She was the eldest daughter of the Rev. Jotham and Eleanor (Richardson) Meeker who had come to the Indian Country in 1833 to serve as Baptist missionaries. Her father brought the first printing press to what is now Kansas and printed the first books and newspapers in the state. Maria is believed to be just the third white girl to be born in present-day Kansas. She grew up among the Indians at the Ottawa Baptist Mission near present-day Ottawa, Kansas-- and could speak the Ottawa language as a child. With her parents overwhelmed with their many missionary duties, they reluctantly had to send Maria to boarding schools in their native Cincinatti, OH starting when she was just eight years old. Back on the frontier, she met and married Nathan Simpson, son of a wealthy, slave-owning family in Westport, MO (now Kansas City). They raised a large family, mostly at Nebraska City, Nebraska.
She was the eldest daughter of the Rev. Jotham and Eleanor (Richardson) Meeker who had come to the Indian Country in 1833 to serve as Baptist missionaries. Her father brought the first printing press to what is now Kansas and printed the first books and newspapers in the state. Maria is believed to be just the third white girl to be born in present-day Kansas. She grew up among the Indians at the Ottawa Baptist Mission near present-day Ottawa, Kansas-- and could speak the Ottawa language as a child. With her parents overwhelmed with their many missionary duties, they reluctantly had to send Maria to boarding schools in their native Cincinatti, OH starting when she was just eight years old. Back on the frontier, she met and married Nathan Simpson, son of a wealthy, slave-owning family in Westport, MO (now Kansas City). They raised a large family, mostly at Nebraska City, Nebraska.
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