William M. Meek
son of Rev. John and Anna Meek, was born November 22, 1818, in West Union, where he resided with his parents until 1836, when they re moved to Winchester. That same year he entered school at Hillsboro, and completed the Hillsboro schools. He then accepted a position with the dry goods firm of Trimble & Barry, where he remained until 1838, when he returned to West Union, accepting a like position with Edward Moore. In 1841 he began the study of law. He was the pupil of the Hon. Nelson Barrere. In May, 1844, in the Supreme Court of Hillsboro, he was admitted to practice. The Hon. Thomas L. Hamer, of Brown County, was one of the committee who examined him and recommended his admission. He opened up a law office in West Union and remained there for more than a year. In August, 1845, he was married to Miss Hester DeBruin, of Winchester, daughter of H. I. De Bruin, a well-known merchant. In October, 1845, he formed a partnership with Hon. Nelson Barrere, in the practice of law at West Union, and this continued until March, 1850, when he removed to Winchester and entered into merchandising as a partner with the late I. H. De Bruin in Winchester. He continued the practice of law at the same time he was engaged in merchandising business, which he continued until 1854. when he removed to Hillsboro, Ohio, where he resumed practice. He was elected probate judge of Highland County first in 1863, re-elected in 1866, and again in 1869. In 1872 he resumed the practice of law, and continued until his health broke down. In politics he was a Republican. He was a member of and devotedly attached to the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was reared, and he was twice a lay delegate to the general conference of that church, first at Baltimore in 1876, and again in 1880 at Cincinnati. He was made a Master Mason in 1849 in West Union. He was a Royal Arch Mason, Hillsboro Chapter, in 1850, and was made a Knight Templar in the Chillicothe Commandery in 1851. He departed this life April 29, 1893.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900