Matilda MEACHAM

  General Notes:

Photo: This original vintage photo of Matilda Meacham was a gift to DeeAnna Allum Granston in 1965 from Matilda's niece, Bonnie Darr Fields, 1882-1967. It allows us to gaze upon the face of the main correspondent "Tilda's" sister, Sarah "Emma" L. (Meacham) Fields, 1843-1886. Emma's 1850s to 1880s letters describe facets of life in early Iowa. This photo was taken by Townsend at Iowa City, Iowa. It is possible this is the photograph of Matilda referred to in an 1873 letter written by Emma. The letter is transcribed at the bottom of this page.



1831 BIRTH of Matilda Meacham ("Tilda" and "Tillie" and "Mattie")

1840 CENSUS, Indiana, Orange County, Southwest Township (with father Anderson and mother Lucinda)

1847 DEATH of mother, Lucinda (Wasson) Meacham

1850 CENSUS, Iowa, Johnson County, District No. 9 Clear Creek ("Matilda," age 18, with father Anderson, stepmother Fanny, brother John, sister Sarah)

1860 CENSUS, Illinois, Adams County, Payson ("Matilda," age 28, is in the household of Thomas Nicols and his wife, also named Matilda; Thomas and Matilda Nichols had been born in North Carolina, the state in which Matilda Meacham's mother, and perhaps her father, had also been born. (Perhaps Matilda Nicols was an aunt of Matilda Meacham.)

1870 CENSUS, Oregon, Umatilla County, Weston Precinct, P. O. Cayuse ("Matilda," age 36, is in the household of her brother Harvey, Harvey's wife Alice and their children; Matilda's brother John, and others)

1880 CENSUS, Iowa, Johnson County, Cedar Creek Township ("Matilda," age 49, "Keeping House," with father Anderson Meacham and brother John)

1882 DEATH of father, Anderson Meacham

1888 DEATH, Matilda Meacham, at 57 years 9 months 11 days


Matilda did not marry



SIGNATURE: From correspondence between Matilda and her younger sister Emma and from Emma's autograph book


Bonnie Darr Fields (1882-1967), June 12, 1966 letter to DeeAnna

"Aunt Matilda never married. She went with the '49ers to California with Uncle Alfred Meacham and Uncle John Meacham. I do not know where she passed on, but I think in Iowa. I just remember her. I do know she should have married our father, as he wanted."

In addition to locations documented during census years, Matilda lived in Groton, Dakota when her sister Emma died in Iowa in 1886. --DeeAnna


BURIAL: On Fields plot (No. 144), Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Jasper County, Iowa, Oak Hill Section



VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH, gift to DeeAnna in 1965 from Bonnie Darr Fields:

Matilda Meacham (1831-1888) (2 1/2" X 4 1/4") (taken at Townsend, Iowa City, Iowa)



VINTAGE HANDWRITTEN LETTERS written by Matilda to her sister "Emma," 1860s, 1870s and 1880s
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The photo of Matilda Meacham, included here, may have been taken in 1873. Read the following letter.


Koszta, Iowa
Monday, December 9, 1873

Dear Sister Tilda,

How very swiftly time flies. Here it is Monday night again and it scarcely seems a day since I wrote you last. No very important events have transpired in the Fields household, none causing as much joy as the receipt of two long looked for letters from a very dearly-loved sister. Thank you for them and the photo, which is very good; I don't know as it is better than one I had. Gracie thinks it is "not so nice as Auntie."
You would feel well paid for your trouble if you could see how delighted she was over the little red hood that came with the patterns. She plays with it by the hour. I shall try to make her hood this week, if I can.
Guess our girl Katie will be back tomorrow. Am glad though it is so nice to be alone. Alex comes home now at eight and we have quite a nice little evening posting books, copying, eating apples, etc. It seems as if home is dearer than ever before, and truly we ought to be happy with all the comforts of life which surround us and two blessed little girls to love.
Gracie is so much better to mind and amuses herself so nicely now. Hattie, dear little Sunbeam, is her papa's idol. He never opens the door but her little face is wreathed in smiles and kisses, "Papa, papa" far as she can hear his steps. If her happy little heart retains its joyousness how much gladness she will make. It seems strange such a fretful baby should be so good as a child. Gracie is Mama's own child. She teaches school every day. Her scholars are cobbs arrayed in rags of every shape and hue. She rules them with as much dignity as a queen, and strange to say, all with kind words. Hattie ought to be a wise baby, for she has so much training every day.
There, you are tired of us.

Emma
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Matilda had a relationship with.