John Meier Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1045-1046 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN MEIER, one of Germany's native sons, was born on the 6th of 
August, 1835, his parents being Jathan and Elizabeth Meier.  The father 
was a tailor by trade and thus provided for his family.  In 1856 he 
brought his wife and children to the United States, settling in 
Broadhead, Wisconsin. John Meier, who acquired his education in Germany, 
accompanied the family at that time and in Wisconsin he took a claim 
from the government and began farming on his own account.  He was 
married February 12, 1866, to Miss Caroline Dubois, of Rock county, 
Wisconsin.  Her father was a successful farmer of that section.  Unto 
the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Meier were born four sons and three 
daughters, namely: John, George, Jathan, Josephine, Alma, Gilbert and 
Hattie, and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death.  
George married Julia Rinker, by whom he has one child and is a farmer, 
residing upon a tract of land adjacent to his father's farm.  Josephine 
is the wife of Frank Ray, an agriculturist living near Wagner, South 
Dakota.  The other children are yet under the parental roof.

	Mr. Meier continued to reside in Wisconsin until the spring of 1872, 
when he came to South Dakota, settling in Yankton township.  Much of the 
land was still in possession of the government at that time and he 
secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, to which he has since 
added by the purchase of three hundred and twenty acres near his old 
homestead.  He is engaged in stock raising and is today one of the 
progressive agriculturists of his community.  The success that has 
crowned his efforts has come to him as the reward of his perseverance 
and his earnest labor and now at the age of sixty-eight years he is 
enjoying the fruits of his former toil, having a valuable property and a 
comfortable home.  He is independent in politics, as he is in religious 
faith, although he endorses the teachings of the Methodist church to 
some extent.  Both he and his wife are estimable people, enjoying the 
warm regard of many friends.