Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Record of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-William A. E. Meek
Portrait and Biographical
Record of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
WILLIAM E. A. MEEK was for many
years a prominent and well-known citizen
of Hope Township, and should be
represented in this work. He was a native of Knox
County, Tenn. His education was acquired in the
public schools, and in Maryville College, of Tennessee,
from which he was graduated. He was educated
for the ministry, but poor health prevented
him from entering upon that work. After attaining
to mature years, he was united in marriage
with Miss Mary Hester White, and unto them was
born a family of four children: T. Susan, wife of
F. E. Nottorf, the efficient County Clerk of Dickinson
County; Joseph W., who at the age of seventeen
was accidentally shot while out hunting, a
charge passing entirely through his body; J. Stebbins,
whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work;
and Walter J., a lad of thirteen, who resides with
his mother.
In the fall of 1871, Mr. Meek came to Kansas
and secured an eighty-acre homestead on section 6,
Hope Township, Dickinson County, and also took
up a tree claim of eighty acres. The following
year he was joined by his family. He then devoted
his time and attention exclusively to farming,
made many improvements upon his land, and
placed it all under a high state of cultivation. As
his financial resources increased, he made additional
purchases, until five hundred and sixty acres pay
to him a golden tribute in return for the care and
cultivation he bestows upon it.
In politics, Mr. Meek was a stalwart Republican,
and took an active interest in the success of his
party. He was long a member of the County Central
Committee, and in 1884 was candidate for the
Legislature, being defeated by only one vote. Under
the auspices of the Presbyterian Church he was
reared, and became a member and faithful worker
of that organization. He attended the General
Assembly which convened in Chicago in 1872, and
was again a delegate to that body, which met in
1880. Mr. Meek aided in founding the Presbyterian
Church of Dillon in 1872, and in the spring of
that year organized the first Sunday-school in the
township in a log house, there being no schoolhouses
in the township at that time. He did all in
his power to upbuild and benefit humanity, and
was one of Nature's noblemen. He was quite a
fluent speaker, and was always ready with an argument.
He was a robust man, and weighed about
two hundred pounds. Throughout the community
he was held in the highest regard, and his death,
which occurred March 4, 1889, in his sixty-first
year, was deeply mourned.
Mrs. Meek still resides with her son Walter on
the homestead farm, which was left her by her
husband. She still manages this place, and has a
comfortable competence, which keeps her well
supplied with all the necessities and many of the luxuries
of life. She is an estimable lady, and her circle
of friends and acquaintances is an extensive
one.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP