 "John Mead was one of two brothers who emigrated
from England about the year 1642. The family was then an ancient and honorable
one, though it is not within the author's means to trace their genealogy
previous to their emigration to this country.*
One of
their ancestors had been the friend and the physician of the talented, though
not very amicable Queen Elizabeth. One of the two brothers emigrated to Virginia,
where the family still exists. The other, John Mead, with his two sons, came
to New England about the year 1642. The name is spelled Meade as well as
Mead. Many claim that they emigrated from Greenwich, Kent Co., England, but
we have not fallen with any direct proof of the fact, and this town was known
by its present name long before the settlement of the Mead family. John Mead
and his two sons, John and Joseph, having tarried awhile in Massachusetts,
first settled in Hempstead, L.I., where they remained until October, 1660,
when the two sons came to Greenwich and bought land of Richard Crab and others,
which was deeded to John Mead, he being the elder. Either John, the father,
never came to Greenwich, or if so, he took no active part in life, now having
become quite an old man. His son Joseph left no children in this town. He
may have died young, or left no issue, or may have emigrated to another part
of the country.
John Mead,
the second, died 1696, married Miss Potter of Stamford, and left as appears
by his will, eight sons and tradition says, three daughters, viz: John, Joseph,
Jonathan, Ebenezer, Nathaniel, David, Samuel, Abigail, Mary and Susan or
Susannah. Ebenezer, the fourth son of second John, was born in 1663, and
married Sarah Knapp, of Stamford, and left Ebenezer, Caleb, Sarah, who married
Jonathan Hobby, Hannah, who married John Hobby, Jabez, David, Abigail, who
married Isaac Holmes, Susannah, who married Moses Husted, Jemima, who married
Moses Knapp. The second Ebenezer was born Oct. 25, 1692, and died May 3,
1775. He married Hannah Brown, of Rye, N.Y., on the 12th of December, 1717.
His children were Ebenezer, Silas, Abraham, Jonas, Solomon, Deliverance,
Amos, Edmund, Hannah, Jabez, Jared, and Abraham, second.
Amos Mead, seventh
son of the second Ebenezer, was a physician by profession, and was a surgeon
of the Third Connecticut Regiment in the French and Indian War, and his grandson,
Col. Thomas A. Mead, has now (1880) in his possession a powder-horn, a rich
souvenir of those terrible days. He was a prominent man during the Revolutionary
war and represented his town a great many times in the Colonial Legislature,
and after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, was a member
of that noble body of men who adopted the Constitution of the United States.
He married Ruth Bush. Their children were Richard, born September 1753, and
Thomas, who died soon after he had completed his college course in 1773.
Dr. