Meyer, John, 1824-1902.

John Meyer (1824-1902), a Civil War officer and Iowa state senator. He was born near Bellefonte, Clinton County, Pa., a farmer's son. In 1846, he became a student in Mifflinburg College, and in a year later entered Oberlin College, graduating in 1853. On Aug. 25 of the same year he was married to Cornelia Beebee (d. 1895), also an Oberlin graduate. The Meyers came to Iowa in 1856 and settled in Newton. They taught at the Wittemberg College for a year, and then Meyer bought the grocery firm of Farrington & McGregor; he owned and operated the grocery store for some thirty five years. Meyer was known as an abolitionist and one of the first members of the Republican Party in the state. In the fall of 1861, he was elected to the state House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly. In July 1862, he resigned his seat to raise a company of volunteers designated Co. K of 28th Iowa Infantry Regiment. With his regiment, Meyer fought in the Vicksburg, Western Louisiana, Red River, and Sheridan's Shenandoah campaigns. He was promoted to Major of his regiment and was mustered out on July 31, 1865 with the rank of Brevet Colonel. In the fall of 1865, he was elected to the state Senate, serving in the Eleventh and Twelfth General Assemblies. In 1877 he was again elected to the Senate, serving through the Seventeenth and Eighteenth General Assemblies. For many years he was a trustee of Iowa College at Grinnell. John Myer was a member of the Congregational Church. The Myers had one surviving child, daughter Cornelia Meyer Fisk (1857-1914)