Nathan Meeker
| Nathanial C. Meeker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
July 12, 1817 Euclid, Ohio |
| Died | September 29, 1879 (aged 62) Meeker, Colorado |
Nathanial Cook "Nathan" Meeker (July 12, 1817 – September 30, 1879) was a 19th-century United States (US) journalist, homesteader, entrepreneur, and Indian agent for the federal government. He is noted for his founding in 1870 of the Union Colony, a cooperative agricultural colony in present-day Greeley, Colorado.
In 1878, he was appointed U.S. Agent at the White River Indian Agency in western Colorado. The next year, he was killed by Ute warriors in what became known as the Meeker Massacre, during the White River War. His wife and adult daughter were taken captive for about three weeks. In 1880, the United States Congress passed punitive legislation to remove the Ute from Colorado to Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in present-day Utah, and take away some land formerly guaranteed them.
The town of Meeker, Colorado and Mount Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park are named for him.
Nathan Cook Meeker was born in Euclid, Ohio on July 12, 1817, to Enoch and Lurana Meeker. He had three brothers. Meeker was a writer and submitted articles to area publications when he was a boy. He left home at 17 years-of-age for New Orleans, where he worked as a copy boy for the New Orleans Picayune. In the late 1830s, Meeker returned to Ohio, where he attended and graduated from Oberlin College.
After college, Meeker worked as a school teacher in Cleveland and Philadelphia. He saved up his money to move to New York, hoping to fulfill a desire to become a poet. In New York, he became a contributor to the Mirror, which was owned by N.P. Willis. Unable to support himself, he moved back to Euclid and was a traveling salesman. Meeker was also a farmer.
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