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Meredith
FAMILY TIMELINE
Interspersed with historical events of the United States.
Compiled by P. Davidson-Peters © 2004

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Extracted census records on this site are accessed by the link in left hand column.

DELAWARE
1760 Luff appeared on a list of people paid bounties for squirrels at Murderkill 100 (a division of Kent County, similar to a town or township).
1761 John Wheeler Meredith, son of Luff and Mary, is born in Kent Co., Delaware on the 10th of February. He later marries Mary Daws.
1761 Mary Daws, daughter of William and Rumina, is born on the 16th of February. She later becomes the wife of John Wheeler Meredith.
1766 On the 2nd of January, Elizabeth Busby, daughter of John and Margaret of Ireland, is born. She later becomes the 2nd wife of John Wheeler Meredith.
1767 Luff Meredith is listed in the early tax records of Murderkill 100, Kent Co., Delaware.  He continues on these lists until  1783.
1775 On 12 December Luff Meredith & Ruth Meredith are issued a Letter of Administration to settle the estate of Joshua Meredith who is probably Luff's father.
1776 Thomas Jefferson, a planter, surveyor and powerful advocate of liberty born in Albermarle County, Virginia, drafts the Declaration of Independence at the age of thirty-three.
1777 John W. Meredith enlists as a private at Dover, Delaware and was with General Horatio Gates* at the battle of Saratoga. This battle was fought in upstate New York, and permanently ended the British hopes of dividing the colonies along the Hudson River.
1781 Cow Marsh Baptist Church is established about this time. It is located west of Meredith's Corner (Now Petersburg) in Murderkill 100, Kent County, Delaware, near where John Wheeler Meredith was born.  (Luff Meredith appears on a list of members of the Cow Marsh Baptist Church at its formation).
1781 John W. Meredith fights in the Battle of Cowpens* on January 17th in which the entire British force was captured. The British surrender at Yorktown.
1782 Luff Meredith appears in the Delaware census.
1782 On March 23rd, Luff Meredith issues a letter of administration to settle the estate of Ruth Meredith who is probably his mother. 
1785 Luff Meredith dies.  On the 4th of April a Letter of administration to settle Luff's estate is issued to Mary Meredith.
1786 Thomas Jefferson writes a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted this year.
1788 John W. Meredith marries Mary Daws on the 25th of September.
1789 On the 30th of April, George Washington (1732-1799), stands on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, and takes his oath of office as the first President of the United States.
1789 On May 2nd, Rumina Meredith, daughter of John W. & Mary (Daws) Meredith is born.
1789 Mary (Daws) Meredith, wife of John W. and mother of Rumina, departs this life on the 23rd of May.

HAMPSHIRE CO., VIRGINIA
Formed in 1753 or 1754 from Augusta and Frederick counties,
Hampshire County became part of West Virginia in 1863.
1793 After the death of his wife Mary, John W. Meredith marries Elizabeth Busby on the 18th of April near North River in Hampshire Co., Virginia. Elizabeth is the daughter of John and Margaret and was born in Ireland on the 2nd of January 1766.
1794 John Luff Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, is born on the 5th of February in Hampshire Co., Virginia. He later marries Elizabeth Thomas.
1794 Battle of Fallen Timber takes place on August 20th. In this campaign against the Indians, William Henry Harrison serves as aide-de-camp to General "Mad Anthony" Wayne.* This opens most of the Ohio area to settlement.
1795 Norval Douglas Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, is born on the 2nd of September in Hampshire Co., Virginia. He later marries Mary James.
1797 John Adams (1735-1826), the Harvard educated lawyer who was born in the Masachusetts Bay Colony, is elected as the second U.S. President.
1797 Margaret Meredith, daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, is born on the 9th of December in Hampshire Co., Virginia. She later marries Archibald Dye.
1799 First U.S President George Washington dies of a throat infection at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December.
1800 On the 10th of June, Joseph Busby Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, is born in Hampshire Co., Virginia. He later marries Esther Thomas.
1801 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) becomes the third U.S. President. He asks Merriwether Lewis to be his personal secretary and Lewis lives in the east room of the White House and helps Jefferson plan for an expedition to the west.
1801 After resigning from the Army, William Henry Harrison becomes Secretary of the Northwest Territory, is its first delegate to Congress, and helps obtain legislation dividing the Territory into the Northwest and Indiana Territories. He becomes Governor of the Indiana Territory this year and his main task is to obtain titles to land so that the settlers can press westward. [Continue with Indiana Timeline]
1802 Intended to be called George Washington Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith is born on the 10th of February, but dies two days later on the 12th.
