Butte County
Biographies
JOHN
WILLIAM MEAKINS
JOHN WILLIAM MEAKINS.--The success
which has attended J. W. Meakins, bee inspector of Butte County, has been the
result of his indefatigable industry and research along the line of work in
which he is especially interested. Mr.
Meakins was born in London, England, May 31, 1888, a son of Javen Meakins, now
deceased, who was a native of England and a merchant in London. The mother,
Martha Meakins, is living in Chico. Of
their family of three children, John William Meakins was the oldest and the
only son.
Mr.
Meakins passed his childhood in London, attending the public schools of that
city and assisting his father in the store.
At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed, for three years, to a grocer
and produce merchant, at which work he continued for some time. In 1902, he came to Tacoma, Wash. For a time he followed the sea, sailing out
of Seattle. Mr. Meakins next came to San
Francisco and in the fall of 1904 removed to Glenn County, where he was
employed on a ranch. In England he had
become interested in bees at his grandmother's apiary, and the opportunity to
work among them and learn how to handle and care for them came after his
arrival in Glenn County, where he helped for a while at an apiary. In 1907, he came to Chico, and bought his
present location of about one acre on Fruitvale Avenue, and two years later
began his independent venture in bee culture, with an initial stand of nineteen
colonies. The same season found his
colonies increased to one hundred thirty, from which he secured six tons of
honey. The next year he had increased
this apiary to two hundred fifty colonies, and it became necessary to divide
and start other apiaries. He now has
four hundred colonies in four different yards and in addition leases one
hundred twenty-five colonies from Mrs. Engle.
He raises queens for sale and ships them to beekeepers throughout
California. He hatches about seven
thousand queens each season but loses many of them. In 1916, he used five hundred queens for his
own colonies, as well as selling a great number. The 1917 output of honey from the Golden
State Apiaries, of which Mr. Meakins is proprietor, was about thirty-four
tons. He has two power extractors,
operated by gasoline engines. The
extracted honey is put up in five-gallon cans for shipment to the market. The honey shipped from Butte County is
regarded as the finest in flavor of any produced in the state. A truck is used to move the colonies and haul
the honey. Mr. Meakins has a Ford for
tours of inspection and trips to his work, and a Paige for a pleasure car.
Mr.
Meakins was married, in Chico, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Sheaffer, who was born in
Wheatland. They have one daughter,
Ivy. Mr. Meakins belongs to the Northern
California Bee Keepers' Association, and is a member of its board of
directors. On January 3, 1917, he was
appointed bee inspector for Butte County, by the board of supervisors. He is a member of the Christian Church.
Transcribed by
Rhonda Ruick O'Brien.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1234-1235, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Rhonda Ruick O'Brien.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies