Lee Meriwether (December 25, 1862 – March 12, 1966) was an American author, government official and
centenarian.
Born on Christmas Day in
Columbus, Mississippi
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...
, he studied in the Memphis public school system. Afterwards he took a trip to Europe and, upon his return, was asked by the
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural ...
to write a report on labor condition on that continent, which was published in the 1886 annual report of the US
Bureau of Labor
Bureau ( ) may refer to:
Agencies and organizations
*Government agency
*Public administration
* News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location
* Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...
's annual report. From 1886-1889 he was employed by the Department of the Interior as a special agent investigating labor conditions in the US and the
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
. In 1889 he moved to
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
where he became a labor commissioner, while reading law at his father's law office in
St. Louis. He was admitted to the
Missouri Bar Association
The Missouri Bar is the official bar association for all Missouri lawyers and judges. Every licensed Missouri lawyer is automatically a member of The Missouri Bar. Every applicant for admission to the bar must meet a list of requirements set by ...
in 1892 he practiced law in St. Louis for nearly seventy years. He also wrote numerous travelogues and autobiographies. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he was appointed Special Assistant to the
American ambassador to France.
[James B. Lloyd ''Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967'' Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2009 p.332]
Awards
*
Croce di Cavaliere Ufficiale by the Crown of Italy 1938
Works
*
A tramp trip; how to see Europe on fifty cents a day' New York,
Harper & Bros. 1886
*
The tramp at home' New York, Harper & Bros 1889
*
Address [on/nowiki> Jefferson Davis">n
">Address [on
/nowiki> Jefferson Davis' Birmingham, Ala. : [s.n.], 1908
*''America at the fork of the road: an address to the St. Louis Rotary Club May 17, 1951'' [St. Louis, MO Jeffersonians, 1951
*''Lee Meriwether again addresses Rotary Club.'' [St. Louis, Mo.? : s.n., 1952
*''I knew Jefferson Davis in 1867, and was his house guest at Beauvoir in 1887'' [St. Louis, Mo. : L. Meriwether, 1958
*''Let us preserve the purity of the white race and keep the records of history straight: an address'' [St. Louis, Mo. : L. Meriwether, 1958
*''Why did the South secede in 1860?'' [St. Louis, Mo. : The Author?, 1964
References
American men centenarians
Missouri lawyers
Recipients of Italian civil awards and decorations
1862 births
1966 deaths
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