Jacob Edwin Meeker (October 7, 1878 – October 16, 1918) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Background

Born near Attica, Indiana, Meeker attended the public schools. He graduated from Union Christian College,

Merom, Indiana Merom is a town in Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana, United States. The population was 228 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. Nearby is Hallador Energy's Merom Generating Station. History The ...

, in 1900, and from Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1904. While a student at Union Christian College he became pastor of a rural church in

Vermilion County, Illinois Vermilion County is a county in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois, between the Indiana border and Champaign County. It was established in 1826 and was the 45th of Illinois' 102 counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, ...

. He was ordained as a minister in 1901 and assumed his duties in Vermilion County. He was a missionary in

Eldon, Missouri Eldon is a city in Miller County, Missouri, United States, located southwest of Jefferson City. The population was 4,567 at the 2010 census. History Eldon was platted in 1881, and according to tradition, named after a railroad official. A po ...

, for the Congregational Church in 1904. He moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, in 1906 to take charge of the Compton Hill Congregational Church. He resigned in 1912. He studied law at Benton College of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1914. Meeker was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses and served from March 4, 1915, until his death from

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 16, 1918. He was interred in Union Cemetery, Attica, Indiana.

References

Jacob E. Meeker, late a representative from Missouri, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1920
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeker, Jacob Edwin 1878 births 1918 deaths American Congregationalist missionaries Congregationalist missionaries in the United States American Congregationalist ministers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri People from Fountain County, Indiana People from Vermilion County, Illinois 20th-century American politicians Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Missouri Oberlin College alumni Protestants from Indiana Protestants from Illinois Protestants from Missouri Politicians from St. Louis Missouri lawyers Burials in Indiana

Background

See also

References