Sierra
County
Biographies
HENRY H. MEYER
Henry H. Meyer, who is today the
oldest businessman in Downieville, in point of the number of years in
continuous active service, is the owner of a prosperous and substantial
insurance agency and is also recognized as one of the community’s best citizens
in the truest sense of the term. He was
born in Downieville on the 26th of March, 1865, and is a son of
Henry Herman and Matilda (Vollmer) Meyer.
The father, who was a native of Holland, came to Downieville in the
early ‘50s and engaged in gold mining to the time of his death, which occurred
at the age of forty-seven years. The
mother was a native of Switzerland and died when thirty-seven years old.
Henry H. Meyer is the fifth in order
of birth in a family of nine children.
Because of the early deaths of his parents, he and his brothers and
sisters had to shift themselves, he being but eleven years old when his father
died. He did not attend the public
schools after the age of twelve years and then began working at various jobs,
such as he could find. After he had
attained his majority he pursued a commercial course of six months in a
business college in Sacramento. He then
undertook independent business operations on a small scale, buying and retailing
milk, selling ice cream and handling fruit on commission. In 1888, when twenty-three years old, he
bought from William Byington the meat market in Downieville, which looked like
a risky investment, for he had everything to learn in relation to that business,
including the buying of livestock, the killing and dressing, refrigeration,
cutting and retailing. He also had
strong competition, but by persistent and intelligent effort he made a
distinctive success of this enterprise, which he conducted for thirty-seven
years, selling the market in 1925. He
then bought the insurance business formerly owned by E. S. Case, former
treasurer of Sierra County, who died on November 18, 1926. Under Case’s will Mr. Meyer was nominated as
executor and he settled up the affairs of the estate, which were in bad
shape. He took over the insurance agency
after Mr. Case’s death. Success has
attended his insurance business, as it did his meat business, for he has given
wise direction to all of his activities, and represents some of the oldest and
strongest companies in the country. Mr.
Meyer is the owner of the Oxford gold mine and the May Day and Udine mine in
the Gold Lake country, and is also a stockholder in the Crocker National Bank
of San Francisco.
On November 4, 1888, in Downieville,
Mr. Meyer was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Hanson, who was born in Denmark
and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hanson, the former a timber
contractor. Mrs. Meyer passed away
several years ago, leaving two children, Raymond H. and Zella. Raymond H., who is a farmer at Greenville, in
the Indian Valley, married Miss Ella Gott and they have two children, Sophie
Charlotte and Ella Ray. Zella Meyer, who
became the wife of M. P. Fischer, proprietor of the stage line between Downieville
and Nevada City, died on April 1, 1926, leaving a daughter, Dorothy Sophie.
In his political alignment Mr. Meyer
is a Republican and has taken an active interest in local public affairs,
having served for eight years as supervisor from the third supervisorial
district. He is a member of Mountain
Shade Lodge, No. 18, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master; Sierra
Chapter, No. 21, R. A. M., of which he is a past high priest; Downieville
Parlor, N. S. G. W.; Downieville Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which he is a past
noble grand, and Blue Range Encampment, No. 8, P. M., of which he is a past
chief patriarch. He has always evinced a
keen interest in the welfare and improvement of Downieville and Sierra County,
is a man of pleasing address and strong personality, and no resident of this
community has enjoyed to a greater degree than he the public confidence and
good-will.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 348-349. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sierra County Biographies