Notizen zu dieser Person
George Heinrich Mayer, his wife Elisabetha Margaretha Klock and theirchildren Elisabetha, Jacob, Heinrich, Peter and Anton left Rotterdamon 12 May 1850. After sailing for 52 days on the ship "Leila", theyarrived in NY 5 Jul 1850. After their arrival they migrated to Herman, Dodge County, WI wheretheir youngest son George was born in 1851. Henry John was confirmedhere on 5 May 1853 by Pastor T. Conrad. The daughter Elisabetha hadalready married and living with husband and two sons, in Williamstown,Dodge Co., WI. In Oct of 1864 the father, mother and sons Heinrich, and George movedto Utica township, Winona County west of Lewiston, where they againsettled on a farm. On 22 Nov 1866 Henry John Mayer and Margarite A. Oehlers were marriedin Lewiston,MN by Pastor Robert Weise. The father, mother, Henry,Margaretha and their infant daughter Henrietta, moved in the spring of1868 to Lake Crystal, Blue Earth Couny, MN where they took aGovernment Homestead. The Homestead was west of what later became the railroad town of LakeCrystal. At the time the nearest railroad town was at Owatonna, MNabout 80 miles east, but a small inland village and store was locatedat Garden City. Garden City was served by stagecoach only, and alimited amount of supplies could be purchased there. Most of theirtrading had to be done at Owatonna. There were no established roadsand no bridges across the streams. When the Mayer family relocated in Blue Earth County, they were joinedby the Reiman family, the parents and four sons, Raphael, Merits,Henry and John. These two families formed a little colony, but soonwere joined by others. The two families had one team of horses and twoyoke of oxen between them. Some of them first live in dug-outs, othersbuilt flimsy shacks from native sawed lumber. When they had to go toOwatonna to do trading, as a rule, two or three men went with the oneteam of horses, for it was not safe for one man to go alone, becauseof the terrible traveling conditions, with no roads and no bridges. Itusually took several days to make the trip. The merchandise wasexpensive and they had little money. They were strangers in a strangeland. They lived principally on what they could grow on their land.Wild geese, and duck were plentiful and that was their main source ofmeat. Fish were plentiful and easy to catch, also. During some of theeary years grasshoppers destroyed most of their crops. Several years after they settled there, the railroad was built from MNto Omaha and this afforded work for the men which brought them somecash, the wages were extremely low. They managed to work out a livingin some way or another and gradually increased their livestock andpoultry, also crop conditions improved and in time they became quiteindependent and accumulated enough so they could live very comfortablyin their declining years. Henry settled on a 160 acre tract in Butternut Valley joining GooseLake on the east shore. In fact, part of the farm ran into the lake.His brother George settled on a 160 acre tract just a short distancewest of Goose Lake, but not adjoining it. The parents lived withGeorge until their deaths. They were buried in the Lake CrystalCemetery.
Roger
Engelken
