HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III,
pp. 1304-06.  Johnson County.

REV. ZEPHANIAH MEEK.  The life of the Rev. Zephaniah Meek demonstrates
that if a man is determined to rise in the world there is nothing that
can prevent it, and as an illustration of this a sketch of his career
will be of use and therefore beneficial to all young men.
     Rev. Meek was born in Johnson county, Kentucky, on April 4, 1833,
the son of Isaac and Sarah (Ward) Meek, natives of Virginia, the former
born August 20, 1810, and died in Johnson county, Kentucky, October 28,
1878, and the latter, born October 1, 1811, and died July 9, 1880.
Isaac Meek came to Kentucky when young with his parents, who settled in
Johnson county and later went to Arkansas, where they made a home, the
father of Isaac being William Meek.  Isaac grew to manhood in Johnson
county, Kentucky, married there and settled at the mouth of Greasy Creek,
where he made a home for the remainder of his life.  His wife was the
daughter of Shadrach and Louisa Ward, and was a woman of strong mind and
great force of character, of sweet Christian spirit, a model of industry,
thrift and economy, rearing a large family of sons and daughters.
     Amid pioneer surroundings in the hills of northeastern Kentucky,
our subject, Zephaniah Meek, the second son, grew to manhood.  He had
few opportunities for an education in his boyhood, but he supplemented
the lack of high school and academies by reading and studying the best
books he could borrow, and by systematic study he was at the age of
thirty superior in knowledge and mental culture to almost anyone his age
in his native county.  His religious independence in early youth was so
marked as to cause him to pass the door of the church of his own people
to enter communion with one more liberal and broad in doctrine and
discipline.  In early life he taught school and during those days married
Mary Jane Davis, a member of an honorable pioneer family of Sandy Valley.
She, by her solid sense, wise counsel and fervent piety proved herself
a worthy helpmeet all along the road of their married life.  He with
his young wife after a few years in the country settled in Paintsville,
the county seat of Johnson county, where he acted as county and circuit
clerk and was for several years engaged in mercantile pursuits, in the
meantime adding to his fund of knowledge by every means possible.
     Upon attaining manhood Mr. Meek was licensed to preach in the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, the only organization of Methodism
above Louisa from the separation in 1844 to the war period in 1864, and
he was regarded as a strong man in the church.  In 1865, soon after the
close of the Civil war, Mr. Meek moved to Catlettsburg and made some
investments.  In the spring of 1867 he started the "Christian Observer,"
which later became the "Central Methodist," as an organ of his church.
This paper soon took a high rank and became the leading paper of the
church, and by his able editorial management attained a large circulation
and became a profitable property.  Mr. Meek continued to be editor and
publisher until about 1898, when he sold and the plant was removed to
Louisville and finally to Lexington, where the paper is still published
as the "Central Methodist Advocate."  He was the oldest editor in point
of continuous service of the religious press in Kentucky.
     After retiring from the paper he became manager of the telephone
system at Catlettsburg for about two years, and then engaged in the
feed business, in which he continued with success until his death, which
occurred on September 4, 1909, at the age of seventy-six years and
six months, after a long, active, career, an energetic worker in business
and church affairs.  He was a traveling elder in his conference but only
took such pastoral charges as were within reach, selecting entirely new
territory to perform ministerial work, his many labors being too pressing
to allow constant work in pastorate.  He received the degree of D.D.
from the Kentucky Military Institute, Farmdale, Kentucky, in 1885, and
was elected leading delegate to the general conference by the Western
Virginia Conference in 1885, which met at Richmond, Virginia, in May, 1886.
Rev. Meek is survived by his widow and children.
     Of the latter Rev. Lafayette Meek, the first born, was educated a
year at the East Kentucky Normal, at Millersburg, Kentucky, but
transferred to Vanderbilt University, where he pursued a varied course,
and finally finished at the School of Theology.  He went into the
Tennessee conference and from the commencement was successful in ministry,
but being stricken with typhoid fever, was taken to his father's house,
accompanied by his young wife with her infant, and he died October 2,
1885, at the age of thirty-one.
     David Meek, the oldest living son of Rev. Zephaniah Meek, was born
in Paintsville, Kentucky, November 25, 1858, and came with his parents to
Catlettsburg when fourteen years old, where he grew to manhood and has
since resided.  He attended school and the Eastern Kentucky Normal at
Catlettsburg and later attended the Kentucky Military Institute near
Frankfort.  He was associated with his father in the newspaper work and
other business interests for many years and since the latter's death
has continued the feed business which was previously incorporated as
"The Z. Meek Company."  He married twice, first to Lodema Coates, from
which union six children were born, five of whom are living.  A twin
daughter died at the age of eight months, and the others are Beulah, Lena,
Sophia, John Wesley and Ray.  Mr. Meek's second marriage was to Mamie
Wyatt, by whom there was one daughter, Edith Augusta.
     In politics Mr. Meek is a Democrat.  He is a member of the Modern
Woodmen and Knights of the Maccabees, he having served several years as
record keeper of the latter.  He and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, South, and he is a member of the official board.

Meek Ward Davis Coates Wyatt
=
Boyd-KY Fayette-KY Jefferson-KY Franklin-KY AR TN

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/johnson/meek.z.txt