Buttons from the Jotham Meeker Farmstead, 14FR308
Date: 1845-1865
These buttons were recovered from the Jotham Meeker farmstead site in Franklin County. All shown are 4-hole buttons, two of shell and three of glass. One green and white calico button is decorated in a plant or floral design and one glass button has a piecrust pattern. The site was excavated in 1985 at a Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Jotham Meeker served as a Baptist missionary among the Ottawa on their reservation.

Chippewa, Ottawa and Munsee Indian cemeteries in Franklin County Kansas
Date: 1939
Four photographs from the Chippewa, Ottawa and Munsee Indian Cemeteries.

DAR markers at Ottawa Indian Burial Grounds, Kansas
Date: 1936
Five photographs of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) markers at the Ottawa Indian Burial Grounds, east of Ottawa, honoring Jotham Meeker, John Tecumseh Jones, Chief Comechau and Notino, the Medicine Man.

Dishes from the Jotham Meeker Farmstead, 14FR308
Date: 1845-1865
These dish fragments were recovered from the Jotham Meeker farmstead site in Franklin County. Shown are dish sherds made of a variety of materials including whiteware, yellowware, and redware. Decorative techniques include transferware, spongeware, banded ware, and hand painted patterns. The site was excavated in 1985 at a Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Jotham Meeker served as a Baptist missionary among the Ottawa on their reservation.

Flatware Handle from the Jotham Meeker Farmstead, 14FR308
Date: 1845-1865
This flatware handle was recovered from the Jotham Meeker farmstead site in Franklin County. The pewter handle for a spoon or fork has a threaded pattern. The maker's mark on the back is that of "C. PARKER & CO," possibly Caleb Parker, a New York City whitesmith. Whitesmiths do finish work on iron items produced by blacksmiths, often using light colored metals, tin in particular. The site was excavated in 1985 at a Kansas Archeology Training Program field school. Jotham Meeker served as a Baptist missionary among the Ottawa on their reservation.

Gravestones of Rev. Jotham Meeker and Eleanor Meeker
Date: 1952
Six photographs of the graves of the Rev. Jotham Meeker and his wife, Eleanor D. Meeker. The graves are in the Ottawa Indian Burial Grounds near Ottawa, Kansas. The Rev. J. Meeker was a printer and missionary who established the Ottawa Baptist Mission in 1836/37. He is reputed to have printed the first book in Kansas, a textbook for Indians.

History of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ
Creator: Leiberkuhn, Rev. Samuel
Date: 1837
Translation into the Delaware language. Printed by J. Meeker, Shawnee Baptist Mission.

Jotham Meeker
Date: Between 1850 and 1855
Portrait of Jotham Meeker, a Baptist missionary, who came to Kansas in the autumn of 1833. He brought the first printing press to Kansas. Employing 23 letters for translating Indian languages, Meeker's system enabled him to print in many Native American languages, including Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Otoe, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Wea, Kansas, and Ioway.

Jotham Meeker to daughter Maria
Date: Unknown
Letter written to Maria Meeker from her father Jotham Meeker, a Baptist Indian missionary. This letter was written while Maria was away for schooling, and discusses the weather, poor health of her family, marriages in the Indian community, and harvests.

Newspapers, Long in the Family
Creator: Howes, Cecil, 1880-1950
Date: 1940-1950
This item, written by Kansas City Star editor Charles Cecil Howes, addresses the long history of newspaper publication in Kansas. According to Howes's research, "Jotham Meeker was the first newspaper publisher in Kansas. That is, he brought the first printing press and established a newspaper for the Shawnee Indians." Howes also explains that, at the time he wrote the article, the Kansas State Historical Society had "4,813 listings of newspapers" that were published within the state of Kansas.

Ottawa First Book
Creator: Meeker, Jotham, 1804-1855
Date: 1850
The Ottawa First Book contains lessons for those seeking to learn the Ottawa language. It also contains portions of the gospel of Luke and the laws of the Ottawa Indians. The laws begin on page 102. One page in English and the other in the Ottawa language. The book was published by Jotham Meeker, a Baptist missionary. Pages 56-57 are stuck together.

Phonetic system for Indian languages used by Jotham Meeker
Date: 1825-1855
A forty-page, hand-written pamphlet written by Jotham Meeker illustrating the phonetic system which he used in writing and printing the Indian languages.

Reports from the Great Nemaha Agency about Iowas, Kickpoos and Sac and Foxes of Missouri
Date: September 1, 1854
This document summarizes three reports from Judge B.A. James, Reverend Meeker and [J.]B. [Dueriuck] about Native American tribes within the Great Nemaha Agency. The reports includes interesting details regarding during 1854, including the influx of a large number of white settlers into the area, as well as conflicts between the Sac and Fox tribe and the Osages, Comanches, and Arapahos.

Reputed site of the Jotham Meeker cabin in Franklin County Kansas
Date: 1957
Three views of what is believed to be the site of Jotham Meeker's cabin. Some stones appear to be the location of the fruit cellar of Meeker's cabin while a large walnut tree marks the site behind which the cabin stood. Jotham Meeker lived between 1805 - 1855.