James Iredell Meares was born in Raleigh (Wake County), North Carolina on December 15, 1856. Meares was a prominent attorney and one-time gubernatorial candidate (1912) who resided in Wilmington (New Hanover County) and later Washington, D.C. He commonly signed his name as "Iredell Meares." Meares died in Wilmington on September 15, 1931.