CENTRE LINES

The MEEK Family

This column is part of a feature series which focuses on a different Centre County family each week. Five new columns will be released each month unless some technical difficulty enters the picture.

This column's focus is on Meek. An effort has been made to identify all persons carrying that name in the 1890 U.S. Census, using the Centre County business directory which was formed from a preliminary review of that census before the larger set of 1890 U.S. Census records was destroyed by fire. (Sadly, the postal directory does not typically provide the ages of females, but it's the best record we've got).

There is one book in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte that apparently deal in part with the Meek family. It is: Barbara Bruggebors' The Private War of Peter Gray Meek (1975).

There are 19 first-name entries for Meek in John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton County (1883). In addition, there are several mentions of the name in Beers' Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (1898).

And, now, your ancestors' Meek neighbors in 1890:

BELLEFONTE Borough:

P. Gray, editor "Democratic Watchman"--240 W. High Susan M. Rachael L. Mary G. Elizabeth B. George R. 19 Nellie Winifred

FERGUSON Township:

David G., 45, farmer--Fairbrook Emma William E., 52, retired--Pine Grove Mills Milburta M.

HALFMOON Township:

Maria--Stormstown

PATTON Township:

Dempster, 46, farmer--Buffalo Run Margery Herbert 20 Benner 16 Reuben 13 Mary John 7 Susan Lester Theressa--Benore Sarah

RUSH Township:

John, 22, miner--Osceola Emma John, 50, miner--Osceola Martha Benjamin 20 Frederick 16 Elizabeth Jabeth 13 Edith Clara