Term: Meeker, Moses 1790 - 1865
a pioneer lead miner, politician, b. Newark, N.Y. From 1817 to 1822 he manufactured white lead in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in Nov., 1822, first visited Galena, Ill. Upon his return to Cincinnati, he obtained a lease on mineral lands in the Illinois and Wisconsin region through correspondence with Secretary of War J. C. Calhoun and President Monroe. In Apr., 1823, he returned to Galena with his family and a crew of workers, and began to mine and smelt lead on a large scale. Following the Black Hawk uprising of 1832, he moved north to Blue River, Wis., and operated a smelter there for several years. In 1836 Meeker was unsuccessfully supported for territorial delegate to Congress. He was a member of the Wisconsin territorial lower house (1842-1844), and a delegate to the first state constitutional convention (1846). After 1846 he made his home in Mineral Point for several years, and in 1854 retired to his farm at Meeker's Grove, Lafayette County. A few months before his death he moved to Shullsburg. He was the author of an article, "The Early History of the Lead Region of Wisconsin" for the Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Dict. Amer. Biog.; Cons. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 6 (1872), 13 (1895); Wis. Mag. Hist., 3, 4; WPA MS.
The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Moses Meeker Biographical and Genealogical Sketch for details. See also the Moses Meeker Reminiscences.
[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]