Meek and Milam Company

The Meek and Milam company was one of the earliest of the high quality Kentucky reel makers . From the Kentucky Encyclopedia on "Fishing Reels" : The Kentucky fishing reel was a bait casting reel manufactured in Kentucky during the nineteenth century, invented between 1805 and 1810 by George Snyder of Paris, Kentucky, a watchmaker and president of the Bourbon County Angling Club. The Kentucky fishing reel was the first multiplying reel. In such reels, every turn of the handle results in two to four revolutions of the spool. Using Synder's design, jewelers Jonathan and Benjamin Meek of Frankfort, Kentucky, began making reels under the name Meek and Meek in 1835. The firm became Meek and Milam in 1853, after Jonathan Meek left the company and his apprentice, Benjamin Milam, became a partner. Reels made by this firm until 1878 were of such high quality that they set the standard for the reel- making industry.