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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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INDIANA
1717 Fort Ouiatenon* (near the present city of Lafayette)is the first fort built in Indiana. It's built by French Canada to counter British expansion in valleys of Wabash and Ohio rivers and serves as a trade and communication post. 
1721 Fort Philippe (later called Fort Miami), is built on the St. Mary's River, near the area in Fort Wayne, where the St. Mary's, St. Joseph's and Maumee Rivers meet.
1732 Fort Vincennes is established.
1752 During this year and the next, the smallpox plague breaks out among the Indian population causing many deaths.
1761 The French surrender Fort Ouiatenon to the British during the French and Indian War. 
1763 Fort Ouiatenon is occupied by native Americans after this time but destroyed by American soldiers in 1791.
1772 General Gage orders the French in the Wabash Valley to leave their settlements and demands the title deeds to their lands
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 Fort Sackville, a British outpost is begun this year. It is located in the frontier settlement of Vincennes.
1779 George Rogers Clark and his troops arrive in Vincennes after nightfall on the 23rd of February and is warmly greeted by the French citizens. They overtake the fort from British Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton two days later.
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.
1791 President Washington orders Fort Ouiatenon destroyed in an effort to stop the Indian raids on the white settlements in Kentucky.
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.
1799 First U.S President George Washington dies of a throat infection at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December.
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.
1803 The Delaware cede part of their land in southern Indiana.
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.
1805 Michigan Territory is separated from Indiana Territory.
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.
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]
1808 Prophet's Town is established in the Wabash Valley, in or near the old Tippecanoe village,  "Keth-tip-pe-can-nunk," by Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, also known as "The Prophet." 
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.
1809 Illinois Territory is separated from the Indiana Territory.
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.
1816 Indiana becomes a State on the 11th of December. First Governor of is Jonathan Jennings (1784-1834).
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.
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.
1821 Henry Clay authors the second Missouri Compromise.*
1821 On the 16th of September, Mexico wins its independence from Spain.
1821 Marion County is created by an act of the Legislature on December 31st, and begins its formal existence on April 1, 1822.
1822 Stephen F. Austin selects a site on the lower Colorado and Brazos rivers, and settles his colonists here in January.
1822 The Delaware have moved to the James Fork of the White River in southwest Missouri. They had ceded their Indiana lands and agreed to move west of the Mississippi when they signed the St. Mary's Treaty in October of 1818.
1822 Indiana and Illinois join together in a plan to connect the Maumee and Wabash Rivers. It was completed in 1853 but the coming of the railroad eventually brought a close to its use.
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 Captial of Indiana is moved from Corydon to Indianapolis.
1826 As former President John Adams lay dying on the 4th of July, he whispers these last words: "Thomas Jefferson survives." But Jefferson has died at Monticello only a few hours earlier.
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 Wabash Township in Tippecanoe County, Indiana is organized.
1829 George and Hannah Mossman leave Grayson Co., Virginia and relocate to Wayne County, Indiana where they purchase four separate parcels of land between January and June. These parcels are located in Centerville, Indiana. (Note: George Mossman is the uncle of Margaret, wife of Samuel Meredith).
1829 About this time Margaret (Meredith), with husband Archibald Dye and children, remove from Ohio and settle in Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
[Return to Ohio Timeline]
1830
CENSUS		 Family of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) Dye is listed living in Tippecanoe County, Indiana in Wabash Township. Four small children are included, those being: Maria Louise, Albert, Frances and Alfred Dye. Also residing in Wabash Twp. is the Joseph Severn's family while Vincent Dye family is listed in Sheffield Township.
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 On January 3rd, Martha Dye, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana. She later marries William Penn Sovern.
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 Vincent Dye, son of Benjamin and grandson of Andrew and Sarah (Minor), moves his family from Miami County, Ohio to Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
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.
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 Cyrus Dye, son of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born on the 7th of April in Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
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 William Morton Meredith, son and first child of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith to survive to adulthood is born on the 11th of April in Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana. He will first marry Emma Shellenberger or Shellenbarger and then Teressa Richey.
1835 From Troy, Miami County, Ohio, John W. Meredith writes his son Samuel at Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana on July 28th: "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.  (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 James H. Meredith, son of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith is born in Centerville, Wayne Co., Indiana. He dies just short of his eighth birthday on the 27th of January 1846.