1803 Virginian born Henry Clay begins his political career when he is elected to the Kentucky General Assembly.
1803 Merriwether Lewis writes to his army comrade, William Clark, inviting him to share command of the expedition west.
1803 A treaty is signed on April 30th for the United States to purchase from France the Louisiana Territory which is more than 800,000 square miles of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains for about $15 million.
1804 On the 14th of May, William Clark sets off from Camp DuBois, joined a few days later by Lewis who is in St. Louis.
1804 Born on the 23rd of August, James Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) does not survive but six months and 18 days. His death comes on March 13th of 1805.
1805 During the expedition of Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea gives birth to a baby boy, Jean Baptiste. Lewis assists in speeding the delivery by giving her a potion made by crushing the rings of a rattlesnake’s rattle into powder.
1805 Up until late July, the route west has been unknown to the explorers and Sacagawea, but she now begins to recognize familiar landmarks and points out the place where the Hidatsas had captured her five years earlier
1805 Native American leader, Chief Black Hawk* (1767-1838), who was born in the Sac village near the site of present Rock Island, Illinois and who had fought for the British in the War of 1812, denounces the treaty which was signed in St. Louis and resists removal from this land.
1806 On September 23rd, the Lewis and Clark expedition returns to St. Louis after two and a half years.
1807 John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith's son, Samuel Caldwell Meredith, is born in Greene Co., Pennsylvania on the 27th of November. He later marries Margaret, daughter of Christopher Anthony and Eleanor (Mossman) Ballard.
1808 James Madison (1751-1836) is elected as the fourth President of the United States.
1808 On July 16th, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, two of the few white men who had actually seen the mysterious territory of the Far West, help form The Missouri Fur Company to exploit the region's abundant fur-bearing animals. Among their partners were the experienced fur traders and businessmen Manuel Lisa, Pierre Choteau, and Auguste Choteau.(Note: Joshua Pilcher later succeeds Manuel Lisa of the MO Fur Company and Wm. Clark as Superintendent of Indian Affairs)
[See Joshua Pilcher on this site for more information]
1809 The threat against the settlers in the territories becomes serious. The eloquent and energetic chieftain, Tecumseh, with his religious brother, the Prophet, begin to strengthen an Indian confederation to prevent further settlement.
1809 After traveling east along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, on his way from St. Louis to Washington, Meriwether Lewis commits suicide on the 11th of October at Grinder’s Stand, an inn south of Nashville.
1810 On the 5th of April, John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith's youngest daughter, Mary B. Meredith is born. She later marries Hampton T. Locke.
1810 Margaret Ballard, daughter of Christopher Anthony Ballard and Eleanor (Mossman) is born in Grayson County, Virginia on the 31st of August. Her family moves to Ohio in about 1818. She later marries Samuel C. Meredith, son of John Wheeler Meredith & Elizabeth (Busby).
[See Mossman-Ballard Timeline on this site for more information]
1811 Harrison receives permission to attack the confederacy and while Tecumseh is away seeking more allies, Harrison leads about a thousand men toward the Prophet's town. On the 7th of November, before dawn, the Indians attack his camp on Tippecanoe River. After heavy fighting, Harrison repulses them, but he suffers 190 dead and wounded.
1812 The U.S. declares war on Britian on the 18th of June (War of 1812)
1814 The British burn buildings in Washington, D.C. and bomb Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
1814 Henry Clay serves as commissioner to the joint American-British peace negotiations in Ghent, Belgium
1815 Jackson defeats the British at the Battle of New Orleans,* and the war officially ends on the 17th of February.

OHIO
(CHAMPAIGN, CLARK, WARREN & MIAMI COUNTIES)
1798 Benjamin Dye who was born in 1771, son of Andrew and Sarah (Minor) leaves Pennsylvania and comes to Cincinnati about this time and marries Elizabeth Jackson.
1799 Leaving Cincinatti, Benjamin removes to Miami County and is one of the earliest pioneers. They live off the road which will be cut out through the wilderness during the War of 1812 by General Wayne.
1803 Warren County is created from Hamilton County.
1803 Montgomery County is created from Hamilton County & from Wayne County, Michigan.
1803 Andrew Dye, son of James and Sarah, moves to Ohio. He was born in Middlesex Co., New Jersey, and in 1768 married Sarah Miner who was a first cousin of Martha Curtis Washington, sister to Colonel John Minor, and daughter of Stephen and Athaliah (Updyked) Minor.
