Meyer van Gelder was a son of Salomon van Geldere and Sophia Polak. He was the 11th of the 13 children and was born on 28 April 1874 in Rotterdam. His parents those days resided at Raamstraat and his father earned his living as a second-hand dealer.
On 11 October 1898 Meyer and his brother Benjamin lived in Utrecht and they were shop keepers. Meyer was married on 9 November 1900 to Flora Meyer in …