0185. Ezekiel Elliott Meader (1814 - 1896)
Born: 1814
Died: 1896
0185. Ezekiel Elliott Meader (1814 - 1896)
Ezekiel Elliott Meader, son of Elder Henry Meader (1789-1867) [0082] and Sally Young (1793-1880), was born May 31, 1814, probably in Gardiner, Kennebec, ME, and died, probably in Hesper, near Decorah, IA, February 13, 1896. January 1, 1836 he married Lydia Ann Felker, born December 25, 1815 and died October 28, 1906.
He went out to Milan, Ripley, IN, where some New England families had settled. He returned to Maine, but in a short time he started again for Milan with a few belongings, his wife and baby, and a chest of carpenter's tools. He took up some land and worked at his trade as carpenter. His wife was a worker.
They remained in Indiana until most of the children had been born and the place became too strait for them. Soon three families, including the Meaders, sold their farms, fitted up prairie schooners and started for IA. They found a desirable location on the Upper Iowa River at Hesper, where most of the family later lived. Ezekiel soon had more than 700 acres of land. He had some money, which he lent to new settlers. Everything he touched seemed to prosper. When his boys came of age, he gave each 80 acres of land, enough timber to fence it, a yoke of oxen and a suit of clothes. Then they had to shift for themselves. He kept 300 acres as the home farm, and he died wealthy.
The children of Ezekiel Meader and Lydia Felker were:
i. John Henry Meader, born October 31, 1836 and died August 15, 1843.
0321 ii. Charles Edwin Meader, born December 18, 1838 and died September 9, 1887.
0322 iii. Myron Elliott Meader, born March 17, 1841 and died April 14, 1920.
0323 iv. Tudor Gardiner Meader, born January 5, 1843.
0324 v. Augustus Hallowell Meader, born January 3, 1846.
0325 vi. George Emerald Meader, born October 28, 1849.
0326 vii. Alphonso Henry Meader, born November 1, 1853.
0327 viii. Lillie Lawrence Meader, born February 19, 1857.