During the spring of 1855, Ezra Meeker, the Puyallup pioneer of Oregon Trail fame, abandoned his donation land claim on McNeil Island and moved his family to the donation land claim belonging to his father, Jacob R. Meeker, located in parts of present day South Tacoma and the City of Lakewood, near the area known as Fern Hill. There, Ezra built a cabin, planted a garden, and started an orchard. [1]
The three Meeker men (Ezra, Oliver, and Jacob) moved to the area near Fern Hill. Ezra built another cabin, planted a garden, and started an orchard.
–Steilacoom Historical Museum Quarterly, Volume XXVII, Number 2, Summer 1999, p. 6
In the early morning hours of October 29, 1855, the Meeker family’s were awakened with the news that the Indians had murdered all the settlers living on the White River and would surely do the same to all the other settlers living in area. Ezra Meeker and Oliver Meeker, along with their family were living on the donation land claim of their father Jacob R. Meeker. [3]
“About two o’clock in the morning of the 29th, (October 29, 1855) a loud knock at the door awakened the three families, father and two sons, * followed with the information that the Indians had broken out, had murdered all the settlers on White River, and would no doubt soon be out on the plains to murder the inhabitants wherever found.
* Jacob R. Meeker, Oliver P. Meeker, and the author, then living just beyond the confines of South Tacoma, south and five miles east of Fort Steilacoom”
“While in our case we were but five miles from what was called Fort Steilacoom”
“My brother, 0. P. Meeker, and myself stoutly contended we had best barricade the cabins and stay where we were, but the father and women of the household said ” no” with such emphasis that the conclusion was soon reached that we must fly.”
-Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, the Tragedy of Leschi. Ezra Meeker. 1905. pp. 304, 305
Identified in the map below are the locations of the donation land claims of Jacob R. Meeker, Jesse Dunlap, Ezra Meeker, and Oliver Meeker. The map also identifies the location of the Fern Hill Addition to the City of Tacoma, and the townsite of Midland. [2]
Jacob Meeker donation land claim is just beyond the confines of South Tacoma, south, and five miles east of Fort Steilacoom, situated on top of the marshy area known as the South Tacoma Swamp. This was the location Ezra Meeker moved his family to when he abandoned his claim on McNeil Island, and where he was living on October 29, 1855, when he and his family fled for their lives to the safety of Fort Steilacoom. This is Swamp Place.
(Click the image below to view a full size map)
In their history of Ezra Meeker, the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion and Wikipedia editor Gary Greenbaum inaccurately tell readers Swamp Place is the Ezra Meeker donation land claim located in present day Midland, Washington, when in fact, the historical evidence indicates that Swamp Place was the donation land claim that belonging to his father, Jacob R. Meeker. [4] [5]
On November 5, 1855, Ezra Meeker claimed 325.21 acres of land called Swamp Place, near Fern Hill, southeast of Tacoma. He began to improve the land, planting a garden and an orchard.
Ezra Meeker’s farm at Swamp Place was not a success as the land was too poor to grow crops. The family continued to run the store in Steilacoom. On January 5, 1861, Oliver Meeker drowned while returning from a buying trip to San Francisco, when his ship, the Northerner, sank off the California coast. The Meekers had borrowed to finance the trip, and the losses from this disaster reduced Ezra Meeker to near penury. He secured the squatter’s claim of Jerry Stilly on land in the Puyallup Valley, and moved his wife and children there in 1862.
–Wikipedia, Ezra Meeker, Territorial Pioneer, Early Days, para. 5, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Meeker
Ezra Meeker secured his donation land claim on November 7, 1855, not November 5, 1855. [6]
Swamp Place was not Ezra Meeker’s donation land claim or any land that Ezra Meeker owned. Swamp Place was the donation land claim belonging to Jacob Meeker. [7]
If the statement “Ezra Meeker’s farm at Swamp Place was not a success as the land was too poor to grow crops” is referring to Ezra Meeker’s donation land claim located in present day Midland he secured on November 7, 1855, then that statement is false. An Inventory of Personal Property of Eliza J. Meeker filed by Eliza Jane Meeker with the Pierce County Auditor on July 17, 1872, to protect her assets from creditors in a judgement against Ezra Meeker, Eliza Jane stated the following
Eliza Jane Meeker, wife of E. M. Meeker claims the following described property as her own separate property; and in no wise liable for the debts, contracts and liabilities of her said husband viz; the East half of the Donation Claim of E. M. Meeker,… with all of the crops growing thereon.
–Pierce County Index, Inventory of the Separate Property of Eliza J. Meeker, July 17, 1872, p.496
If the land was too poor to grow crops, how is it that Eliza Jane Meeker could grow hops on the exact piece of land.
Oliver Meeker did not drown in 1861. The steamship Northerner struck rocks off the coast of Cape Mendocino on January 5, 1860 and sank. Oliver Meeker drowned while trying to swim to shore.
The facts from the historical evidence do not support the statement “The Meekers had borrowed to finance the trip, and the losses from this disaster reduced Ezra Meeker to near penury.” The 1860 Federal Census shows Ezra Meeker living in Steilacoom, with Ezra Meeker claiming a value of his real estate at $4,600, equivalent to about $181,109.76 today. Ezra Meeker also claimed on the 1860 Federal Census that his personal estate was valued at $12,000, equivalent to about $472,460.24. What Wikipedia editor Gary Greenbaum stated as Ezra Meeker being near “penury”, is a false statement. [9]
Ezra Meeker moved his family to the Puyallup Valley in 1862 because Jacob Meeker sold his donation land claim to Charles Spinning on October 28, 1862. Ezra Meeker had nowhere to live so he moved into the cabin on the abandoned squatter’s claim of his brother-in-law, Jeramiah Stilley. Stilley abandoned his squatter’s claim and cabin in 1862 and took a homestead claim near present day Buckley, Washington. [10]
There is no evidence to support any notion or idea that Ezra Meeker ever settled on his donation land claim located in present day Midland, Washington. The historical evidence strongly indicates that Ezra Meeker received the land patent from the federal government by fraud or false statements.
References
- Steilacoom Historical Museum Quarterly, Volume XXVII, Number 2, Summer 1999, p. 6
- United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey, Washington, Pierce County, Tacoma South Quadrangle, 1944
- Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, the Tragedy of Leschi. Ezra Meeker. 1905. pp. 304, 305.
- Wikipedia, Ezra Meeker, Territorial Pioneer, Early Days, para. 5, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Meeker
- Wikipedia, Ezra Meeker, Territorial Pioneer, Hop King of the World, para. 1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Meeker
- Washington State Archives, Donation Land Claims, Meeker, Ezra M. and Eliza Jane his wife, #0-586 Roll 100, Page 1067, Sec. 2 and 3, T 19N R3E, and in Sec. 34 and 35, T 20N R3E, 320.05 acres.
- Washington State Archives, Donation Land Claims, Meeker, Jacob R., #0-419 Roll 98, Page 343, Sec. 30 and 31, T 20N R3E, 302.29 acres.
- Pierce County Index, Inventory of the Separate Property of Eliza J. Meeker, July 17, 1872, p.496
- United States Census of 1860, Pierce County, Washington Territory, page 52, Line 15
- Bureau of Land Management, Accession Nr: WAOAA 064593, Document Type: Serial Patent, State: Washington, Issue Date: 7/20/1886, Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead Entry Original (12 Stat. 392)