THOSE AUDACIOUS MEEHANS

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.