1043. Martha E. Meader (1845 - 1894)
Born: 1845
Died: 1894
1043. Martha E. Meader (1845 - 1894)
Martha E. Meader, daughter of Samuel J. Meader (1818-1900) [1018] and Sarah Scribner (1824-1860), was born September 26, 1845 in Henry Co., OH and died February 18, 1894 in Polk Co., IA. December 13, 1862 in Folk Co. she married James McClay, born August 6, 1829 in Milton, IN the son of Richard McClay of Ireland and Sarah Young. The McClays came to Iowa in the same wagon train as the Samuel Meaders in 1854 from Milton. The Meaders left Ohio after Harlan's birth and may have lived in Milton for a while.
The James McClays were unwilling hosts to the Jesse James gang in 1878. The gang of eight men rode into the yard and took over the kitchen of the McClay home. They slept on the kitchen floor with their guns at their sides while the McClay family stayed very quietly in the other part of the small farm home. Martha McClay had baked bread, and that was all they asked in the way of food her baked bread and coffee. The next morning before dawn they were up and on their horses and were gone.
The children of Martha Meader and James McClay were:
i. Sarah Ann McClay, born October 23, 1863 in Franklin Township. February 14, 1883 she married James W. Davis. They had four children. She died in February, 1942.
ii. William E. McClay, born in 1866 and died June 7, 1962 in Des Moines.
iii. Owen McClay, born in 1869. He married Isa McQueen. They moved to New Mexico, where he engaged in the mortuary business. They had one daughter.
iv. George E. McClay, born November 8, 1871 and died at the house where he was born March 7, 1942. He married Iva Baker of Mingo November 4, 1914. They had three children.
- [Deloris Meader, Bayport, MN]