1805 Champaign County is created from Franklin & Greene Counties.
1807 Miami County is created from Montgomery County.
1815 In the Spring, John W. Meredith builds a small flat boat at the mouth of Little Whiteby Creek and comes down the Ohio River, landing at Columbia, a few miles above Cincinnati. Here he procures place wagons to transport the family and household goods to a new farm near Lisbon, which is a short distance from Springfield, in Clark County, Ohio.
1815 Vincent Dye, son of Andrew Dye and Sarah (Minor) dies in September. His widow, Priscilla (Long), will marry his widowed brother Benjamin in 1817.
1816 John Luff Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby), marries Elizabeth Thomas on the 10th of September in Champaign Co., Ohio.
1817 James Monroe (1758-1831) who had fought with distinction in the Continental Army, and practiced law in Fredericksburg, Virginia becomes the fifth President of the U.S. He will serve as such until 1825.
1817 Elizabeth (Jackson) Dye, wife of Benjamin and mother of his eleven children, dies on the 5th of February. She is laid to rest in Knoops Graveyard in Elizabeth Township.
1817 On the 6th of June, widower Benjamin Dye, takes for his second wife, Priscilla Long-Dye, who was daughter of Jeremiah and Mary (Ivers) and widow of Benjamin's brother Vincent who had died in September two years earlier.
1817 Ann Elizabeth Meredith, daughter of John L. and Elizabeth (Thomas) Meredith is born presumably in Champaign County on the 8th of June.
1817 Norval Douglas Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, marries Mary James on the 16th of October in Lebanon, Warren Co., OH.
1817 About this time, John W. Meredith removes to Miami County, Ohio where he has received a bounty land grant. He settles on Lost Creek, four miles south of Troy.
1818 Clark County, Ohio is created from Champaign, Greene & Madison Counties
1818 Amanda Dye, daughter of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 10th of May in Troy, but dies in her infancy.
1818 John Luff Meredith, son of Norval D. and Mary (James) is born in Warren Co., Ohio on the 4th of August. He later marries Margaret Carr.
1819 Settled by the Knopps, Gerards, Hamlets and Tilders as early as 1798, Staunton Township is the first permanent settlement within Miami County, Ohio. It becomes home to the Meredith family.
1819 Lost Creek Township is formed in Miami County, Ohio in January. It's first settlers are Willis Northcut and John Roger, who arrived sometime between 1802 and 1804.
1819 Margaret Meredith, daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby), marries Archibald Dye on the 27th of April in Miami Co., Ohio. Archibald is the son of Andrew and Jane (Guthrie) and was born 05 Feb 1799 in Green Co., Pennsylvania.
1819 Jeremiah Dye, son of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 24th of September.
1819 Although the first transatlantic steamship Savannah has made history and the U.S. has bought Florida from Spain for five million dollars, an economic depression begins.
1820 On the 21st of February, Samuel James Meredith, son of Norval D. and Mary (James) Meredith is born in Ohio.
1820 According to John W. Meredith's 1826 letter to his son Samuel C. Meredith, Margaret and Archibald Dye had a daughter Eliza born on the 2nd of April who lives only 6 months and 15 days, passing away on the 17th of October.
1820 Maria Louisa Meredith, daughter of John L. and Elizabeth (Thomas) Meredith is born presumably in Champaign County on the 9th of April.
1820 Moses Austin has traveled to San Antonio to petition for a land grant, and the following year receives approval to settle three hundred American families on 200,000 acres. Moses dies before completing his plans and the responsibility for establishing his colony falls to his son Stephen F. Austin.
1820
CENSUS		 Although records indicate John W. Meredith may have been living in Miami County, the 1820 suggests he might have had land in both places and perhaps sent his sons Joseph and Samuel ahead. Living in Urbana, was a John Merridth family which fits the ages indicated: One male over age 45 (John would have been about 59); one female over age 45 (Elizabeth would have been about 54) and one female under age ten - (their daughter Mary had been born in April of 1810). Adding to this speculation, is the family of a John L. Merridth family who also fits ages indicated and are enumerated as living in the Town of Troy in Staunton Township: one male 26-45 (John would have been just about 26 years of age); one female age 16-26 (apparently wife Elizabeth); and two females under age ten (Ann Elizabeth would have been about 3, and Maria Louisa was just an infant born in 1820.)
1820
CENSUS		 The following families were enumerated in the town Miami Co., Ohio: Levi Hart; and William Barbee in the town of Troy; David Locke in Concord Township; and John Dye, Benjamin Dye, Jr. and John W. Meredith living in Staunton Township. John's household includes male 10-16 (Samuel C.); male 16-26 (Joseph); male 45+ (John W.); female 10-16 (Mary); and female 45+ (Elizabeth).
