Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 843 - 844

ELI F. MEADE, a gentleman of extended business experience, is now successfully occupying his time as a speculator and commission merchant at Wichita. A native of the Buckeye State, he was born in Mt. Pleasant, Feb. 13, 1851, and was taken by his parents to Kentucky when but two months old. There he was reared to manhood, receiving a practical education in the common schools, and at an early age engaged as a stock-broker and in a general commission business. He fed and marketed cattle and swine for many years, gaining a good insight into all the details of this business, and was also prominent in the city affairs of Covington, where his family had located. He served eight years as an Alderman in the City Council, and was President of the Board of Health two years. He was on duty at the time of the smallpox in that place, when men of sound judgment and courage were mostly needed. Of his public record he may well be proud, as he has been a prominent man in the affairs connected with the best interests of the people since reaching his majority. He served as Colonel of the Felton Guards, a section of the Kentucky militia, and in his old home is uniformly dubbed with the title of "Colonel."

             The parents of our subject, Eli, Sr., and Susan (Kinkaid) Meade, were natives respectively of Massachusetts and Virginia. The father, who was born July 4, 1817, departed this life at his home in Covington, Ky., on the 11th of December, 1859. He was a man of excellent education and fine business capacities, and for many years served as General Superintendent of the Covington and Lexington Mail and State lines. He was also agent for the mail line of a firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, for many years, and received much praise for his management of the same. He possessed all the chivalry of his adopted State, being a man well reared and the offspring of a highly intelligent and prominent family. Socially, he occupied a prominent and responsible position in the Masonic fraternity, and religiously, was for many years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically, he upheld the principles of the Democratic party.

             The mother of our subject was born in Morgan County, Va., Feb. 2, 1821. She is still living, and a resident of Wichita. Her parents were Samuel and Sarah (Morris) Kinkaid, and her father served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He spent his last years in the Old Dominion, and met an accidental death by a log rolling upon him at a house-raising. His wife, the maternal grandmother of our subject, died on the 17th of April, 1873, when seventy-three years old. Their three children were named: Susan, Samuel and Mary E. To Eli, Sr., and Susan Meade, the parents of our subject, there were born six children: Mary E., the eldest daughter, died in childhood; Sarah died in May, 1885, when about forty years of age; she was highly educated, especially in music, and on account of her exceeding gentleness of disposition was greatly beloved by her family and a large circle of friends. Helen became the wife of Charles Noe, a native of Kentucky, a painter by trade, and a Republican in politics, and lives in Wichita; Eli F., of our sketch, was the fourth in order of birth; William H. and George E. are the youngest.

             Mr. Meade, our subject, left Kentucky in the spring of 1887, and came directly to this State, locating at once in the city of Wichita. Like his father before him he is a strong Democrat, politically, and with his wife and son, prominently connected with the First Baptist Church.

             The wife of our subject, to whom he was married in Covington, Ky., on the 4th of August, 1870, was in her girlhood Miss Sarah J. Court, who was born in Manchester, England, April 19, 1852. Her parents, Charles and Mary (Morrow) Court, were both natives of England, and came to the United States at an early day. Mr. Court was born in Manchester in 1830, and departed this life at Covington, Ky., in July, 1884. He was a tool-maker by trade, or machinist. The mother is living in Covington, Ky.

             Mrs. Meade was a child eight years of age when she crossed the Atlantic with her parents. Her father, after becoming a naturalized citizen, identified himself with the Democratic party and maintained his principles with all the strength of his convictions. Notwithstanding he had labored the greater part of his life with his hands, he had received a liberal education in his youth, and was a classical scholar of no inconsiderable talents. To our subject and his wife there has been born one child only, a son, Charles E., who began life on the 14th of August, 1871. He is now a promising youth not quite seventeen years of age, and holds a good position as cashier in one of the leading stores of the city. 

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