Virginia Claypool Meredith

Early life

Virginia Claypool grew up on a farm near Connersville, Indiana, the daughter of Austin Bingley Claypool and Hannah Ann Petty Claypool. She attended Glendale Female College in Ohio, graduating in 1866.

Career

From 1882, Meredith was responsible for her family farm near Cambridge City, Indiana, including herds of shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep. She was a novelty as a speaker at farm institutes, where women rarely spoke, much less on the topic of livestock management. In 1893, Virginia Claypool Meredith served on the Women's Board of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1896 she was responsible for building the home economics program at the University of Minnesota. She became the first woman on the Purdue University board of trustees in 1921.

Meredith was also a founder of the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs, twice president of the Indiana Union of Literary Clubs, and first president of the Indiana Home Economics Association when it was founded in 1913. She was also president of the Cambridge City chapter of the Equal Franchise League.

Personal life

Virginia Claypool married farmer and state legislator Henry Clay Meredith, the son of Solomon Meredith, in 1870. She was widowed at age 33, when Henry died from pneumonia at age 38, in 1882. When a friend Hattie Beach Matthews died, she adopted Hattie's two children, daughter Mary L. Matthews, who was the first Dean of the School of Home Economics at Purdue, and a son Meredith Matthews. Virginia Claypool Meredith died in 1936, aged 88 years.

There is a dormitory at Purdue University named for Virginia Claypool Meredith, and her papers are in the archives at Purdue. In 1938, the Virginia Claypool Meredith Memorial Forest was dedicated near Shoals, Indiana. A book-length biography of Meredith was published in 2008. In 2014, a state historical marker about Virginia Claypool Meredith was installed on Main Street in Cambridge City.