Hunter McKeand Meriwether of Missouri and Kansas City
******************************************************************
******************************************************************
File contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives
by Sharon Pike mailto:spike00@lex.infi.net

USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free
information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-
commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied
material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the
file.

Unauthorized use for commercial ventures expressly prohibited.

All information submitted to this project remains - to the extent the
law allows - the property of the submitter who, by submitting it, agrees
that it may be freely copied but NEVER sold or used in a commercial
venture without the knowledge & permission of its rightful owner. The
USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the
information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information
must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence.

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for
profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or
organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial
purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR
the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed
USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.
******************************************************************
******************************************************************

Hunter McKeand Meriwether, lawyer, was born July 21, 1861, at "Pecan
Grove" plantation, Crittenden Co., Arkansas. His parents were Dr. James
Hunter and Lucy Eglentine (McClure) Meriwether. Dr. Meriwether was a
graduate of a noted medical college at Philadelphia. He was born in
southern Kentucky and, being a sympathizer with the Southern cause,
removed, with his family, his slaves and all his possessions, to Arkansas
before the outbreak of the Civil War, and in that State, therefore,
several of his children were born. After the war the family returned to
the old homestead in Kentucky. Lucy E. McClure, the mother of the subject
of this sketch, was a niece of Gustavus Henry, the "Eagle Orator of
Tennessee." The Meriwether family is an old one and closely connected with
the history of America and the State of Missouri. Nicholas Meriwether, its
progenitor in this country, was born in Wales in 1631 and came to America
in about 1650, locating in Virginia. He was clerk of Surrey Co., Virginia,
and was afterward justice of the court for many years. His son, also named
Nicholas, was born in Virginia in 1667 and is buried on the east bank of
the Rivanna, near Charlottesville. In 1730 he received from King George
II, a grant of 17,952 acres in Hanover Co. (now Albemarle), stretching
along the eastern base of the mountains from Charlottesville to
Gordonsville. Nearly all of the "Historic Homes of the Southwest Mountains
Virginia" charmingly described in a book bearing that title, written by
Edward C. Mead, were carved out of this grand estate and once belonged to
Nicholas Meriwether and his descendants. The original parchment grant is
now in possession of a descendant, Mrs. Mildred Meriwether Macon, of
Albemarle. It is over 170 years old and conveys the land to "Nicholas
Meriwether, of Hanover, gentleman," the later word signifying that he is
in possession of a coat of arms, although without a title, and that his
ancestors were freemen above the rank of yeomen, and individuals of
education and gentle birth. Thomas Meriwether, the grandson of Nicholas,
was the intimate friend and associate of Peter Jefferson, the father of
President Thomas Jefferson. Peter Jefferson was one of the executors of
Thomas Meriwether's will, and Thomas Jefferson was named in honor of his
life-long friend. Parson William Douglas, who came over to Virginia as a
teacher in the family of Colonel Monroe, father of President Monroe, was
also the tutor of Nicholas Meriwether, the son of Thomas, and of Thomas
Jefferson, who became President. In his autobiography the latter pays a
high tribute to Parson Douglas, and attributes to his learning and skill
as a teacher the great proficiency in Greek, Latin and literature for
which Jefferson was noted. This same Parson Douglas was the tutor of
Presidents Monroe and Madison. His daughter, Margaret Douglas, married
Nicholas Meriwether, the friend of Thomas Jefferson. She is the great-
grandmother of Hunter M. Meriwether, whose name appears in the
introductory lines of this article. Another descendant of Thomas
Meriwether was Meriwether Lewis, the eminent explorer, whom Thomas
Jefferson appointed to conduct the important expedition for locating and
exploring the unknown wastes of the great west, and whose deeds and
experiences, as they relate to the history of Missouri, appear elsewhere
in this work. President Jefferson afterward appointed Meriwether Lewis
Governor of Louisiana Territory. It is interesting to recall in this
connection that when Meriwether Lewis camped at the junction of the Kansas
and Missouri Rivers he wrote in his official record the prediction that
some day the site would be occupied by a great city, the metropolis of the
growing West. The prophecy is fulfilled in the magnitude and importance of
Kansas City, together with the neighboring towns which are practically a
part of her. Hunter M. Meriwether was educated at the Green Springs
Academy, Alabama, and Vanderbuilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He
spent seven years at Vanderbuilt, graduating in the literary department,
spending two years as fellow and assistant professor of mathematics and
finally graduating in the law department in 1885. In both literary and law
departments he received the highest honors of his class. Soon after
finishing his university course Mr. Meriwether removed to Kansas City,
Missouri, and there opened an office for the proctice of law. His practice
has been confined mostly to real estate litigation and the laws covering
corporations and taxation. For ten years he has represented the State and
county in all tax suits brought in Jackson County and has managed a great
many large and important suits against railroads and other corporations.
In having taxes declared a first charge against the assets of defunct
corporations he recovered many thousands of dollars for the State. Suits
now on hand against the Metropolitan Street Railway Company and other
railroads which refuse to pay their taxes involve fully $50,000. Mr.
Meriwether's most important work is probably in litigation involving
riparian rights and accretions on the river front at Kansas City, and the
carrying out of a great engineering feat of reclaiming from the river a
large tract of land which formed a part of the main channel of the river.
After gaining the law suits for his clients he went to work to reclaim the
land, and succeeded in having a harbor line established by the government
in 1893, allowing him to push the river over for half a mile. This work
has progressed vigorously, and there are now great railroad yards where
steamboats plied a few years ago. The yards of the Maple Leaf route and of
the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway in the West Bottoms of Kansas City
were all built on land reclaimed in this way by Mr. Meriwether. The work
is still progressing, and a vast tract will still be reclaimed if it is
carried out as contemplated. Politically Mr. Meriwether is a Democrat, but
is not active except as a voter. He is a member of the Sixth and Prospect
Christian Church, Kansas City, and has been one of the deacons of this
church for two years. He is a Master Mason, a member of the Phi Delta
Theta college fraternity and of the Society of Colonial Wars. He was
married Spetember 28, 1887, to Lucy Underwood Western, daughter of Captain
William Wallace Western and Juliette (Underwood) Western, of Kentucky.
Captain Western was a prominent soldier in the Confederate service. His
wife was the daughter of the well-known Warner L. Underwood, of Bowling
Green, Kentucky, who was a member of Congress and President Lincoln's
consul to Scotland during the War of the Rebellion. Mr. and Mrs.
Meriwether have two children, William Western and Juliet Block. Mr
Meriwether, as an aggressive, vigorous lawyer, has gained a reputation
which he well deserves, and stands high among his associates of the bar
and as a citizen of Missouri and Kansas City.

Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, V-VI,(New
York, Louisville, St. Louis: Southern History Company, 1901) pp. 333-334
Contributed by Sharon Pike