Maud Meek Hood - Daughter of Hiram and Mary Meek

Maud Meek was one of the children who remained at home in Hicksville, Ohio to care for her family and her widowed father.  For a time, she also lived next door to her uncle, Solomon Meek, and aunt, Edna Cannon, and it would seem likely that she also helped them in their elderly years. 

Born on August 27, 1866, she married Thomas D. Hood on December 31, 1895 when she was twenty nine years old. Thomas worked at the handle factory in Hicksville as a stenographer.  The couple had three children: Mary C., born December 7, 1896; John H. (called Hiram), born February 5, 1898; and Thomas H. (called Howard), born March 24, 1904.

Maud died relatively young at 47 years old, a much beloved wife, mother and citizen as evidenced by her obituary:

"Memoir.
There are times in the nation and in communities when we stand as one family.  It was so at the bier of Garfield and again at the bier of McKinley.

It is so in this community today.  Our little village is thrown into mourning by the sudden, untimely death of our beloved friend, Maud Meek Hood.  Maud, daughter of Hiram and Mary Meek, was born Aug. 27, 1866, died after brief illness Monday, Feb. 9, 1914, aged 47 years, 5 months and 12 days.  She was fifth of a family of eight children, five girls and three boys; all of whom are living, excepting one brother who died in 1876.

She was reared and grew to womanhood in the vicinity of Hicksville, beloved in her home and by all who knew her. Here her sweet girlhood ripened into noble and beautiful womanhood.

She was graduated from the Hicksville High School in 1888, about the time of the death of her mother, when she assumed charge of her father's home and cheerfully mothered the entire family.

1888 Hicksville High School Graduates

Supt. S. S. Lutz
Olive LaRue-Austen, Angola. Ind.
Della Maxwell-Hilbert, Hicksville. Ohio
Gertrude Miller-Ackley (deceased)
Charles B. Brown (deceased)
Maud Meek-Hood (deceased)
Mercy E. Coulter-Dorsey (deceased)

One of her great ambitions when a girl, was to acquire a higher education; but this privilege she sweetly sacrificed, in order that she might preserve a comfortable happy home for her lonely father and the several sisters and brothers.  She was married Dec.31, 1895, to Thomas D. Hood, to which union were born three children, Mary, Hiram and Howard,all of whom survive her.

The death of this good woman removes from our midst a woman of rare qualities of mind and heart, a woman of extraordinary judicial and executive ability.  A natural leader, she was sought by religious, educational, fraternal and civic organizations to exert her powers in the achievement of their various purposes.

When convinced that  a cause was good, she set forth with a courage and determination to succeed that was an inspiration to all who knew her.

At the time of her death, she was a member of almost a dozen local organizations, being president of two, namely: The Ladies Aid Society of the M. E. church, and the local branch of the Child's Welfare League of America, when she was called to her eternal home.

Thus, while she was sincerely interested in all humanity and gave much time to public work, the writer, who knew her most intimately, cannot recall a single time when she neglected her home duties or her beloved family to perform any outside work.

She was locally renowned for her genuine hospitality.  Her home, tho simple in its appointments, radiated with the light and warmth of the true Christian home.

In the death of Mrs. Hood, there comes to all an admonition as to the uncertainty of life; but happily for her she was well prepared for the Master's summons."
 
Maud Meek Hood is buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in Hicksville, Ohio.