Cleater Meaders

Cleater James Meaders, Sr. was born on January 20, 1880 in White County, GA. He was only 12 years old when the original Meaders pottery shop was established and he began to learn the trade from his older brothers. Cleater married Lillie Glover on the Christmas Eve of 1907 and established his own pottery shop just north of Cleveland. At this location, he produced high quality pottery until his death in 1934.    Cleater was known for incising a number of lines around the tops of his churns to indicate gallon capacity. He also left some of his vases unglazed so that they could be painted by his “town” customers in Cleveland. Unlike his brothers, Cleater also marked certain pieces of his work with a stamp.    Cleater and his wife also produced a large family and several of his sons, including Lambert, (who moved to California and established a shop there) C.J., Moody, A.G. and Frank Bell, also became potters. It is interesting to note that Cleater Meaders died on December 22, 1934 and his wife passed away on December 22, 1954. Both were buried at Mossy Creek on Christmas Eve, which of course, was also their wedding anniversary.