1. Joseph Lafayette Meek was an American pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States.
12 Facts About Joseph Meek
1. 2.
Joseph Meek was later elected to and served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being appointed as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory.
3.
Joseph Meek was born on February 9,1810, to James Meek and Spica Walker in Washington County, Virginia, near the Cumberland Gap.
4.
In Idaho in 1838, Joseph Meek married a woman given to him by Nez Perce chief Kowesota; it was customary for trappers to make what were called "country marriages".
5.
Joseph Meek had previously been married to a different Nez Perce woman.
6.
In Oregon Country, Joseph Meek took to wearing a bright red sash in imitation of the French Canadian trappers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company.
7.
In 1841, Joseph Meek settled in the Tualatin Valley, northwest of Oregon City, and entered into the political life of the area.
8.
In 1843, when the provisional government was formed, Joseph Meek was appointed sheriff, and he was elected to the legislature in 1846 and 1847.
9.
Joseph Meek traveled to Washington, DC, with the news of the killings and the ensuing Cayuse War.
10.
Joseph Meek organized the Oregon Volunteers and led them in the Yakima Indian War and was promoted to the rank of major for his service.
11.
On June 20,1875 Joseph Meek died at his home on the land he settled on the Tualatin Plains just north of Hillsboro, Oregon, at the age of 65.
12.
Joseph Meek's older brother Stephen Meek was a trapper, and became known for his role in the ill-fated Meek Cutoff.