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Jim —kept it alive until 1938. Aside from a single Meaders establishment,
only Loy Skelton's pottery persisted into the 1940s before
death claimed his chief turner, Will Hewell.
All of John M. Meaders's sons (except Caulder, who opted for the
life of a "railroad man") pursued the potter's trade through this twilight
period (fig. 5). The two oldest brothers, Wiley and Cleater, built their
first shop together across the creek below their father's pottery
sometime after 1910. Around 1920 the two parted company; Wiley, a
bachelor until his middle years, moved to a new location due east of
the family homeplace, and Cleater relocated in Cleveland, where he
worked with his nine children before his death in 1934. dealer's sons
continued to operate this pottery for another four years before
abandoning the effort and moving to Adanta. 8 Casey, after marrying
in 1917, located his shop down by the bridge. A short time later he left
White County altogether for the life of a journeyman potter in the
Carolinas. Although Q. never established his own shop, his work as a
wagoner was invaluable to the family and continued through his
retirement around 1945. For his part, Cheever, the youngest son, fell
heir to the shop across the road from the homeplace — the original and
present Meaders pottery.
CHEEVER MEADERS
Cheever Meaders gave as his birth date January 21, 1887, although
a family Bible records the event as occurring one day later. Of average
height and weight, Cheever had few outstanding physical characteristics.
His quick wit, sociable style, and quiet, determined way did
stand, however, in marked contrast to the dark manner of his fadier.
As the youngest of the six Meaders boys, it was only normal that he
should join them in the family industry. Having completed his formal
schooling in the fourth grade, Cheever entered into pottery-making
full time and was an accomplished turner by the age of fifteen. One of
the advantages of Cheever's junior status among the brothers was
that, unlike them, he was never impelled to move away from the
homeplace to establish his own shop. Instead, when John M.
Meaders built a new cottage for his immediate family in 1919, just a
few hundred yards below the pottery, Cheever and his wife of five
years, Arie, moved in as well.
Eight children—a like number of sons and daughters — were born