The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-01
Gossip From the
 Nations Capital

Washington, March 31.-(Special.)-
 Who has not heard of Return Jonathan Meigs? If any such there be, let
 him inquire of the first person he
 meets lest he die in dense and crass ignorance. The Return Jonathan Meigs's have been known ever since the government was founded. Graded in the colonies, they started with the revolution and the family has been re- turning with Reuturns Jonathans to
 this good day. One of them has just celebrated his forty-second year as clerk of the Supreme Court of the Dis trict of Columbia and is receiving marvelIing felicitations therefor. The Returns Jonathans are and have been ever since the government was a young awkward thing, gawky squab among nations, linked and identified with the fortunes of the entire country, part and parcel of the life of the North, South, East and West.
 The present celebrant of long con tinuous service with the District Supreme COurt-this particular Return Jonathan Meigs-is a son of that Re- turn Jonathan Meigs who is best re- membered in the South as an imme- morial court attache, so to speak, but of the most ideal kind. He lived a long time in Tennessee. He came to
 Washington. and in 1863, was made clerk of the District Supreme Court.
 when 1t was first organized. He
 brought to the national capital with
 him a most excellent reputation. He had been special agent to the Cherokee and Creek Indians in 1884 and assisted in the negotiations for the removal of those Indians from Alabama and Ten nessee beyond the Mississippi River and into Indian Territory. He had lived several generations in Nashville and employed his leisure time doing work which would have worn out most men. It consisted mainly of a com pilation of the reports of cases in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, published in 1889. "A Digest of All the Decisions of the Former Superior Courts of Law and of the Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals in the State of Tennes- see" printed in 1S4S. and The Code of Tennessee" published in 1S5S.
 This last work he prepared in con junction with Judge William F. Cooper. of Nashville, who yet survives and is living in New York city. at the age of S7.
 The Meigses have been wonders of sturdiness. longevity and uriblemished 
 The origin of the favored and be- loved name of the family. Return Jona- than, has often been told. and will doubtless be repeated to many a com Ing generation. for there are now two Return Jonathans, and there is every indication that the lineage will show returns until doomsday.
 The first known Meigs. the father of all the Returns, the patriarch--the old He of all the successive Return rams, was once. long before the battle of Bunker Hill, love sick youth swain in the town of Middletown. Connecti- cut. He loved a Quaker maiden. He her assiduously. but she would not yea to his impOrtunate signing. He popped the question twice. The last time she said:
 Nay, Jonathan; I respect thee much. but | cannot marry thee"
 He mounted his horse and was rid ing sadly away, when she ran to the gate and called out:
 Return, Jonathan! Return. Jona- than"
 Jonathan named his first boy Return Jonathan Meigs. This Return Jona- than grew up and waXed stoutly. 1t might be said out of the soul and very lips of a Quaker maid, taught almost to worship peace, Return strange to say, became most for his participation in war. He served in the Revolution was a major under him during his ex- petition into Canada. He was cap tured in the assault on Quebec. but was and, returning home. raised a regiment of which he was made colo ncl He won q sword and the thanks of Congress by the individual exploit of capturing Sag Harbor, Long Island, with d number of British stores and prisoners He commanded his regi- mnet with distinguished gallantry un- der Mad Anthony Wayne at the storm ing of Stony Point and when the Revo- lution was won, he was not the least or its great heroes. He first settled in Ohio in 1891, and soon thereafter went south and became an agent of the government among the Cherokee Indians with whom he spent the re- mainder of his days and died in 1923, much beloved and respected as he had been honored and loved by his own peo- pie away up in Connecticut.
 He had a brother Josiah Meigs, and this brother had a son, Return Jona- than. who visited him and his son, who was also Return Jonathan and kept up the luster of the name by superior ser vice in the war of 1872 by serving as one of the first Democratic Senators from Ohio and as Postmaster General under the administrations of Madison and Monroe. The nephew of this Re turn, another Return Jonathan, was born in Clark County, Ky. in 1874. He kees and assisted in their removal westward In 1S41 he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. He served one term as State Senator, but spent most of his time with the law yers and about the courts of the State and did more to preserve Tennessee court deliverances with accuracy and judgment than any man who ever lived in the State. He came the first clerk of the District Supreme Court. He died only a few years ago. He had in the office of the District Supreme Court with him his son Return Jonathan, who succeeded him as clerk and yesterday celebrated his forty second year of connection with the court This Return Jonathan has another Return Jonathan soon to take