John A. Meek, M. D.
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Meek
For a period of more than forty years the late Dr. John A. Meek was engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Jonesboro, and during this time rose to a commanding position among the members of the profession in Grant County. The pioneer physician of Jonesboro, he gained a widespread reputation for his skill, his devotion to his calling and his broad sympathy, and was equally well known and respected for his sterling citizenship, and his upright and honorable life. Doctor Meek was of Scotch descent and came of a southern family which was for many years prominent in Kentucky. His father, Joseph Meek, was born in that State about the year 1790, and came about the year 1810 to Indiana, locating on a farm in the vicinity of Richmond, Wayne County, where he was married to Miss Julia Smith, daughter of John Smith, the founder of Richmond. Mr. Smith was a native of North Carolina, where he married a Quakeress, and soon thereafter moved to Wayne County, where he became one of the his community's best known citizens, was Richmond's first blacksmith and merchant, and donated large tracts of land to his adopted place. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Meek located on a new farm near Richmond, and there were born their eleven children:
-
William
-
Samuel.
-
Dr. John A.
-
James R.
-
Sarah J.
-
Nathan
-
Margaret
-
Alfred
-
Allen
-
Sarah Ellen
-
Jane
All grew up and were married except William, Samuel and Sarah Ellen, and but tow now survive, Dr. Allen Meek of Hollingsburg, Ohio, and Margaret, and eighty year old resident of Wayne County. Joseph Meek and his wife continued to live on the old homestead throughout the remainder of their lives, and were both about eighty-nine years of age when they died. They were faithful members of the Methodist Church, and Mr. Meeks was a Democrat in his political views.
John A. Meek was born on the home farm in Abington Township, Wayne County, Indiana, December 8, 1820. He was reared to the pursuits of the farm, but early decided upon a professional career and accordingly began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Doctor Swaller, and early physician of Abington, Wayne County. There he was married to Miss Sarah Weaver, daughter of Adam Weaver, a native of Pennsylvania of German parents and one of the very first settlers of Abington Township.
After the birth of three children, Perry S., James R. and Mary E., Doctor Meek came to Jonesboro, where on February 14, 1848, he established himself as the first physician of this place. Here he was engaged in a successful practice until August, 1862, when he enlisted in the Federal Army as a Surgeon for service during the Civil War, and became 2nd Lieutenant and Surgeon, serving as a field officer of the Eighty-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. After more than two years of active service he received his honorable discharge, and returned to the duties of his practice at Jonesboro, where he continued as one of the leading members of his profession until his retirement in 1889. From that time until his death he lived quietly at his home, although he never ceased to be interested in the advancement made by the calling of the progress made by his adopted city. Probably few physicians of Grant county have been more favorably known. His high ability, his devotion to the interest of his patients and the broad and unfailing sympathy which he displayed at all times endeared him to those who came in contact with him whether in a professional or social way, and in the affairs of his city he ever maintained a sterling citizenship that made him a promoter of all things that stood for the advancement of education, religion and morality. He was a Democrat in his political views, and his religious belief was that of the Methodist Church, in the faith of which he died July 11, 1901.
Doctor Meek's first wife died in 1854, and on June 4, 1862, he was married to Miss Diana R. Pool, who was born at Petersburg, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1840. When she was eight years of age she was taken to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, by her parents John V. and Hannah (Milburn) Pool, the former born in Maryland and the latter in the city of Baltimore, that State. The Pool grandparents were German birth, while John and Ursula (Drake) Milburn, Mrs. Meek's maternal grandparents, were natives of England. John Milburn served as Sheriff of Baltimore County, Maryland, for some years, but later moved to Ohio, where he died at the age of eighty-eight years. John V. Pool came to Grant County in 1852, and spent the remainder of his life in Jonesboro, where he died in 1854, at the age of fifty-two years, while his wife, who was born May 2, 1808, passed away February 17, 1887. They were members of the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Pool was for many years a class worker.
Ten children were born to Doctor and Mrs. Meek, of whom five died in infancy, while one son, William, passed away after marriage. The living are as follows:
-
Charles M, born August 28, 1865, and educated in the schools of Jonesboro, is a cornice maker by trade and now a resident of California. He married Miss Emma Brewer, and has one child, A. Milburn, who is sixteen years of age.
-
Herman W., born June 5, 1874, a barber by trade with an establishment at Marion, married Lillian Gagen.
-
Frank, born January 19, 1880, and educated at Oberlin, Ohio, is a telegraph operator of Jonesboro and single.
-
Harry Clyde, born May 29, 1884, was educated in the graded and high schools of Jonesboro and at Marion, Indiana. He was formerly a telegraph operator and is now connected with the Indiana Rubber and Insulated Wire Company as an automobile tire maker. He married in Jonesboro, Miss Lelia F. Dunn, who was born in South Carolina, they have one daughter, Mary Belle, born August 24, 1910.
Mrs. Meek still survives the Doctor and resides in her pleasant home in Jonesboro. She is widely known in social circles, and among the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church which she joined as a child of fourteen years.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 976.