Tim Meier

Ransom David Meier was the successful bidder at the Hufford farm auction in the Fall of 1942. The property was deeded to Ransom on December 1, 1942. Per the terms of the sale, he was given possession the following year and the transfer deed was filed with the Stephenson County Recorder on June 21, 1943.

Ransom, commonly known as Tim, was born in Illinois on February 27, 1903. The son of Frank and Bertha May (Bottorf) Meier, Tim grew up in the areas of Rock Grove, Illinois and Twin Grove, Wisconsin. His older brother, Dewey Franklin Meier, was born on August 12, 1901. A younger sister, Beaulah, died in infancy in 1906.

The Early Years

It seems Tim Meier's life got off to a rough start, in a family that may have been filled with abuse and alcoholism. In 1906, shortly after her 6-week-old baby Beaulah died, Bertha Meier filed assault charges against William Frankenberger. On the evening of July 4th, Frankenberger offered to help Bertha drive a horse and buggy from Davis to her home near Twin Grove, Wisconsin. She obliged, since night had fallen, the roads home were unfamiliar, and with her was 3-year-old Tim. Along the way, Frankenberger attempted to have his way with Bertha while shoving young Tim under the seat in the buggy. She apparently fought off his advances until they reached her home, where Frank Meier was tending to their cows. Frank's presence scared off Frankenberger, and two weeks later Bertha filed assault charges in Stephenson County. The charges were later dismissed in court, due to insufficient evidence. The Freeport Daily Journal reported that the Stephenson County courtroom was filled to capacity with locals interested in the case.

Eight days shy of his 6th birthday, Tim's mother died of what was described as a "lingering illness" by the Rockford Register newspaper. The Stephenson Farmer reported that she'd been operated upon several days earlier at her home in Jefferson, Wisconsin. At some point between 1905 and 1910, possibly after Bertha's death, the Meier brothers were moved to her parent's residence in Jefferson Township of Green County, Wisconsin. Later, Tim and Dewey were enrolled in Rock Grove School for the 1912-13 school year.

Over the next several decades, the Freeport Journal-Standard reported many stories of Frank Meier's alcohol-related run-ins with the law. His second wife, Margaret (Rudy) Meier, was granted a divorce in 1927, on account of drunkenness, although both the 1930 U.S. Census and her 1958 obituary indicated that she and Frank were still married (the 1940 census showed them as divorced, but living together). Dewey continued to live with his grandparents into his teenage years, and was shown as living with them in Rock Grove township in the 1920 Census. We don't know where Tim lived between 1910 and 1930, but suspect he was mostly in the Rock Grove area. In 1921, the Freeport Journal-Standard society pages for Rock Grove reported that he owned a Ford roadster, and in August of that year Tim won the greased pig competition at the local farmers picnic. He and Frank were listed as being paid for road and bridge labor in early 1926.

Tim Loses His Religion

In September 1922, a young Tim Meier was arrested for stealing from cars parked at a church north of Rock Grove, during Sunday services. He and a companion became drunk on "hootch and moonshine" and decided to drive to the church and help themselves to what appeared to be an odd collection of items that would have little value to a pair of teenagers.

Tim married Luella Buethe of Dakota, Illinois in July 1926. Luella was a registered nurse who obtained her nursing degree that same year from the short-lived Methodist Memorial hospital in Freeport. The Meier's were married in a double wedding ceremony with their friends Myron LaShelle and Lillian Meyers at the Bethlehem Lutheran church in St. Charles, Illinois.

In July of 1928, a "Tim Meyers" was sought in connection with a Freeport robbery perpetrated by Miles Lapp and Joe Thompson (charges against Thomson would later be dropped). Miles Lapp was the troubled older brother of Grace (Lapp) Mullican, who would later live in our house. Whether this Tim Meyers was the same person who would own our house is uncertain, but his name was often misspelled in newspaper reports throughout his life, and we could find no other relevant references to "Tim Meyers" in the Journal-Standard during his lifetime. All three men were about the same age, and it's possible Tim Meier and Miles Lapp could have been acquainted through growing up in the same area of Stephenson County.

In the 1930 U.S. Census, Tim and Luella were listed as living in Freeport with Frank and his second wife Margaret. The Census listed both men's occupations as "trucking". That year, Tim advertised the sale of a coon hound pair in Hunter, Trader, Trapper magazine, using 315 Carpenter Street in Freeport as his calling address. In the same year, Tim and Luella bought a house on Wayne Street in Freeport.

