Jotham Meeker (Hamilton County, Ohio, November 8, 1804—January 12, 1855) was a Baptist missionary, printer, who lived and proselytized among various Native American peoples, including the Delaware, Ottawa, and Shawnee.
He was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the age of 21 became a teacher of the Indians, first at Carey Station, headed by Isaac McCoy.
The Ottawas were led by Chief Noonday (who had fought with the British alongside Tecumseh in the War of 1812.
As white settlers pressed in, the Indians moved north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at Sault Ste.
[2] In 1834 the Meekers installed a printing press at Shawnee Baptist Mission in present Johnson County, Kansas and in 1837 established a mission near present-day Ottawa, Kansas where for 18 years he ministered to the needs of the Ottawa Indians who lived there.