Contra Costa County Biography

GABRIEL MEYER

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
                  To Gabriel Meyer belongs the title of self-made man, for, 
starting in life without experience and resources, he has through his own energy 
and initiative risen to be one of the leading merchants and business men of 
Antioch. He was born in France on March 16, 1859. His parents died when he was 
very young, and he received a very limited education. When old enough he entered 
his uncle's store in his native town in France. At an early age he came to this 
country and worked for a relative in Ulster County,  New York. He came to Contra 
Costa County in 1879 and started to work for his brother Leopold, who died in 
1913. In 1882 the brothers formed a co-partnership, and the management of the 
store was given to Gabriel Meyer. Mr.  Meyer  served the town of Antioch as 
treasurer for many years, his term expiring in 1904. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with the I.O.O.F. of Antioch and holds membership in the Encampment. 
Mr. Meyer was united in marriage on March 10, 1898 to Miss Mildred A. Wolf, a 
native of San Francisco, and a daughter of S. Wolf. Their daughter, Annette, was 
born on April 24, 1899. Mr. Meyer erected one of the first general merchandise 
stores in Antioch. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished in a 
business way, for he started out in life empty-handed, and through his own 
energy and perseverance has worked his way upward to success. He is a 
stockholder in the Bank of Antioch and in the Delta Dredging Company.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
p. 621.