by Rocky Macy
Thomas MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1758, to Ambrose and Frances “Frankie” (HIX) MEADOR. He married Alice DOWELL on January 9th, 1783. Thomas MEADOR died between January 23, 1823, when his will was drawn up and signed, and June 16th, 1823, when his will was presented for probate in the Breckenridge County Court at Hardinsburg, Kentucky.
Alice DOWELL was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1768. She died on October 6th, 1826, near Hardinsburg in Breckenridge County, Kentucky,
Thomas and Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR were my g-g-g-g-grandparents.
(The family surname of “Meador” is presented in various accounts and documents as “Meadow,” “Meadows,” and even “Medder.” “Meador” is the most common spelling and the one that was used in Thomas’s will and probate paperwork.)
Thomas and Alice had at least eight children:
- Margaret MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on September 14th, 1783. She married Anderson WOOD on August 3rd, 1800. Margaret passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on August 27th, 1852.
- Drucilla MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1785. She married William FAULKNER on October 29th, 1804. Drucilla passed away before 1823.
- Mary MEADOR (also called “Polly”) was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1787. She married John W. TABOR in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on March 30th, 1819. Mary passed away in 1856.
- Frances MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1796. She married Jacob CLEMMONS in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 9th, 1811. Frances passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on March 19, 1880.
- Alcey MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1800. She married David SMITH in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 24th, 1822. Alcey passed away in 1833.
- Jubal MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on February 26th, 1800. He married Elizabeth HANKS on May 10th, 1821. Jubal passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, in 1894.
- Thomas MEADOR (my ancestor) was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on January 11th, 1805. He married Sarah “Sallie” SNYDER in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 30th, 1823. Thomas passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on February 3rd, 1880.
- Rhoda MEADOR was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, in 1808. She married Israel JARED in Kentucky in 1827. Rhoda passed away in Jasper County, Illinois, on August 1, 1874.
The 1810 census entry for Thomas and his family included two males under 10: Thomas (the younger), and perhaps a grandson belonging to either Margaret or Drucilla; one male aged 10-15: (Jubal); one male over 45: Thomas (the elder); two females under 10: Rhoda and Alcey; one female 10-15: Frances; and one female 26-44: Alice. The three oldest girls appear to have not been residing with the family in 1810. Margaret and Drucilla were already married, and Mary would have been twenty-three-years-old and possibly residing elsewhere.
Jane MEADOR NEWTON and Wathena KENNEDY MILLER authored a book entitled “Descendants of Ambrose Meador.” The volume contained 240 pages and was published on January 1st, 1988. I have been unable to locate a copy of their work, but it is referenced extensively at Ancestry.com. The following passage was included in multiple Ancestry accounts, and it appears to have been based on family records and stories:
“About 1806 Thomas Meador - son of Ambrose and Franky Hix Meador, and his family, along with other family members and relatives, came to Breckenridge County, KY. The exact route they used to travel is not known.
“The trip was made in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. There were two slaves who accompanied them on the journey across the wilderness trail. Thomas settled one mile northeast of Hardinsburg, KY.
“The land Thomas Meador acquired consisted of several hundred acres. It is not known whether he bought all the land, or whether it was the land grant given to him in Breckenridge County, KY, for services he rendered in the Revolutionary War.
“When Thomas and his family reached their new land in KY, they had to live in the covered wagons until a house could be built. A site was selected near the center of the farm close to a spring of water. Logs were cut and the house was soon under construction. This was a large one-room log house with a huge fireplace made of fieldstones. When the house was finished, land was cleared for crops and timber cut for a barn.
“Thomas Meador was a hard worker, a tiller of the soil, as he wanted better things for his family. His one dream was a large, colonial type house made of brick. It was to have six rooms for the family, a basement for the slaves to live in, and the log room in back to be used for a kitchen.
“Near the site where the house was to be built, red clay was obtained for the bricks, made into the size desirable, and placed into an oven to bake. The inside of the house was plastered with mortar made from sand, lime, and water. The sand was hauled from a creek nearby which to this day bears the name of Meador Creek. Both the interior and exterior was of southern-colonial architecture. The restful lines, the steepness of the roof, the high narrow windows, the free-standing chimneys, the old house carried out the slave day traditions.
“It is not known if Thomas lived to see his dream come true. He died sometime between 23 January and 16 June 1823, when his will was probated for the county court held for the County of Breckenridge in Hardinsburg, KY, 16 June 1823. As one reads this will you would think he did see his dream come true. While others say his youngest son, Thomas Meador, Jr., had the house built ca. 1825.
“A picture of the Meador Homestead was taken in the late 1930’s and the house was well over one hundred years old. The family had retained ownership until ca. 1939-40 when the land was sold. At this time a deed of right-of-way to the Meador Family Cemetery was obtained so any of the Meador family descendants can feel free to go to the cemetery at any time.
