page_title: Josephine Meeker
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Josephine Meeker / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Reproduction of a sketch of the Meeker tragedy at the White River Ute Indian Agency, September 29th 1879, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, shows soldiers surveying the destruction from the fire and battle between Native American Utes and Nathan Meeker, his employees. Identification reads: "(A) piles of ashes, (F) the Agency Farm, (G) graves of the Agent and employés where they fell, (J) house of Sub-Chief Johnson, (M) grave of Indian Agent Meeker, (P) grave of Post, the Clerk and Postmaster." Gravestones read: "N. C. Meeker, Agt. White River, Utes, Killed By Them, Sept. 29 or 30," and "W. H. Post, Clerk Agt. Killed By Utes, Sept. 29, 30, 31, 1879." Title and lettered identification typed below photographic reproduction of an etching of a sketch by Lieutenant C. A. H. McCauley, Third U. S. Cavalry.
context_page_description: Josephine Meeker, was a teacher and physician at the White River Indian Agency in Colorado Territory, where her father Nathan Meeker was the United States agent. On September 29, 1879, he and 10 of his male employees were killed in a Ute attack, in what became known as the Meeker Massacre. Josephine, her mother Arvilla Meeker, and Mrs. Shadruck Price and her two children were taken captive and held hostage by the Ute tribe for 23 days.
  Following the rescue of the hostages, Meeker recounted her experiences at a public hearing. General Charles Adams, of the Colorado Militia that arranged the captives' release, conducted an official investigation of the incident. Josephine Meeker's testimony provides keen insight into the experiences a white woman underwent as an Indian captive. She was the last celebrated white captive of Native Americans. Working for some time in Washington, DC, and then for Senator Henry Moore Teller in Colorado, Meeker died young at age 25 of a pulmonary infection.
context_section_description: Born in Ohio, Josephine was the youngest of the five children of Nathan Cook Meeker and Arvilla Delight Smith. She had two brothers, Ralph and George, and two sisters, Rozene and Mary. In 1870, at the age of 13, she moved with her family to the Union Colony in Greeley, Colorado, a utopian agricultural settlement which her father had founded. Shortly after their arrival, her brother George died of tuberculosis. In her youth she was considered "a bit of a tomboy". Riding astride rather than using the side-saddle recommended for ladies, she was said to challenge boys to horse races in the road. After high school, Meeker returned to Ohio to complete her education at Oberlin College.
  After graduation, she returned to Colorado and the White River Indian Agency, where her father had been appointed US Indian agent. Meeker wanted to improve the conditions of the Utes. In July 1878, she was described as having been intelligent, tall, and slender with shoulder-length dark blonde hair. Assisting her father, she was listed on the agency rolls as a teacher and physician, earning $750 a year. Meeker established a school for the Ute children.
caption: Etching which depicts the aftermath of the Meeker Massacre, when women and children were taken captive by Ute Indians. Her father's grave is shown in the lower left corner.
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