1838 About this time, Margaret Dye, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.
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 Maria Louise, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) Dye, marries Joseph H. Louthan on the 21st of April in Tippecanoe County.
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.
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.
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 Emily Ellen Meredith, daughter of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith is born in Centerville, Indiana on the 19th of January. She later marries Captain Edward Willis Nicholson.
1843 John Dye, son of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) is born in Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana about this time.
1843 William J. Meredith, son of John Luff Meredith and Margaret (Carr) is born in Lafayette, Tippecanoe County in October.
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 from Ohio to Lafayette, Indiana and begins working as a carpenter about this time.
1845 James Marshall leaves Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co., Indiana for California. He is first to discover gold at Sutter's Mill, which starts the Gold Rush in 1849.
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.
1847 Dred Scott* and his wife Harriet go to trial to sue for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. This suit begins an eleven-year legal fight that ends in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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.
1849 Samuel Meredith leaves his wife and three children and heads to California where he becomes an argonaut, making the passage to the golden coat by way of the Isthmus, and arriving at San Francisco on New Year's Day of 1850. Homesick, he never ventures into the goldfields and returns to Indiana.
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
CENSUS		 Listed as living in Wabash Twp., Tippecanoe Co., IN is the Archibald Dye family including: Archibald age 51; Margaret age 52; Martha age 19; Cyrus age 15; Margaret age 12; John age 07; Patrick age 28 (born IRE); and Elizabeth age 01. Also living in this township is Albert Dye age 26, Elizabeth age 27 and Norval Dye age one.
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 On September 18th, The Fugitive Slave Act now mandates the return of runaway slaves,   regardless of where in the Union they might be situated at the time of  their discovery or capture. This legislation becomes part of the chain of events which culminate in the American Civil  War.
1851 Aaron and Letitia (Dye) Meredith have left Troy, Ohio and are living in Fort Wayne, Indiana about this time. Here Aaron runs a grocery store for the next five years.
1851 Archibald Dye, son of Andrew A. Dye and husband of Margaret (Meredith) dies in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe, Indiana at the age of fifty-two. His body is laid to est in Sandridge Cemetery in West Laffayette.
1852 Henry Clay dies in Washington, D.C. on the 29th of June.
1852 On the 4th of November Martha Dye, daughter of Archibald and Margaret (Meredith) marries William Penn Sovern, son of Absolem and Mary McKee. He had recently moved to Tippecanoe Co., Indiana from Ohio.
1853 Grief-stricken, Franklin Pierce enters the Presidency nervously exhausted. Shortly before he takes office, the Pierce family had been involved in a train wreck and their 11-year-old son, Benjamin, was thrown from the car and crushed to death before their eyes.
1854 The Republican party 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.
1854 On May 30th, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, bill becomes law by which the U.S. Congress establishes the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It allows people in these territories to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders, repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which had prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. This act infuriates many in the North who consider the Missouri Compromise to be a binding agreement, but in the pro-slavery South, it is strongly supported.
1856 After running a grocery store in Fort Wayne, Indiana for five years, Aaron Meredith and wife Letitia (Dye) remove to Madison, Wisconsin where he engages in clerking and farming. He then conducts the Hotel Meredith until 1861 at which time he enlists in Co. H of the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry and becomes a part of the famous Iron Brigade.
1857 Born into a well-to-do Pennsylvania family in 1791, James Buchanan becomes the fifteenth U.S. President.
1857 The U.S. Supreme Court issues a landmark decision declaring that Dred Scott remain a slave. The court has decided that all people of African ancestry (slaves as well as those who were free) can never become citizens of the United States and therefore cannot sue in federal court. The court also rules that the federal government does not have the power to prohibit slavery in its territories. This decision contributes to rising tensions between the free and slave states just before the American Civil War.
1859 Vincent Dye leaves Tippecanoe County, Indiana to move to Bates County, Missouri but on account of his strong union and anti-slavery sentiments, he is driven out of the county and returns to Indiana two years later.
1859 About this time William Morton Meredith, son of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith, marries Emeline "Emma" Shellenberger, daughter of John and Anne of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively. Their marriage ends in divorce in 1865 and Emma receives custody of their children Anna and Samuel.
