Jacob Frederick Mayer was born in Baden-Württemberg. He was the son of Ignatius Mayer (1799-1876), a farmer. The family emigrated to America in 1847 and found some farmland in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1865 Jacob married the daughter of another Milwaukee farmer named Christiana B. Harmeyer. The union produced 11 children, several of whom died in infancy. The following year his brother Joseph married Christiana's sister Agnes. In 1868 the two Mayer families moved 100 miles north to Menasha, Wisconsin and purchased a brewery owned by a Mr. (Peter?) Caspary on Lake Winnebago (although there is conflicting evidence as to the owner). The brewery was renamed the Jacob F. Mayer & Co., Island City Brewery, which implies that Jacob was the controlling partner above his older brother Joseph. Perhaps the brothers had a falling out, or perhaps it was the impending death of their father, but in 1875 Jacob left the firm. He eventually settled in Neenah, Wisconsin where he opened a beer and soda bottling company. In 1892 he ran for alderman in Menasha but lost. Jacob Frederick Mayer died on August 22nd, 1931 at 90 years of age. The brewery he founded with his brother eventually became the Walter Bros. Brewing Company. It survived prohibition as a beloved regional institution and closed in 1956.

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