Josiah Meigs (August 21, 1757 in Middletown, Connecticut – September 4, 1822 in Washington, D.C.) was an American academic, journalist and government official.

Meigs was the 13th and last child of Return Meigs and Elizabeth Hamlin Meigs. His older brother was Return J. Meigs, Sr. and a nephew was Return J. Meigs, Jr., who served as a United States Senator and Governor of Ohio.

After graduating from Yale University in 1778 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree, Meigs studied law and was (from 1781 to 1784) a Yale tutor in mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy. He was admitted to the bar in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1783, and served as New Haven city clerk from 1784 to 1789. During this period he established and published The New Haven Gazette (later known as The New Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine) and in 1788 published the first American Medical Journal.

In 1789 Meigs left New Haven for St. George, Bermuda, where he practiced law and was involved in defending the owners of U.S. vessels that had been captured by British privateers. In 1794 he returned to the United States and took the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at Yale. He taught there until 1801 when he was chosen as the president of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens. His salary at Georgia was fixed at fifteen hundred dollars, and he was given four hundred dollars in moving expenses for his family.

At Georgia, Meigs implemented the university's first physics curriculum in 1801. He resigned as president on August 9, 1810, after clashing with the Board of Trustees for the University; however, he continued on in the position of Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry for one more year. John Brown was elected by the Board of Trustees as the new president.

After his academic career at UGA, Meigs was appointed Surveyor General by President James Madison in 1812. He then accepted an appointment as Commissioner of the United States General Land Office in Washington, D.C., in 1814. During his tenure at the U.S. Land Office, he instituted the nation's first system of daily meteorological observations at the land offices throughout the country.

Meigs was also the president of the Columbian Institute, one of the original corporators and trustees of Columbian College (now George Washington University), and professor of experimental philosophy there.

In 1782, Meigs married Clara Benjamin. Their son Henry Meigs served in the U.S. Congress. Another son, Charles Delucena Meigs, became a prominent obstetrician. Their daughter Clara married John Forsyth, U.S. Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

Meigs died on September 4, 1822 and was originally buried in Holmead's Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The cemetery was disbanded and the graves removed, so he was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in 1878 in the lot of his grandson, Major General Montgomery C. Meigs.

He is remembered at the University of Georgia in the name of the university's highest teaching honor. The university annually recognizes up to five faculty members with the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship. Also, Meigs Hall, at the northwest corner of the university campus, is named in his honor.

References

• History of the University of Georgia, Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949
• Arlington National Cemetery headstone and short bio for Josiah Meigs
• New Georgia Encyclopedia entry for Josiah Meigs
• History of Meigs Hall on the UGA campus

Notes

1. [1], Meigs Family History and Genealogy website
2. Josiah Meigs by Rick Meigs, Meigs Family History and Genealogy website

External links

• William M. Meigs, Life of Josiah Meigs, Philadelphia (J.P. Murphy, printer), 1887. 132 pages.