As mentioned before, Samuel gifted his Stuart portrait to twin sister Phoebe, most likely on their 40ieth birthday in 1803 (they were born in NJ Westfields in 1763). Most certainly there was a lavish celebration at Samuel's country estate known as Fountain Green (click here for a post on the villa-or go to the fixed labels on the right for all posts on Samuel's estate near Philadelphia along the Schuylkill river).
Phoebe married Job Brookfield, and the Meeker name was gone. Their daughter Mary married a Martin and the Brookfield name was gone. Other marriages by women and the name changed from Martin (see Carrie Martin m. Cory in the post before this or click here), to Cory (see fixed labels on right for Cory), then Ahrens (my mom is Carolyn Cory now 84 who married my dad John Ahrens). Here is a photo of this generation of Ahrens (with the exception of my daughter Lily K. in the red skirt when I married Willy Kley, a prof of astrophysics in Germany.) The Meeker twins, Samuel and Phoebe would be proud of this batch of descendants. Taken a few months ago.
Samuel had no direct descendants as his son passed away at a young age. Click here or scroll down 2 posts. His son Samuel Hampton Meeker b. 1796 died May 21 1822. Exactly 190 years ago today.
The text above "The Cory Brothers Modernized Medicine in SC County" (written by me) was just recently published in the March/April medical Bulletin of the Santa Clara County and Monterey County Medical Association (click on it for a bigger view). The brothers Drs Ben and Jack were instrumental in developing public health early on in Santa Clara county California (aka silicon valley.) Dr. Ben Cory's son Lewis (b. 1861 San Jose California) was the first lawyer in Fresno Ca, he married Carrie Martin (b. 1862 Rahway NJ) pictured above, who grew up in the Westfields New Jersey. Carrie is the gt gt grandaughter of Phoebe Meeker who was gifted the Stuart portait of her twin brother Samuel Meeker on their 40ieth birthday. Carrie eventually inherited the portrait and brought it to Fresno California where she and Lewis raised their family including son Ben Cory my grandfather. Notice the genetic similarities between Samuel in the portrait and the photo-portrait of Carrie. Stunning.
Carrie is the daughter-in-law of Dr. Ben Cory, and my gt grandmother. More on Carrie and her family in the next post!
~click here for the provenance of the portrait~
