Meigs, James

Born: 1822-06-30 Albany, New York

Died: 1888-02-24 Ottawa, Illinois

Flourished: Ottawa, Illinois

Alternate name: Keeler

James Meigs, who typically went by the name James Keeler, was a farmer, miller, shop owner, grocer, and tax assessor. He lived and farmed with his father and siblings in Ottawa, Wisconsin, for time before relocating to Ottawa, Illinois, where he owned a successful mill and a cooper shop. In October 1859, he married Helen M. Cameron. They had three children together. By 1860, he was working as a grocer in Ottawa, Illinois and owned a personal estate valued at $500. In 1862, he received appointment as an assistant tax assessor for La Salle County, Illinois. He died of pneumonia.

Chicago and Rock Island Railroad Company, Appellant, v. James Still, Appellee19 Ill. (Peck) (1858) 501, 503; Henry B. Meigs, Record of the Descendants of Vincent Meigs (Baltimore, MD: John S. Bridges, 1901), 54, 85; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ottawa, Waukesha County, WI, 238; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ottawa, La Salle County, IL, 398; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, La Salle County, 18 October 1859, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), 25 October 1862, 5:6; 25 February 1888, 5:1.