1860 In about February, Anna Meredith, daughter of William M. Meredith and wife Emma (Shellenberger) is born. Nothing has been learned of her after 1870. She was enumerated in 1860 and 1870 living in Indianapolis. Can you help?
1860
CENSUS		 Families of John Schelenberger, William Meredith and Samuel Meredith are residing in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.
1860 Abraham Lincoln who had declared "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." is elected president on the 5th of November.
1860 On December 20th, South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861 By this time the anti-slavery settlers out number pro-slavery settlers in Kansas and a new constitution is drawn up. On January 29th, just before the start of the Civil War, Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state.
1861 The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis as President on the 9th of February. He is a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer.
1861 On the 5th of March, the day after Lincoln's inauguration as president of the United States, Lincoln receives a message from Major Robert Anderson, commander of the U.S. troops which are holding Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The message states that there is less than a six week supply of food left in the fort.
1861 Samuel Meredith, son of William M. Meredith and Emma (Shellenberger) is born about this time. He dies in 1865 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1861 On the 12th of April at 4:30 a.m. Confederates under Gen. Pierre Beauregard open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, thus beginning the U.S. Civil War.
1861 Edward Nicholson, son of James and Emily (Willis) enlists in Montgomery County, Indiana on the 22nd of April. He serves with the 22nd Indiana Battery and is promoted to captain.
1861 Aaron Meredith, now residing in Madison, Wisconsin, enlists in the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry on the 1st of May.
1861 The First Battle of Bull Run,* which is also referred to as the First Battle of Manassas takes place on the 21st of July. The elite of nearby Washington, D.C., expecting an easy Union victory, have come out to picnic and watch the battle, but when the Union Army is driven back, the roads back to Washington are blocked by panicked civilians attempting to flee in their carriages. In this same battle, Aaron Meredith is wounded by a minie ball in the right arm which "cripples that member for life."
1861 Vincent Dye, age sixty-fives, dies near Dayton, Indiana. His wife, Rebecca (Swills), who had stayed in Missouri after his departure, goes to Illinois after the close of the war and dies about five years later.
1862 Aaron Meredith, who has returned to Madison from Georgetown hospital and recouperated from his wound at the Battle of Bull Run, serves as a recruiting officer between July and the following April.
1862 Husband and father of two, William Meredith, son of Samuel and Margaret (Ballard), enlists in the 70th Indiana Regiment,* Company E on the 6th of August. His commanding officer, Colonel Benjamin Harrison, will later become the 23rd U.S. President.
1863 On January 1st, President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation that declares forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.
1863 John Luff Meredith, who has been engaged in the banking business and heads the banking establishment of Barbee, Brown & Company, returns to Troy, Ohio about this time. [Return to Ohio Timeline]
1864 Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant General-in-Chief in March. Grant directs Sherman to drive through the South while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac, pins down General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
1864 Margaret (Meredith) Dye, widow of Archibald Dye and daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Busby) Meredith, dies on the 24th of March in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana. She is laid to rest at Sandridge Cemetery in West Lafayette.
1864 Lincoln wins the re-election but on Good Friday, the 14th of April, he is assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. by John Wilkes Booth and dies the following day.
1864 With the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Presidency falls upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson is no match for the radical Republicans in Congress.
1864 May finds William Meredith in the Battle of Resaca,* a poignant event he writes about which is later published in "The Current" of Chicago in 1886.
1864 Due to the riding a hard-gaited horse, Captain William Meredith develops a hernia and is discharged in Atlanta, Georgia on August 12th.
1865 William Meredith and Emma (Schellenberger) are divorced. Emma receives the house and furnishings as well as custody of Anna and Samuel.
1865 On April 9th, at Appomattox Court House, Robert E. Lee surrenders. Grant writes out magnanimous terms of surrender that will prevent treason trials.
1865 Major Aaron Meredith, after being wounded at Battle of Bull Run, captured and held prisoner by Stuart's cavalry while proceeding from high spot on the upper Potomac, is paroled and serves as commissary for two years before being mustered out with the rank of major on the 1st of September. He immediately returns to his home in Madison, Wisconsin where he is appointed by Governor Fairchilds* as Superintendent of Public Property.
