Margaret M. Brewer^[1]

1857 - 1907  (49 years)

• Name	Margaret M. Brewer
  Birth	20 Jun 1857	Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa   [2]
  Gender	Female
  Census	1860	Webster City, Hamilton County, Boone Township, Iowa   [3]
  	1860 U. S. Federal Census
  	Age: Abt. 3
  		Margaret J. Moore Brewer, household; 1860 U. S. Federal Census, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [MJM 03.] Margaret J. Moore Brewer, widow of Wilson Brewer; their children: Julia A., William G. Walter W. and Margaret Brewer.
  Guardian	Jun 1868	M. Sweeney, guardian of the minor children of Wilson Brewer: William G., Walter W., and Margaret M. Brewer   [4]
  Census	1870	Webster City, Boone Township, Hamilton County, Iowa   [5]
  	1870 U. S. Federal Census
  	Age: Abt. 13
  		Margaret J. Moore Brewer (widow), household; 1870 U. S. federal Census, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [MJM 02.] Margaret J. Moore Brewer, widow of Wilson Brewer; their children: William G., Walter, and Margaret Brewer.
  Census	1880	Webster City, Hamilton County, Boone Township, Iowa   [6]
  	1880 U. S. Federal Census
  	Age: Abt. 22
  		Lafayette Meeks household; 1880 U. S. Federal Census, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [LMe 02.] Lafayette Meeks; his wife, Margaret Brewer Meeks; their daughter, Myrtle Meeks; and Margaret's mother, Margaret J. Moore Brewer, widow of Wilson Brewer.
  Census	1885	Webster City, Boone Township, Hamilton County, Iowa   [7]
  	1885 Iowa State Census,
  		Lafayette Meeks household, 1885 Iowa State Census, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [LMe 07.] Lafayette Meeks; his wife, Margaret Brewer Meeks; their children: Myrtle, Carol Meeks; and Margaret J. Brewer, Margaret Brewer Meeks' mother.
  Court Proceedings	27 Apr 1892	Hamilton Freeman, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa   [8]
  Census	1895	Boone Township, Webster City, 2nd Ward, Hamilton County, Iowa   [9]
  	1895 Iowa State Census
  		Lafayette Meeks household, 1895 Iowa State Census, Webster City, 2nd Ward, Hamilton County, Iowa. [LMe 04.] Lafayette Meeks; his wife, Margaret M. Brewer Meeks; their children: Margaret, Carroll, Myrtle, Leroy; and, Margaret J. More Brewer, the mother of Margaret M. Brewer Meeks.
  Census	1900	Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa   [10]
  	1900 U. S. Federal Census
  	Age: Abt. 42
  		Lafayette Meeks household, 1900 U. S. Federal Census, Marshalltown, Marshall Township, Marshall County, Iowa. [LMe 10.] Lafayette Meeks, his wife, Margaret Brewer Meeks; their children, Myrtle, Carroll, and Leroy Meeks.
  Death	25 Jan 1907	Marshalltown, Iowa   [11]
  Death Notice	1 Feb 1907	Marshalltown, Iowa   [12]
  Obituary	1 Feb 1907	Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa   [13]
  Burial	Graceland Cemetery, Section 10, Division 2, Lot 2 - no marker   [14]
  Person ID	I994	Lange Pierce
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2017

  
  

