Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 668 & 671; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
William W. Meek. Among the thriving establishments of
which Canton possesses her due proportion may be numbered the grocery
house of the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. It was
established about a quarter of a century since on the site it still
occupies, No. 415, South Main Street. During this period it has
grown in popularity and its proprietor has acquired a
thoroughly-established reputation as a man possessed of business tact
and honor.
In the parental line Mr. Meek is of Scotch-Irish
extraction. His father, Samuel Meek, and his mother, Susan
(Singer) Meek, were natives of Virginia, and the occupation of the
father was that of a tiller of the soil. He of whom we write was
left motherless when two years old, but remained with his father until
he had attained almost to his majority.
Mr. Meek was born in Brooke County, W. Va., in the vicinity of
Wellsburg, May 1¸1816. He had the advantage of good
instruction in private schools and when not occupied in study worked
with his father on the farm until about eighteen years old. When
twenty years of age he vegan the battle of life for himself, entering a
paper-mill as partner, being associated with two others in the
manufacture of all kinds of wrapping and printing paper. Their
establishment was at Wellsburg where our subject remained in business
three years. He then removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, and obtaining a
position as clerk in a wholesale boot and shoe house, was thus occupied
three years.
In the fall of 857 Mr. Meek turned his footsteps westward,
making his first settlement at Liverpool, this county, in which place
he sojourned three years. At the expiration of that time he
removed to Canton and for three years served as a clerk in the general
mercantile establishment of David Williams. We next find him
established in the business which he is still successfully conducting.
The wife of our subject was known in her girlhood as Miss Anna
Doddridge. She was born in Wellsburg, Va., July 30, 820, her
father, Philip Doddridge, being of English descent and her mother of
Pennsylvania ancestry. She was united to our subject in 8 and has
continually proved her worth as a capable housewife, a sympathizing
companion and a devoted mother. Mr. and Mrs. Meek have four
living children, the youngest, Laura, being still at home. Julia
is the wife of Milo Farwell, now residing in Kansas; Anna married Frank
Randolph, of this county; Nellie is the wife of Frank Farwell, their
home being in Kansas. Mr. Meek is a believer in and a supporter
of the principles advocated by the Republican party. A
law-abiding citizen, possessed of good social qualities and excellent
character, he is held in good repute by neighbors and friends.