1865 Emily Ellen Meredith, daughter of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard), marries Edward Nicholson, son of James Nicholson and Emily (Willis) on the first of November in Marion County.
1866 Born on the 9th of December in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, Meredith Nicholson will become a famous Indiana author. He is the son of Captain Edward Willis Nicholson and Emily Ellen (Meredith).
1867 In March, the Radicals effect their own plan of Reconstruction and once again place southern states under military rule. They pass laws placing restrictions upon the President and when Johnson allegedly violates one of these, the Tenure of Office Act, by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the House votes eleven articles of impeachment against him. He is tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 but is acquitted by one vote.
1867 On the 23rd of April, William Morton Meredith marries Terressa Adelia Richey in Marion County. Born 06 Feb 1848, she is the daughter of John and Charlotte Curtis (Millard) Richey.
1868 William Luff Meredith, son of William and Terressa (Richey), is born on the 12th of October. He will later marry Nellie Jennings.
1868 Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant quarrels with the President and aligns himself with the Radical Republicans and is elected as the 18th U.S. President.
1869 Born about this year, Charlotte Meredith, daughter of William and Terressa (Richey) will later marry Charles Burras and be mother of Ruth, Helen, and Teressa Burras.
1870
CENSUS		 William Morton Meredith, his wife Terressa (Richey) and their children William and Anna are residing in Indianapolis. Living next door are William's parents, Samuel and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith. Both William and Samuel are listed as printers.
1870 Margaret Nicholson, daughter of Captain Edward W. Nicholson and Emily (Meredith), is born in Indiana this year. She later marries R.P. Noble.
1874 After serving as Superintendent of Public Proberty in Madison, Wisconsin, Aaron Meredith moves to St. Louis, Missouri where he becomes a treasurer of the Western Engraving Company. He remains in this capacity until 1879 at which time he returns to Madison.
1875 Mary "Bird" Meredith, daughter of William and Terressa (Richey) is born about this year. She later marries Edward G. Niles and (2) Walter Farrell.
1876 On the 8th of July, Aaron Albert Meredith, son of William and Terressa (Richey) is born. He later marries Elsie Cora (Hall) and have daughter, Margaret Richey Meredith.
1877 Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the 19th President of the United States.
1879 Margaret Meredith, daughter of William and Terressa (Richey) is born on the 30th of March.
1880
CENSUS		 Samuel Meredith, age 73 and wife Margaret (Ballard) age 70 are residing at 266 Blackford Street in Indianapolis, as is their daughter. Enumerated in the in the census with her husband Edward Nicholson age 52 who is working on the city police force, Emily (Meredith) is listed as age 37 with children Willis age 13 and Margaret age ten.
1880 Lew Wallace of Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co., Indiana publishes his book "Ben Hur. "
1880 By a margin of only 10,000 popular votes, Garfield defeats the Democratic nominee, General Winfield Scott Hancock. He attacks political corruption and wins back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it has lost during the Reconstruction period.
1881 On July 2nd, in a Washington D.C. railroad station, Charles J. Guiteau, an attorney who became embittered when his application to be the U. S. ambassador to France was denied, shoots President Garfield. He's taken to the New Jersey seaside, where he appears to be recuperating, but on September 19th, he dies from an infection and internal hemorrhage. It is now considered that the infection was the result of unsanitary probing by physicians for the lodged bullet.
1881 Chester A. Arthur succeeds the Presidency of the United States after the death of Garfield.
1883 Aaron A. Meredith, son of Norval and Mary (James) and husband of Letitia (Dye) passes away in Madison, Wisconsin on the 8th of November.
1885 The First Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland becomes the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later and was therefore the 22nd and 24th U.S. President.
1888 William Luff Meredith, son of William and Terressa (Richey), goes to Seattle as the personal respresentative of W.C. Hill who has obtained much of the real estate the government has reclaimed from Doc Maynard.*
1889 Born on August 20th 1833 in North Bend, Ohio, Benajmin Harrison becomes the 23rd President. Prior to his presidency, he had moved to Indianapolis where he had become a pillar of Indianapolis, and had enhanced his reputation as a brilliant lawyer.
