Gilderoy Meader, son of William Meader (1785-1880) [0080] and Mary Ann Bradbury (b.1805), was born in Maine, probably Industry, March 4, 1828. In 1845 he apparently moved with his parents to Rock Island County, IL. He was a carpenter and boatman. He enlisted at Port Byron in the Union Army September 5, 1861. Taken prisoner at Trenton, TN December 20, 1862, he was paroled and sent to Benton Barracks, MO. He was discharged at Benton May 4, 1863 because of disease contracted in the service. In the fall of 1863 he took work on a Mississippi steamer and went south for his health. Either he or his wife seems to have applied for a pension in December, 1886.

August 25, 1853 at Rock Island he married Sarah Wallace, widow of Alexander Wallace who had died in Iowa in 1851. Born in December, 1832, she died in Iowa April 4, 1907. She brought to her marriage to Gilderoy Meader three children by her former husband: Alexander, born in Illinois about 1847; Hiland, born in Illinois about 1848; and Flora, born in Iowa about 1850.