JAMES W. MEADOR

DR. JAMES W. MEADOR, Ohio County, was born November 6, 1838, in Breckinridge County, Ky., where he attained his majority, and in 1864, removed to Pattieville, Ohio County, where he has since resided. His father, Jubal Meador, a native of Bedford County, Va. , was born February 26, 1800, and is now living in Breckinridge County, where he located in 1810. He is the son of William Meador, a soldier at Yorktown, in the Revolutionary war, who died in 1823. He was of English extraction. Jubal married Elizabeth, daughter of William Hanks, of Breckinridge County, Ky., and to them were born Eliza (Parson), Thomas, Margaret (Overton), William, John P., Rhoda (Carwile), Elizabeth (McCann), and Dr. J. W. Meador.  Dr. Meador was married, in 1859, to America V., daughter of Samuel and Nellie (Maxwell) Matthews, of Ohio County; she was born June 2, 1839, and departed this life October 30, 1881. In 1861, Dr. Meador commenced the study of medicine, and in 1864 was with Dr. T. N. Warfield, of Cloverport, for seven months, and then located at Pattieville, where he practiced his profession four years. In 1868 he attended lectures at the University of Louisville, from which he graduated in 1869, and has since that time been successfully engaged in his chosen calling. He is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, is connected with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in politics is a Republican. In 1873-74, and again in 1877-78, Dr. Meador was chosen by his fellow-citizens as their representative in the legislature of Kentucky.

Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Note:  Dr. Meador died 13 Jan 1904 in Ohio County and is buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Ohio County.

Son of Jubal & Elizabeth "Hanks" Meador. Husband of 1. America V. "Matthews" Meador married Feb. 8. 1859. 2. Mattie "Herndon" Meador. In Memory of Dr. J.W. Meador. Life's fitful fever is over and great and kindly soul sleeps well, and I will endeavor, though somewhat tardily, to do what in life I promised my friend I would do. James W. Meador was born in Breckenridge county on November 8, 1838, and spent his youth and early manhood in the manner of a country boy of that period. He chose the profession of medicine, and was graduated from the University of Louisville in 1869 with distinguished credit. He located at Shreve in Ohio county where he entered at once upon a lucrative practice which, together with implicit confidence of the people, he held until his death. Such was his popularity that in 1873 the Republicans of the county nominated him for Representative, believing that he was only man that could overcome a very large Democratic majority. After a closely contested election, he was elected over his opponent, Wm Coleman, by a substantial majority, being the first Republican to carry the county. Again in 1877 he was elected a member of the General Assembly and, as before, he served with distinction the people who had honored him. In both elections he was given almost a solid vote from his home country. He was an able stump speaker, and a unique and successful campaigner. In the political annals of the county no man ever stood higher in his party councils, or enjoyed the respect and consideration of his adversaries more. But, eminent as he was in public life, it was in the practice of his profession that he showed himself to be a public benefactor. With him there was no distinction between prince and peasant. He answered the call and ministered to the wants of the humbly poor with the same alacrity that he answered the summons of those in affluence. He showed by his self sacrifice in his effort to aid others that wherever the path of duty and honor may have led, however steep and rugged it may have been, he was ready to walk in it. Commonplace as it may seem, he realized that this doing of his duty embodied the highest ideal of life and character. While there have been nothing heroic in his faithful performance of duty, and the common lot of man is not heroic, yet was it not magnificent? The sense of having alleviated suffering, mitigated sorrow, of duty performed, that was with him through a long and eventful life, was no doubt with him to console and sustain in that scene of inconceivable solemnity which marked its close. In his spare moments he found time to acquaint himself with every subject that engaged the thinking minds of the age, and especially did he love---the bards sublime whose distant footsteps echo down the corridors of time. In 1893 he supplemented his medical training with a post graduate course in the Chicago Policlinic. In his county he stood without a peer in his profession, and as a general practicionor he had few equals. His profound research, his depth of thought, his extensive travel, his congeniality, and his sympathetic heart made him a delightful associate. Though affliction cast a shadow over his later life, to his friends he was ever the same. In his death the people among whom he practiced sustained a loss they could hardly realize. On the evening of January 13th, 1904, after a brave but ineffectual struggle against the dissolution which comes to us all, the last flickering shadows or the evening of life faded, and he fell quietly to sleep to be awakened only by the final trumpet call. In life he built his own monument; in death he need his no eulogy. He left a wife and all his acquaintances to mourn his sad demise. Kind hands and loving hearts prepared for him a vault in the Pleasant Grove cemetery which will, no doubt, defy the unkind touch of relentless time. Here on the afternoon of January 19, after an address by Dr. Godsey, he was laid quietly to rest in the presence of a vast concourse of his friends, among the scenes of his early life its noonday, and its close. He was sixty five years old. His death was due to a complication of troubles. To me Dr. Meador was ever a loyal friend, and his many acts of kindness and words of social cheer will ever be held in enduring and grateful remembrance. J.M.D.