  Father	Wilson Brewer,   b. Between 1804 and 1806, Probably North Carolina d. Bef 26 Dec 1856, Webster City, Webster County, Iowa (Age ~ 52 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Margaret Jane Moore,   b. 4 Feb 1816, Preble County, Ohio d. 26 Mar 1896, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa (Age 80 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Marriage	6 Apr 1837	Henry County, Indiana   [15]
  Photos		Brewer, Sarah Jane Narrator of Reminiscences of Newcastle, Iowa, 1848: A History of the Founding of Webster City, Iowa. Des Moines, IA: Historical Department of Iowa, 1921 with her daughter, Harriet Bonebright Closz Carmichael. Wife of Thomas B. Bonebright
  Family ID	F240	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Lafayette Meeks,   b. Feb., 1856, Probably Illinois d. 17 Jun 1923, Tama, Iowa (Age ~ 67 years)
  Marriage	2 Feb 1879	Hamilton County, Iowa   [16]
  Minister	2 Feb 1879	L. N. Call
  Children	1. Myrtle M. Meeks,   b. 28 Dec 1879, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa  [Father: Birth] + 2. Carroll Corrine Meeks,   b. Abt 1882, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa d. 2 Oct 1921, 312 Cedar, Mascatine, Muscatine Township, Muscatine County, Iow (Age ~ 39 years)  [Father: Birth]   3. Leroy Meeks,   b. 19 Jun 1885, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa  [Father: Birth]
  Family ID	F396	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  In the 1860 U. S. Federal Census, Margaret Brewer is a three year old, female. She was born in Iowa. She lives with her mother, Margaret, who is a widow, and three siblings: Julia Ann, William G. and Walter W. The family lives in Webster City, Boone Township, Hamilton County, Iowa. [MJM 03.]        In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, Margaret is a 13 year old, white female. She is living with her mother who was born in Indiana (possibly Ohio) and two sibling brothers: William and Walter. She was born in Iowa. She is a school. [MJM 02.]        In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Margaret or Maggie Brewer [Meeks] is the wife of Lafayette Meeks. She is a 22 year old, white female. Her occupation is that of keeping house. She was born in Iowa; she doesn't give the place of birth of her father, but indicates that her mother was born in Indiana. Because there are no check marks under "cannot read, cannot write, and deaf and dumb," it is assumed that Margaret can read, write, and speak English. However, there is also no indication for anyone else in this family that they use English. [LMe 02.]        In the 1885 Iowa State Census, Margaret (Brewer) Meeks is a 27 year old, white, married female. Her husband is Lafayette Meeks. She lives on Superior Street in the 2nd Ward of Webster City, Boone Township, Hamilton County, Iowa. She was born in Iowa, in what was originally New Castle, but now Webster City. She lives with two daughters, Myrtle and Carroll, her husband, Lafayette Meeks, and her mother, Margaret Jane Moore Brewer. [LMe 07.]        In the 1895 Iowa State Census, Margaret Brewer is the wife of Lafayette Meeks. She is 37 years old and the mother of three children: (Gertie), Carol, and Leroy. She was born in Hamilton County, Iowa.        In 1892, in the Hamilton Freeman, a brief article announces a case: "J. W. Rose vs Margaret Meeks; evidence submitted; to be argued and decided in vacation." This is all that is said.        In the 1900 U. S. Federal Census, Margaret Brewer Meeks is a 42 year old, white, married female. She is married to Lafayette Meeks. She was born in Iowa of parents who were born in Virginia (father) and Indiana (mother). She has been married to Lafayette Meeks for 21 years and has given birth to three children. Maggie, as she is known, directs a boardng house; she has not been unemployed. She is literate, reading, writing, and speaking English. She lives with her husband, Lafayette, two daughters, Carroll and Myrtle, and a sone Leroy. The family lives in Marshalltown, Marshall Township, Marshall County, Iowa. [LMe 10.]        Margaret (Brewer) Meeks died on January 25, 1907 in Marshalltown, Iowa. The Webster City Tribune chronicled her death in two articles [MaB 01 and MaB 02.]        Death Calls Mrs. F. L. Meeks [MaB 01.]        Passed Away at Marshalltown After Long Illness From Cancer of the Breast        "Mrs. F. L. Meeks died at Marshalltown last Friday after a long illness in the 49th year of her age. Her demise was caused by cancer of the breast from which she had been a great and patient sufferer. Last September a surgical operation was performed in the hope of saving her life, but the end was inevitable.        Mrs. Meeks was a sister of Mrs. Thos. Bonebright and B. R. Brewer of this city. She was born and reared here and was widely known throughout the community. About eight years ago the family removed to Marshalltown, where they have since resided.        Mrs. Meeks was a good woman in all the relations of life and her numerous friends in the old home here will be filled with sorrow over her taking away. Deceased leaves a husband and two daughters and a son to mourn the loss of a loving and faithful wife and mother.        The funeral was held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of Mrs. Harriet M. Closz, niece of Mrs. Meeks at 536 Bank Street. The service was conducted by Rev. A. N. Alcott, assisted by Mrs. Closz."        Funeral of Mrs. Meeks [MaB 02.]        "Margaret Brewer Meeks was the daughter of Wilson and Margaret Moore Brewer who came to Hamilton county, Iowa, from Howard county, Indiana, in 1849 [sic - 1850]. They were the earliest family to arrive in what is now Webster City and both passed the remainder of their days here. Margaret was born June 20, 1857. Her life was spent here with the exception of the past eight years, during which she has resided in Marshalltown, where she died.        She was married to F. L. Meeks in February, 1879, and her three children, Myrtle M. Clark, Carroll C. Johnston and LeRoy Meeks, survive her. The deceased desired that few eulogies be pronounced and no apologies offered for failures. she asked that all needless expense might be avoided and that flowers be made an offering to the grief stricken instead of given to garland the dead. She hope that her friends would extend sympathy to the suffering who are still among us, and that tears might fall in small numbers for her.        Mrs. Meeks was essentially optimistic and the cheerfulness of her manner charmed her companions. Throughout the trying, terrible trouble of her life--an affection of the eyes--which later developed into cancer of the breast, not a single murmur, nor even an expression of discomfort escaped her lips.        