Lieut. Return Meigs, s. of Capt. Janna Meigs, Sr. and Hannah Willard, b. of record Mar. 16, 1707/8 at Guilford, Conn. He d. June 22, 1782 at Middletown, Conn., Æ 75 (g.s.) Return was the fifth child of his parents and fourth born son.

James Mooney, an anthropologist whose career centered on the American Indian and principally the Cherokee with whom he lived from 1877 to 1900, erred in his sketch of Lieut. Return's son Col. Return Jonathan Meigs.[1] Prior to 1800 until his death in 1823, Col. Return J. Meigs was the government agent to the Cherokee Indians at Hiawassee in Cherokee Indian Territory, now southeast Tennessee. Mooney wrote:

• Return Jonathan Meigs was born in Middletown, CT, Dec. 17, 1734 [sic], and died at the Cherokee agency in Tennessee, Jan. 28, 1823. He was the first-born son [sic] of his parents, who gave him the somewhat peculiar name of Return Jonathan to commemorate a romantic incident in their own courtship, when his mother, a young Quakeress [sic], called back her lover as he was mounting his horse to leave the house forever after what he supposed was a final refusal. The name has been handed down through five generations, every one of which has produced some man distinguished in the public service.

Col. Return Jonathan Meigs was the 5th born child of his parents and 4th born son, but due to infant mortality was his parent's eldest surviving child. That Col. Meigs' mother, Elizabeth Hamlin, was a Quaker, is far from the truth as she and her ancestry were well-defined prominent New England Congregationalists.

On Feb. 1, 1732/3 at Middletown, Conn., Lieut. Return Meigs m. 1) Elizabeth Hamlin, dau. of John Hamlin, Jr. and Elizabeth Partridge, b. Feb. 12 (bp. Feb. 17), 1711/12 at Middletown. She d. Sept. 17, 1762 at Middletown, Æ 51 (g.s.)

[more later regarding Lieut. Return]

Lieut. Return Meigs and Elizabeth Hamlin had 14 children (not 13 as claimed by the Meigs Genealogy) either of birth and/or baptism record at Middletown, Conn, of which only four survived beyond infancy and left descendants:

• i. Elisha Meigs, b. Jan. 15 (bp. Jan. 20), 1733/4, d. an infant Oct. 10, 1736.

• ii. Janna Meigs, b. Sept. 29 (bp. Oct. 5), 1735, d. an infant Oct. 4, 1736.

• iii. Elizabeth Meigs, b. July 15 (bp. June 17), 1737, d. young Apr. 16, 1740.

• iv. Elisha Meigs, b. Oct. 4, 1739 (bp. Oct. 7), d. an infant Dec. 22, 1739.

• v. Col. Return Jonathan Meigs, b. Dec. 17 (bp. Dec. 21), 1740, d. Jan. 28, 1823 at Hiawassee in Cherokee Indian Terr., near present-day Dayton, Tenn.; m. 1) Joanna Winborn and 2) Grace Starr. Seven children of the family.

• vi. John Meigs, b. Oct. 9, 1742 (bp. Sept. 12, 1742), d. young Oct. 28, 1751.

• vii. Beza (prob. Bezaliel) Meigs, bp. Oct. 2, 1743; no further record and prob. died soon after baptism.

• viii. Capt. Giles Meigs, b. Oct. 29 (bp. Nov. 4), 1744, d. Nov. 7, 1824 at Middletown (g.s.); m. 1) Elizabeth Allen and 2) Anna Pinto. 8 children of the family.

• ix. Josiah Meigs, b. Nov. 21 (bp. Nov. 23), 1746, d. young Oct. 29, 1751.

• x. Elizabeth Meigs, b. June 25 (bp. July 3), 1748, d. young Aug. 4, 1753.

• xi. Timothy Meigs, b. Feb. 28 (bp. Apr. 1), 1749/50, d. an infant Oct. 28, 1751.

• xii. Hannah Meigs, b. Nov. 21 (bp. Dec. 1), 1751, d. an infant July 28, 1753.

• xiii. Maj. John Meigs, b. Nov. 21 (bp. Dec. 2), 1753, d. Nov. 24, 1826 at New Hartford, Conn.; m. Elizabeth Henshaw and had 7 children.

• xiv. Josiah Meigs, b. Aug. 21 (bp. Aug. 21), 1757, d. Sept. 4, 1822; m. Clara Johnson and had 9 children.

On Mar. 25, 1763 at Middletown, Lieut. Return Meigs m. 2) Jane Doane, by whom he had no known children. She d. June 18, 1801 at Middletown, Æ 88.

[1] James Mooney, "Historical Sketch of the Cherokee", Smithsonian Institution Press, 1900, p. 222-23; re-issued in 1975 by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Edited 11/16/2016