Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/353

 MEECH

MEEK

MEECH, Ezra* representative, was born in New Loudon, Conn., July 26, 1773. He removed to Hiaesburgli, Vt., with his parents in 1785, attended the district school, and was a hunter and trapper. He engaged in the fur trade, and became associated with John Jacob Astor. He oiHjned a store at Charlotte Four Corners, Vt., in 1795; conducted a farir^ and store in Shelburne, Vt., and was agent of the Northwest Fur com- pany for several years from 1800. During the war of 1812 lie supplied the U.S. government and army with provisions, and at its close re- turned to the lumber business in Canada. He also cultivated a farm of 3,000 acres, and was at the time of his deutii one of the largest land- owners in Vermont. He was a representative in the Vermont legislature in 1805 and 1807; a rep- resentative from Vermont in the 18th congress, 1819-21, and in the 19th congress, 1825-27. He was a delegate to the Vermont constitutional .conventions of 1822 and 1826; chief-justice of Crittenden county, 1822-23 and was a presiden- tial elector on the Harrison and Tyler ticket in 1841. He was married, in 1800, to Mary McNiel, and after her death, to Mre. L. C. Clark. He died in Shelburne, Vt., Sept. 23, 1856.

MEEHAN, Thomas, botanist and horticult- urist, was born at Potter's Bar, Middlesex, Eng- land, March 21, 1826. Graduating at New Gardens, he came to Philadelphia in 1848, under an engagement with Robert Buist, a famous nurseryman, to take charge of his new establish- ment at Rosedale. He had charge of the cele- brated Bartram gardens and Springbrook, 1848- 53, and in 1853 started his botanical nursery in Germantown. He was honorary professor of botany in many societies, including the Pennsyl- vania Horticultural society and the state board of agriculture of Pennsylvania. He was elected vice-president of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences of Philadelphia in 1877, and held the office for several years; was a director of the public schools of Philadelphia, 1878-1901, and a member of the common council of that city, 1883-1901. He edited the Oardener''s Monthly, 1859-90, was on the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Forney's Press, 1865-81, and a regular editorial contributor to the science department of the New York In- dependent, 1859-89. In botany the genus 5Iee- hania was named in his honor. His contribu- tions to vegetable biology form a valuable a<ldi- tion to science and the issue of the " Index of the Royal Society of I^ondon " in 1883 gives the titles of 121 of his more important papers, a not- able discovery being the law that the female sex in flowers is determined in the early embryonic stage by a higher degree of life energy. He is the author of: Handbook of Ornamental Trees (1853); Flowers and Ferns of the United States

(1878), which was continued in successive series by Thomas Meehan's sons as Meefian's Monthly, and the botanical articles in the Cyclojxjedia Americana. He married, in 1852, Catharine Emma, daugJiter of William and Mary (Gaul) Colflesh of Philadelphia. His ehlest son, Will- iam Edward Meehan, of the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Ledger, was a volunteer on the original Peary research party to Greenland and, three other sons succeeded their father in business. He died in Germantewn, Pa., Nov. 19, 1901.

MEEK, Alexander Beaufort, jurist, was born in Columbia, S.C, July 17, 1814; son of the Rev.

Sanmol and (McDowell) Meek. His

father was a physician, as well as a Methodist clergyman, and removed his family to Tusca- loosa, Ala., when Alexander was a lx)y. He waa graduated at the University of Alabama, A.B., 1833, A.M., 1836; was admitted to the bar in 1835, and practised in Tuscaloosa. He served in the Florida war in 1836, and was appointed at- torney-general of Alabama by Governor Clay in 1836 to fill a vacancy, and served one year; was editor of the Flag of the Union, Tuscaloosa, 1835- 39, and of the Southron, a literary magazine, 1839- 42. He was judge of the probate court of Tusca- loosa county, 1842; assistant secretary of the U.S. treasury, 1845-47, and U.S. attorney for the southern district of Alabama, 1847-49. He was an associate editor of the Mobile Daily Reg- ister, 1851-58; represented Mobile in the Alabama general assembly, 1853-55, and as chairman of the committee on education secured the estab- lishment of a system of free public schools in the state. He was judge of the probate court of Mobile, 1854-55; a presictential elector on the Buchanan and Breckinridge ticket in 1856, and a. representative in the general assembly and speaker of the house, 1859-61. He was married, first, to the widow of Hoi)e Hull Slatter of Mobile, and secondly, to Miss Cannon of Columbus, Miss., to which place he removed and devoted himself ta literature. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the University of Georgia in 1884, and was a trustee of the University of Alabama, 1862- 64. He prepared a supplement to Aiken's ** Digest of Alabama " in 1842, and is the author of: Red Eagle (1855); Songs and Poems of the Southron (1857); Romantic Passages in Southirentern His- tory (1857), and an unfinished History of Ala- bama. He died in ColiunVius, Miss., Nov. 30, 1865.

MEEK, Fielding Bradford, paleontologist, was- born in Madison, Ind., Dec. 10, 1817. His father, a lawyer, died in 1820. His paternal ancestors were Presbyterians, who came from county Armagh, Ireland, to America in 1768, and settled in liamilton county, Ohio. He attended the pub- lic schools, and became clerk in a store, first in Madison, and afterward in Owensboro, Ky., and