Biography

09/17/1839 - 05/17/1924

Private William Boling Meredith (R41) Armstrong and Butler Counties, 1885-1900

Early Life: 

Private William Boling Meredith, born September 17, 1839, Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; son of Jonathan Evans Meredith and Caroline Matilda McKee Meredith; Elder’s Ridge Academy; Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 1860; private, Pennsylvania Militia, 1862; engaged, oil, iron businesses;  married, Eliza Nelson Colwell Meredith, 1868, children, Caroline McKee Meredith Clayland, Margaret Colwell Meredith; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1885-1900; treasurer, secretary, Armstrong Water Company; manager, Butler and Warren Water Companies; president, Safe Deposit and Title Guarantee Company; vice president, National Kittanning Bank; died, May 17, 1924 (aged 84) interment, Meredith Mausoleum, Kittanning Cemetery, Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Private, Company 2A, 23rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, saw action Battle of Gettysburg, 1862.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Member, York Rite Masonry, Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Holy Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania, 1907-1908; Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, District Deputy Grand Master,  1873-1924, 51 years of service; member, Presbyterian church. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, Armstrong and Butler Counties, 1885-1900; committee assignments, Appropriations, Congressional Apportionment, Finance, Insurance (Chairman), Judiciary Special, Public Printing and Public Health and Sanitation. 

Legacy: 

Father, Jonathan Evans Meredith, Pennsylvania State Senate, 21st district, Armstrong, Indiana Counties, 1860-1862. 

Jonathan E Meredith  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

After his youngest daughter, Caroline, sold his home, 1955; Armstrong County Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) opened, 1959-2013. After full restoration has now reopened as The Meredith Inn.

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members M". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1900). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Miller, H.P. (Assistant Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 1187, 1192-1195, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 1161.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Sunday May 18, 1924, Page 38.  

Biographical And Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana And Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania: Published By, John M. Gresham & Co., Managed By, Samuel T. Wiley, Historian And Editor, Nos. 1218 and 1220 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, 1891, p 368.

William Bolling Meredith (1839-1924) - Find a Grave Memorial