Margarethe Sophie Friederike Dorothee MEYER

Margarethe was the first of seven known children born to Johann Heinrich Meyer and Mette Margarethe Elisabeth Clausen. She was the wife of Johann Gerhard Heinrich August Bomhoff. They had one daughter born in Martfeld in 1843- Catharine Margarethe. ( If there were other children bornto this couple, I have been unable to find a record of them.)

According to the records of the Tinley Park Historical Society, Gerhardand Margarethe and daughter, Catharine, migrated to America in 1854, which would have made them the first to migrate of the Meyer children.

In the census for Bremen (which became Tinley Park in 1892) for 1860, there are four people in the Bomhoff house: Gerhard and "Sophia" and Henry Maier, age 70, (believed to be the father of Margarethe Sophie Fredericke Dorothee Meyer Bomhoff- Johann Heinrich Meyer) and Conrad Maier,age 11, (believed to be Georg Dietrich Conrad Meyer - grandson of Johann Heinrich Meyer and nephew of Margarethe.)

In 1868, Gerhard Bomhoff bought a big house (now referred to as "The Vogt Building") which had been built around 1865 by brothers John Lewis and Allen Cleveland Lewis. The house was far larger than any other housein the community or for miles around for many years to come. It was constructed of brick when all other structures in Bremen (Tinley Park), both commercial and residential, were of frame construction.

In 1870, there are fourteen people living in the house - the Bomhoffs,daughter Catharine, who had married Carl/Charles Vogt, five of the Vogtchildren, Margarethe's father - John Meyer, a couple of John Meyer's other grandchildren - Margrate Meyer and John Von Engeln, and two farmhands - John Smackpaper and Fredric Wheler.

Also in that census, Carl Vogt is shown to be a Merchant. Information from the historical records of Tinley Park states that he had owned a store and saloon, which was taken over by his brother, Henry C. Vogt, Sr., in 1872, after Henry lost everything in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Also in 1872, ownership of the house and property were transferred to Carl Vogt.

In the 1880 census, there are 15 people living in the big house - Carland Catharine Vogt and their 9 children; Catharine's parents - Gerhardand Margarethe; and two servants - Christ Grablin and Ferdinand Ferner.

Margarethe (Meyer) Bomhoff passed away on August 13, 1882, in Tinley Park, but the place of her burial - in which cemetery - is unknown. Gerhard passed away on March 13, 1890.

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