MEALEY, Thomas S., M.D.
MEALEY, BLAINE, GRIFFITH, CARPENTER, PARSCHALL, SMITH
Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 8/18/2007 at 11:19:34
Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa, Printed 1890 by Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 253-255
Thomas S. MEALEY, M.D., whose home is situated on section 11, Penn Township, Jefferson County, has resided in Iowa since the territorial days, the date of his coming being 1842. The name of MEALEY is prominently connected with the early history of the State. His father was one of the large landowners of Washington County and for years a prominent citizen of that region. It was in 1740 that Lawrence MEALEY, the founder of the family in America, left his home in Scotland and crossed the Atlantic to the New World. He made a settlement in the colony of Pennsylvania, near Carlisle, and followed farming as a means of livelihood. When the war broke out in which the people bravely battled for independence, he enlisted in the ranks and at the battle of Long Island was taken prisoner. However, he was afterward freed and at the close of the struggle was honorably discharged. He died in West Virginia.
Samuel MEALEY, son of Lawrence and the father of our subject, was born on the 1st of May, 1782, in Carlisle, Pa., and was one of seven children. His early years were spent on a farm in West Virginia which his father had obtained with money received for his services in the Revolution. He received liberal educational advantages and was graduated from William and Mary's College where he was a schoolmate of Gen. Scott. He then studied medicine in Philadelphia and embarked in the practice of his chosen profession in Pennsylvania. During the War of 1812, in which he served in the One Hundred Twenty-second Pennsylvania Regiment, he became one of the principal surgeons on the northern frontier. Like his father he was a faithful soldier and participated in the battle of Lundy's Lane, Eric and Black Rock. The year 1840 witnessed his arrival in the Territory of Iowa. He made a location in Dutch Creek Township, Washington County, where he purchased five thousand acres of land. He was worth some $40,000 -- a great amount in that day. In 1852, he sold his land to his son and removed to Brighton, where his death occurred February 17, 1875.
In Pennsylvania, Mr. MEALEY was united in marriage with Miss Margaret BLAINE, whose father was Ephraim BLAINE, a native of Scotland and an officer in the British Army before he emigrated to America. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island at the same time that Lawrence M. MEALEY, the paternal grandfather of our subject was captured. Mrs. MEALEY was a great-aunt of the illustrious James G. BLAINE. Her death also occurred in Brighton at the age of seventy-nine years. Of the four sons born unto that worthy couple three engaged in the practice of medicine -- Washington, William and Thomas. The first named, who was the eldest of the family, died in Oregon; James, the second son, who followed farming, died in Jefferson County, and William departed this life in Des Moines. The parents were life-long members of the Presbyterian Church. In the various communities where he resided, Mr. MEALEY was recognized as a prominent and influential citizen. He was a stanch supporter of Democratic principles and while residing in Pennsylvania was honored with an election to the State Legislature. He felt the greatest opposition to all secret societies, desiring to be connected with nothing which was not open and above board. He was not afraid to have his own acts questioned, for his life was one of the strictest integrity and uprightness and his name was above reproach.
We now take up the personal history of the fourth son of Samuel and Margaret MEALEY, as the one in whom the people of Jefferson County are especially interested. The Doctor was born in Perry County, Pa., on the 1st of January, 1818, and spent his boyhood days in the school room, where he acquired a good English education. He made choice of his father's profession as a life work and at the age of nineteen years entered the Jefferson Medical College, after which he pursued his studies in the Pennsylvania Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania, all of which are located in Philadelphia. At the age of twenty-one, he was graduated and a year later made a permanent location in Iowa. He had visited the territory in 1840, but in 1842 opened an office in Washington County, where he practiced for two years. He then removed to Brighton where he continued to practice for some thirteen years, when he came to Jefferson County and located upon land in Penn Township, adjoining his present farm. An extensive practice soon greeted him and he was recognized as one of the leading physicians of the county. He also became owner of about eight hundred acres of land which as the result of his care and cultivation yielded him an excellent income.
Returning to his native State, in October, 1842, Mr. MEALEY was united in marriage with Miss Clara GRIFFITH, but after a short married life she was called home, dying of consumption. In Brighton, in 1848, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Louisa CARPENTER, who died of cholera in July, 1854, and in 1856 he was a third time married, the lady of his choice being Miss Jane PARSCHALL. Their union was celebrated in Brighton and has been blessed with a family of four sons and two daughters yet living. They also lost one child -- Charles, who was born in June, 1857, and was killed on the railroad in New Mexico, in November, 1884; Ira, born in May, 1858, is engaged in mining in the Black Hills; Samuel, born in February, 1859, is the owner of a ranch in Oregon; Lake is the wife of William G. SMITH, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, his home being in Golden; Blaine, born June 21, 1864, is a painter of New Mexico; George, born May 10, 1866, is running a livery in Pleasant Plain; and Gertrude, born April 3, 1876, is still at home.
Dr. MEALEY has provided his children with good educational advantages, all having attended the academy at Pleasant Plains (sic). He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church at that place, and are numbered among its active workers, the Doctor being one of the Deacons. In an early day he was an Abolitionist and his home was a station on the Underground Railroad. During the late war the Doctor attended the families of soldiers free of charge all the time. He cast his first Presidential vote for Freemont in 1856, and has since been a stalwart Republican, although not a politician. On election day he generally deposits the first ballot and then leaves the polls, not wishing to be mixed up in the crowd which generally surrounds such a place. He is always found on the side of morality and the cause of temperance finds in him a most faithful friend. He supports all prohibition movements and was one of the most active workers in support of the prohibitory amendment. As a citizen he is public spirited and ready to aid in the advancement of any enterprise calculated to benefit the community. He has taken part in the wonderful development of the county and has aided in its growth and progress. He lived in Washington County when the Indians were so numerous that at one time there were two hundred encamped in his yard for a week, and after his removal to Jefferson County an Indian lookout tree stood in his field. He also had another encounter with the Indians while on his way to Colorado in 1866. The party were attacked one moonlight night (sic) at Bovee Station, by a band of the red skins and in the encounter nine Indians were killed but the white men lost none. Dr. MEALEY is now living a retired life, enjoying the fruits of former toil and the respect and high regard of his neighbors and friends.
*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.
Note: Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, Brighton, Washington Co., IA, as are two of his three wives.
Jefferson Biographies maintained by Joey Stark.
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