1821 Henry Clay authors the second Missouri Compromise.*
1821 According to the 1880 History of Staunton Township, J.L. Meredith settles on Section 17 in this year.
1821
CENSUS		 John W. Merredith residing at Range 10, Township 1, Section 2; 65/100 acres.
1821 Priscilla Dye, daughter of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 2nd of April in Troy.
1821 On the 16th of September, Mexico wins its independence from Spain.
1821 On the 27th of November, Maria Louise Dye, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born in Miami County, Ohio. She later marries Joseph H. Louthan. [Continue to Indiana Timeline]
1822 Stephen F. Austin selects a site on the lower Colorado and Brazos rivers, and settles his colonists here in January.
1822 On the 2nd of April, Albert Dye, son of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born in Miami County, Ohio. He later marries Elizabeth Taylor.
1822 On the 5th of April, Sarah Ellen Meredith, daughter of Norval D. and Mary (James) is born in Ohio.
1823 Joseph Busby Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) marries Esther Thomas in Miami County, Ohio on April 1st.
1823 Samuel C. Meredith, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby), having a desire to learn the printing trade, goes to Dayton, Ohio this fall.
1823 "Lettie" Dye, daughter of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 16th of August in Troy. She later marries Aaron Meredith, son of Norval and grandson of John Wheeler Meredith.
1823 Presumably in the county of Champaign, John Thomas Wheeler Meredith, son of John L. and Elizabeth (Thomas) Meredith, is born on the 20th of November.
1824 Samuel C. Meredith becomes indentured to Robert J. Skinner, editor of The Ohio Watchman on the 9th of April in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio. Indenture signed by Samuel C. Meredith, John W. Meredith, Robert J. Skinner, signed and sealed in the presence of Linsey Johnson.
1825 William Alleway Meredith, son of Norval D. and Mary (James) is born in Ohio on the 22nd of January.
1825 John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) becomes the 6th U.S. President and appoints Henry Clay as Secretary of State. Although he had received fewer electoral votes and fewer popular votes than Andrew Jackson, neither of the candidates had earned the 131 electoral votes required for victory, so the United States House of Representatives was given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution*). After much debate, the House decided the election on February 9, 1825 in favor of Adams.
1825 Enos Henry Meredith, son of Joseph B. Meredith and Esther (Thomas) his wife was born on the 21st of March. He later married Lydia Hill.
1825 Olive Jane Meredith, daughter of Norval D. and Mary (James) is born in Ohio on October 30th. She later marries Samuel K. Harter.
1826 Basil M. Dye, son of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 2nd of March in Troy.
1826 As former President John Adams lay dying on the 4th of July, he whispers these last words: "Thomas Jefferson survives." In realtiy, Jefferson has died at Monticello only a few hours earlier.
1826 According to John W. Meredith's 1826 letter to his son Samuel C. Meredith, Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) Dye had a daughter Frances born on the 22nd of July. She later marries Enoch L. VanSandt.
1826 Samuel C. Meredith, who is apprenticed with Robert J. Skinner, writes his father from Dayton, Ohio on the 16th of September.
1826 John Wheeler Meredith writes from Troy, Ohio on the 13th of October to his son, Samuel C. Meredith and includes the Family Record of births, deaths, and marriages.
1827
CENSUS		 Norval D. Merredith and John W. Meredith residing in Concord Township.
1828 Samuel C. Meredith's indenture to editor Robert J. Skinner, editor of The Ohio Watchman in Dayton, Ohio is "fully satisfied and complied with" on the 23rd of May. Witnessed by T.W. Mansfield.
1828 Louisa Ballard, (sister of Margaret who marries Samuel Meredith less than a year later) marries Ezekiel Pilcher on the 8th of May in Springfield. Her husband Ezekiel is the nephew to Joshua Pilcher who was successor to the Missouri Fur Company in St. Louis after the death of Manuel Lisa. Joshua was also as sub-agent to several tribes and corresponded with William Clark. After Clark's death, Joshua is appointed as Superintendent of Indian Affairs - a position Clark also held, and like Clark, comes to be known as being too soft on the Indians.
[See Joshua Pilcher on this site for more information]
1828 Alfred Dye, son of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) Dye is born on the 28th of May.
1828 Mary B. Meredith, daughter of John W. & Elizabeth (Busby) marries Hampton T. Locke in Miami Co., Ohio on the 9th of December.
