survivors of the Peshtigo Fire.
Although Johann "Adam" had survived the most deadly fire, he died six years later at the age 53, due to an abscess on his neck, a simple infection for which there was no cure in the 1800s. In today''s world with antibiotics, Johann would have been easily cured.
Edward "Adam" Meyers (our grandfather) was about 19 years old at the time of his father Johann''s death. Edward and his twin sister, Kathryn, were the sixth and seventh children born to Johann and Catherine.
Several of the Johann "Adam" Meyer children moved north to settle and raise families in Marinette County. As with their forefathers, many of the Meyer family were farmers. Peter (Barbara Johnston''s father) settled in Grover; Nicholas (Dee Clover''s grandfather) settled in Reeds Hills west of Beaver, Edward "Adam" (our grandfather and great-grandfather) settled east of Coleman.
In his early 20s, Edward "Adam" worked in a single mill near Pound, where he met and married Minnie Kobus in 1898. At the time of their marriage, Edward was 30 years old and Minnie was 23. They purchased a farm east of Coleman and also raised 10 children (six boys and four girls). In order of age, they were William, Lena, Henry, Gertrude, Joseph, Anne, Louis, Matthew, Sylvester and Marcella.
I believe, that as a result of the large family, Ed and Minnie began going by the name Meyers, adding an "S" at the end of Meyer. Although their legal documents use Meyer, future generations have birth records and other legal papers with the name spelled "Meyers."
John Joseph and Catherine, who had led the Meyer family to America, moved from Calumet County to a farm in Iowa in 1880, and around 1900 the Iowa town was named after the family: Meyer, Iowa. John Joseph would serve as mayor.
There are several common first names that occur in the Meyer family history: John and Adam are most common, and Gertrude was a common girl''s name. Joseph, Peter, Gerhard, Christina, Michael, Anna were used several times.
In Germany, the last name was often pronounced "Mayer," but when they boarded the ship to America and on U.S. documents the name was spelled Meyer.
Additional Facts
Tracking down family history
My story begins in the 1960s in Green Bay when I wanted to find some history on my great-grandfather, Johann Adam Meyer from Eifel, Prussia. This is what I have learned, with the help of several cousins, from the rather large Wisconsin area, including Brown, Manitowoc, Oconto and Marinette counties.
In June 2008, I extended my research to the Holy Trinity Church Cemetery in Pine Grove, Brown County. Family members told me "Adam" was buried there.
He and Catherine (Schaden) married in 1858 in the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay, lived and farmed on County NN, next to the farm of Catherine''s father, Frank. Eleven children were born to the couple from 1859 to 1881.
The children married many of the neighbors'''''''' children as they grew up. The churches of Green Bay and De Pere held many records but unfortunately the Holy Trinity church burned shortly after Adam''s death, and although it was rebuilt in 1893, the records had been destroyed.
I spent quite a few years checking the neighboring churches, Register of Deeds offices and libraries, to try to locate where he was buried in the cemetery.
Meanwhile, cousin Brian Meyers and his wife, Diane, found a researcher and cousin, Dr. Albert Emmerich, in Germany, on the Internet. They made an extended trip to visit with him, and together they toured the area where the original Meyer family had lived in Allscheid, Germany.
They took a picture of the small chapel remaining on the field the families had vacated and the provincial towns in Eifel. Albert took over from there and fed our family tree with facts about Adam''s birth parents, Michael and Anna (Halfmann) and the grandparents back to 1642.
A reunion of the descendents of Johann Adam and Catherine Meyer is scheduled for noon Sunday at Badger Park in Peshtigo. — Dee Meyer Clover/ Special to the Press-Gazette
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