Frederick Meyn

FREDERICK MEYN. - One of the representative contractors and builders of Kansas City and known as a loyal and progressive citizen, Mr. Meyn is well entitled to recognition in this history. He is vice president of the board of directors of the Kansas Valley Drainage District of Wyandotte county and is a most zealous worker in connection with the important improvements being made under the jurisdiction of this body, improvements that will be of inestimable value in the development of the resources of this section of the state.

Mr. Meyn has been the architect of his own fortunes, as he came to America from his fatherland when a young man and has gained for himself not only independence and definite prosperity but also a secure hold upon the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come in contact in the land of his adoption. He was born in the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, on the 29th of March, 1862, and is a son of John and Fredericka (Wassman) Meyn, both of whom were born in the same kingdom of the great German empire, where the father passed his entire life. Of the children the subject of this review was the third in order of birth and of the number five are now living. The father died in Wurtemberg a number of years ago and the mother soon afterward came to America. She passed the closing years of her life in Kansas City, Kansas, where she died in 1910, at a venerable age.

Frederick Meyn was afforded the advantages of the excellent schools of his native land and there learned the trade of carpenter. He was thus well fortified for the battle of life, though his financial resources were merely nominal, and in 1881, when nineteen years of age, he severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland and came to the United States, feeling assured of better opportunities for gaining prosperity under the conditions and influences of the great American republic, to which his native land has contributed a most valuable element. He landed in New York city and soon afterward made his way to Kansas City, Kansas, where he has maintained his home during the long intervening years and where, through energy and well directed efforts, he has won worthy success, together with the confidence and good will of the people of the community. He followed his trade as a journeyman until 1895, and since that time he has been engaged in independent business as a contractor and builder. Through his identification with this important line of enterprise he has contributed materially to the upbuilding of Kansas City, and he has made judicious investments in local realty, as well as in farm property in the valley of the Kansas river. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Kansas Valley Drainage District for several years, and his zeal in the work has brought to him incidental preferment as vice president of the board, as has already been noted. In a generic way Mr. Meyn is found enrolled as a supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, but in local affairs he gives his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, without regard to strict partisan lines. He is affiliated with Wyandotte Lodge, No. 440, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On the 2nd of September, 1885, Mr. Meyn was united in marriage to Miss Christina Bruklare, who was born in Germany, and of their nine children five are living, namely: Charles, Fritz, George, Emma and Freda.