Who's got the hooch? Tim Meier's got the hooch.

In January 1931, the Journal Standard reported that Tim and his partner Ed Shippleman had each been fined $103.50 for "possessing intoxicating liquor" at an establishment in the 700 block of East Stephenson Street in Freeport. The address, described as a "soft drink establishment" had been in business for all of 6 hours and operating without a permit before the police raided the joint, finding a "pint of alky".

In December 1931, Tim was mentioned in the Rockford Register-Republic as part of a federal raid on Freeport-area establishments suspected of selling alcohol. The feds raided a roadhouse 4 miles east of Freeport, where Tim was there but no liquor was found. This roadhouse may have been what would later be called the Shan-T-Town Ballroom, near Dakota. This roadside nightclub on Illinois Route 75 advertised its grand opening in the Freeport Journal-Standard in March of 1933. Prior to this, Tim's connection to the roadhouse is unclear. However, in May 1932 he was sentenced to 6 months in jail and fined $100 for an undisclosed prohibition law violation. The Rockford Register-Republic reported that Tim initially pleaded not guilty, but then changed his plea to guilty, at which time the presiding judge suspended the jail term. Tim was given 2 years of probation.

When the United States voted to repeal Prohibition, the Freeport Journal-Standard reported in November 1933 that a federal judge had discharged Tim's probation related to his conviction for a liquor law violation. On the day of Tim's discharge, the judge also discharged probations for 26 other individuals who had been guilty of Prohibition-era crimes.

The Shan-T-Town nightclub was apparently less than successful, as Tim placed it for sale in a classified ad in the Journal-Standard in January 1934. With scores of new competitors now selling alcohol legally, rural roadhouses like Shan-T-Town may have suffered. Tim's advertisement stated that he would "sacrifice for a quick sale." It appears the Meier's were not initially successful in selling the roadhouse, and began renting the place to Charles Higley, a Freeport native who had some experience running similar clubs in that town (and had his own criminal record for Prohibition-related offenses). The lease arrangement may not have worked out well, as Luella Meier filed suit against Higley and won a verdict on September 5, 1934. Inferring from how the case was described in the Journal-Standard, the Meier's may have evicted Higley and changed the door locks, and Higley then forcibly entered the property. The next month, Tim was charged with stealing a cash register from what was described in the Journal-Standard as a roadhouse near Dakota. Did he do this as a way of collecting delinquent rent? Maybe.

On the Move

In August 1934, the Journal-Standard reported that Tim and Luella were moving to Dakota. Two years later, they bought a house on the northeast corner of Main and Division Streets, which they owned for about 10 years. In September 1942, the Freeport Journal-Standard reported that a home owned by Luella Meier in Dakota was slated for forfeiture because of delinquent real estate taxes over a four-year period.

The events of the next years of Tim's life have created the most questions about how he was able to acquire the 74-acre farm from the Huffords, as well as other farm real estate, without much evidence that he had the means to afford such purchases. We know that in August 1936, he bought a 95-acre farm at the southeast corner of Eggert Road and McConnell Road in Rock Run Township. Just two years later, he sold this land to Audrey Shelton, a fellow Rock Grove native. In October 1939, Tim advertised a public auction for a closing out sale at a farm 5 miles south of Davis. Other real estate transactions show that he owned an 83-acre farm on Farm School Road, about a mile west of our home. He also owned land along the Pecatonica River, near Farwell Bridge Road.

It's possible Tim decided to be a farmer after disposing of Shan-T-Town, and acquired land to make that happen. But one thing stands out in the Meier family research: They seemed to do little in their lives that would have created the kind of wealth which could afford farm purchases. Shant-T-Town did not appear to make Tim a wealthy man, and the farm economy of the 1930s wouldn't have added a significant amount of cash to Tim's bank account. Neither side of Tim's family showed evidence of significant assets that he could have inherited. The only connection we could find to family land ownership was about 300 acres owned by Tim's great grandfather, David Bradley, along the Wisconsin border north of Rock Grove. About 160 acres of this would later be owned by his son Joseph Bradley, who was a brother of Tim's maternal grandmother, Rebecca Ellen (Bradley) Bottorf. A 1913 plat map of Rock Grove Township shows just 10 of the Bradley acres owned by Rebecca. So it seems unlikely that enough of the Bradley land would have passed to Tim, that he could have leveraged this into the land he owned in Rock Run Township.

