WIDMAYER, ROBERT EVERHART, for a number of years the senior member of the firm of Widmayer & Bro., dealers in the best grade of draft horses, and shippers of same to the St. Louis market, is one of the progressive business men of Virginia and also a farmer of some note, farming 160 acres of land in Cass County. He was born in Germany, August 29, 1853, a son of Jacob and Frederica (Hochstetter) Widmayer. The family set sail for America in February, 1854, in an old fashioned sailing vessel, and were ten weeks on the ocean. Upon their arrival in the new land, they went to Niagara Falls, and there the father died. Later on the family went to Kane County, Ill., where they resided until Robert E. was thirteen years old.

Robert E. Widmayer then left home and going to Jacksonville, the same state, spent four years there in the meat business. Following that he went to Merced County, Cal., and in working at his trade of butchering there he gained much valuable experience which he has since put to practical application. After four years of this kind of work, he returned to Jacksonville, Ill., and in the spring of 1877, embarked in a meat business in partnership with his brother Ernest, the firm packing pork, and feeding and shipping cattle at Virginia, Ill. In conjunction with their live stock business, they opened and conducted their meat market on the corner opposite the square, where they were located for over thirty-five years. At one time their trade was so heavy that the C. P. & S. Louis Railroad gave them a train of twenty-four cars from Virginia to Chicago, which were filled with cattle of their own feeding. At another time the firm sold a Peoria man nine cars of live stock. They were the heaviest shippers of cattle from their locality. During the past twenty years, they have shipped many head of cattle and for several years handled from 2,000 to 3,000 feeders and stockers, and Robert E. Widmayer had this end of the business in charge. At present he is by himself and deals in cattle and hogs for the St. Louis and Chicago markets. Mr. Widmayer superintends and cultivates a fine 160 acre farm in Cass County, in connection with his stock business.

On May 7, 1879, he married Cornelia C. Wiegand, a daughter of Leopold and Sophia (Readebush) Wiegand. They had five children as follows: George; Edna, who died at the age of twenty years and six months; Alma; Harold, who died at the age of six months; and Helen. Helen resides with her parents. George is in the Petefish-Skiles Bank of Virginia. Alma is now Mrs. Albert W. Morse, and lives at Chandlerville, Ill. Mr. Widmayer belongs to the Modern Woodmen and the Maccabees. The family belong to the Christian Church, in which Mrs. Widmayer is a deaconess and an active worker. Several terms has Mr. Widmayer served Virginia as alderman, and he was on the school board for three terms. He is a man of importance at Virginia, and is much interested in the progress of the city.