My Genealogy Hound

Michael Metz, a prominent hardware dealer of Altus, Ark., was born in France, on the 8th of March, 1853. His parents Michael and Katie (Heideneker) Metz, were born in Northern France, which is now a portion of Germany, the father’s death occurring in 1871, at the age of sixty-one years. He was a wagon-maker by trade, and a member of the Catholic Church. The mother is still residing in Alsace, Germany, and is sixty-eight years of age. Michael Metz is the youngest of their four children, and when eighteen years of age determined to seek his fortune in the United States, and for two years worked at his trade in Chicago, and then became a newspaper carrier for a Chicago German newspaper, continuing at this six years, working also at his trade. He then came to Franklin County, Ark., and after working at his trade for six years in Ozark, came to Altus and opened a tin-shop, and soon after added a stock of hardware. In 1875 he was married to Annie Ziegler, a daughter of Lorenz Ziegler. She was born in 1856, and died September 27, 1881, having borne three children: Mena, Mike and Frankie, who died in 1880 aged four years. The mother and child are buried in the Catholic grave-yard at Chicago. In 1883 Mr. Metz married Minnie, a sister of his first wife, and by her became the father of three children: Leon, Carl and Alfred, who died in 1886, when two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Metz are members of the Catholic Church, and he affiliates with the Union Labor party.