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Greetings to all the members of the Meyer Family!
My name is Randal J. Loy, and for the past three years, I have been researching and writing a book on the major memorial gifts in the Nave of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, Missouri, which is the Cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri.
We have a large, ornate Rood Screen which was personally designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1908 as a memorial to August Robert Meyer (1851-1905). Mr. Meyer was an extremely successful individual, and shall forever be remembered as one of the three founders, with Alvinus Brown Wood (1832-1901) of Michigan, and George L. Henderson (1835-1888) of Ohio, of the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. Mr. Meyer not only assisted in founding that town, he helped plat the city and obtained its post office in February of 1878.
Mr. Meyer had purchased thirty acres of land near Leadville, and began mining that property. He also opened the first sampling and smelting works in Leadville. He became incredibly wealthy from his investments in that area, and later increased them with sound investments in other mining and ore corporations.
He then came to Kansas City in 1882, after having first researched and considered all the towns and cities in the "Western" portion of the United States. He was extremely important in the development of Kansas City, and, while he was never a member of our Parish, one of his daughters and her husband were members. When Mr. Meyer's church, the First Congregational Church in Kansas City, rejected this Rood Screen for their new church building, the family turned to our Parish. We accepted the gift, and, while some modifications were necessary for the Rood Screen to be large enough to fill the arch at the top of our Chancel steps, it has been an important feature in our Nave since its dedication on January 1, 1909. (That was a special service -- we know that was not a Sunday.)
I am attempting to learn more about Mr. Meyer's parents. According to the information I have found available, his father was Heinrich Peter Meyer, who was born in Hamburg. My research indicates he may have been born in 1815. His wife was Margaretha Kraft, and she may have been born in 1823. According to August Meyer's obituary, Heinrich Meyer and his wife immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, "many years before the birth of August Robert Meyer."
Heinrich Meyer partnered with another Hamburg native, Jacob Tamm (1815-1893), and Heinrich Meyer left that partnership in 1864, the year before August Meyer left St. Louis for studies in Europe. The firm which was the ultimate result of the partnership between Jacob Tamm and Heinrich Meyer was the St. Louis Woodenware Company, and it was active in St. Louis until 1907. According to a history of St. Louis corporations and enterprises I found online, Mr. Meyer was considered one of the wealthiest millionaires of St. Louis, Missouri, before his death.
I contacted the history department of the St. Louis Public Library, and they advise that Heinrich and Margaretha Meyer "disappear" from all documents and records in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1871. Neither of them are listed in the existing obituary index which begins with deaths in 1850 and continues through until death certificates became mandatory in Missouri in 1910. Due to the information available to them, and a lack of certain other indications, the librarians are adamant that neither Heinrich nor Margaretha Meyer died in St. Louis, Missouri, at any point in time.
Are there any surviving members of this Meyer family that would be able to provide information on the births, lives, and deaths of Heinrich Peter Meyer and Margaretha Kraft Meyer? I also cannot find whether August had any siblings, and would appreciate information in that regard.
August Robert Meyer and his wife, Emma Jane Hixon Meyer (1857-1932), had seven children.
I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me directly at RandalJLoy@gmail.com
Thank you so very much!
Sincerely,
Randal J. Loy
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