1829 A major general in the War of 1812 and a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans, Andrew Jackson becomes the 7th President of the United States. He is elected by popular vote and seeks to act as the direct representative of the common man. Jackson will serve in this capacity until 1837.
1829 John Luff Meredith is appointed Hospital Steward of the 4th Regt. M.T. Infantry on the 23rd of January.
1829 On the 5th of February, John Luff Meredith writes his brothers "Mrfs. Samuel C. & Joseph B. Meredith in Springfield, Illinois from the infantry barracks in Baton Rouge, LA. [See Illinois Timeline]
1829 Samuel C. Meredith has removed to Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois where he marries Margaret Ballard on the 29th of March. Margaret was born in Grayson Co., Virginia and is the daughter of Christopher Anthony Ballard and Eleanor (Mossman). [See Illinois Timeline]
1829 Horatio P. Dye, son of Benjamin and his 2nd wife Priscilla (Long-Dye) is born on the 22nd of April in Troy.
1829 Sometime after the birth of their son Alfred, Margaret (Meredith) and Archibald Dye remove from Ohio and settle in Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
[Continue with Indiana Timeline]
1829 On the 14th of July, Aaron A. Meredith, son of Norval D. and Mary (James) is born in Troy, Miami Co., Ohio. He later marries Letitia Dye.
1830
CENSUS		 The following families are enumerated in the Town of Troy: Azel and Joseph Skinner; Benjamin and David Lock; William Barbee; William J. Thomas; Margaret Lock; Hampton T. Locke with household including one male under age five; John W. Meredith; Novel D. Meredith; and Levi Hart. Levi being the last household enumerated in the Town of Troy.
1830 Mexican officials pass a law prohibiting further American immigration into Tejas in hopes of limiting American influence over the region. Austin, however, finds a loophole that allows him to continue expanding his colony.
1831 Former President James Monroe dies in New York, New York on the 4th of July.
1831 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia that the Cherokee are not a "foreign nation" within the meaning of the Constitution, but a "dependent nation." Between now and 1839, the Five Civilized tribes of the Southeast are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
1832 In May, the Sac and Fox Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk leave the Iowa territory and return to their homes across the Mississippi River in northern Illinois. Their return to this area, creates widespread panic among the white settlers and Governor Reynolds calls up the militia.
1832 Vincent Dye, son of Benjamin and grandson of Andrew and Sarah (Minor), moves his family from Miami County, Ohio to Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
[See Indiana Timeline]
1832 After having been married in Springfield and losing their first child, Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith have returned to Piqua where their daughter Mary J. Meredith is born on the 26th of December. She dies shortly after on the 7th of January 1833. Their first surviving child will be born in Indiana. [See Indiana Timeline]
1833 The Democrat party, founded in 1793 by Thomas Jefferson becomes chiefly opposed by the Whig party from this point until 1856. The Whigs were created in order to oppose the policies of Andrew Jackson and called itself the Whig Party by analogy with the English Whigs, who had opposed the power of the King in Restoration England.
1833 John Luff Meredith, son of Norval D. of Troy (age 14y 9m 14d) is bound to William Barber or Barbee of Troy - until full age of twenty-one on 04 Aug 1839 to be taught the merchantile business.
1834 On March 27th a meeting is held at the old Baptist church on the corner of Franklin and Cherry streets, with Elder J. L. Moore in the chair, and J.W.Meredith, Clerk. A committee is apoointed consisting of J.L.Moore, Elijah Counts and Amariah Smalley to prepare articles of organization.
1834 Samuel C. Meredith of Connersville, Indiana writes to his father, John W. Meredith in Troy, Ohio on the 7th of September.
1834 On the 18th of September, John W. Meredith replies to his son's letter. He mentions Squire Tullis; W. Stuart's son (Westly); Wm. Findly; Dooly; Doctor Telford; Major Hart and children Mary Hampton, Little William, Mary Norval; Norval; Margaret (Ballard) and Flora.
1835
CENSUS		 John W. Meredith and Norvell D. Meredith are residing in Concord Township, Miami Co., Ohio.
1835 John W. Meredith writes his son and daughter-in-law, Samuel C. & Margaret (Ballard) from Troy, Miami Co., Ohio on the 22nd of February. Sam and Margaret are residing in Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana. This letter mentions Margaret's brother - presumably Archiblad Mossman Ballard; also Squire Tullis; John Steel Davis; B. Dye; H. Baron; Dewey; Joseph and Norval Meredith; H. T. Lock; and David Barrett.
