Louis H. Rohmeyer, born February 5, 1860, in Hanover, Germany, was the editor and publisher of the Westlicher Beobachter, a prominent German newspaper in southeastern Nebraska. He immigrated to America in 1890, initially working as a compositor in St. Louis before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1898. In 1900, he purchased the Western Observer in Auburn, significantly increasing its circulation and elevating its standards. Rohmeyer was married to Johanna Tieman in 1884, and they had five children. He was active in several fraternal organizations and a member of the Republican Party.
Louis H. Rohmeyer, editor and publisher of the Westlicher Beobachter, the official organ of the German Farmers’ Insurance Company in Nebraska and the leading German paper in the southeastern part of the state, is a thoroughly Americanized German. Bringing with him to this country the characteristic energy and enterprise of the German and taking advantage of the opportunities for advancement which he found here, he has pushed his way to the front and is justly deserving of the representative position which he holds among the leading citizens of the locality in which he lives.
Mr. Rohmeyer is a native of Hanover, Germany, and was born February 5, 1860. His ancestors were tradesmen, noted for honesty and industry, and longevity as well. Frederick Nolte, his maternal grandfather, lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years and retained his faculties, mental and physical, to the close of his life, his death occurring in Hanover, in 1865. Mr. Rohmeyer’s father, William Rohmeyer, a shoe merchant of Hanover, is now past eighty years of age and is still active in business. The fiftieth anniversary of his marriage to Johanna Nolte was celebrated September 6, 1902. Their pictures in the souvenir designed and published by their son, Louis H., in memory of this anniversary, show them to be still well preserved. Of their four children, Louis H. is the only son now living. His two brothers, William and August, died in Hanover — the former at the age of nine years, and the latter on his fortieth birthday, leaving a widow and three children. His sister, Louise Frerichs, now resides in Bremerhaven, Germany.
Louis H. Rohmeyer received a common and high school education in his native city. In 1874, at the age of fourteen years, he began work at the printer’s trade, and served an apprenticeship of four years. Afterwards he worked in Switzerland and Germany as a journeyman printer for several years, until 1890, when he came to America. His first location in this country was at St. Louis, where he was for some time employed as compositor on a German newspaper, and from whence, in 1898, he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. Up to this time he had been able to save but very little if any of his earnings, and when he landed in Lincoln he had only thirty-five dollars. The following year he opened a job printing office, which he successfully conducted in Lincoln for nearly two years, at the end of which time, December 1, 1900, he came to Auburn and purchased the Western Observer, which had been established ten months previous to that date. Mr. Rohmeyer has increased the circulation of his paper to two thousand three hundred, six times its original subscription list, and not only has the circulation of the paper been increased but the standard of the publication also has been raised. He owns the plant, and in connection with running the paper he does a large job printing business in both German and English.
Mr. Rohmeyer married, in Hanover, Germany, in 1884, Miss Johanna Tieman, and they have had five children, all of whom are living except Alfred, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, October 29, 1891, and died at the age of four years. Amelia and William were born in Hanover, the former September 5, 1885, and the latter September 2, 1887. Louis was born in St. Louis, January 6, 1894, and Elizabeth in Lincoln, January 1, 1892.
Fraternally, Mr. Rohmeyer is identified with a number of fraternal organizations, including the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of Maccabees, Sons of Herman, and the German Society of Lincoln. Politically, he is a Republican.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.