Alameda County CA Archives Obituaries.....Meek, Fidelia (Stone) August 30, 1891
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Oakland Tribune, August 31, 1891
“A HOME’S SORROW.

Death of Mrs. Fidelia Meek of San Lorenzo Last Night.

Sketch of the Life History of a Noble Woman Whose Deeds Live After Her.

Mrs. Fidelia Meek, one of the pioneer women of Alameda county, died at 11:30 
o’clock last night at her handsome home place near San Lorenzo.  Mrs. Meek was 
the widow of the late William Meek, the leading farmer and horticulturist of 
the county, and the mother of Horry W[ert] Mee, W[illiam] E. Meek and the 
Misses Susie and Ethel F. Meek, all of whom are well known in society in this 
city and county.

Mrs. Meek was a Miss Stone, sister of the late Lyander Stone of Eden township, 
and an aunt of Tax Collector [can’t read initials in scan on Internet] Stone 
and Egbert Stone.  She came across the plains from Michigan, the State of her 
birth, in 1853 and settled in Oregon.  There she met and married Mr. Meek, the 
pioneer nurseryman of that State, he having brought to Oregon the first budded 
fruit trees, and established a nursery at Milwaukee, a town on the Willamette 
river about five miles from Portland.

In 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Meek moved from Oregon to California, and settled at San 
Lorenzo, purchasing 400 [?] acres of the Soto grant from H. W. Crabb [?].  
Subsequently they added 1600 acres to this.  Mr. Meek farmed his holding so 
carefully that at the time of his death, about ten years ago, he was the model 
farmer as well as the largest farmer in the county.

Under the management of Mrs. Meek and her sons the property has greatly 
increased in value, and is today far richer in products and wider in extent 
than some of the European principalities.

Mrs. Meek had been an invalid for some time, an insidious disease sapping her 
vitality, and resisting the best efforts of the physicians.  So her death was 
not unexpected.  It was none the less a shook to her loving children, who 
clustered about her bedside during her last hours with wet eyes and sorrowful 
hearts.

Mrs. Meek leaves a place in the society of the county which it will be hard to 
fill.  She had a kindly nature and her good deeds are recorded in the hearts of 
hundred.  She was charitable and generous.  She made the poor of her 
neighborhood her special charge, but extended her kind acts beyond her 
immediate vicinity.

She was a life member of the Old Ladies’ Home at Temescal, which great charity 
has profited by her generosity and advice.  Not long ago she gave $3000 to 
establish a fellowship at Mills College, and she also endowed the California 
Baptist College at Highland Park [Alameda County?] with $6900.  These are 
merely a few of her many good deeds.  She will be sincerely mourned by all with 
whom she was brought in contact.

The funeral will take place from the family residence at San Lorenzo at 1:30 
P.M. on Wednesday [September 2].  The Rev. S. B. Morse of California College, 
assisted by the Rev. Mr. Perkins of San Lorenzo, will conduct the services.” 
END 

Additional Comments:
Oakland Tribune, August 31, 1891 (Monday), Page 8, Column 1.

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