STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Transcribed by Larry Fearneyhough
Page 127
In the country adjacent to Bluffs, or in all of Scott county, for that matter, few men are better known than Hon. Thomas Meehan. He is of Irish parentage, his father and mother being born in Dublin, Ireland. Thos. Meehan was born at Valley City, Pike county, Illinois, August 4, 1861. He was educated there, and for twenty-two years that little village was his home. During the years of his residence in Pike county, he was a farmer, but in 1883, April, he left the farm and went to Bluffs, Scott county, where he has since made his home. For the first five years after he went to Bluffs he was in the general merchandising and real estate business, and for the past fifteen years has been proprietor of the Wabash railroad eating house.
In 1888 Mr. Meehan was united in marriage with Miss Lillian O'Brien. She is also of Irish parentage, her parents having been born in the city of Cork, Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Meehan five children have been born. The are: Mary Margaret, aged fourteen years, born December 18, 1888; Helen Lillian, born January 9, 1891, aged twelve years; Frances Doocy, aged nine years, born March 22, 1893; Leo Kenneth, aged seven years, born September 24, 1895, and Thos. Bernard, aged four months, born October 11, 1902.
Mr. Meehan is an uncompromising democrat - one who believes you should contribute as well as vote - and never has there been a time in the history of Bluffs, during his career there, when he has failed to do his part, or even more. He has been a faithful party worker, and as a reward for his service to the party he was elected a member of the lower house of the Illinois legislature in 1898, and in 1900 was chosen to the senate. His acts as a legislator need no comment. They have been frank, open and manly and he has proven his democracy - his faith in the correctness of its principles - by his acts as a public man. He has held aloof from cliques and combinations and has labored for the real interests of his constituents as he has viewed them.
Socially, Mr. Meehan is almost a prince among men. He has a warm heart and a generous disposition and is a proverbial "friend indeed." He is kind, accommodating and obliging. He is firm in his convictions and when convinced, within his own mind, that right is on his side, is, to use the homely phrase, "sot in his way." These traits of character have made Senator Meehan the public spirited, pleasant, affable gentleman he is and have surrounded him with social and political friends upon whose honor, honesty and fidelity he can rely.