My Genealogy Hound

LEWIS T. MEYER was among the first settlers of Kearney county, Nebr., and is today one of the substantial farmers of Grant township. He is a native of Illinois, born in St. Clair county, April 23, 1844. His father, Charles A. Meyer, is a native of France, but is now residing at Davenport, Iowa. He is a shoemaker by trade and an ardent believer in the Catholic religion. Lewis T. Meyer was only seventeen years old when the Civil war broke out, but he had a loyal heart in him and was among the first to offer his services to his country. He enlisted August 10, 1861, in the Thirty-seventh Illinois volunteer infantry, and rendered gallant service at Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and Vicksburg. His regiment was also placed in charge of Ft. Blakely, near Mobile, Ala., for some time. He marched into Texas under General Ord, and was in the Army of the Southwest until mustered out May 15, 1866. After returning from the scene of the great civil conflict, Mr. Meyer went to Iowa and engaged in farming for several years. He came to Kearney county, Nebr., in the spring of 1873, and his was one of the first dozen families that settled in Grant township. When he halted on the vast prairie, where he has since lived, there was not a house in sight and the nearest trading paint was Lowell, some twenty miles distant. Wild game was plenty, and it was indeed fortunate for the early settler that such was the case, for he depended largely on the antelope and buffalo for his meat. His first act after selecting his homestead was to construct a sod house. This done, he proceeded to break prairie enough to plant a few acres of corn, only to have it entirely destroyed by the grasshoppers. He tried to smoke them off from a small patch of corn, but his efforts were all in vain. The grasshoppers had come to stay as long as a green blade of corn was left. Thus he has endured all the trials and vexations incident to the life of the early settler, and has lived bravely through them all, and is now in possession of a splendid farm for his reward.

Mr. Meyer was married November 2, 1870, to Miss Rhoda A. Owen, who is a native of Kentucky. This union has been blessed with eight children as follows — Carrie C., born November 11, 1871; Olive E., born December 20, 1872; Nolie, born October 25, 1874; Anna M., born July 31, 1876; Effie Bernice, born March 10, 1878; Lewis T., born September 2, 1880; Alberta P., born April 16, 1884; and Walter L., born November 17, 1886.

Mr. Meyer has served the people of his township as county supervisor and has filled numerous other local offices. He has taken special pains in raising fruits, and, as an evidence of the success he has attained, it might not be out of place to remark that he has been awarded several first premiums at fairs. In politics he is a republican first, last and all the time. He and his estimable wife are devoted members of the Presbyterian church.