Charles Peter Meineke Family

written by by Michael Jindra, December 3, 2007
additional information from Marilyn Rohr and Ellen M. Rohr

Charles Peter and Wilhelmina Maria (Schmidt) Meineke

CHARLES PETER MEINEKE was born 2 Sep 1861 in the town of Two Rivers, Manitowoc County, His parents were Johann Meineke and Catherine (Schick) Meineke. On 7 Apr 1890 he married WILHELMINA MARIA SCHMIDT. She was known as Minnie. Charles purchased land and was a prosperous dairy farm near Two Rivers. He hauled milk to a cheese factory just north of the farm on Hwy. 42.

Minnie (Schmidt), was born to Johann Joachim and Dorothea (Gartz) Schmidt on 23 Aug 1867 near Two Rivers.

Charles died in a farm accident on 23 Aug 1920. While he was on his way to the creamery he fell from his wagon and received internal injuries. He was taken to Holy Family Hospital in Manitowoc and succumbed to the injuries after about two weeks. He is buried in Pioneer Rest Cemetery, Two Rivers. Minnie moved to Two Rivers shortly after his death. Their son, Erhardt Meineke, bought this home after Minnie died, and lived there until his death in 1993.

The children of Charles and Minnie are listed to the left.

• Leona K. Meineke click on the link on the left for more information
• Nora Meineke click on the link on the left for more information
• Erwin and his wife Hilda lived in an apartment on the north side of Chicago at 2105 Byron St. He also directed the construction of the Two Rivers post office.
• Raymond operated a feed mill at Larrabee, and later was self employed as a carpenter, specializing in roof repairs. He lived in Mishicot. John Ahrens, the father of Raymond Meineke's wife Elvira (Ahrens) had a farm on the north side of Two Rivers, near Tannery Rd. by the river. Around 1930, he turned the farm into Fairview/Emerald Hills golf course. The Meineke brothers played lots of golf there, along with relative Bud Stoer, and the Jindra boys (Al, Roy, Dan) also learned to golf there. The golf course closed in 2018 and as of 2021 is being turned into the Van Der Brohe arboretum and bird sanctuary.
• Esther and her husband Dwight Holsopple ended up in Palm Beach CA, where she was a nanny to an actor Erich Von Stroheim. Dwight was a fireman.
• Herbert Meineke and his wife Hattie Kadow lived in Mishicot, 120 W. Main St. across from the Meineke garage. He worked for awhile at factories in Manitowoc. Hattie worked a large home garden.
• William Meineke lived in Mishicot and operated the Meineke garage. More info on his business and also other Meineke and Schmidt relatives can be found in the our stories section of the website.
• Harold Meineke married Ruth Stueck and was employed at the old Two Rivers Motor Company until 1930 when at that time he purchased the business with Walter C. Griep. They operated it until 1965 when it was sold to Riverview Auto Sales.
• Erhardt Meineke married Viola Hels. He was a brick and stone mason, having learned the trade in the Schmidt Family Construction business in Chicago, before moving back to Two Rivers.

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(For more details on the Meineke family history, see the information compiled by Marilyn Rohr that was distributed to relatives around 1980.).