My Genealogy Hound

MRS. LUCINDA MEEKINS, widow of the late Christopher H. Meekins, is a well-known and highly respected resident of Williamsburg. Christopher H. Meekins, her late husband, was born in Williamsburg, February 15, 1810, son of Stephen and Sarah (Hecox) Meekins.

Mr. Meekins’s great-grandfather, Thomas Meekins, emigrated from England, and settled in Hatfield, Mass., where he became a large land-owner and a prominent citizen. His son, Thomas (second), Mr. Meekins’s grandfather, was born in Hatfield, and from there moved to Williamsburg when it was mostly a wilderness. He bought one hundred acres of land at a nominal price, the terms including an agreement that he should settle in the town and clear the land. He succeeded in complying with the terms, although the life of a pioneer was an arduous one in those early days. He cleared and improved a valuable farm, upon which he later erected a substantial frame house. He became a well-to-do farmer, and died at the age of eighty-five years. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Carey, died at the age of sixty. Stephen Meekins, Mr. Meekins’s father, was born in Williamsburg, and was reared to agriculture. He assisted his father in improving the property and in otherwise attending to the farm. He afterward purchased a portion of the farm, built the house which now stands upon the Gilbert farm, and also erected the residence in which Mrs. Meekins now lives. He kept two hundred sheep and about thirty head of stock, and was in very prosperous circumstances when he died, at the age of seventy years. His wife, Sarah Hecox, became the mother of the following children: Hannah; Louis; Theodosia; Thomas; Christopher; Stephen; John; and two others, who died in infancy. She died at an advanced age.

Christopher H. Meekins was born at the old homestead in Williamsburg, and at an early age became proficient in agriculture. He cared for his parents during their declining years, and succeeded to the possession of the homestead by purchasing the interests of the other heirs. He was an energetic and progressive farmer, and made various improvements in his property, planting many fruit-trees, which at the present time attest his labor and industry. He also dealt largely in sheep and cattle. On February 18, 1850, Christopher H. Meekins was united in marriage to Lucinda Wolcott, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Meekins is a daughter of Luther and Rizpah (Curtis) Wolcott. The father was a native of Williamsburg, was a successful farmer, and kept a hotel. He later moved to Ulster County, New York, where he held the office of Sheriff for a number of years, and died there at the age of thirty-eight. He was a Democrat in politics and a Congregationalist in his religious belief. His wife became the mother of five children: Lucinda, Cyrus, Mehitable, Elizabeth, and Luther. She was a member of the Baptist church, and died at the age of seventy-four years.

The late Christopher Meekins was a Republican in politics; and, although most eligible for public office, he always declined to serve. He died at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Meekins has had three children, namely: Thomas W., who was born July 13, 1855, and now has charge of the home farm; Sarah L., who was born October 22, 1859, married Edward Cleary, and resides in Searsville; and Charles C., the eldest, who died in 1887, aged thirty-eight years. Mrs. Meekins is a lady who possesses many sterling traits of character. She is endowed with intellectual faculties of a high order, and has been an untiring reader of standard and instructive literature.