BIO: Adam MAYER, Centre County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JO Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/ http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/1picts/commbios/comm-bios.htm _____________________________________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898. _____________________________________________________________________ ADAM MAYER. The histories of some of the self-made business men of this land show such marvelous changes from poverty to wealth, and such pluck and endurance in the face of misfortune, that the reader is constrained to believe that prosperity can be attained by any one who patiently and diligently makes the best of his opportunities. Luck, some say, is a factor, but the subject of this sketch, now a prosperous business man of Philipsburg, did not trust to luck when he left his early home in Germany at the age of twenty and landed at New York, and it was by determined and well-directed effort that he established a foothold in the business world, as the following biography will show. Mr. Mayer was born near the "storied Rhine," September 26, 1834, in the village of Geiselberg, county of Waldfischbach, Rhine-Bavaria, the son of Adam Mayer, and grandson of Peter Mayer, who died before our subject was born. Adam Mayer, who was a native of the same locality, was born in 1812, and died in 1893. By occupation he was a farmer and stone mason. He married Eva Edinger, who was born in 1816, and departed this life in 1872. In 1854 he and his eldest son, the subject of this sketch, came to America, spending thirty days on the ocean. They had not money enough to pay their way from New York City to their destination at Philipsburg, and consequently they walked the entire distance amid the bleak and wintry scenes of the month of February. They found employment about eight miles from Philipsburg, with Capt. Grove, a lumberman, and worked for him in the woods at cutting logs, for three years. A small farm was purchased in Clearfield county, and in 1856 the mother and other members of the family came over, and the interrupted home life was again enjoyed by all. There were nine children besides our subject: (2) Elizabeth, the widow of Jacob May, resides in Kylertown, Clearfield county; (3) Catherine married Jacob Mesenbagh, and lives in LaSalle, Ill.; (4) Peter is a farmer at Kylertown; (5) Michael is a resident of Centre county; (6) Henry died a soldier's death as a member of the famous Forty-ninth Regiment, P.V.I.; (7) Jacob lives in Helena, Mont.; (8) Philip is a farmer in this State; (9) Gottlieb went to the West, and now resides in Wyoming; (10) John died at Kylertown, Pennsylvania. Before coming to this country Adam Mayer had attended the schools of his native land, making good use of the opportunities they afforded, and he had also learned the details of carpentering and stonemasonry. He did not understand English at all, however, and as he had but five cents in his pocket when he arrived at Philipsburg he took the first work that could be obtained. After working in the woods for some COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 507 time he secured more congenial and profitable employment as a carpenter and a stonemason, and for twenty-five years he followed those occupations, and at the same time conducted his farm of 125 acres in Clearfield county. He still owns this estate, but about fourteen years ago he moved to Philipsburg, where he bought a two-story building for business purposes, 155 x 25 feet with an "L" 25 x 40. For several years he was engaged in the flour and feed business, but after disposing of that he was not especially engaged in any line until 1891, when he took charge of his present furniture store. In this enterprise he has succeeded, as might be supposed form his past triumphs, and he carries a large and well-selected stock. Some years ago, after learning the methods employed in the lumber business, he made some profitable ventures in that line himself, buying and clearing land and rafting on the river. Land was cheap, and at one time he owned about eight hundred acres. He intended to give a farm to each of his children, but during the coal excitement it was found that his lands were very valuable for mining, and he sold them at a good price. In 1857, Mr. Mayer went to De Pere, Wis., and spent four years in a sawmill. While there he met Miss Christina Switzer, who was born in the town of Nurtingen, Kingdom of Wurttemberg, Germany, November 28, 1833. They were married in Milwaukee, Wis, November 17, 1859, and have had eleven children, of whom nine are living. The first was born in Wisconsin, and died in infancy at De Pere, five miles above Green Bay; at that time there were no railroads in that vicinity, and boats furnished the only convenient means of travel. (2) Mary married Andy Neubauer, a farmer of Clearfield county, and has six children - Jennie, Charlie, Effie, Harry, Perry, and Henry; of these, the eldest, Jennie, is married to August Johnson, who was born in Sweden, and is now a merchant at Allport, Clearfield Co., Penn. (3) Henry, who conducts his father's farm, married Miss Tillie Hoover, and has three children - Grover, and May and Duff (twins). (4) Ellen, the wife of John Stewart, of Clearfield, has two children - Statie and Christie. (5) Elizabeth, the wife of Herbert Caldwell, has two children - Gordon and Samuel. (6) Clara married John Williams, of Punxsutawney, Penn., and has two living children - Clara and Ruth, three others having died at an early age. (7) Adam, who resides in Punxsutawney, married Ruth Neal, and had two children, neither of whom is now living. (8) Beckie married Louis Ernst, of Pittsburg, and has no children. (9) Barbara and (10) Herman are at home; and (11) Perry died at the age of eleven years, and seven months. Mr. Mayer and his family are prominent members of the Lutheran Church, and he has always been interested in local progress. In politics he was formerly a Republican, but of late he has voted the Democratic ticket, and in 1896 he was and advocate of free silver at "sixteen to one." He is a director and stockholder in the New Moshannon National Bank (belonging to the Freemasons), which was organized in May, 1896. Mrs. Mayer is a daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Aberly) Switzer, both natives of Germany, where they died, the father when Mrs. Mayer was but a child, the mother about 1862. They had six children who reached maturity: George, Jacob, Wilhelm, Rebecca, Henry and Christena, none of whom came to America except the last named, who was twenty years old at the time of his emigration.