This is Meek's Folly

Columbus "Dad" Joiner

While it is true that John Martin Meek's father, James Burr Meek, and William Falkner (original spelling of the author's last name) both were born in the community of New Albany, Mississippi, only13 years apart, there is small chance James Burr Meek and William Falkner ever knew each other.

The reason is that William Falkner's parents moved from New Albany when he was about a year old.

James Burr Meek also in time would leave New Albany and end up in Carter County, Oklahoma, near Ardmore. There he would marry and begin to rear a family of nine children, John Martin being the youngest with four brothers and four sisters. The Meeks moved to Rocky, in Western Oklahoma, where the children received their education and James Burr Meek retired as manager of the Rocky Gas & Oil Co-op.

The Faulkner/Meek relationship research will continue to determine any possible link between the James Burr Meek family and the Mrs. Meek who ran the boarding house in Oxford, Mississippi, where the newly married William Faulkners lived. There also is a recently, and accidentally, discovered possible Meek/Faulkner connection. While doing the "roots" research on his family in the library at New Albany, John Martin Meek was able to obtain a copy of the marriage certificate for Marcus Lafayette Meek and Zilphia Hammett, his first wife who bore him four children.

Before she died, Zilphia gave birth to James Burr, Robert, Edward and Monnie Meek.

Is Zilphia a common name? Have you ever known anyone named Zilphia? Zilphia apparently was a name that appealed to William Faulkner. It's up to you to find the clue.