1891 William L. Meredith, son of William and Terressa (Richey), marries Nellie Jennings in Seattle on the 15th of January.
1892 William L. Meredith secures a position with the customs service in Seattle as a Chinese Inspector. After about a year, he becomes employed by John W. Considine who is in the variety theater business in Spokane.
1894 Captain Edward Willis Nicholson, son of James Nicholson and Emily (Willis), dies on the 24th of August and is laid to rest at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is survived by his wife Emily Ellen (Meredith) and their children Meredith and Margaret Nicholson.
1897 William McKinley becomes the 25th U.S. President.
1897 William L. Meredith returns to Seattle and joins the police force as a detective. He serves a few months and then leaves the city once again.
1900 Returning to Seattle in 1899, William L. Meredith and John W. Considine's relationship has cooled. As police chief, Meredith begins cracking down on the use of women in box-houses to hustle the sale of liquor, and Considine feels he has concentrated his efforts on his business in particular.
1901 Meredith Nicholson, son of Captain Edward Willis Nicholson and Emily (Meredith), publishes "The Hoosiers."
1901 In retaliation, Considine accuses Meredith of forcing him to pay protection money and an investigation ensues in which William Meredith will, according to his letter to Mayor Humes, resign from duty on the 16th of July.
1901 The tension between Considine and Meredith continue. On the 25th of June, shots are fired between the men at Guy's Drug Store on Second and Yesler in Seattle. After wrestling the gun from Meredith, John Considine's brother Tom savagely beats Meredith on the head causing two skull fractures and then John Considine fires three shots at point blank range, killing the 32 year-old father of two, William Luff Meredith.
1901 While shaking hands in a receiving line at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition, a deranged anarchist Leon Czolgosz, shoots President William McKinley twice. He dies eight days later on the 14th of September.
1901 With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the youngest President in the Nation's history, not quite 43 years old. During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt had been lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment.
1901 John Considine goes on trial for the premeditated murder of William Meredith, but is acquitted on the 21st of November. The Tacoma Ledger reported: "Considine had repeatedly shot a man already dazed and helplessly wounded, a man who without this violence would have been dead in a short time ... With all respect to the courts that they deserve, it will have to be admitted that in this instance they have declared homicide not to be a crime."
1903 On the 5th of August, Terressa (Richey) Meredith, wife of William, passes away. She is laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
1905 Albert Einstein proposes his special theory of relativity.
1906 An earthquake levels San Francisco on April 18th.
1908 Henry Ford produces the first Model T car.
1908 The Republican Convention nominates William Howard Taft and he becomes the 27th U.S. President.
1911 In the biggest antitrust decision in history, the U.S. Supreme Court orders the dismantling of John D. Rockefeller’s monopolistic Standard Oil Co.
1912 The Titanic sinks on April 14th-15th.
1913 President Taft endorses a constitutional amendment in authorizing a federal income tax.
1914 On June 28th, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated. This catapults Europe into World War I as President Wilson declares U. S. neutrality.
1915 Emily Ellen (Meredith) Nicholson, widow of Captain Edward W. Nicholson, passes away in Indianapolis at the age of 73 on the 6th of July. She is laid to rest beside her husband in Crown Hill Cemetery.

IILLINOIS
Cook, Macon, Morgan & Sangamon Counties
1828 Louisa Ballard, sister of Margaret and daughters of Christopher Anthony Ballard and Eleanor (Mossman), marries Ezekiel Pilcher in Springfield, Sangamon Co., Illinois on the 8th of May.
1829 Macon County is created in from Shelby County.
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.
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).
1830 On the 13th of June, John Ballard Meredith, son of Samuel C. and Margaret (Ballard) Meredith is born in Springfield, Illinois. He only survives a few months, passing on the 6th of September. Their next child is born in Piqua, Miami Co., OH. [Back to Ohio Timeline]
1841 Elizabeth Ann Hawks, daughter of William and Melinda, is born in Macon County, Illinois on the 17th of October. She later marries James Proctor Nicholson.
1850 James Nicholson arrives in Decatur, Macon Co., Illinois from Garrard County, Kentucky about this year. He was born in 1800 and is the son of James and Polly (Proctor). His wife is Emily (Willis) whom he married in 1826. Their children: James P.; Edward; Mary Ann; Edna; Sarah & Elenor.
