San Benito-Mariposa-Yuba County CA Archives Biographies.....Meyer, F. R. 1828 - 
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Author: Luther A. Ingersoll, Editor (1893)

F. R. MEYER, ESQ., a resident of San Benito, California, and one of the worthy
pioneers of the Golden State, is deserving of more than a passing notice on the
pages of this volume. It is a matter of regret that limited space in a work of
this character will not permit us to publish in full the lives of these
pioneers, many of which are replete with experiences as instructive and
interesting as they are thrilling.

  F. R. Meyer was born in Germany, March 3, 1828, and accompanied his parents to
Texas in 1844. His father was an educated man, and is supposed to have been
killed by the Indians who then infested that country. His mother died at Cedar
bayou, Harrison county, Texas, in 1847, of yellow fever.

  In April, 1846, after the annexation of Texas, young Meyer was in Galveston,
when the report started that the Mexican fleet had effected a landing on Point
Bolivar. This caused great excitement, and a call was issued for volunteers to
man the Stephen F. Austin, a twenty-eight-gun war ship to be used for coast and
harbor defense. He and many others responded, went on board of that ship, signed
the articles, and served on board till September, 1846, at which time the ship
was ordered to Pensacola, United States Navy Yard, and he was honorably
discharged and paid off by the United States Commissioner.

  Young Meyer left Texas with three companies bound for California in February,
1849, via the El Paso route. They were driven back by the Indians and changed
their course, coming by way of San Antonio. At this point they met Colonel Jack
Hayes, who was under contract to furnish supplies to the United States army, at
that time guarding the Mexican frontier and fighting Indians. Mr. Meyer engaged
to superintend the butchering department of Colonel Hayes' enterprise, stationed
at El Paso. The Colonel was soon delegated by the Government to negotiate a
treaty with the Apache Indians, and Mr. Meyer was chosen one of eighteen men to
aid him in his mission, in which a period of four months was passed without
seeing the face of a white man besides those belonging to his party. At this
time Mr. Meyer was between twenty-one and twenty-two years of age. He then
crossed the mountains into California, reaching Los Angeles in 1849. There he
spent one month and then proceeded to Monterey, through the Salinas valley,
thence via San Juan and Pacheco pass into the mines of Mariposa county. After
mining one year, he engaged in merchandising, traveling through the mining
regions with his stock of goods on pack mules. That country was then full of
hostile Indians. They raided the mining camps, killed 153 white men, stampeded
Captain Meyer's pack train, stole $5,000 worth of goods, and as a result he,
after vigorous effort to recover the same, abandoned this line of business.
Then, after mining a few months, he went to San Francisco and joined the Lopez
expedition to Cuba. As a disastrous result of that enterprise he drifted to sea
from the isle of Cuba on a whale boat, from which he was rescued by the steamer
Falcon, and landed in New Orleans in August, 1851.

  From New Orleans Mr. Meyer returned to Texas, and while there married Miss
Rose Fromner. After his marriage he came back to California, via the Nicarauga
route, and resumed mining and trading on Oregon bar, Yuba county. He
subsequently engaged in ranching in Yuba county, and also developed a vineyard
and orchard in Nevada county. In 1870 he located at his present home, near San
Benito, where he owns an 800-acre stock and grain farm. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have
had ten children, of whom seven survive.

  Mr. Meyer acquired a good education, has a large fund of general information,
and is versed upon the important issues of the day, political and otherwise. He
has held the office of Justice of the Peace for a long time, and has served as
Trustee of his school district many years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.

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