| HenryHansmeyer |
HENRY HANSMEYER was born in Lippe-Detmold,Prussia, Germany in 1833. He came of pure German ancestry and of hardystock. His father, Fred Hansmeyer, married Wilhelmina Hoy of the same province.In 1849 they took passage for America and landed in New Orleans after aseven-weeks voyage. Thence the family came up the Mississippi, to St. Louis,where the Mother and one child died of the cholera after being there oneweek. The father and four children came on to Chicago, where Henry wasattacked by the cholera and confined to the house for two weeks, laterhe joined his father and the other children at Watertown, and it was nearthere that the father died about one year later, being then in middle life.Henry Hansmeyer is the second of the foursons yet living. He came to this country in 1849 and lived on a farm inJefferson country, Wisconsin, until 1851, working for $10 a month. He cameto Beardstown in 1851 and still worked by the month, for a time for $10;he saved his money, became a stock dealer and trader and did various thingsuntil he accumulated enough to purchase land. In 1865 he found himselfon safe ground for business, which he carried on successfully and extensively.He was an active farmer and stock-raiser until 1880. In that year he retiredfrom business and moved into Beardstown. He owns a fine farm of 306 acres,250 acres of which is under the plow and the rest is pasture, good landand all supplied with first-class farm buildings. He purchased this farmin 1865 and also owns some good residence property in Beardstown, the operahouse building at Mount Olive, Illinois, and other residence property there.
He was married in Beardstown, in 1857, toMiss Catharina Schmidt. She was born in Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the daughterof the Rev. George and Kate Schmidt, who came to the United States in 1856,settling in Beardstown, where they died. Mr. Schmidt was for many yearspastor of the Lutheran. He was a fine minister and an anti-slavery advocate,a Republican in politics and a leader in the community. Mrs. Hansmeyeris a great worker in the Lutheran Church and a very fine woman. They havefour children: Augusta, wife of Henry Oetgen, a farmer in Schuyler County;Minna, wife of Henry Stock; Katie, wife of John Duvall, First State Bankof Beardstown; William, a miller by trade. Mr. Hansmeyer is a public-spiritedcitizen, a Republican in politics and a member of the Fourth Street LutheranChurch, of which he has been a Trustee for sixteen years.
Biographical Review of Cass,Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review PublishingCo., Chicago, 1892, pages 127-128.
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