Joel Meader, son of Joel Meader (1781-a.1850) [0123] and Rebecca Austin (  –  ), was born, possibly in Ferrisburg, VT, in 1822 or 1823. In the 1840 Census he is probably the male child, 15-20, listed as living with Joel, Sr. in Elkhart County, IN. In the 1850 Census he is listed in La Porte, IN as 27 years old, born in Vermont and married to an Emana, then 19, born in Moses Pike, OH. In the 1860 Census he was living in Johnson County, IA and married to an Essena [sic], aged 29, born in Ohio. Apparently she died before the 1870 Census, which lists him as then a farm laborer at Swede's Point, Douglas Township, Boone County, IA.