Her buoyancy of spirit and mirthful moods were infections--dispensing life and laughter to the despondent.        Wifehood was to her a perennial pleasure and motherhood its satisfying fulfillment. The companionship of family and friends was not conceded as a privilege to her but accorded as an appreciation from them.        A considerate wife, an indulgent mother, a trustworthy comrade!What achievements of wealth or power can approximate these? They turn the scales in their favor as against the faith and foibles of the human family.        Mrs. Meeks was a member of Ben Hur lodge of Marshalltown, the members of which contributed a beautiful floral emblem; and many other loving tributes from friends, in her home town and here, freighted the house with their fragrance; and a large number of people paid their respects to an old resident and neighbor.        The services were conducted Sunday afternoon by Dr. A. N. Alcott and Harriet M. Closz, a niece of the deceased, and at whose residence the funeral was held.        Passages of scripture were read and a prayer offered by Dr. Alcott and a beautiful poem rendered by him, entitled: "When the Tenant Has Moved Away." Mrs. Closz in submitting her remarks stated that she voiced only her own sentiments on life and death. She said in part:        "Friends, the last act in this drama of life has been merged into tragedy. Here at the threshold of the tomb terminate the troubles and trials of time and at last nature's final seal in equity is affixed.        Here we are brought face to face with the two mighty mysteries which centuries of thought have sought to solve--the mysteries of life and death--and yet what do we know of either?        The invincibly invisible touch which marks a victim with death lays upon the individual a blighting grief. But the law of nature knows not the individual.        The forces of the Universe transcend the trivial intellect.        The sweep of evolution comprehends only the ultimate.        Thrust here as we are between two illimitable eternities, we raise our arms to grasp a glowing reality, but the sought for substance shrivels and the glistening garments crumble to ashes in our hands.        With faltering lips we formulate the fearsome query--Why the past has been, why the present is, and what the secret of the future? But the mighty cosmic silence vouchsafes to us no answer. The human family desires eternal life but at the same time, we as naturally avoid death. If we assume that after death we are endowed with the conscious personal attribute of immortality, it must be reasoned that we possessed the same attribute before birth, and as memory returns only to infancy the continuity of the chain is broken and its actuality unassured. So because of the dark inscrutability of these eternities we are slowly learning the lesson of living one life at a time; learning the lesson of cheerfulness and happiness; the lesson of gleaning the little gladnesses along the way that grow from the gracious gliding of life's horizon for our friends, and if there be a life beyond the grave, the best possible preparation to merit it is in making a perennial paradise here.        In our eager desire to discover our origin and destiny we have been wont to underestimate the importance of the present. We ponder the problem--the tragedy of death--but ignore the more pressing and perilous tragedy of life. Yet life and death are inseparable and inevitable. One is as natural and as necessary as the other, though as yet we do not know whether life or death is the greater good, for our simple senses cannot compass the mighty purpose of a primal plan. While we know that in the democracy of the deal all distinctions disappear, it is also apparent that in the domain of this life the toilers are despoiled of their substance, innocence is debauched, honesty degraded and justice dethroned. On the surging sea of death the laborer and the learned, the saint and the sage, sail together in solemn silence, but on the voyage of life, the prisoners of fate are persecuted, the upright prosecutor, and the virtuous victimized. At the pale portal of the tomb the might monarch surrenders his scepter, the tyrant treads the threshold with the tenant, and the prince passes with the pauper, but in the household of life the weak and weary and wounded are wronged without hope of repair.        So friends, are we to learn a lesson from death? Then let us help to harmonize the inhumanities of life. the dead has passed beyond the pale where human hands can help, but all about us is a surging, suffering multitude who deserve our services.        Why then should we speculate on the whence and the whither? Why revel in retrospection? Why kneel in contemplation? Our work should be for this world, our labors for this life, our purpose for the present, for we know that to be happy and to help others to be happy is one of the essentials of life and that the more of joy we liberate, the greater measure we retain.        We know that kind word is more civilizing than the fear of destruction and that reason is a better route to right living than the threat of eternal torment. If we can help a fallen friend, cheer a crushed comrade, or inspire a weary worker, we shall have done what we could and can conscientiously rest our case, for practical application should outweigh any musings on the musty past and the misty future; so let us make a mighty onslaught on the menacing conditions of ignorance and oppression of the present, for when the cold clouds of credulity shall have been scattered by the sunlight of science, diseases--such as the one from which our relative suffered--will be unknown.        In closing permit me to reply to an oft repeated question.        Will the spirit of the departed continue to live? I do not know.        Will her body be resurrected?        Yes! For even as no thought can perish, neither can any atom of the universe be destroyed, and the alkalies of nature will reduce and redistribute her body to the elemental wealth of the world through which the vital currents flow on forever through force and matter and the lives of our beloved dead will diffuse beneficence in the chatter of childhood, the beauty of bursting bud, the note of the nightingale, the sparkle of the sunlight, the song of the stream-let, the thunder of the tempest, and the sweep of the spheres. The thorny track of time has been traversed by the departed. The wearying weight of traditions burdens has silently slipped from her shoulders. The finger of destiny indicates the doorway of death.        The ponderous pendulum of the ages seeks its equilibrium. The penalty of life has been paid. Standing beside the bier of one who has been as closely associated with me as a sister, I am constrained to say that death is cruel only to those he leaves behind."