We suspect Tim was a bootlegger during the 1920s, and his illicit earnings were transferred to farms and bars after Prohibition ended. We know he was directly connected to two men with liquor law violations: Charles Higley, via Shan-T-Town, and a man named George Poffenberger of Savannah, Illinois. In the 1940 U.S. Census, Tim and Luella were enumerated while staying at the Poffenberger home. In January 1929, the Poffenbergers operated a "soft drink parlor" which was issued a temporary injunction to cease violations of Illinois prohibition laws. Apparently the Poffenberger's definition of "soft" was slightly different than the law (their business was closed shortly thereafter). While it's possible the Meier's could have been acquainted with the Poffenbergers through other connections, it seems odd that Tim's name is so often associated with those on the wrong side of liquor laws.

After selling his 95-acre Eggert Road farm in 1938, Tim bought a bar on Stephenson Street in Freeport. He operated the Alamo Tavern for most of the 1940s. Between 1941 and 1943, Tim was arrested four times - three for assault and once for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. Two assault charges came in 1941, the most serious resulting from a beating he gave Alamo Tavern patron Earl R. McKibben with a beer bottle. McKibben's injuries required a hospital stay. The other two arrests occurred over a 3-day period in August of 1943. During his bar-brawling days, he purchased the Hufford farm and hosted a couple of sizeable livestock public auctions there. However, life was unraveling for Tim. His wife was granted a divorce in May of 1944, after 17 years of marriage (she had initially filed for divorce in February 1939). Tim's alcoholism was also taking a toll on his health.

The photo nearby is the current location of the former Alamo Tavern at 211 E. Stephenson Street.

Tim didn't lose many fights. This one ended up costing him a $3.00 fine, plus $20 in court costs. Of all the owners of our house, Tim's name (and all of its variations) appeared most frequently in the Freeport Journal-Standard. The Edward Herman beating came in June of 1941 and was followed by the Edward McKibben beating in that same month. McKibben was later a no-show in court, and the charges against Tim were dismissed. He may not have been a physically imposing man, with his 1942 WWII draft card listing Tim as 5'9" tall and 170 lbs, but he apparently carried a big stick (or beer bottle).

In December 1945, the Journal-Standard reported that Tim applied for a marriage license to wed Ethel Mae "Tootie" Laman, a Freeport woman half his age. The couple put off their nuptials until November 9, 1949, when they married in Cook County, Illinois. Tim and Luella may have continued to have some sort of relationship after their divorce, as the Journal-Standard ran separate stories about the pair in 1948, both reporting the same address on Sherman Avenue in Freeport.

By the time Tim decided he was ready to marry a much younger woman, his health had deteriorated. In 1946 the Journal-Standard reported that he had been admitted to St. Francis hospital and had a "major operation" on July 22nd. Around the time of his failing health, Tim arranged for the sale of the 74 acres where we live now. A public auction was scheduled for October 21, 1946 to sell this property, as well as the 83-acre property a mile to the west. Although the other property also had a farmstead, we believe Tim probably lived in our house because the farm equipment, livestock and crops were auctioned on our property. The other property had a slightly larger 8-room farm house, so it might be possible that Tim and Luella lived there. But most farmers like to keep their equipment where they live, and there would have been no good reason for Tim to move all of his from the 83-acre property to our property, just for the sale. The auction announcement in the Journal-Standard mentioned that Tim's health issues were the reason for the sales. Albert Kraul was the successful bidder for the 74-acre property. Ernest R. Walters won the bid for the 83-acre property.

In 1947, Tim sold yet another farm property, this one a 300 acre tract along the flood-prone bottom lands of the Pecatonica River near Farwell Bridge Road. That year he also transferred ownership of a house on Sherman Street in Freeport to his ex-wife Luella, and sold the Alamo Tavern around that time. In November 1948, he auctioned a house he owned at 714 E. Stephenson Street in Freeport.