1835 Andrew Dye, son of James and Sarah, and husband of Sarah (Miner), dies at Stillwater, Newton Township, in Miami County on the 5th of July. His estate is probated this year, case #00746.
1835 From Troy, Miami County, Ohio, on the 28th of July, John W. Meredith writes his son Samuel at Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana. "I have been busy yesterday & today trying every one I met with to subscribe for your paper ..." Mentions Robert Sproul; John Wharton; and William Dunlop.
1835 The outbreak of the Texas Revolution at Gonzales on October 1, 1835 leave Stephen F. Austin little choice but to support the drive for Mexico's independence.
1836 On the 21st of April, Sam Houston, commander of the Texas army, leads eight hundred troops, inspired by the sacrifice of their comrades at the Alamo, in a surprise attack on Santa Anna's 1,600 men. Houston's decisive victory at San Jacinto secures Texas independence from Mexico and a provisional government is organized.
1836 From Troy, Ohio, John W. Meredith writes his son Samuel in Centerville, Indiana beginning on the 2nd of October. Writes that letters of Margaret and Joseph had been mis-directed and that he was out 28¾ cents. Mentions he is looking for the arrival of Hamilton Busbey (brother-in-law) who has sold his place and "was to come past here on his way to Illinois to look out a place to move his family to," but he's not yet arrived. He picks up his letter on the 9th, still awaiting Busby, mentions that he has been working with Nesbitt for 20¢ a day, which is low wages but helps. He also adds a "letter" to his grandson William A. Meredith who is staying with Samuel and learning the printing trade.
1836 John W. Meredith writes from Troy, Ohio on the 5th of November to his son Samuel C. Meredith in Centerville, Indiana. "... your paper of yesterday arrive, but it came rather late to convert any honest man to vote for Martin VanBurin to the Presidency. Mentions that he has now lost his job with Nesbitt, mentions State Attorney T.S. Barrett having a black eye and wonders "how he might bring an indictment of assault and battery against any man when he is himself guilty for the same offense."
1836 Martin Van Buren, who disagrees with Whig candidate William Henry Harrison's revenue-sharing scheme that would return federal surplus from the proceeds of federal lands directly back to the states, easily wins the election becoming the 8th president.
1837 Two weeks before Joshua Pilcher gets up from his sick bed (he's been bedridden from Christmas time until March 21, 1837) President Van Buren nominates him Indian agent to the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Ponca Indians.  Benton informs Joshua of the good news, and at the end of the month Secretary of War Joel R. Poinsett sends his new commission.  His salary this time is $2,000.  (Note: Joshua is the uncle to Margaret (Ballard) Merideth's brother-in-law Ezekiel Pilcher, husband of her older sister Louisa)
1837 The Panic of 1837, is a result of Jackson's policies, which have been supported and initiated by Martin Van Buren. The policy stating gold or silver must be used to purchase lands in the west, and their opposition to the Bank of the United States created unwise investments with smaller banks and the banks were forced to close. Besides losing their jobs and homes, people begin to lose confidence in the new in the new president.
1838 Andrew A. Dye, husband of Jane (Guthrie) and father of Archibald who married Margaret Meredith, dies on the 3rd of April. He is laid to rest at Sandridge Cemetery in Miami Co., Ohio.
1838 On the first of September, William Clark dies at the home of his oldest son, Meriwether Lewis Clark. He had married Julia “Judith” Hancock, for whom he had named a river in Montana. A respected Indian agent and businessman, he had been appointed as governor of the Missouri Territory. He lost his first election to be the new state's governor after he had been accused of being too “soft” on Indians.
1839 The Whigs hold their first national convention, giving the nod to Harrison, who is elected president next year, largely as a result of the terrible state of the economy.
1839 Norval Douglas Meredith, son of John W. & Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith and husband of Mary (James), dies on the 24th of November and is laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Miami County, Ohio.
1840 The Whigs, in need of a national hero, nominate William Henry Harrison for president.
1840
CENSUS		 Residing in Town of Troy: Sarah Merideth; Margaret Lock; and John M. Merideth. Residing in Bethel Township, John Merideth.
1840 John Luff Meredith, son of Norval, is now living in Lafayette, Indiana. Here he engages in the banking business and becomes head of the banking establishment of Barbee, Brown & Company. [Continue to Indiana Timeline]
1841 William Henry Harrison arrives in Washington in February to take up the presidency, but catches a cold that develops into pneumonia. He dies on the 14th of April, the first President to die in office. With him dies the Whig Party. His vice-president, John Tyler, becomes President.
