Rufus Green Meador

Rufus Green Meador, was born in September 1850. He was the son of Josiah ‘Shack’ Meador and Elizabeth Meadows. He married Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ R. Oxley who was born in 1856. She was the daughter of Bluford Oxley and Rhoda Jane Bird. Rufus and Elizabeth were married on August 13, 1874.  

Rufus was the grandson of Josiah Meador who was called the Fighting Preacher. He was a missionary Baptist minister who fought in the Continental Army against the Indians and in the American Army against the British. Josiah moved from the Bedford, Virginia, area in about 1785 settling on the Bluestone River at the mouth of the Little Bluestone.

Josiah’s grandson, Rufus Green Meador, was a major player in the development of the Town of Athens.  In about 1880 he built the R G Meador General Merchandise store on Vermillion Street that later housed the Mick or Mack, the Athens Cash Market and Homer Ball’s Athens Market. At the same time he had his home built at 207 Vermillion Street. Jeff Harvey in the Princeton Times, May 14, 2021, wrote, the “Meador home, reputed as the finest home in town when built. It had curved glass windows which were the subject of speculation about how he curved them and how he got them from Ingleside to Athens intact. There was another tower that was put in later.

Meador included the first steam heat, bathtub, pier glass and fine mantel pieces in Athens. He had an ice house. The men would saw the blocks of ice from Laurel Creek in winter and pack them in sawdust for ice cream in the summer. He was kind and generous with his ice.”

Rufus and Lizzie had no children of their own that survived but they raised their nieces and nephew, Elizabeth Meador, Ethel Meador and Bernard Meador and a young girl from the area, Alice Bruce as their own.

Rufus was a busy man. In addition to his R G Meador General Merchandise store in Athens that he had built around 1880, he had several farms in the area. He was president of the Princeton Wholesale Grocery. He was appointed the postmaster in Athens on June 15, 1897.

Prior to 1908 Rufus Meador bought the Mercer Healing Springs that was developed by the Mercer Healing Springs Corporation. He was one of the original members of the Corporation.

Rufus loved his garden. It was located on the lot where the Athens Post Office now stands. Rufus spent his Winters at his home in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the warmer months at his home in Athens, West Virginia. In order to get ahead of everyone else, he would bring a load of all different vegetable plants from Florida when he came for the summer. Sometimes Mother Nature got the better of him and all his plants froze.

Rufus Green Meador died at the age of 81 on February 26, 1931. He was at his home in Florida at the time. He was brought back home and is buried beside his wife in the Athens Cemetery.

In his will dated December 18, 1929, he directed that, upon his death, all his real property, except his home in Florida, be sold. He also directed that all his stocks, bonds and any mortgages due him be sold. The proceeds were to be distributed to his numerous nieces and nephews after the following bequests. $4,000 to nephew Donzie Lily, $2,000 to the Bank of Athens for upkeep of the Athens Cemetery, $10,000 to A. S. Kelley to be invested and  the proceeds distributed annually to pay the salary of the pastor of the Athens Missionary Baptist Church, $10,000 to the Athens Missionary Baptist Church,  $3,000 to his sister if she survived him. He left $25,000 to the Bluefield Baptist College. His home in Florida was left to Ida Orfield along with $10,000 to the Children’s Home Society in Jacksonville, Florida. Lastly he directed that $5,000 be set aside to pay taxes and upkeep on his properties in Florida, West Virginia, and elsewhere. 

The home he had built in 1880 has been restored and still proudly stands as a monument to his love of the Town of Athens. The building he had built as his store, along with so many other historic structures on Vermillion Street, was demolished in 2007. An example appears in the Meador Legacy Gallery on this page.