1850
CENSUS		 Margaret (Ballard) Meredith's sister Louisa Ballard-Pilcher, is enumerated with her husband Ezekiel and their ten children (two sets of twins) living in Springfield, Illinois.  They live not far from Abraham Lincoln whom they were acquainted with (Ezekiel a carpenter, was said to have made furniture for Abe), and the home of Deputy Marshall Peter VanBergen and his wife Clarissa for whom Louisa's youngest child is named.
1860 James Proctor Nicholson, son of James & Emily (Willis), marries Elizabeth Ann Hawks on the 6th of November in Macon Co., Illinois.
1861 On the 3rd of September, James Proctor Nicholson enlists with the 7th Illinois Cavalry.
1861 Belle Nicholson, daughter of James Proctor Nicholson and Elizabeth (Hawks) is born in Long Creek Township, Macon County, Illinois on the 25th of September. She later marries Charles D. Stearns.
1863 Harriett M. Nicholson, daughter of James P. and Elizabeth (Hawks), is born in Long Creek Township, Macon County, Illinois on the 13th of September. She later marries Joseph C. Myers.
1870
CENSUS		 According to the Census of 1870 Macon Co., Illinois, the familes of James Proctor Nicholson (including James, wife Elizabeth and daughters Bell & Hatty); and James Nicholson (age 70, including Elizabeth, Ellen, and Anna and Marshall Wallace) are residing in Long Creek Township.
1880
CENSUS		 Residing in Long Creek Township in Macon Co., Illinois are the families of: James Nicholson; James Proctor Nicholson; Joseph C. Myers; and William M. Davis. Residing in Decatur is the John Lindsay family. Residing in Randolph County - not listed on website - is the James W. Pearson family including wife Ellen (Nicholson) age 25 and son Charles age three.
1880 On the 30th of September, Belle Nicholson, daughter of James P. and Elizabeth (Hawks), marries Charles D. Stearns in Macon County, Illinois.
1881 Orville Stearns, son of Charles D. and Belle (Nicholson), is born on Friday the 19th of August in Macon County, Illinois.
1885 Joseph C. Myers (born in Ohio in 1858), marries Hattie M. Nicholson, the daughter of James P. and Elizabeth (Hawks) on the 30th of August in Macon County, Illinois.
1886 At the age of 5 years, four months and three days, Orville Stearns, son of Charles D. and Belle (Nicholson) dies in Decatur. He is buried in North Fork Cemetery in Macon County, Illinois.
1889 Lawrence Myers, son of Joseph C. and Hattie M. (Nicholson) is born in January.
1889 William Morton Meredith is appointed Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C. at an annual salary of $4500.
1891 William M. Meredith, Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Pringint, assigns "the first colored young lady, Miss Frances Flood, to press, in the face of great opposition and indignation on the part of certain persons."
1891 On the 14th of November, James Nicholson, widower of Emily (Willis) and son of James and Polly (Proctor) dies in Macon Co., Illinois.
1892 James Proctor Nicholson dies in Macon County, Illinois on the 10th of June. He is survived by his widow Elizabeth (Hawks) and daughters Belle Stearns and Hattie Myers.
1894 Velma Stearns, daughter of Charles D. and Belle (Nicholson) is born on the 17th of February in Macon County, Illinois.
1908 Just past her 14th birthday, Velma Stearns, daughter of Charles D. and Belle (Nicholson) dies on Saturday the 29th of February. She is laid to rest at North Fork Cemetery.
 
 
 
 
  • 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.
  • Illinois Statewide Marriage Records 1763-1900
  • 1870, 1880 Macon County Illinois Census
  • 1850 Census Record - Wayne Co., Indiana (Centerville)
  • 1860, 1870, 1880 Census Records - Marion Co., Indiana (Indianapolis)
  • Skid Road, An Informal Portrait of Seattle by Murray Morgan; First Published in 1951 by Viking Press; Seventh Printing 2002 (p. 135-136)
 
 
Meredith Timeline (Delaware, Virginia & Ohio)
Ancestors & Descendants of Samuel C. Meredith
A Published List of 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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