THE MEIER/MEYER FAMILY
by Gerald Bade

The Meier surname is spelled this way in the 1885 Iowa State Census, but it is spelled Meyer on cemetery headstones.   I don't know if the census data are is in error or if the family changed the spelling on purpose. 

The Meier family came from Apelern, Germany which, at the time, was in the province of  Kurfürstentun, Kurhesse and is now in the state of Hanover.  

Direct ancestors of the author are shown in bold type below.

Carl Gottlieb Meier, 1785 - 1850 and Hanna Sophia Hitzemann, 1813 - ????
the author's g-g-g-grandparents, and had at least one child:

           Johann Carl Christian (a.k.a. Carl or C.C., see below)

See the descendents of this couple.

Johann Carl Christian Meier, 1816 - 1894 and Engel Sophia Eleonore Hoffmann 1824-1905
the authors g-g-grandparents, in 1846 and had 7 documented children in Germany but two boys died there.  Those surviving were:

           Wilhelmina (Minnie - 1847 - 1936) married Fred Riechmann
           Sophia Louise (1852 - 1939) married Johann Carl Christian Sell and had ten children:
                    Carl Herman Johann (1873 - 1945)
                    Emma Maria Sophia (1875 - 1956)
                    Wilhelm Christian (1877 - 1947)
                    Louise Charlotte (1879 - 1958)
                    Wilhelmina Marie Louise (1881 - 1952)
                    Johann Heinrich Carl (1883 - 1949)
                    Sophia Dorothea Caroline (1884 - 1884)
                    Martha Caroline Dorothea Maria (1886 - 1950)
                    Mathilda Sophia Caroline (1888 - 1969)
                    Johann Frederick Wilhelm Erwin (1891 - 1962
           Karl Gottlieb Christian (1858 - 1879) died at age 21
           Sophia (1860 - 1941) married Carl Theodore Wilhelm Sell and had three children:|
                    Karl Christian Wilhelm (1880 - 1927)
                    Friedrich Wilhelm (1882 - 1965)
                    Sophia Marie (1890 - 1949)
           Charlotte (1864 - 1940) married Heinrich C. Meier and had seven children
                    Hulda Sophia (1895)
                    George Hermann (1897 - 1970)
                    Wilhelm Carl (1899)
                    Emma Louise (1901)
                    Heinrich August (1902)
                    Carl Heinrich (1904)
                    Heinrich Wilhelm (1905)

Carl and Sophie immigrated in 1874 and settled in Dayton Township, Bremer County where they farmed.  They belonged to the Buck Creek Evangelical Lutheran Church.  Carl was naturalized on October 2, 1876.

Wilhelmina and her sister Sophie Louise were married on the same day.

Sophie's Obituary