John G. Meachem, Sr. was born in Axbridge, Somerset, England in 1823. He was one of five children. His father was Thomas Meachem; his mother was a Goldesbrough, hence the recurring middle name. Thomas brought his family to America in 1831. He was ordained in New York in 1832 as an Episcopalian minister. He stayed in New York until 1837 when he moved to West Canada to continue in the ministry. According to an undated copybook of poetry belonging to Thomas, he was born in “Shipton Pallet England” and “died about 1848.”
John, Sr. attended Geneva Medical College in New York in 1841-1842 and graduated from Castleton Medical College in Vermont in 1843. The matriculation cards from the schools are in the collection. He practiced in Lyndon, New York until 1852 when he took his wife and son, John, Jr., to Racine, Wisconsin. For two years during the Civil War period he served as head of Camp Utley's regimental hospital, located on the outskirts of Racine. He was mayor of Racine for three terms. John, Sr. became a trustee of Racine College in 1874 and retained the position until his death in 1896.
John, Jr., only child of John, Sr., was born in Lyndon, New York in 1846. He graduated from Rush Medical School in Chicago in 1865, two months prior to his twentieth birthday. While at Rush College he composed a Rush Medical School March; a copy of the sheet music is in the collection. He practiced with his father in Racine and was very active in St. Luke's Hospital. In the 1920's he served as president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association. He married Eliza Smith of Racine and, when she died, gave in memorial a Gothic chapel and library to St. Luke's Hospital. Their son, John G. Meachem III, is also a graduate of Rush Medical College, studied in London and Paris, and joined his father in practice in Racine. When he was sixteen, he printed and published a newspaper called the “Midget.” A few copies, 1887-1888, are in the collection. In 1872, John Sr. and Jr. cooperated in establishing St. Luke's Hospital in Racine.
