“FREDERICK EDWARD MEEKER, of Portland, one of the organizers and a member of the board of directors of the Home Finance Corporation of Indianapolis, formerly and for years connected with the affairs of the Hawkins Mortgage Company of Portland and prior to that connection for some years engaged in the newspaper business at Portland, one of he best known young men in that city, was born in Portland and has been a resident of that city all his life.  Mr. Meeker was born on August 18, 1879, and is a son of Norton Augustus and Rachel Hannah (Hawkins) Meeker…

Reared at Portland, where he was born, Frederick E. Meeker received his schooling in the schools of that city and when seventeen years of age became engaged as a clerk in a book store at R.H. Denney at Portland.  Three years later he became engaged in newspaper work at Portland in association with his brother-in-law, Frank L. Braden, and was thus engaged for about six years, at the end of which he accepted employment as a time keeper for the construction force of the Muncie and Portland Tracton Company, engaged in building the traction line from Muncie to Portland, and upon completion of that work was appointed ticket agent for the company in the Portland office.  He continued thus engaged for about eighteen months, at the end of which time he took up a new line and was for nearly three years thereafter engaged in the publication of the city and county directories, after which he became engaged in the real estate business at Portland in association with C.W.McLaughlin, and was thus engaged for about three years, at the end of which time he entered the office of N.B. Hawkins and Company and was with that concern when it became reorganized as The Hawkins Mortgage Company.  In this latter connection Mr. Meeker’s attention particularly was directed to the Welfare Loan Societies  department of this company’s extensive operations and he organized the second such society of the present long series of Welfare Loan Societies now operating under the direction of The Hawkins Mortgage Company.  Mr. Meeker continued his connection with this company until January, 1921, when he T.J. Taylor of Portland directed their energies toward the organization of the Home Finance Corporation of Indianapolis and in May following secured a charter for that concern, which is incorporated in accordance with the laws of the state of Indiana and under the supervision of the the Indiana state securities commission.  The Home Finance Corporation of Indianapolis , incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000, quickly established itself on a firm financial basis and is now recognized as one of the most promising concerns of this character in Indiana.  The local branch office of the Home Finance Corporation is in the Sibery block in Portland, which was bought for that purpose.  The greater part of the stock in this concern is held by substantial business men and farmers of Jay county…

Mr. Meeker is also a member of the board of directors of the Portland Chamber of Commerce and has long been recognized as one of the real ‘live wires’ in the business life of that city.  He is a Republican and has ever given his earnest attention to local civic affairs.  Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent Order of Elks and with the local area of the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Portland, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and of the Country Club.

On May 8, 1908, Frederick E. Meeker was united in marriage to Grace E. Ware, who at that time had been for five years a member of the teaching staff of the schools of Jay county, and to this union one child has been born, a son, J. Gordon Meeker, born September 25, 1910.

Mr. and Mrs. Meeker have a very pleasant home on East High street, Portland, and have ever taken an interested and helpful part in the general social activities of the city.

Mrs. Meeker also is a member of one of the pioneer families of Jay county, the Wares having been represented here since the days when what is now Jay county was a part of Randolph county…”

Source:  History of Jay Co. Indiana, Vol 2, by Milton T. Jay and M.W. Montgomery, Historical Publishing Co., Indianapolis, 1922, pages 328-30