1842 Sarah Ellen Meredith, daughter of Norval and Mary (James) Meredith, marries George W. Bull in Miami County, Ohio on the 3rd of January.
1843 Benjamin Dye, son of Andrew and Sarah (Minor) and huband of Priscilla (Long) dies on the 23rd of July. He is laid to rest in Knoops Cemetery.
1843 Mary James-Meredith, widow of Noval, passes away on the 4th of August in Miami Co., Ohio and her son Aaron A. Meredith goes to live on the farm of Mack C. Hart for a period of two years.
1844 John Wheeler Meredith dies in Cass, Miami County, Ohio on the 18th of August. States that he was born in the State of Delaware Feb 10, 1761 and baptized in August of 1805. A worthy member of the Baptist Church until his death and married April 18th, 1794 to Elizabeth Barbey.
1845 After nearly ten years of independence, Texas votes for annexation into the United States and James K. Polk becomes President.
1845 Aaron A. Meredith removes to Lafayette, Indiana and begins working as a carpenter about this time. [Continue to Indiana Timeline]
1846 Aaron A. Meredith enlists in the Mexican War * in April. He becomes a private of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Regiment under Colonel Mitchel and participates in the battle of Monterey.
1846 On the 12th day of September, pursuant to a call in the Troy Times, a meeting of the citizens of Miami County is held at the office of John G. Telford, Esq., for the purpose of taking into consideration the expediency of organizing a County Agricultural Society.
1848 On the 23rd of February, former President John Quincy Adams collapses on the floor of the House from a stroke and is carried to the Speaker's Room, where he dies two days later.
1848 Having returned to Troy after serving in the army, Aaron Meredith marries Miss Letitia Dye on the 24th of August. She is the daughter of Benjamin and Priscilla (Long) Dye.
1848 Priscilla (Long) Dye, widow of Benjamin and mother of "Lettie" Meredith, dies on the 12th of December. She is laid to rest in Knoops Cemetery.
1849 Spending a quarter of a century policing the frontiers against Indians and winning major victories in the Mexican War at Monterey and Buena Vista, Zachary Taylor becomes the twelfth President.
1850 In February President Taylor holds a conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He tells them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he will personally lead the Army and that persons taken in rebellion against the Union, would hang.
1850 Harper's Weekly Magazine makes its debut in June 1850, the brainchild of the prominent New York City book-publishing firm Harper & Brothers. The initial press run of 7,500 copies sold out immediately, and within six months circulation had reached 50,000.
1850 After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on the 4th of July, President Zachary Taylor falls ill from eating cherries and milk. He dies on the 9th of July and Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the next President. During the Civil War, Zachary's only son Richard will serve as a general in the Confederate Army.
1850 William A. Meredith, son of Norval D. and Mary (James) dies in Troy, Miami Co., Ohio on the 18th of December, just a month before his 25th birthday.
1850
CENSUS		 The following families were enumerated as living in the City of Troy: William Meredith; Samuel K. Harter; George W. Bull; and Aaron Meredith. Residing in Lost Creek Township: Mary Locke and Elizabeth Meredith. Residing in Piqua: Harvey Meredith. Residing in Bethel: John and Mary Meredith.
1851 After two years of building canal boats at Troy, Ohio, Aaron Meredith and his wife Letitia (Dye) move to Fort Wayne, Indiana where he conducts a grocery store for about five years.
1852 Henry Clay dies in Washington, D.C. on the 29th of June.
1853 Olive Jane Meredith, daughter of Norval and Mary (James) Meredith, marries Samuel K. Harter in Miami Co., Ohio about this time. Children Mary Jane and Sabin M. Harter, according to the census records are born about 1855 and 1860 respectively.
1854 The Republican is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin on February 28th as a party against the expansion of slavery. It's first convention is held on July 6th in Jackson, Michigan. Many of its initial policies are inspired by the defunct Whig Party. Since its inception, its chief opponent has been the Democratic Party.
1857 Born into a well-to-do Pennsylvania family in 1791, James Buchanan becomes the fifteenth U.S. President.
1861 Son of a Kentucky frontiersman and acquaintance of Ezekiel and Louisa (Ballard) Pilcher from the days he resided in Springfield, Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th President - the same year the Union is divided and the War of the Rebellion begins.
1863 On January 1st, President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation that declares forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.
1863 Having attended Hanover College until his Junior year, William J. Meredith (son of John L. Meredith), joins the army. He is appointed to the general staff of the commissary department.
1863 John Luff Meredith, son of Norval removes to Troy about this time. He becomes instrumental in the reorganization of the old State Bank into the First National Bank of Troy and works for the bank until his death.