  
  

• Sources

  [S3266] Margaret Brewer (Meeks, "Funeral of Mrs. Meeks," 1 February 1907, Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa. [MaB 01.]. [S3267] Lafayette Meeks household, 1895 Iowa State census, dwelling 316, household 389, second ward, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [LMe 04.]. [S1727] Margaret Brewer household, 1860 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Iowa, Boone township, page 574, dwelling 112, family 102; National Archives micropublication M653, roll 574. [MJM 03.]. [S3276] William G. Brewer, Walter W. Brewer, and Margaret M. Brewer, M. Sweeney was their Guardian, probably from 1857- the 1880s, as the protector of their inheritance from Wilson Brewer. [WGB 06.]. [S3270] Margaret Brewer household, 1870 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Iowa, Webster City, p. 263, dwelling 124, family 127; National Archives micropublication M593, roll 394. [MJM 02.]. [S3269] Lafayette Meeks household, 1880 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Iowa, Boone Township, ED 103, SD 11, dwelling 116, family 118; National Archives micropublication T9, roll 342. [MJM 04.] [LMe 02.]. [S3271] Lafayette Meeks household, 1885 Iowa State Census, Hamilton County, Webster City, 2nd Ward, Boone Township, page 56, line 19, dwelling 114, family 130; Family History Film 1021473, Volume 193. [LMe 07.]. [S3277] Court Proceedings, Hamilton County Court, 27 April 1892, Hamilton Freeman, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [MaB 04.]. [S3272] Lafayette Meeks household, 1895 Iowa State census, dwelling 316, household 389, second ward, Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa. [LMe 04.]. [S8828] Lafayette Meeks household, 1900 U. S. Census, Marshall County, Iowa, Marshalltown, ED 119, SD 5, sheet 4A, dwelling 80, family 87; National Archives micropublication T623, roll 447; FHL microfile 1240447. [LMe 10.]. [S3268] Margaret Brewer (Meeks, "Funeral of Mrs. Meeks," 1 February 1907, Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa. [MaB 01.] [The date for her death is calculated back from 1 February and the statement in this article that "she died last friday."]. [S3273] Margaret Brewer (Meeks, "Funeral of Mrs. Meeks," 1 February 1907, Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa. [MaB 01.]. [S3274] Margaret Brewer (Meeks, "Funeral of Mrs. Meeks," 1 February 1907, Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa. [MaB 01.]. [S3275] Margaret Brewer (Meeks, "Funeral of Mrs. Meeks," 1 February 1907, Webster City Tribune, Webster City, Iowa. [MaB 01.] See handwritten note of Nadine Dingman at the bottom of the page. [S7343] Copy of statement by Justice of the Peace, John Hodgson declaring that Wilson Brewer and Margaret Moore were legally joined in marriage on April 06, 1837. The copy also includes an afidavit of Nichals Bidwell (his mark) to attest that there be no reason why Wilson Brewer and Margaret Moore should not be joined in marriage. [WB 05.] See also See also, Ridler, Alice C., comp. (1979). Early Marriage Records, 1823-1839. Beach Grove, IN: The compiler, p. C-258. [WB 07.]. [S7434] Dod, Jordan, comp. Iowa Marriages 1851-1900. [Database on line.] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com. [LMe 01.] See also, Lafayette Meeks, marriage license, Marriage Book 3, p. 69, 27 January 1879, Hamilton County, Webster City, Iowa. [LMe 03.].