Alvin A. Meader, son of Edward Meader (1785-1860) [0139] and Sarah Brooks (1798-1870), was born January 1, 1820 in that part of Edgecomb, ME which was later incorporated into Westport, in the Boothbay/Bath area. He died in 1905.

May 8, 1845 he married Lydia Maria Sewall at her father's house. Rev. Elias Wells officiated. She was born April 25, 1816 and died April 5, 1890. She was a descendant of Henry Sewall and Jane Dummer, who came from Coventry, England, in 1634 and settled in Newbury, MA. They were the ancestors of all of that name in New England and Canada.

Since Alvin Meader lived near the coast in Maine, his early life was spent on the farm and in the fishing and coasting trade. His schooling was limited: two or three months in the schools of the town during winters until he was 16. Of the next five years, two winters were spent in the Parsonfield Seminary, York, ME, and the other three teaching in the public schools of Edgecomb and Boothbay. In 1841 he spent two years as a student in the Smithville Seminary in Rhode Island under the care of the Rev. Hosea Quimby, teaching in the winter months. After this he taught in different towns in Rhode Island until 1860, when he was called to take charge of the schools in West Chester, PA. After that, Pennsylvania was his home with the exception of two years spent in New Castle, DE. From 1882 to 1890 he was connected with the publishing house of A. S. Barnes and Company. After that he had no permanent employment.

He compiled the 1900 Meader genealogy manuscript “A Genealogical and historical Sketch of John Meader and Some of His Descendants.” References to this manuscript are found throughout the genealogy listings.