Frederick William Merriweather [TMSI#5820]
Frederick William Merriweather – Rosedale, Kansas includes in its citizenship a full quota of men who are always equal to the occasion --- men ready to fight in time of war, and ready to hustle in the business arena in time of peace. Among them is Frederick William Merriweather, an enterprising grocer, a men held in high esteem by the people of the town. He has a war record himself and his father before him had one. Briefly, a sketch of his career follows:
Frederick William Merriweather is a native of Illinois. He was born in Sangamon county, that state, in 1870, son of W. H. and Sarah (Bateman) Merriweather, the latter a native of that same place and former of Ohio.
W. H. Merriweather was a man of local prominence. In early life he left the Buckeye state and became a resident of Illinois. During the Civil War he showed his patriotism by offering his service to the Union cause, and as sergeant in Company B, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, he served his country well. A few years after the war, in 1872, he moved to Kansas, settled in Crawford county and engaged in farming. Here his sterling qualities brought him into favor with the people among whom he lived and he was honored with high official position. He served one term in the Kansas legislature, and, subsequently, in 1880, was elected registrar of deeds in Crawford county. He died in August 1898. Politically, he was a Republican; fraternally, a Knight of Pythias, and, religiously, both he and his wife were identified with the Methodist church. The six children born to them are as follows: Elmer E., an electrician at Pittsburg, Kansas; Sherman H., traveling representative for a shoe firm of Denver, in which he is interested; Moria, who died at the age of nineteen years and six months; Frederick W., whose name introduces this review; Edward J., a farmer of Crawford county; and Joseph L., an electrician of Girard, Kansas.
Frederick W. Merriweather was reared on his father’s farm in Crawford county, or, rather, spent his early boyhood days there, for at the age of eleven years he went to Girard, Kansas, where he attended school until he was seventeen. From that time until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he was employed as a shoe salesman. When the call came for volunteers, he responded by joining Company D, Twentieth Kansas, and with his command went to San Francisco, thence, in October, 1898, to the Islands, and as first sergeant of his company proved himself a brave soldier on the field of battle. During his service he was in no less than twenty-two fights and skirmishes. After the war was over he returned to the United States and took up residence in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was employed as a furniture salesman. From Kansas City he came to Rosedale. Here he engaged in the grocery business with S. W. Young, which he has since continued and today ranks with the leading business men of the town.
In 1903, Mr. Merriweather married his partner’s daughter, Miss Willie C. Young. Mrs. Young, formerly Miss Emily Beeson, is a niece of Simon P. Bell, for many years a prominent citizen of Rosedale, now ninety years of age. Personal mention of Mr. Bell will be found on another page of this work.
Politically, like his father before him, Mr. Merriweather is a Republican, and while he has never figured conspicuously as a politician, he served efficiently as a member of the city council, to which he was elected in 1909. He is a member of the Episcopal Church.