Emeline Lucy Meaker (sometimes reported as Lucy Emeline Meaker) (died March 30, 1883) was the first woman that was legally executed by Vermont. In 1883, Meaker was convicted of and hanged for the murder of her husband's half-sister Alice near Burlington, Vermont.

The crime

Sometime in the spring of 1879, a child welfare worker approached Meaker and her husband to ask if they would consider taking Mr. Meaker’s eight year old half-sister Alice into their home, as she was living in an overcrowded orphanage.Hearn, Daniel Allen, Legal Executions in New England: A comprehensive reference, 1623–1960 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999) pp. 273–274."Mrs. Lucy E. Meaker Still Claims Innocence and Reproaches the Boy Almon", Burlington Free Press and Times, March 30, 1883. Mr. Meaker was offered a stipend of $400 to care for Alice, and so he agreed. Emeline Meaker was not pleased with the arrangement and beat, starved, and otherwise mistreated Alice.