R. R. (Robert Rhoden) Meredith (1837-1919) was born in Portlaoise, Ireland, and died in Pasadena, California. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to New York. Meredith was a veteran of the American Civil War, serving as captain in the Union Army in Company B. of the 153rd Regiment, New York Infantry. He married Carolyn A. Thompson in 1864, and by 1870 they were living in Newark, New Jersey. Meredith graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1875, and he later received a D.D. from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1882. In 1880, the Merediths were living in Boston, Massachusetts, and Meredith became minister of the Union Congregational Church in 1883. Upon Mary Baker Eddy's recommendation, Hanover P. Smith, a student of hers, planned to distribute a pamphlet at Meredith's Bible class in Tremont Temple in Boston for Eddy's upcoming lecture in early 1887. That same year, Meredith became pastor of the Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York. During his tenure, the church became one of the largest Congregational churches in the country. Meredith served until 1902, when he resigned due to ill health, and the family moved to California. His health improved, and he became pastor of First Congregational Church, Pasadena, California, until 1909.

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