Elizabeth Harmeyer was born on March 15, 1894 to Gerhard and Mary Menke Harmeyer in West Point, Iowa. She is a distant relation of Walt’s on the Wellman side of the family.
In 1900, we find Elizabeth and her family living with her grandfather Joseph Harmeyer and her uncle Aloysius on the family farm. By 1910, there were 5 kids in the family and they were still living on the farm.
On February 14, 1917, Elizabeth married John Matthias Nichting in West Point by Father Groethe. John was living in Henry County working as a farmer.
In 1920, John and Elizabeth were living in Henry County. Their first son Gerhard was born just a month before the census was taken.
By 1930, they had 4 children. They were still living in Henry County on the farm. John and Elizabeth also had a lodger living with them. He helped on the farm. They also had a brother-in-law living with them, listed as William Britton. I am not sure how he was connected to the family.
By 1950, John and Elizabeth were living in Lee County near Houghton on a farm. They had a lodger on this census as well, a Jon Farnya, from Poland, who was working as a custodian at St John’s Church.
Elizabeth Harmeyer Nichting died on December 22, 1983. She was buried in St John’s Cemetery in Houghton, Iowa.
Harmeyers get mentioned a couple of times in Georgie’s memories. In the post where she talks about bootlegging, she mentions living on the Harmeyer place. In a post about cooking, she mentions that Mrs. Al Harmeyer made the best angel food cake. That is the same Aloysious that was Elizabeth’s uncle.
Angela Holtkamp
This is my great grandmother. She married into the “poor” side of the family because John is related to JJ Nichting who has the implements in Pilot Grove and Mt Pleasant. Gerhard died in 1936 in a fire in the garage. My grandfather was the third child. Elizabeth called the draft board to have my Grandfather Lester go to WW2, instead of Bernard. John built the house that he and Elizabeth lived in. Somehow my grandfather got the house and part of the farm. He was hurt pretty badly in WW2, although I do not know all the details. I know his helmet was shot off and he had a shrapnel wound on one of his legs and walked with a limp the rest of his life.
Once John died, she took Lester to court over the will for the house and farm. She did not like how the farm was distributed in the will, but I am not sure about the house.
Michelle
Thank you for your comment. We appreciate the information. Michelle