THOSE AUDACIOUS MEEHANS
A Peculiarly American Family
"Audacity augments courage." Publilius Syrus
Those Audacious Meehans
Dennis Meehan became DeWitty's second postmaster in 1916 and promptly renamed the town Audacious, saying that “the people were audacious for having settled there.” (Perkey’s Names of Nebraska Locations).
The DeWitty name has withstood the test of time, but the Meehan’s will forever hail from Audacious.
WELCOME
Those Audacious Meehans is the story of my paternal family.
Our matriarch, Hester, was of African descent and orphaned by age eight. Our patriarch, Charles, was of Jewish/German descent but was raised as Irish. He was abandoned as an infant. Hester and Charles met as children in the Elgin Settlement, near Chatham, Ontario, AKA the Black Man's Paris.
Our earliest known family story originates from a burning ship in Charleston Harbor in 1821. By 1843 we were pioneers in Ontario's Queen's Bush. In 1859, an Anderson cousin and abolitionist joined John Brown at Harpers Ferry. When 1885 dawned we were Nebraska Homesteaders and part of a core group whose small town became known as the "longest lasting and most successful African American settlement in rural Nebraska."
We represent many families and communities that are irrevocably bound. Those Audacious Meehans seeks to highlight and credit each family/community as the Meehan story unfolds.
All photographs and documents are from the collection of Catherine Meehan Blount unless otherwise noted.
This site is updated continuously, so visit again. Questions, comments, and suggestions of topics you would like to see are welcome. I will also assist other Meehan and extended family genealogists/historians in your quest to preserve our history.
Catherine Meehan Blount
2011
FOR DAD WITH GREAT LOVE AND APPRECIATION
A LOVE POEM TO NEBRASKA
Dad loved this land and was never ashamed to say so. He was born in Nebraska where his family were Homesteaders in a community of farmers and ranchers. Thanks to Nebraska Stories for sharing the story of Nebraska's African-descended Canadian/American Homesteaders. I believe this presentation of his poem about Nebraska would thrill Dad.
From PBS's NEBRASKA STORIES Facebook post: "He was the son of Charles and Hester Meehan, a bi-racial couple who emigrated from Canada and eventually settled along the North Loup River near a place called DeWitty. William Meehan loved Nebraska and often shared his fond childhood memories with his daughter, Catherine, who now reads a poem her father wrote when he was a teenager."
Nebraska Stories
Follow the link below to Nebraska, a PBS Nebraska Stories presentation produced by Kelly Rush.
The Meehan Children
Which child do you descend from?