Mayer, Michael ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Michael was Meyer.

  General Notes:

The Village Allscheid, origin of a U.S. Meyer Family Web Page.

An Alscheid Geneaolgy by Albert Emmerich a Web Site.

Information found in Book "Hausarbeit" 943.42/A5 w2p on page 161 and 65.
Germany Death record age 60 at death
Christening Record from film in Salt Lake Library

Prepared by Cathy Meyer
HISTORY OF MICHAEL MEYER
Michael was born in 1796 to Adam Joseph Mayer and Maria Elizabeth Langshausen, The family lived in Mosbruch, Rhineland, Germany, Michael was christened in the Catholic Church on April 2, 1796, He was the fifth child, with three sisters and a brother, Michael was to have many losses of the women in his life, with the first being his mother, Maria Elizabeth passed away only four days after his christening, on April 6, 1796, Adam Joseph now left with a young family to care for, met and married Gertrude Jainger the following year on July 3, 1797, This marriage brought two little sisters and two little brothers for Michael to play with while growing up,

Michael, now in his late twenties found a sweet girl to marry, She was from the near by village of Bruchhausen, Her name was Maria Elizabeth Halfman, She was the oldest daughter of Mathias Halfman and Maria C, Stephani, They married on April 26, 1825 in the Catholic Church of Bruchhausen, A year later, Gerard, their first son was christened on April 12, 1826, A second son, Johann Joseph was born on January 13 and christened the following September 30, 1827,

Tragedy struck the family within the next year with the death of Michael' s wife, Maria Elizabeth, I don't have a record of when this took place, but the next record of the family names the second wife of Michael, A third child, Maria Clara was christened on July 18, 1829 to Michael and Anna Gertrude Halfman in Bruchhausen, I have no other record of Anna Gertrude to know who her parents were, On Clara's death certificate her mother is named as Anna Maria, Clara must have not known her mother, Anna Gertrude, That makes me think she must not have lived very long after Clara was born,

Once again records of Michael and his family appear only now he has moved his family to village of Allscheid, In 1834, Michael is a farmer by trade, A third marriage has taken place sometime between 1829 and 1833, Paul Mayer (a descendant of Michael's son Gerard), wrote of this marriage: "The father of Michael and the parents of Anna Marie were present at their wedding in Bruchhausen, Information from a civil marriage certificate indicates that Michael's father Adam Joseph was widowed, Anna Maria and her mother, Maria could not
sign the marriage certificate because either could read or write, This ceremony took place in Nurburg and was performed by the village mayor," Michael married another Halfman daughter, Anna Maria was the younger sister to Maria Elizabeth Halfman, Michael's first wife, The remaining three children to Michael were born in Allscheid through this third marriage,

Johann Adam was christened on February 23, 1834, Two and a half years later, Gertrude was christened on August 13, 1836, Nikolaus, the last child was christened on March 12, 1839, Tragedy struck the family once again with the death of Michael's wife, Anna Maria on January 10, 1840, Once again Michael was left with a young family to raise alone,
I am sure the older children took over some of the care of the younger
children and the farm,

Michael's brother-in-law, Gerhard Halfman, and his family, left Germany and arrived in New York City in August of 1845, They must have written the Meyer's and let them know about the wonderful land in Wisconsin where they had settled, Most of the villagers of Allscheid by 1846 had a desire to leave Germany and go to America, The village was very poor and barely had enough food to go around,

Germany had a mandatory draft, so Gerard and Johann Joseph must have left home for a while to serve when they were twenty, During this time, (December 20, 1848), Clara married Joann Willems and started a family of her own, While in the service, Johann Joseph met Christina Willems, Clara's husband's sister, He married her on December 18, 1849. With Michael's children marrying and starting their own families, talk of America became more of a common place in the home, After Michael's death on October 30, 1851 there was nothing keeping the children from leaving Germany, They sold the farm for little money and headed for Belgium to board the ship, Antartic,
On September 3, 1852 they arrived in the New York Harbor, From there they traveled down to Wisconsin to start their lives in America, Everyone must have learned to work hard, for their lives are full of stories of hard work and struggle, Music must have been part of the family, for some of John Joseph's children were very musical, The family starting out in America numbers eleven counting the wives and
children, Today we are in the thousands, dotting the whole United States with the descendants of this family, What a great heritage we have from such small beginnings,

This was written by Cathy Meyer on June 12, 2005 for the reunion held in Carpenter, Iowa on July 2, 2005, I have tried to be accurate in my account of the above history, I have used German Catholic Church records for all dates mentioned, I have used some family stories and a history of Allscheid to add to the history,

  Research Notes:

  Noted events in his life were:

