Subj: MEREDITH, James Pitt...from Wales to Montana, USA James Pitt Meredith/1843,Glamorganshire,Wales/1880,1900,Chouteau County, Montana Author: <A HREF="http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=author&r=rw&a=&ee=5rz0KM80ATTlMMWlM8mbYbV2-QgcVc_i&onok=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.ancestry.com%2Fmbexec%3Fhtx%3Dmessage%26r%3Drw%26p%3Dlocalities.northam.usa.states.montana.counties.chouteau%26m%3D28">Ruth Ann</A> > Date: 15 Jul 2002 1:28 AM GMT Surnames: Meredith, Bryant, Mason, O'Neil Classification: Query http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa. states.montana.counties.chouteau&m=28 <A HREF="http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=postmessage&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.montana.counties.chouteau&m=28&onok=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.ancestry.com%2Fmbexec%3Fhtx%3Dmessage%26r%3Drw%26p%3Dlocalities.northam.usa.states.montana.counties.chouteau%26m%3D28&oncancel=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.ancestry.com%2Fmbexec%3Fhtx%3Dmessage%26r%3Drw%26p%3Dlocalities.northam.usa.states.montana.counties.chouteau%26m%3D28"> </A> James Pitt Meredith was born in November 1843 near Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales to James Meredith and his second wife Mary Owens. He had three older sisters and one younger sister. The family came to the United States in 1849. As they traveled up the Mississippi River from New Orleans the father died of cholera. James Pitt Meredith, his mother, and his four sisters are found on the 1850 census in Iowa. Shortly after the census was taken his mother married Noah Roberts Jones, a Welshman, who had also been widowed. In the next couple of years both the mother and the step-father of James died, leaving five Meredith children and one Jones daughter orphans in a strange land. We do not know where James Pitt Meredith was between the 1850 and 1880 census. The 1880 census shows James living in a boarding house in Fort Benton, Choteau County, Montana. He was working as a farm laborer. The 1900 census shows him at Highwood, Choteau County, Montana, working as a ranch laborer. He boarded with Isaac and Martha McCord, their son-in-law Jos. C. T. Braithwaite and his wife Ida (a step-daughter of Isaac), and a nephew Wm. R. S. McCord. Both the 1880 and 1900 census show James as single. So it appears he did not marry. In November 1901 and January 1902 James wrote letters from Highwood to his youngest sister Mary (Meredith) Bryant, who was living in Pleasant Grove, Utah. In these he mentions having just heard of the marriage of his sister Margaret to Alva Mason after the death of her first husband Hugh O'Neil. He also expressed a desire to visit Margaret when he got enough money. At that time Margaret was living in Phillipsburg, Granite County, Montana. She moved for a time to California but returned to Montana shortly before her death. The 1900 census shows he worked fewer months than year than the other male adults in the home. It is possible that he was in poor health at this time. We would like to find out when and where James died and where he was buried. It appears he died prior to the 1910 census; for sure by 1915 when Margaret died.