Butte County
Biographies
REV. GEORGE T. MEEKER
REV. GEORGE T. MEEKER.--A
representative citizen, a successful farmer, and a minister of the Gospel,
George T. Meeker started to carve out a career for himself by beginning at the
very bottom of the ladder of success. He was born in Crawford County,
Ill., November, 13, 1862, a son of Dr. S. M. Meeker, who
came to California in 1872, and settling in Vacaville,
Solano County,
practiced his profession for eighteen years. He then removed to Bakersfield,
where he continued his medical career until his death in 1900, aged
seventy-four years.
George
T. Meeker was educated in the public schools of California,
supplementing his courses with an attendance at the California
College at Vacaville.
He worked for ten years as a railroad locomotive engineer, and during part of
this time felt called upon to preach the gospel, which he did on various
occasions. He entered the University of California and took the theological
course in the Bible Seminary at Berkeley, from which he was graduated in 1902,
and ordained as preacher in the Christian Church, and for a time he held a
charge at Potter Valley, Mendocino County, after which he was sent to
Bakersfield to take charge of the pastorate in that city. At later periods he
preached in Winters, Hollister, Petaluma
and Alameda. So successful was he
that attention was attracted to his executive ability and he was selected as
secretary of the Christian Churches
of Northern California, in which capacity he served four years, meanwhile
making his home in Oakland. In 1913
he became the pastor of the Christian Church in Chico,
where he preached until he retired to engage in ranching.
Reverend
Meeker has been twice married; his first wife, whom he married in 1882 at Woodland,
was Jennie Kerr, and she bore him two children: Vernon E., who was manager of
the Naval Drug Store at Vallejo and in 1918 entered the
Affiliated Colleges of the University
of California, studying dentistry;
and Ethel, who married W. E. Hostmeyer. The second
marriage of Reverend Meeker united him with Mrs. Mary Ellen (Compton)
Deter, and the event was celebrated September 1, 1915, at Chico.
Mrs. Meeker is a daughter of the late Henry Clay Compton, a pioneer rancher of Butte
County. He married Mary Murdock,
whose parents, Gawn and Ann Murdock, came from Ireland
and settled in California in
1853. They made the trip across the plains with oxen, the journey taking them seven months and five days. Mr. and Mrs. Henry C.
Compton were parents of six children. Mr. Compton became a prosperous farmer
and died in Colusa County,
where he had spent so many years of his life as one of the developers of the
county.
Mary
Ellen Compton was born on the Parrott Grant in Butte
County and was reared and educated in her native
county, later taking a course in bookkeeping at Pierce
Christian College
at College City.
In Chico, in 1897, she married John Deter, who was born in
Colusa County,
and they farmed on the Compton Ranch, where Mr. and Mrs. Meeker now reside. Mr.
Deter died in 1911, at the age of forty-two years, leaving three children:
Marvin Compton, Mary Louese, and Melvin Boyd. After
the marriage of Reverend Meeker and Mrs. Deter they settled on the ranch where
they are now living and where Mr. Meeker is contentedly and successfully
carrying on farming pursuits. This occupation has so occupied his attention
that in 1916 he resigned his pastorate at Chico
and now gives his entire time to the conduct of the ranch. His early mechanical
training has stood him in hand in his later occupation and no piece of
machinery is too complicated for him. This fertile ranch is located on Hegan Lane, three miles south
from Chico, and now comprises some
two hundred acres.
Reverend
Meeker has gradually worked his own way in the world from a locomotive engineer
to a high place in the Christian Church of the state. He is a forceful and
eloquent speaker; has lectured on the Chautauqua circuit, and his lectures,
"Persons that I have known," "What is your life?" and
"The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," have been heard with wrapt attention by thousands. For several seasons he was
platform manager. Reverend Meeker maintains his fine library and continues to
be a careful student of business, men, politics, religion, and national issues.
Mr. and Mrs. Meeker live happily in the old Compton home
and have a large circle of friends in Butte
County.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 814-815, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library