By Benjamin Errickson '19 and Abigail Sholes '23
Title: Meyer, Wenger, Bucher Collection, 1884-1983
ID: MSS/MSS-0019
Extent: 3.0 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 08/23/2016. More info below under Accruals.
Samuel Gibble Meyer (1885-1969) was the son of Jacob Wenger Meyer (1862-1939) and Leah Groh Gibble (1864-1956). He was a minister for the Fredericksburg Church of the Brethren from 1916 to 1960 and an elder of the church from 1937 to 1955. Samuel Meyer attended Elizabethtown College, graduating in 1910 with a degree in Pedagogy. In the same year, he married his wife Fianna Bucher (1886-1915). They had two children, Leah Kay Meyer (1912-1988) and Ammon Bucher Meyer (1911-1991). A third child, Rufus Meyer, died in infancy. After the passing of Fianna in 1915, Samuel remarried Elizabeth Miller in 1916 and they had six children. His brother was Jacob Gibble Meyer (1884-1951), president of Elizabethtown College from 1921-1924. Samuel Meyer passed away on 28 May 1969.
Fianna Bucher Meyer (1886-1915) lived in Lebanon, Pennsylvania for the majority of her life. She was the youngest daughter in the family of full and half-siblings, and was born to George Bucher (1845-1923) and Fianna Bucher nee Pfautz (1850-1937). She attended Elizabethtown College for a year in 1908 to obtain a teaching certificate. Two years later, she married Samuel G. Meyer in 1910 and had two children, Ammon Meyer and Leah K. Meyer. A third child, Rufus Meyer, died in infancy in 1914. In 1914, Fianna Meyer was transported to the White Haven Sanitorium after contracting tuberculosis. She stayed there for several months before being returned home, where she passed away on 11 April 1915.
Jacob Gibble Meyer (1884-1951) was born in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania to Jacob Wenger Meyer and Leah Groh Gibble. He attended Elizabethtown College between 1901-1905, graduating with a degree in pedagogy. Later, Meyer enrolled at Franklin and Marshall College and graduated with a Bachelor in Liberal Arts in 1910. He continued his education further, spending the summers of 1905 and 1907 at the University of Pennsylvania. Finally, he received his doctorate from Columbia University in the 1920s. He had returned to Elizabethtown College in 1910 as a professor and served as the head for the Department of Psychology and Education. In 1921, he was elected president of Elizabethtown College and served in that role until 1924. Jacob married his wife, Anna Pfautz Royer (1884-1941), in 1911 and they had five children. Meyer lived with his family in Pennsylvania for a time before moving to Indiana, then Wisconsin, and finally Washington state. His brother was Samuel Gibble Meyer. Jacob Gibble Meyer passed away on 6 March 1951 in Seattle, Washington.
Leah Kay Meyer (1913-1988) was the daughter of Samuel Gibble Meyer and Fianna Bucher. She was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, spending her first year there with her parents and brother, Ammon Meyer. In 1914, she was moved to Quarryville, Pennsylvania under the care of her mother’s half-sister, Mary Habecker (1872-1969) due to her mother’s illness. Three years later, around 1917, Leah Meyer returned home to live with her father, brother, and stepmother. She later attended Elizabethtown College between 1936-1938 and during summer sessions in 1940 and 1941. She graduated with a teaching certification in Elementary Education. Meyer had a long teaching career which began in a one-room schoolhouse and concluded in the Oaks School in 1978. She passed away on 21 July 1988.
Ammon Bucher Meyer (1911-1991) was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania to Samuel G. Meyer and Fianna Meyer (nee Bucher). Meyer graduated from Elizabethtown College in 1933 before receiving his graduate degree from Temple University. He was a schoolteacher and Church of the Brethren minister, eventually becoming principal of Linglestown Elementary School. Meyer was a member of the Mount Zion Road Church of the Brethren, a trustee of Camp Swatara, and board member for Philhaven Hospital. Ammon Meyer married Lucille Wenger (1918-2008) in 1941. They had two children, Luke W. Meyer and Nancy L. Bieber (nee Meyer). During the late 1970s, Meyer and his wife worked for the Brethren Volunteer Service as pastoral associates. Ammon Meyer passed away on 6 April 1991.
Lucille Wenger Meyer (1918-2008) was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania to Edward M. Wenger Jr. and Annis Wenger. Lucille Meyer graduated from college in 1936 after completing a two-year teaching program. She married Ammon Bucher Meyer in 1941 and had two children, Luke W. Meyer and Nancy L. Meyer. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse and later took a position as a teacher in the Northern Lebanon School District. In addition, she was a member and deacon to the Mount Zion Road Church of the Brethren. Within the Church, she was the director of music, a Sunday School teacher, and director of the Vacation Bible School. Upon retirement, she and her husband worked for the Brethren Volunteer Service as pastoral associates. Lucille Meyer passed away on 16 May 2008.
Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections
Accruals: Additional materials donated on 07/22/2021
Acquisition Source: Nancy L. Meyer Bieber
Separated Materials: Clothing items from the collection including a woman’s black petticoat, dress, and cape; a man’s black high collared sleeveless vest; and three prayer coverings are cataloged separately. Additional materials were filed with RG03 CoB IV Mount Zion Road and RG02 Elizabethtown College Archives.