1863 First National Bank, successor to the Miami County Branch of the State Bank, is established this year with a cash capital of $200,000. President, Asa O. Coleman; Cashier, John C. Culbertson; Board of Directors, Asa Coleman, Jacob Knoop, J. L. Meredith; subsequent Cashiers, Daniel Brown, L. Hayner, S. R. Harter, H. W. Allen.
1864 Officers of the Miami County Agricultural Society this year include: W. B. McLung, President; W. H. GahAgan, Vice President; C. H. Culbertson,Treasurer; C. W. Morris, Secretary. Board of Directors: A. Gaskill, J. L. Meredith, Isaac S. Sheets, J. Hall, Louis Haynor, William Swain, S. L. Chaffee, B. F. Brown, John Wiggan, Isaac Brown, N. Jackson, S. Dye.
1865 At the close of the war, William J. Meredith begins engaging in lumbering on the Chippewa River * in northern Wisconsin. Losing everything to fire, he engages in retail boot and shoe business in Milwaukee, and then as a treasurer for a company for the construction of a railroad in Kentucky.
1871 Miami County Bank is established by W. H. H. Dye & Sons in June.
1872 After moving to Lincoln, Nebraska and becoming assistant cashier of the First National Bank, William J. Meredith resigned and became secretary of the Old Troy Wagon and Springs Works, at Troy Ohio. The company was incorporated this year with a capital stock of $60,000, $53,900 paid in. Officers include: H. W. Allen, President; W.H.H.Dye, Vice-President; W.J.Meredith, Secretary and Treasurer. Directors: H.W.Allen, S.K.Harter, G.D.Skinner, N.Toby, W.H.H.Dye, J.H.Young, S.A.Cairns, W.J. Meredith. They employ from sixty to eighty hands and the business is good, increasing annually. Their manufactory covers five acres of ground; has 87,500 square feet of floor, and contains all the latest facilities for doing perfect work.
1873 William J. Meredith marries Miss Louisa Coles in January of this year.
1880 John Luff Meredith, son of Norval, dies in Troy at the age of sixty-one and son William J. Meredith buys the interest of the other three heirs of the farm in Staunton Township, but later disposes of it to good advantage.
1881 Margaret E. (Carr) Meredith, widow of John L. Meredith, passes away about this time and her estate is probated, Case #06910.
1889 William J. Meredith writes to Senator John Sherman recommending his cousin, William M. Meredith for the position of Public Printer.
[See copy of original letter]
 
 
 
 
  • John Wheeler Meredith to son Samuel C. Meredith, Letter dated 13 October 1826.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • John Luff Meredith to brothers Samuel C. & Joseph B. Meredith. Letter dated 05 Feb 1829 Infantry Barracks; Baton Rouge, LA to Springfield, Illinois.
  • John Wheeler Meredith to son Samuel C. Meredith, Letter dated 18 Sep 1834.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • John W. Meredith to son Samuel. Letter dated 28 July 1835 from Troy, Miami Co., Ohio to Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana.
  • John Wheeler Meredith to son Samuel C. Meredith, Letter dated 22 Sep 1835.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • John Wheeler Meredith to son Samuel C. Meredith, Letter dated 02 Oct 1836.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • John Wheeler Meredith to son Samuel C. Meredith, Letter dated 05 Nov 1836.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • Letter of W.J. Meredith to Senator John Sherman. Dated 29 Mar 1889.
    Original letter in possession of Margaret Meredith Arrington in MD (2004)
  • Ohio Census Records: 1820; 1821; 1827; 1835; 1840
  • Ohio Marriage Records - Miami & Warren Counties.
  • Obituary of John W. Meredith - Troy, Ohio; Troy Times 26 Oct 1844
  • Miami County Deed Book 10, p. 317 - recorded 22 May 1833
    Regarding apprentice of John L. Meredith to William Barbee.
  • Skid Road, An Informal Portrait of Seattle by Murray Morgan; First Published in 1951 by Viking Press; Seventh Printing 2002 (p. 135-136)
  • Meredith Records of Kent Co., Delaware compiled Ron Meredith (See outside link)
Meredith Time Line (Indiana & Illinois)
Ancestors & Descendants of Samuel C. Meredith
A List of Published Writings by Meredith Nicholson
Ancestors of Margaret (Ballard) Meredith, daughter of C.A. Ballard
Genealogy Mailing List - Surname Meredith (Outside Link)

Meredith Family of Kent Co., Delaware by Ron Meredith (Outside Link)
 


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