The Meweses

The John and Margaretha Mewes Family

John Mewes was born on October 8, 1841, in Neuenkirchen, Germany, near Heide, Schlweswig Holstein. His wife, Margaretha Gluesing, was born on May 19, 1839, at Wesselnt/Heide, duchy of Holstein. They emigrated to America with their daughter, Annina (b. 1863) in 1867, arriving in New York City on April 17. Margaretha's brother Claus was responsible for bringing them to America.

The Mewes family settled in the vicinity of State Center, Iowa, where their daughter Anna (b. November 14, 1869) and son Martin (b. August 4, 1873) were born. Both children were baptized by the pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, 3.5 miles north of State Center. In 1876, the family moved to the eastern region of the state, residing in Lost Nation, Iowa. The Mewes owned property there until 1880. A daughter, Wilhelmina, was born on July 15, 1879. Five other children were born in Iowa, none of whom lived beyond infancy.

A Faithful Lutheran Family

John Mewes was instrumental in founding Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Lost Nation, and services were held for a time in the Mewes home. The congregation was organized in 1879, and the decision was made to build a small church. August Kankel and Mewes made up the building committee, indicating that Mewes had some skill as a carpenter. Mewes also attended the Democratic county convention in 1878 at Clinton, Iowa.

The Mewes Family in Nebraska

The Mewes family came to Nebraska about 1880 and lived on a farm five miles north of Utica. Immanuel Lutheran Church in rural Utica (now disbanded) was located on the southwest corner of the Mewes farm.

In January 1884, Mewes sold his farm to Dietrich Erks for $3,750 and probably moved to the village of Utica. He purchased a house there including some carpeting, cook stove, dish safe, cooking utensils, extension table, one four-legged table, and all chairs for $1,000 from A.M. Turner. He was to take possession on October 1, 1884, which leaves his whereabouts from January to October 1884 in question. The house was located on block 13, lot 7 in Utica. He sold this house in the summer of 1890 to D.G. Harden for $850.

Already in 1888, Mewes had purchased 160 acres of land 1.25 miles southeast of Utica, then in 1890 he purchased 400 acres near his original farm and Immanuel Lutheran Church. Two years later, he sold 240 acres of the latter lot.

In October 1881 Henry Prange served as a sponsor for a Mewes child which died. The baptism is recorded in the records of Immanuel Lutheran Church where G. Gruber served as pastor. This would indicate that soon after coming to Nebraska, John Mewes and Henry Prange became acquainted, as did Henry's brother Chris and Mewes' daughter Annina, who married in 1882.

On November 17, 1889, another Mewes' daughter, Anna, married William Prange at Zion Lutheran Church in Marysville, Neb. It is likely that Mewes farmed the land he owned southeast of Utica beginning in 1888 and that the property north of Utica, purchased in 1890, was farmed by his new son-in-law, William Prange.

The Migration to Arkansas

In 1894, John Mewes and Henry Prange initiated a mass migration of their two families to Crocketts Bluff, Arkansas. Together these two men purchased 3,080 acres of prairie land just south of tiny village in Arkansas County in August of that year for $12,000. In the previous month Mewes had paid $2,500 to release an old lien on this land. Henry Prange retained 800 acres and Mewes 480 according to a deed recorded in December 1894. Mewes also purchased an additional 40 acres.

In December 1894 five of the Prange-Mewes families moved en masse from Nebraska to Arkansas. The two landowing Prange brothers, Henry and Chris, sold their Nebraska farms, as did John Mewes. They were joined by the families of William Prange and Fred Conrad, who had married the youngest Prange sibling, Caroline, in 1888.

The move south was made by rail to Clarendon, Arkansas, and then by boat on the White River to the small outpost of Crocketts Bluff. In addition to the Prange-Mewes group, a few other unrelated families also appear to have moved from Nebraska to the Crocketts Bluff area at that same time. The early center of the Prange-Mewes community was three miles south of Crocketts Bluff where Bethlehem Lutheran Church was established.