Prof. John A. Meyer, the accomplished musician and instructor on the organ and piano-forte, with his residence and music parlors at No. 261 West Bridge street, Grand Rapids, was born August 10, 1829, in Berne, Switzerland, in which city he acquired his earlier literary education.

Ulrich L. Meyer, father of the professor was a civil engineer in the employ of the government of the Swiss republic, and died at the age of fifty-two years, the subject of this sketch being then but fifteen years old. The lad, John A., being this bereft of a father’s care, was left to plan for himself his future career, and having manifested at a very early age a taste for music and a remarkable skill as an instrumentalist, he decided, in 11846, to enter the Teachers seminary at Munchenbuchsee, near Berne, and qualify himself fully for the profession of music. He graduated from the institution in 1848, and immediately began giving instruction on the organ and piano in his native city, and so continued until his departure for the United States.

On arriving in America, August 28, 1850, Prof Meyer visited relatives in Rochester, N. Y., and taught music a while, but the next year (1851) went with a large company of friends and others overland to San Francisco, Calif., and for about a year was employed as a clerk in a large hardware store in that city, and then went to visit relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He next went to Waterloo county, On-

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tario, Canada, where he taught private classes and also gave instruction in the public and parish schools, and at Hamburg, Canada, was united in marriage, on the 15^th day of October, 1856, with Miss Francisco Frank, and of the twelve children that have blessed this union ten still survive, viz: Mrs. Fred Cordes and Mrs. Joseph Cordes, whose husbands are both prosperous farmers of Alpine township, Kent county, Mich.; Mrs. Jacob Brautigam, whose husband is a millwright of Grand Rapids; Mrs. Charles Klein, of Chester township, Ottawa county, Mich., where her husband is successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits; Mrs. George Frey, of Grand Rapids, her husband now living and working in a mill at Lisbon; Joseph, an employee of the Standard Oil company, and Maximilian, employed in a hat factory, and both residing in Grand Rapids; Eugenia, Stephania and Mary are still under the parental roof.

In 1871 Prof. Meyer came from Canada to Michigan, and for seven years taught music in Alpine township, Kent county, and then, for six years, taught in the township of Wright, in Ottawa county. In the latter county he served three terms as justice of the peace, and under President Cleveland’s first administration was postmaster at Berlin. January 1, 1893, Prof. Meyer brought his family to Grand Rapids, having accepted the position of organist at St. James Catholic church, and at the same time opened his parlors for the instruction of pupils in piano and organ instrumentation. The number of his pupils has always been flatteringly large, and their excellent execution gives ample evidence of the professor’s proficiency as a teacher. The professor has also given a number of concerts and organ recitals, and has invariably met with warm receptions by large, fashionable and appreciative audiences. He has shown his patriotism and devotion to his adopted country by enlisting, in New York, in the Fourth regiment, regular artillery, but an injury to his arm soon incapacitated him for military life, and he was honorably discharged. Socially, the professor has a very large circle of warm-hearted friends among the better class of the citizens of Grand Rapids. By twenty-seven children he is called grandfather, and he has in all, 141 relatives living in Kent and Ottawa counties, Mich.