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Appendix A: Meaders Genealogy
Two branches of the Meaders (Meader, Meador) family, originating
possibly in southern Dorset or Devon, England, were located in America's
Northern and Soudiern Colonies by the mid-seventeenth century. The
Georgia Meaderses are most closely related to the latter branch, although
details about family members through the period of the American
Revolution are very sketchy. 1
The first Meaders to concern us is one John Meaders, a Virginian and
Revolutionary War veteran, who relocated with his wife, Mollie Justice, to
Fort Norris, Franklin County, Georgia, between 1790 and 1800. Franklin
County was created in 1784 as a haven for ex-soldiers and their families and
was early populated by Bushes, Garrisons, and Turks, as well as Meaderses,
all of whom clustered in the vicinity of the Indian fort for protection. Mollie
Meaders apparendy preceded her husband in death and is interred near Arp,
Banks County, Georgia; John Meaders seems to have removed to Tennessee
in later life and may be buried there.
John and Mollie Meaders had nine daughters and one son, Barnabas
("Barna"). Barna Meaders (1783-1861) and his wife, Jane Garrison
(1785-1879), spent their lives farming in the Fort Norris vicinity. They had
ten children including a son, Christopher.
Christopher M. Meaders (1808-1886) and his wife, Candis Garrison
(1817-1893), spent their early years at Fort Norris but traded their property
in 1848 for land in adjoining Habersham (later White) County, where the
last five of their twelve children were born. Although Christopher M.
Meaders achieved some success as a "planter" in the new locale, his fortunes
were reversed during the Civil War. Two sons lost their lives in the conflict,
leaving only one male heir, John M. Meaders.
John Milton Meaders (1850-1942) was a jack-of-all-trades. Besides
farming, he was a blacksmith, a carpenter, and a wagon freighter. He also
founded the first Meaders pottery with his six sons during the winter months
of 1892-93. These sons were Wiley Christopher (1875-1965), Caulder
(1877-1947), Cleater James (1880-1934), Casey (1881-1945), Lewis
Quillian (1885-1976), and Cheever (1887-1967). John M. Meaders and his
wife, Martha Hannah ("Mattie") Lambert (1848-1896), also raised diree
daughters, none of whom was involved in the pottery business. A sister,
Frances Luvinia ("Fanny") Meaders, married William Fowler ("Daddy Bill")
Dorsey, a neighbor potter.