A profusion of Abbotts -- a confusion of identities

Occassionally, an eager fan of Vaughn Meader's "The First Family" album bravely approaches C. Abbott Meader, a long time art professor in Waterville, Me., with a copy of the album for him to autograph. After all, Abbott Meader is Vaughn Meader's real name and Waterville is the entertainer's hometown.

But they've got the wrong Abbott Meader -- this one's "impressions" are on canvas, not acetate. New York City-born C. Abbott Meader, who was said by a friend to be related to Abbott Vaughn Meader, is an artist and art professor emeritus at Colby College in Waterville, the town where Abbott Vaughn Meader was born and spent most of his childhood.

But they are not connected and know one another only casually, Vaughn Meader said. The confusion has been throwing First Family devotees for decades -- I called the Central Maine Morning Courier in Waterville in 1990 to ask the newspaper's help in the research that resulted in this web site only to have the clerk open the file on Abbott the artist in search of any paintings he had done of JFK (I had asked for info about the Meader who "did impressions of President Kennedy.")

To avoid such wrong turns on the road to Waterville, call up the other Abbott Meader's web page.

--George Morrison

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