Ferris Jacobs Meigs (#1146) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on February 5, 1868, to Titus B. (#706) and Lucia Lassell Meigs.Lucia was the only daughter of Dr. Ferris Jacobs, known throughout Delaware County for his skill, fine character and compassion. Titus was a member of the firm of Dodge, Meigs & Company, lumber merchants in New York City, New York, and later President of the Santa Clare Lumber Company.

Meigs received his preparatory education at the Dwight School for Boys in New York City then earned his B.S. at Yale University in 1889. Ferris' summers during college were spent at his fathers mill and woods learning the business.¹ "After leaving college Mr. Meigs joined his father in the development of large lumber tracts in the Adirondacks near Tupper Lake, and later became a factor in the introduction of scientific forestry in the Adirondack region."² He succeeded his father as president of The Santa Clara Lumber Company in 1911, holding the office until the company quit business in 1941. The company was his love and life-time occupation.Under the direction of Meigs it became "a leader in the conservation of timber in the Adirondacks and it was complimented publicly by state forestry officials for work done in tree nursery and planting. For years at least one tree was planted for every tree cut. Success in the lumbering operations involved the application of scientific principles in cutting and hauling logs and in modifying the mill operations to suit the changing character of the logs. The company devised methods which departed radically from the conventional procedure [then customarily used] where the trees are larger and transportation easier. It was the first company to prepare and sell processed pulpwood for paper manufacture."³

He was a charter member of the Empire State Forest Products Association, a trustee of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida, and a director of the Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville. A Republican in polities, he was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1916. Meigs was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church of Bronxville, the Yale Club of New York and, for forty years, the Mendelssohn Glee Club.