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Container
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Title
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Audio 744A
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1979 March 21
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:00
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:40
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Interviewer's Preface and Interviewee's Rejoinder
: Roy Meier prepared Town of Spirit section in 1876-1976 Centennial, Ogema-Spirit Hill, July 2nd to 4th, Historical Album
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
02:30
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Roy R. Meier Born in Father's New House Near Course of New Road.
: Born on December 26, 1902. Describes family picture taken in spring of 1903 (copy in SHSW Archives).
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
04:45
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Family Composition
: Thirteen surviving children; one child died at birth. Roy Meier the seventh son. Describes picture of father Karl Albert Meier (later Albert C. Meier) at age twenty-one.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
07:10
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Origins of Meier Family
: Migrated first from Germany, then from Wind Lake (Muskego), Wisconsin. Grandfather Siegfried Meier served in Civil War, went to Texas, then migrated to town of Brannan to locate homesteads for German relatives. Filed claim in section 26 on tote road from Jenny (Merrill).
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
09:10
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Locates Meier Homestead on Post-1881 Plat Map (copy in SHSW Archives)
: Father's 160-acre farm adjacent to grandfather's. Albert Meier probably homesteaded in 1881 at age twenty-one; record found of taxes paid in 1883.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
10:40
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Town of Brannan Renamed Town of Spirit in 1923
: Adopted from Indian name for Great Spirit. Cites names of Germans who settled in town of Spirit; explains how railroads owned every other section.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
13:40
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Comments on German Settlement in Swedish Area
: Baptist pastor Ostergren brought in Swedish settlers about the same time Wisconsin Central Railroad being constructed. Ogema area possibly first Swedish settlement in Wisconsin.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
15:00
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Describes Photograph of Albert C. Meier Farm, circa 1902
: Locates milk house, machine shed, barn from old homestead by Spirit River.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
17:15
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Explains Term “Tote Road”
: Route for bringing supplies to headwaters for logging camps. Believes route followed road between Green Bay and Washburn at times when St. Mary's River frozen.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
19:05
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Religious Background of Mother's Family
: Marheine family had belonged to state church in Germany; children sent to Methodist Sunday School in Oshkosh. Recalls children carried dime to buy a pail of beer, not to donate to church. Mother joined Zion Lutheran Church in German settlement after Roy's birth.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
21:55
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Religious Background of Father's Family
: Grandfather met and married Eva Falikowski while in German army. Never joined a church. Father also joined Zion Lutheran Church in 1904.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
23:15
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Zion Lutheran Church in Town of Spirit Affiliated with Missouri or Wisconsin Synod
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
24:00
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German Settlement Demonstrates Americanism as European War Spreads
: Zion Lutheran Church discontinued German-language services in 1915; Meier family stopped speaking German. Roy's eldest brother, Edward, enlisted in army; wounded at Cantigny.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
26:45
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Coercion against Germans in Area
: Recalls incident where Kraft house in Tomahawk painted yellow.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
27:45
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Absence of German Teachers in Settlement
: German school board members consciously hired teachers without foreign accent.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
29:00
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Origin of Roy Meier's “By-You Country” Nickname for German Settlement
: German greeting “How goes it by-you?”
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
29:45
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End of Tape 1, Side 1
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:00
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:35
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German Settlement School Located in Section 26
: Swedes later built Stone Lake school after which former school building moved one mile east. New German Settlement school built in 1919.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
03:15
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Comments on Father's Intelligence
: Wrote well; served on county board for several years.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
04:00
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Improved and Unimproved Acreage on Meier Farm, 1906-1917
: Father initially cleared four acres; gradually cleared stumpage with horses.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
05:35
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Recalls Seeing First Auto, 1906 or 1907
: Owned by Dr. Pierson.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
06:50
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Father Builds New Barn in 1906-1907
: 86' by 45' with large loft.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
07:50
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More on Clearing Land
: Twenty-five acres cleared by 1915. Observations about homesteaders' preference for sites along streams.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
09:20
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Father Begins to Sell Butter in Tomahawk, circa 1890
: Replaced oxen with team of horses to market butter in Tomahawk, twenty-five miles away, once every two weeks. Describes routes to Tomahawk. Father unique since most area farmers produced enough milk and butter for own consumption only. No local market for butter at first since lumber camps preferred cheaper lard.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
14:50
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Father Sells Butter to William Bradley, Owner of Standard Mercantile Company
: Tomahawk a growing logging and sawmill town. William Bradley a “very progressive person” who once spoofed New York financiers into believing Tomahawk a great wheat-growing area. Bradley built Marinette, Tomahawk, and Western Railroad; built Farmers Trading Company stores in Spirit Falls and Spirit; kept pure-bred bull at Spirit Falls for use by Albert Meier and others.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
19:55
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Father Delivers Butter to Booming Spirit Falls
: Sold butter in stone crocks, prints, and tubs under label of “Spring Brook Dairy.”
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
21:20
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Spirit Falls Grows as Logging Town
: Had seven saloons, two hotels, but no church. Meier's uncle was blacksmith and constable.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
23:15
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More Comments on Father's Foresightedness
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
24:00
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Crops on Albert Meier Farm
: Two acres of oats, one acre of corn, one acre of wheat and hay. Recalls brothers using scythes to cut hay. One of first in area to raise corn, red flint variety.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
26:05
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Planting Corn by Hand as Child
Planted four kernels:
“One for the blackbird,
One for the crow,
One for the cutworm,
And one to grow.”
Father began to use hand-planter about 1914.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
28:10
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Family Members' Chores
: Girls worked in garden and field, but not in barn. Mother liked to milk cows; father not good at it.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
29:15
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Father Sells Potatoes, Rutabagas, and Cabbage
: Sold in Spirit Falls and Tomahawk.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
29:50
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End of Tape 1, Side 2
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