Tim's health was listed as the reason for selling two farms near Rock City. This advertisement appeared in the October 19, 1946 edition of the Freeport Journal-Standard. Our property was advertised as "an ideal stock farm", which seems to have been its primary use into the early 1970s. The 16 acres of standing corn that came with the farm would have been about all the acres that were tillable. Based on the description of some of the equipment, Tim's health issues must have come without much warning. A typical farm sale usually happens after the crops are harvested.

While Tim was showing clear signs of simplifying his life, he just couldn't stay away from bar ownership. In February 1949, Tim was granted a new liquor license for an establishment at 298 E. Stephenson Street. This property had been a Nash automobile dealership in the 1920s and was owned by Robert Kaiser, himself an owner of a nearby tavern. Tim's liquor license application was submitted immediately following Kaiser's death. But just 12 days after the application was approved, the mayor of Freeport revoked the license due to falsified information on the application.

Sometime around 1950, Tim and his second wife Ethel moved to Benton, Wisconsin. In the 1950 U.S. Census, he was listed as unemployed. By this time his health was in serious decline. Local newspapers reported admissions to a hospital in Madison in both 1950 and 1952. By June of 1952, Tim and Ethel had moved to Pontiac, Michigan.

In August 2016 I spoke with Tim's niece, Geraldine Meier Gilliland, who was very young while Tim was alive. She remembers he and Dewey Meier tending bar at an establishment in Freeport, but by the time he and Ethel moved to Pontiac, he could not work or lift anything heavier than a coffee cup. Ethel was the breadwinner, running a halfway house for individuals released from mental institutions. Tim lived out the last of his years in Pontiac, passing on August 12, 1953 at the age of 50. He had no children. Geraldine Gilliland believes he died from cirrhosis of the liver.

Just months after Tim died, Ethel married the Meier's friend and neighbor in Pontiac, Walter Ike Vancil. A few years later, after Walter retired from Fisher Body in Pontiac, the Vancil's moved closer to his family near Murphysboro, Illinois. Ethel died on February 18, 2016.

Tim Meier bought these two properties on Sherman Avenue in Freeport in the 1940s. As best we can tell, the house on the right is the only property he didn't sell before moving with his second wife to Pontiac, Michigan. Tim's father and step-mother, Frank and Margaret Meier, lived directly across the street from these two houses. The home on the left was used as Tim's address on the liquor license he applied for in 1949, which was granted in February and then revoked 12 days later by Freeport's mayor. Tim deeded this property to ex-wife Luella in 1947, and she listed it as her residence after a drunk and disorderly arrest in August 1948. It's possible she had moved to the home while trying to get divorced from her second husband, Ralph Thorpe.

The two houses were eventually owned by Ethel Meier following Tim's death in 1953. After marrying Walter Vancil, Ethel sold the house on the right in 1956 to Sidney Bruce, whose family still owned the home as of this writing in 2014.

Ethel sold the house on the left in 1967. Its most recent use has been as a rental property.

Over the years in which we pieced together Tim's life, it was obvious he loved hound dogs. He may have been introduced to these dogs by his father, who in 1943 posted a classified ad in the Freeport Journal-Standard to try to locate a lost hound. Tim also posted several times in the Lost & Found section of the Journal-Standard, attempting to retrieve dogs who had strayed.

Tim's coon hounds competed in field trials, and some became regional and national champions. His most prized hound appeared to be Lucky Strike, who won the national trials in 1947 and placed in the top 10 in 1948. A newspaper article stated that Tim had turned down a $3,000 offer for Lucky Strike in 1948. In June of 1949, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Tim purchased "Citation", one of Wisconsin's greatest field trial dogs, for $250.

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Ransom David Meier

1942-1947

Call Me Tim

The Meier brothers attended Rock Grove School in 1912-13. Dewey would later marry his classmate, Julia Wachlin.

Tim had an unfortunate experience with a hay fork when he was 18 years old. "Myers" was one of many spelling variances of his last name in local newspapers. The story above was printed in the Rock Grove society pages of the Freeport Journal Standard on July 13, 1921.

The Real Estate Mogul

the mystery of tim's wealth

Remember the Alamo

No, seriously...remember it?

Just another night out

Tastes like chicken

Making Changes

Then

Green Acres Begone

Now

Eggert Road Farm - 1955

Tim Meier
1903 - 1953

Prime Real Estate

East side real estate

Ethel "Tootie" Meier Vancil in 1987

Bad Boys