Rev. William Lewis Meinzer Biography


	This biography appears on pages 747-748 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	REV. WILLIAM LEWIS MEINZER was born on a farm in Winnebago 
county, Illinois,. on the 26th of December, 1868, and is a son of 
William and Mary Julia Meinzer, both of whom were born near Carlsruhe, 
Baden, Germany, the former being a lad of nine years when he 
accompanied his parents on their emigration to America, while his wife 
was seven years of age when she came to the United States with her 
parents, both families being numbered among the pioneer settlers in 
northern Illinois. The father of the subject became a successful farmer 
and resided for half a century on his homestead farm in Winnebago. 
county, Illinois. He and his wife are now residing in Davis, Illinois, 
having retired from active life. The ancestry of the subject, in both 
the paternal and maternal lines, has been identified with the history 
of southern Germany, and his grandparents were the first of the 
respective families to locate in the new world. The maternal 
grandfather was prominent in the revolution of 1848, and this fact led 
to his emigration from the Fatherland. One of his brothers was for many 
years burgomaster of the village of Neureuth, Baden.  

	William L. Meinzer secured his early educational discipline in 
the district schools of his native county, and as a mere boy began to 
assist in the work of the home farm, having followed the plow when but 
ten years of age, while he was able to attend school during the winter 
terms of about four months. Of alert and respective mentality, his 
ambition to secure a broader education was early quickened, and in the 
fall of 1887 he entered Northwestern College, at Naperville, Illinois, 
but by reason of illness he was compelled to temporarily abandon his 
studies there a few months later, and upon resuming collegiate work he 
interspersed the same with periods of teaching, in order to secure the 
means with which to further prosecute his studies. In the autumn of 
1889 he came to Lincoln county, South Dakota, for the purpose of 
teaching in the public schools, and in the following spring he entered 
the State Agricultural College, at Brookings, where he continued his 
studies until the spring of 1893, when a quarrel arose between the 
faculty and a large number of the students, whereupon our subject left 
the institution and was matriculated in the Iowa State College, at 
Ames, being there graduated as a member of the class of 1894 and 
receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. In the same year he took 
up the study of theology, prosecuting the course designated by the 
Dakota conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he continued 
his ecclesiastical studies after entering upon active pastoral work. He 
was received on trial into the conference, at Aberdeen, in 1895 was 
ordained a deacon, at Mitchell, by Bishop Warren, in 1897; and an elder 
by Bishop Hurst, at Huron, in 1899. In November, 1894, Mr. Meinzer 
became pastor of the church at Armour, Douglas county, and in 1896 he 
was assigned to the pastorate at Howard, where he remained until 1899, 
when conference assigned him to the pastoral charge of the church at 
Redfield, Spink county, where he rendered most effective service until 
1902. His wife died in April, 1902, during the pastorate at Redfield. 
In the following June he resigned his charge and made an extended 
European tour, returning to South Dakota in October, 1902, when the 
conference appointed him to Clark, South Dakota. Since his return from 
abroad, in connection with his pastoral duties, Mr. Meinzer has gained 
high commendation on the lecture platform, having embodied his 
experiences and observations in Europe into a most interesting and 
original lecture entitled "Kings, Crowns and Castles." He is a man of 
high intellectual attainments and is instinct with enthusiasm and 
nervous vitality, and his devotion and loyalty have made him a force 
for good in the pulpit and on the platform, while he stands as a type 
of the best citizenship. In politics he has ever given a staunch 
allegiance to the Republican party, having cast his first presidential 
vote for Benjamin Harrison.  

	On the 31st of December, 1895 Mr. Meinzer was united in marriage 
to Miss Dora Jane Squires, the ceremony being performed at Armour, this 
state. Mrs. Meinzer was born and reared near East Fairfield, Vermont, 
and came to South Dakota in 1890, being for four years a successful and 
popular teacher in the public schools of Armour. She died in Asbury 
hospital, in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 15th of April, 
1902, as the result of an operation for cancer. No children were born 
of this union.