Who was Homer Meacham?

My great grandfather, Frederick “Fritz” Behm, was an enterprising fellow.

Among his many accomplishments (and, from my standpoint, the most important) was coming through the Civil War unscathed.  His two brothers, on the other hand, died during the fighting in West Virginia.

For many years, Fritz was captain of a state boat – the Homer Meacham – plying the Miami & Erie Canal.  Later, he was awarded the contract for bringing mail from Botkins to New Bremen.  He was one of two canal boat captains who made their home in New Bremen.  The other was Bill Combs.  When the nearby Lock One was restored in recent years, town historian Delores Stienecker recalled a conversation she had with Combs. “He’d always tell about how the canal boat crews would jump off the boats as they waited at Lock One and fight each other to see who would go through the lock first.”

I was always curious about the name, Homer Meacham.  A photo of the boat was used on the cover of this book and used to be the backdrop for the canal exhibit at the Ohio Historical Society.  I recently learned that Meacham was actually the name of a division superintendent on the canal who lived in Paulding, Ohio.  The boat, itself, was a repair boat and, if I remember correctly, Fritz was responsible for maintaining the canal between Spencerville and New Bremen and, perhaps, further.

Coincidentally, Homer Meachum was the name of a “hillbilly” comedian who worked around Ohio in the ‘thirties and ‘forties.  His roots apparently went back into the old minstrel shows and is remembered for having said, “They’ll always come back for the cork.”

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