Many of the most thrifty agriculturists of Illinois were born on the other side of the Atlantic, and to Germany especially is Stephenson County indebted for some of her most enterprising and prosperous citizens. The subject of this sketch, who occupies a good farm on section 35, Jefferson Township, was born in the Fatherland on the 18th of May, 1839, and was eighteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States. Soon after arriving in this country he started for the West and located in Freeport, where for five years he was engaged in various occupations. Upon concluding his residence in Freeport he came to Jefferson Township, where he has since resided and been continuously engaged in farming. He is the owner of 400 acres of land, which is eligibly located and exceedingly productive. As the years have gone by and his harvests have yielded bountifully, he has expended the surplus profits of his farms in the erection of needed and commodious buildings.

Mr. Tollmeier was married in Stephenson County to Mary Riley, and four children have been born to them, namely: Mary, the wife of Henry Kartner, of this county; Fred, Rachel, and Maggie, now Mrs. Dr. Aurand, of Loran. Mrs. Tollmeier died in Jefferson Township on the 3d of July, 1870. Mr. Tollmeier was again married, in Stephenson County, to Caroline Garke, and by this marriage there are three children – Eddie, Louia and Lydia.

Mr. Tollmeier has served as Highway Commissioner and held other offices in Jefferson Township. He has been a Director of the Loran Home Insurance Company, a local organization, for several years. He and his estimable wife are members of the German Evangelical Church. Mr. T. takes a lively interest in temperance affairs, and on that question is liberal minded. He is an active Republican, and upon all proper occasions does what he can to further the interests of that party.

We cannot conveniently give the picture of all the broad acres belonging to Mr. Tollmeier, and represent the space they occupy, but we present a view of the dwelling and its immediate surrounds, of which the owner has just reason to be proud.

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888)