Bios: Hon. John Meily 1826-1883: Lebanon County

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Biographies
from - "Proceedings of Pennsylvania-German Society Volume XII, 1901

                    Hon. John Meily 1826-1883

	Hon. John Meily was born September 9, 1826. He was son of Martin
Meily, b. September, 1801, d. September, 1883, and Magdalena Groh, b.
April, 1798, d. April, 1883, who was the son of John Meily, d. 1826,
son of Henry Meily, b. 1747, who was one of the early settlers from
Switzerland.
	Mr. Meily's father, Martin, removed to Mechanicsburg, Pa., from
Lebanon County, the family home, where he had been, at various times,
a justice of the peace, a county surveyor and a merchant. John was
clerk in a Mechanicsburg store for a while and learned the blacksmith
trade, then returned to Lebanon County and engaged in transportation
pursuits on the Union Canal, at Jonestown, with his cousin, the late
Senator George F. Meily, having offices at Jonestown and Middletown.
He was also connected with a mercantile establishment in Philadelphia
at one time, and lived for a short time in that city.
	In the early sixties he erected a car works on North Tenth Street,
in Lebanon, Pa., removing about 1864 to North Seventh Street, at
which time he entered into partnership with the late Peter L. Weidner.
	His knowledge of the iron business led him, later, to enter that
trade, and, with Henry Meily, son of Henry Meily, he operated a
furnace at Middletown, about forty years ago. In 1867 he built the
Lebanon Valley Furnace, at Lebanon, Pa., with Richard Meily and Lyman
Nutting, operating the same ever since with Richard Meily, Mr.
Nutting, now dead, having withdrawn from the firm many years ago.
	Mr. Meily's prominence in various canal and iron industries brought
him into public life and he had not yet reached the age of thirty
when he was elected  member of the State Legislature, on the Whig
ticket. He was then living at Jonestown. He declined a reelection,
preferring business advancement to political distinction, but
remained always prominent in the Whig and Republican parties and
influential in party affairs. In 1880 he filled the office of Chief
Burgess of the borough of Lebanon.
	He was a member of St. John's Reformed Church, since its
organization. His death, which occurred about 5 A.M. on Thursday,
April 3, 1902, from chronic heart trouble, removed from Lebanon
business circles a pioneer iron manufacturer, a public man generally
respected and influential, and a private citizen widely esteemed and
admired.
	Mr. Meily was twice married. His first wife was Miss Helen Halter,
who died over twenty-five years ago, with whom he had six children,
the following surviving: James, of Philadelphia; John Jr., and Mary,
of Lebanon, and Helen, wife of Edward M. Taylor, of Wilmington, Del.
His second wife, nee Miss Katherine DeHuff, survives him.
	He was elected to membership in the Pennsylvania-German Society on
January 11, 1893. H.M.M.R.