Originally, these sketches and genealogies of the Meyer family were prepared, not for publication, but for the author's own use and satisfaction. There are many facts and anecdotes in the unwritten history of the old stock of Meyers, which are rapidly passing into oblivion, and it was considered a duty incumbent upon some one to make a record of them somewhere while a portion at least was still accessible.

At the solicitation of many of the Meyer connection, however, the author has changed his original purpose as to the publication of the sketches, and they were prepared for the printer, thus giving an opportunity to the numerous descendants of the Meyer family to enlarge, it is hoped, their fund of knowledge in relation to their kin and ancestors.

But the step was not taken without some reluctance, for the writer is conscious of the fact that in the absence of records, no accurate and complete history of events, some of which occurred almost two hundred years ago, could now be prepared. It is certainly to be regretted, that some representative of the family did not address himself to the task of writing the history of his ancestors at an earlier date, for nearly all that is known now on the subject is merely tradition, and much has already been lost which would be of peculiar interest, if preserved, to a numerous train of descendants.