Individual Notes
Note for: Elizabeth Meek, 8 Apr 1813 - 14 May 1901
Index
Burial: Place: Bonaparte Cemetery, Van Buren County, Iowa
Individual Note: Van Buren County Cemetery Records: Bonaparte Cemetery - Elizabeth Meek Woods - b. 1813, d. 14 May 1901, age 88 yrs, 1 m, 6 d. From Van Buren County Gen Web lookup.
OBITUARY: Van Buren County, Iowa Obituaries maintained by Rich Lowe on line at: http://iagenweb.org/boards/vanburen/obituaries/index.cgi Mrs. Elizabeth Woods, of Harrisburg Township, Van Buren County, Iowa, departed this life on Tuesday, May 14, 1901, at 1 o'clock a.m. in her 89th year. She was the consort of the late Alexander H. Woods, who preceded her to the better land some years ago, leaving her alone in the old homestead which they together had reclaimed from nature almost a half century ago and which is situated one and one half miles north of Bentonsport, on which she continued to reside until the time of her death. Mrs. Woods was the daughter of the late Judge William Meek of Bonaparte, the progenitor of the Meek family of the state and county and the founder of the Meek mills and factories in Bonaparte. She was the oldest daughter and second child of the family of nine children and the last one of her family to depart this life. She was born in Wayne County, Ohio, April 8, 1813 and was therefore 88 years old, 1 month and six days when the summons came. When a maiden of 16, she moved with the family from Ohio to St. Joseph County, Michigan, and there she met Alexander H. Woods, to whom she was wedded in 1834, being 21 years old. Three years later the young people disposed of their possessions in Michigan and with the Meek family came to Iowa and settled in Van Buren County. Iowa was then a territory and the new country was sparsely settled. . . . To this union were born eleven children, two of whom died in infancy and nine grew to the estate of manhood and womanhood. Of these two were boys and the remainder girls. Five of the number resided in this county, three within a few miles of the old homestead. They are Robt. M. Woods, and Mrs. Henrietta Leffler who reside in Vernon township; Mrs. Ellen Glasscock, Sarah L. Edmundson and Mrs. Jessie T. Davis who reside near the old home, Mrs. Elizabeth DeHart resides in St Louis County, MO., and William V. Woods, who has been managing the large estates for his mother for the past year, resides in Shasta county, Calif. All of the above children survive the parent and sorrow for her. The oldest daughter, Nancy A. Johnson died in 1872, leaving six children and Mary V. Woods died in 1883. Thirty-two grandchilden and six great-grandchildren, the most of whom were present, also survive her. . . .
Individual Notes
Note for: Robert Meek, 25 Jan 1815 - 4 Sep 1885
Index
Burial: Place: Bonaparte Cemetery, Bonaparte, Van Buren, Iowa
Individual Note: CENSUS: 1850 Farmington, Van Buren, Iowa, p.301a. Living with the family is Alinda Flint age 67.
Van Buren County Cemetery Records: Bonaparte Cemetery - Robert Meek, b. 1815, d. 4 Sep 1885 age 70 yr., 7 m., 10 d. From Van Buren County Gen Web lookup.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: 1878 History of Van Buren County, Iowa. Meek, Robert, of the firm of Meek Brothers, proprietors of Bonaparte Grist, Saw and Woolen Mills, Bonaparte; born Jan 25, 1815 in Wayne County, Ohio. His father, William Meek, moved to St. Joseph County, Michigan in 1829, to Lee County, Iowa in the fall of 1836. The following spring to this county. His father purchased the claim of a Mr. Moffatt, the land upon which he and Dr R.N. Cresap laid out the town of Banaparte in 1837, the grist-mills were built by William Meek and Sons in 1844, . . . . . Mr. Meek married Mary A. Allen, of Lee County, Iowa, April 23, 1838. She was born April 10, 1819, died Oct 3, 1845. Again Married, Nancy Flint Oct 10, 1847, she was born May 24, 1815 and died June 1, 1853, again married Abigail P. Barber Oct 12, 1856, she was born Oct 24, 1822, have nine children living, three by each wife - first, Elizabeth A., Sarah and Alvia, second , Alinda P., William and Ralph F., third, Lewis C., Robert E. and Oscar L., lost two of second wife's children and one of third. Mr. Meek owns individually about four hunred acres of land and one=half interest in about two thousand acres and one-third interest in about five hundred acres. Member of the Baptist Church. Democrat. The firm of Meek Brothers are among the most solid and enterprising business men of Southeastern Iowa.
Individual Notes
Note for: William Meek, 18 Nov 1816 - 27 Dec 1880
Index
Burial: Date: 27 Dec 1880
Place: San Lorenzo Cemetery, Alameda County, California
Individual Note: CENSUS: 1850 Milwaukie, Clackamas, Oregon, p.16. 1860 Contra Costa County, California, p.579. 1870 Eden Twp., Alameda, California, p.82. 1880 Eden, Alameda, California, p.436a.
BIRTH-DEATH: San Lorenzo Cemetery, Alameda County, California, 1853-1983, FHL #979.465/S3 v3s, #209. Meek, William, b. Wayne County, Ohio, res. San Lorenzo, California, age 63, 1 m, 9 d, male interred 26 Dec 1880. Note: the dates on the stone for William Meek indicate that he died on the 27 Dec 1880- interrment record above gives 26th.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: History of Alameda County, California, M.W. Wood, 1883, p.937, FHL #979.465 Heh. WILLIAM MEEK (deceased) - This gentleman, whose portrait appears in this work, was the model farmer of Alameda County. His residence was at San Lorenzo, and his ranch extended towards Haywards more than three miles. He left Van Buren County,Iowa, on the first day of April, 1847, and crossed overland to Oregon City, where he arrived on the 9th day of September, the same year, with a large party of immigrants. Among Mr. Meek's effects was a wagon loaded with fruit-trees and seeds. This consitituted the first lot of grafted fruit-trees on the Pacific Coast. . . . Locating at the town of Milwaukee, on the Willamette River, five miles from Portland, he went into the nursery business in June 1848, with H. Lewelling, whom he had known in Iowa. In the fall of 1848, he went to the California gold-mines with an oxteam, and remained till the following May. The party he came to California with, made the first wagon track from Oregon to California, passing through the Modoc country, and skirting its lava-beds. On his return to Oregon he continued fruit growing and lumbering till December, 1859. That year he sold out in Oregon, and removed to San Lorezo, in Alameda County. His first purchase of land was four hundred acres of H. W. Crabb. This land originally belonged to the Soto grant. He subsequently bought one thousand six hundred acres more, which made two thousand acres. At first he devoted his attention to grain-growing and general farming. He managed his land with skill, and followed a system of rotation of crops. No man ever bestowed more care and attention on his land, or experimented more successfully. He built a water-reservoir in the foot-hills, about three and a half miles from his home, the water is conducted in pipes through his land for irrigation, and general purposes. Mr. Meek was elected County Supervisor for four terms, commencing in 1862. He was a native of Ohio, and had reached his sixty-fifth year at the time of his death. He left a wife and five children, one of whom is married.