My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM HENRY MEIGS, the only son of William Hughes and Rachel Nevin (Williams) Meigs, was born in Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1844. He was reared on a farm which his father owned at the time. He attended public school in the vicinity known as Mount Pleasant, until his sixteenth year, from which time he devoted his whole attention to rendering assistance to his father on the farm, and thus continued until his nineteenth year, when he left home to work for William H. Crawford, a farmer of Lower Merion, with whom he remained four years. He then entered the employment of J. Hagey Yocum, a farmer of Mount Pleasant. While thus employed he married, January 21, 1869, Lydia Emily, born November 1, 1844, daughter of Joseph and Jane (Llewellyn) Keech, of Lower Merion. Her father was a farmer.

In the spring of 1869, a few months after his marriage, Mr. Meigs established himself as a farmer upon the property of Norman Egbert, where he remained one year. He then removed to the “Codorus” farm of Mrs. Naomi Morris, in Lower Merion, which he cultivated until the spring of 1876, when he removed to the farm owned by the estate of Benjamin E. Yocum, which he cultivated until 1880. He then bought the farm of William Davis, near West Spring Mill, in Lower Merion, which contains sixty-five acres of highly improved land. After operating the farm for eight years, Mr. Meigs sold it to Howard Wood, and in 1888 purchased the Luke David property on the state road in Whitpain township, near Washington Square, containing forty-three acres of land.

Mr. Meigs has greatly improved the property and buildings, which were considerably out of repair at the time that he bought the farm. Mr. Meigs follows general farming and trucking, disposing of his products in the market at Twenty- third street and Columbia avenue, Philadelphia. He calls his home “Sunnyside,” because of the southern exposure. The site is elevated and commands a view of the surrounding country to the south and west for many miles. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Meigs: Mary Emily, born November 21, 1869, married Charles White, whose mother was Eliza McAfee, their children being: Georgine, Eliza, Charles Valentine, Willliam McKinley, Emily Deal, Frank, Rachel Wood, and one who died in infancy: Jane Keech, born September 3, 1871, married Artemus E., son of William H. and Deborah (Brown) Roberts, of Plymouth township, they living at Bryn Mawr, and having four children: Artemus, Clarence, Bertha Meigs, born January 29, 1897, Roy; William Henry, born July 12, 1873, lives at Pencoyd Farm, Lower Merion; Elizabeth Llewellyn, born January 1, 1876, married Clarence A., son of Zieber Marple and his wife Amanda, of Gwynedd township, their children being Iola, Emily, Louisa, Royal; Lydia Lampertis, born September 17, 1880, married Benjamin Franklin, son of E. F. Famous, of the “Willows,” Whitpain township, having two children, Emanuel Ballinger and Benjamin Franklin; Bertha Lucretia Garfield, born January 31, 1883 died November 15, 1899; Irwin Beaver, born October 11, 1886, lives at “Sunnyside” and assists in the management of the farm.

Mr. Meigs is a Republican in politics, as were his father and grandfather, they having been in succession members of the Federalist and old Whig parties. Mr. Meigs has always taken an active interest in party affairs, and has served as a member of the vigilance committee, delegate to county conventions, etc., although he has never been an aspirant for other office.

William Hughes Meigs (father) was the son of Richard Meigs, who came from England to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and married Hannah Hopp. William Hughes Meigs (father) was born in Lower Merion. His children: Hannah, born January 16, 1832, married George Deal, of Lower Merion, whose widow lives in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, her child being Howell Evans; Emily, born in February, 1834, died unmarried; William Henry, subject of this sketch.

The Llewellyns are an old family of Lower Merion. Mrs. William Henry Meigs is a descendant of John Llewellyn, of Lower Merion, who was the son of Morris Llewellyn. The ancestor of the family came from Wales, and was among the purchasers of property in Lower Merion in William Penn’s time.

Joseph and Jane (Llewellyn) Keech had the following children: Jacob Morris, born November 30, 1841, married Charlotte, daughter of Evan G. Jones, who served as county treasurer of Montgomery, they living at Gladwyn, and having no children; Joseph Llewellyn, born July 15, 1843, married Mary, daughter of James and Mary Ann (Finney) Dixon, of Lower Merion township, they living at Gladwyn, and their children being: Annie Dixon, married Ellwood Claypole, of Bryn Mawr, and having one child, Roy; Mary Emily, resides at Gladwyn and is unmarried; Ella Virginia, resides at Gladwyn, where she is a teacher in the public schools; Joseph Llewellyn, married and had one child, Joseph Llewellyn, Jr.; Mrs. Meigs; Jesse Vandegrift, born July 12, 1849, died 1853.