The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 290
Town of Cato / Meridian

day. His descendants live on the farm on which he settled.

Dr. John Jakway came in about 1809, from Vermont, where he was a confrere of Ethan Allen, of whose singularly rugged energy he largely partook. About 1812 he bought the improvements of Abner Hollister, at Cato, to which place he gave the name of Jakway's Corners, by which it was known for many years. He was the first permanent settler at that village. He was preceded by some squatters, among whom were John West and Barber Allen, whose improvements he also bought.

Jakway was a batchelor and a confirmed infidel, and a man of generous impulses and marked idiosyncrasies.

Johnson Hall came in from Conway, N.H., about 1810, and settled at Meridian, where he died about 1840.

After the war, in 1815, the settlements were more rapid and important. Among those who came in that year were Wm. Ingham, Parsons P. Meacham and Michael Ogilsbie. Ingham was originally from Massachusetts, (but immediately from Skaneateles,) whence he came as land agent for Elisha Williams of Hudson, Columbia county, who owned large tracts of military lands in this and Onondaga counties. This connection with Williams, which continued till the latter's death, and his subsidiary mercantile business, brought him into intimate relations with the early settlers, and his sterling integrity left its indelible impress on the character of the persons who settled here. On coming here he opened a store at Meridian, on the site of Webster's store, on the corner of Main and Oswego streets, now belonging to the Morley estate. His son, Wm. Smith Ingham, succeeded him in the mercantile business in 1831. Two grandchildren, sons of the latter, are living, viz.: Edgar I., who is connected with a mercantile agency in Indiana, and Albert C., who was for several years connected with the State Department of Agriculture of Wisconsin and prepared several volumes emanating therefrom, and who is now living in Meridian, of which village he is the president. Meacham was also from Mass., and came in July, 1815. He is now living, aged eighty-three years, about a mile east of Meridian at what is known as Meacham's Corners. He joined the Baptist Church in Meridian in 1831, since which time he has acted as its clerk. Ogilsbie came in from New Jersey and settled where he now lives, about four and a half miles south-east of Meridian, opposite to where Samson Lawrence, the first settler, located. Eleazer Squires and a family named Spinning, both from New Jersey, settled about this year, (1815,) about a mile north of the iron bridge.

OFFICERS.--The first town officers were elected at a meeting held at the house of Israel Wolverton, March 1st, 1803, as follows: John C. Barnes, Supervisor; Alanson Sheldon, Clerk; Israel Wolverton, Archibald Green and Gilbert Jeffries, Assessors; Samuel Martin and Jacob Wiltsie, Overseers of the Poor; Ephraim Wetherell, Daniel Parker and Moses Farrand, Commissioners of Highways; James Perkins, Zadock Barnes and Gilbert Perkins, Pound Keepers; William Patterson and Samson Lawrence, Fence Viewers; Theophilus Emerson, Constable; Edward Wood, Constable and Collector.

The town officers elected in 1879 are: David E. Hunter, Supervisor; Chauncey Olmstead, Town Clerk; Charles Cowell, Justice of the Peace; Daniel Sleight, Assessor; Jas. L. Rhoades, Commissioner of Highways; Chauncey Olmstead and Leonard Mills, Overseers of the Poor; Eugene Deforest and I.W. Dudley, Inspectors of Election; David M. Mills, Collector; William S. Pearson, Theron C. Dudley, William H. Lockwood, George W. Woolford and George Cool, Constables; Charles Robinson, Game Constable.

The population of the town in 1875 was 2,095; of whom 1,900 were native; 195, foreign; 2,090, white; and 5, colored. The area is 20,488 acres; of which 15,854, were improved; 3,797, woodland; and 837, unimproved.

MERIDIAN

Meridian is situated near the north line and is two miles east of Cato on the S.C.R.R., and eight miles north of Weedsport. It is a quiet, attractive and thrifty village of some 700 inhabitants, with nicely shaded streets and good walks. It was originally known as Cato Four Corners. The name was changed in 1849. It was incorporated October 17th, 1854, and the first election was held November 9th of that year, at the Eagle House, when William Smith Ingham, Jonathan Hoyt, Edwin E. Dudley, Chauncey Olmstead and William H. Coppernoll, were elected Trustees; James Hickok, M.D. Drew and

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