Celebrating 140 Years: The Legacy of the Meister Family in Ft. Smith

The article discusses a Meister family that moved to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. This family is not related to the previously mentioned Meister family who started a plumbing business in the same city. The central figure is Herman Meister, born on June 6, 1857, in Goßnitz, Germany. Herman and his parents came to America in 1880 on separate ships. His father first lived in Perryville, then moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he passed away. Herman appears to have resided in or near Shawnee Township in northern Cape Girardeau County.

Herman's future spouse, Martha Wilhelmina Lydia Bruhl, was born on January 19, 1866. After her mother passed away, Martha lived with her grandfather, August Guenther. She later returned to live with her father and his fourth wife. Martha's father was a carpenter in Shawnee Township. Herman and Martha married on March 20, 1884, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Today marks their 140th wedding anniversary.

The couple's first child was born in 1884, but no baptism record was found. Their second child, Hedwig, was born in 1887 and baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Their third child was born in Cape Girardeau in 1888. Around 1890, Herman and Martha relocated to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, where they had another child in 1891.

The article implies that Herman may have been the first Meister to settle in Ft. Smith. This was before the arrival of the Anton Meister family, who moved to Barry County, Missouri, just before 1900. Some of Anton's sons later moved to Ft. Smith, indicating a potential link between the two Meister families.

By 1900, the Meister family in Ft. Smith had five children. Herman worked as a stationary engineer, operating machinery in a factory or shop. The 1910 census shows a larger family, including their daughter Hedwig, her husband Victor Plante, and several of Herman and Martha's grandchildren. That year, a city directory for Ft. Smith listed several people named Meister, suggesting a possible connection between the two Meister families.

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