• Parish Register: Christening, Apr 2, 1796, Mosbruch, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁴

• Parish Register: Marriage to Maria Elizabeth, Apr 17, 1825, Kelberg, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁵

• Death Record: Civil Death Record, Oct 2, 1851, Allscheid, Vulkaneifel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁶

• Parish Register: Death Recorded, Oct 30, 1851, Allscheid, Vulkaneifel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁷

• Emigration: Story of Allscheid, 1852, Allscheid, Vulkaneifel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁸

Michael married Anna Maria Halfmann, daughter of Matthias Halfmann and Klara Brust, on Apr 17, 1825 in Kelberg, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. (Anna Maria Halfmann was born on Mar 10, 1805 in Bruchhausen, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany ^{9 10 11}, christened on Mar 10, 1805 in Bruchhausen, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, died on Jan 19, 1840 in Allscheid, Vulkaneifel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany ^{12 13 14} and was buried in Jan 1840 in Darscheid, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Contract: Civil Marriage Document 1 of 3, Apr 17, 1825, Daun, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Interpretation by Albert Emmerich & Paul Schacht( Australia)
No 16
Marriage of Michel Mayer, 29 years old, farmer, of Mosbruch,
with Maria Elisabeth Halfmann, 20 years 1 month old, without profession, of Nürburg-Bruchhausen,
both single

Today Thursday April 21st of year 1825
at 3 pm,
presented to me, Cornel Metten,
government official of the village
of Mosbruch and Nürburg,
county Adenau, Bezirk Koblenz,
Michel M a y e r, 29 years old,
farmer, single,
born in, and living in Mosbruch,
of full legal age, son of Adam Joseph Mayer,
widower, 65 years old, a farmer who
lives in Mosbruch, and who is present and agrees to the marriage, and of Maria Elisabetha
Langshausen, who died
April 6th 1796, in Mosbruch.
Her death is recorded in original register of the parish
of Ühs (=Uess), which is now in our inventory / :
The birth of the groom
Michel Mayer is recorded in the same
register of parish Üss (=Uess)
as having taken place on April 2nd
1796 in Mosbruch
:/ on the one side : ------------- and
Maria Elisabetha H a l f m a n n
aged 20 years and one month, of no profession, single,
was born in, and living in, Nürburg - Bruchhausen.
She is a minor and daughter
of Mathias Halfmann, 62 years old,
and of Maria Stephani,
64 years old, married couple, farmers,
living in Bruchhausen, who are present
and agree to the marriage :/: the birth record
of the bride Maria Elisabetha Halfmann
was written by mayor

• Marriage Contract: Civil Marriage Document 2 of 3, Apr 17, 1825, Daun, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. that she was born on Ventose 19th year 13 of French Republic
/. March 10th 1805 :/
in Bruchhausen :/ on the other side ; ----
and the above parties have applied
to fulfil the marriage,
which they want to contract with each other, and
which was proclaimed according to the law at the main door of the civic centre of Kelberg, and at the door of the civic centre of Nürburg-Bruchhausen
the first on
Sunday April 17th of this month April
the second on
Sunday April 17th of this month April
in both cases
at noon. -----
As nobody made any objections
to the marriage,
to fulfil the request
after reading out all the related
documents and chapter 6
of civil law book with title "About the marriage"
I asked the groom and the
bride whether they
intended to become man
and wife.
After they both each for himself replied yes
so I declared, in the name of the law,
Michel Mayer and
Maria Elisabetha Halfmann
married,
but with the condition that this marriage
will not have any influence regarding the possible
military positions of the groom
Michel Mayer.
The marriage was documented by Me,
the government official,
in the presence of: 1.) Christian
Halfmann, 41 years old,
farmer and the bride's brother

• Marriage Contract: Civil Marriage Document 3 of 3, Apr 17, 1825, Daun, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. living in Nürburg-Reimerath. 2.)
Johann Joseph Gros, 34 years old,
farmer, brother in law of the bride
living also in Nürburg - Reimerarth
3.) Johann Joseph Mayer senior,
37 years old, farmer,
related to no party, living
in Mosbruch, and 4.) Bartholomäus
Mayer, 51 years old, day labourer,
cousin of the groom, and
also living in
Mosbruch. After
clearly reading the document out it was signed by me,
the government official, and the
parties and the witnesses,
with exception of
the bride Maria Elisabetha Halfmann,
and her mother named Maria
Stephani, who both declared that they were
completely unable to write, as
they had never learned it. ---
The current record
was written in
the civic centre of Kelberg
on the abovementioned day, month, and year.
--- ---- ---
the mayor
Metten
Michael Maier Maier Halfmann Christian Halfmann
Groß Johan Joseph Mayer Meier