of Michigan in 1850, and two other brothers were members of the Senate of that State.
Bradley B. Meeker was born at Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1813. Although descended from Robert Meeker who established the town in 1650, the father of Bradley was in poor circumstances, and unable to give his children an education. After many struggles with adverse circumstances, the youth came under the notice of Governor Thomlinson, under whose patronage he was sent to Weston Academy and subsequently to Yale College. After leaving college he settled at Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky, where he commenced the study of law while engaged in teaching as a means of support.
After admission to the bar in 1838, he practised his profession at Richmond until 1845, when he removed to Flemingsburg in the same State. Here he soon became a leader in the movement for a constitutional convention for the revision of the State Constitution.
Through the influence of John Bell, President Taylor appointed Mr. Meeker one of the Associate Justices of the Territory of Minnesota. This position he held, performing the duties with credit, until the commencement of the Pierce administration in 1853, when he was succeeded by Moses Sherburne.
Judge Meeker wrote but seven decisions, all of which appear in the first volume of the Reports. After leaving the bench he never engaged in active practice, but devoted himself to real-estate transactions, with indifferent success, although he finally accumulated a competence. He was active in the life of the new community, was somewhat eccentric in his habits, and seems to have been in demand as a public speaker.
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ANDREW G. CHATFIELD.
He was a member of the Democratic wing of the Constitutional Convention of 1857, and there advocated an appointive judiciary.
During the year 1857 the people of the Territory were suffering from "hard times;" and Judge Meeker advocated a plan which he thought would relieve debtors and at the same time make Minnesota a haven of rest for the financially troubled of other lands. In November of that year he wrote to a member of the Legislature a letter from which I quote the following : —
"You are now in a position to do Minnesota good service, and I know you well enough to know that you will do all in your power to promote her best interests. Now, something must be done, or northern Minnesota will be a pauper country within two years. I have thought much about the matter, and have at last fallen upon the following relief measures. In the first place, I want you to pass a law prohibiting all our courts of justice from rendering any judgments for debts due by contract or judgment contracted or rendered out of Minnesota for the term of five years from the passage of such law. Now, the effect of such a legislative act would he this : all the embarrassed men of business, whether manufacturers, merchants, or mechanics, would wend their way with their families and friends to Minnesota in the spring, where they could enjoy legal repose from the demands of their creditors, and establish them
