My Genealogy Hound

Stephen Ortmeyer, a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of Liberty Township, Cole County, is a native of Prussia, and was born August 4, 1835. He is one of the family of five children born to Fred and Mary (Boddodearen) Ortmeyer, also natives of Prussia, where the father died. The mother immigrated to America in 1858, reaching Osage County via New Orleans, where she lived fifteen years. Two brothers and one sister of our subject are now living in America, all of whom are married and have families. Stephen Ortmeyer was first married in Prussia, in 1858, to Elizabeth Holtcamper, who died the mother of one child, also deceased. Mr. Ortmeyer next married, in 1859, Josephine Broka, and seven children have been born to this union, viz.: Annie, aged twenty-eight, is the wife of John Love, of Liberty Township; Henry, aged twenty-six; Stephen, twenty-one; Elizabeth, twenty-one; John and Ferdinand, sixteen and thirteen, and Josephine, aged four. Mr. Ortmeyer owns 400 acres of land on the Osage River, about 275 of which are under cultivation; he has erected a good house, barn and out-buildings, and has a fine orchard growing on the place. He devotes considerable attention to the breeding of cattle, and his herd now consists of about seventy head. The family are devout members of the Catholic Church, and are highly respected by all who know them. In politics Mr. Ortmeyer supports the principles of the Democratic party, with which he is a strong sympathizer. He is a public-spirited and enterprising man, and a leading farmer of Liberty Township.