“There are many changes at the old homestead. The house burned 1941-42, barns and other buildings are gone. Only the family cemetery remains, where almost five generations of the family are buried. The cedar tree that was planted in the cemetery by the two old slaves was the marker for their graves. Other trees still towering toward Heaven is all that breaks the solitude of the dead buried in this little country graveyard.
“To our knowledge, the last Meador descendant buried in this cemetery was in 1947 when George T. Simmons was buried on 20 June 1947. George T. Simmons was a great-great-grandson of Thomas Meador.
“Thomas Meador was in the Revolutionary War serving in General Nelson’s Corps of Light Dragoons, VA McAlister Virginia Militia. For this service of Thomas Meador, Mrs. Grace Lee Galloway, Henderson, KY, placed application for membership to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was accepted. She descends through Jubal Meador, a son of Thomas Meador.”
Thomas MEADOR must have been ill or at least feeling his age (around 65) when he drew up signed his will on January 23rd of 1823 because he was deceased and the will filed for probate less than five months later. That will, which was quite detailed, gives insight into Thomas’s character as well as to the customs of the times in which he lived. It is on file with the Breckenridge County Clerk in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. The will of Thomas MEADOR reads as follows:
“In the name of God Amen, I Thomas Meador of Breckinridge County and state of Kentucky being weak in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory, blessed be Almighty God for the same do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following, that is to say, First, I give and devise to my eldest son Jubal Meador his heirs and assigns forever fifty acres of land situate lying and being in the county of Breckinridge and state of Kentucky and to be taken out of that part of my premises adjoining John Squires, John Harding, and Margaret Huston to have and to hold forever. I also give and bequeath to my beloved wife Ayley Meador all the balance of my land being 120 acres to have and to hold the same during her mortal life and at her death to belong to my youngest son Thomas Meador jr and his heirs forever. I also give and bequeath to my youngest daughter Rhoda Meador one bed and furniture and one cow. I do also give and bequeath to my five daughters Margaret Wood, Francis Clements, Mary Taber, Ayley Smith, and Rhoda Meador the sum of five dollars apiece. I also give and bequeath to William Faulkner one dollar and no more. I also give and bequeath to my beloved wife Ayley Meador one half of all my household furniture to have and to hold forever. And lastly as to the rest, residue and remainder of my personal estate, goods and chattel of what kind and nature______?. I give and bequeath to my said beloved wife Ayley Meador during her mortal life and at her death to belong to my youngest son Thomas Meador, jr and his heirs forever which said several legacies and sums of money I will and order shall be paid to the said respective legatees within twelve months after my decease and I hereby appoint my beloved wife Ayley Meador and Anderson Woods my son-in-law as executress and executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me made. In the interest whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the twenty third day of January in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and twenty three, signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named Thomas Meador. Thomas McGill Samuel Jarvis John Squires Proved at court Mon the 16th of June, 1823.”
The majority of the estate went to the two sons, which was a common practice of the times, with the eldest, Jubal, receiving fifty acres of land outright, and the youngest, Thomas, (aged 18 at the time of his father’s death), apparently being tasked with looking after his mother, and upon her death receiving the house and 120 acres of land.
The married daughters, who were expected to be looked after by their husbands, got five dollars each. In addition to her five dollars, young Rhoda, who was fifteen, unmarried and still living at home, received a bed, some furniture, and a cow - presumably a dowry-of-sorts to help her attract a husband.
William FAULKNER, the widowed spouse of Drucilla MEADOR who preceded her father in death, received a dollar - “and no more.” And while FAULKNER was given his dollar and shown the door, another son-in-law, Anderson WOOD, apparently stood in high esteem with the deceased because he was named as a co-executor of Thomas’s will along with the widow, Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR.
Alice passed away three-and-a-half years after Thomas, on October 6th, 1826, at her home near Hardinsburg. She was fifty-seven or fifty-eight-years-old at the time of her passing. During her lifetime Alice had given birth to eight children and lived to watch all except one reach the age of adulthood. (Rhoda was still just seventeen or eighteen at the time of her mother’s death - and would not marry until the following year.) One daughter, Drucilla, had preceded her mother in death.
Thomas and Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR were rugged pioneers who moved five children across the Appalachian Mountains and into Kentucky in the early 1800’s - probably 1806. Their two oldest daughters, Margaret and Drucilla, were already married when the family migrated to Kentucky, and their families also packed up and moved to the same location as their parents. Family history indicates that a pair of slaves may have also been moved to Kentucky with the MEADOR family, though that is not borne out by the census of 1810.
Once in Kentucky, the family settled in firmly and became a noted part of the community. They built one of the area’s finer homes that became a landmark. It was destroyed by a fire more than a century later in the 1940’s.
The MEADOR family left indelible trails across much of the United States, trails that all lead back to the hardy souls who struggled to drag their lives and possessions over the mountains and into the wilderness beyond.
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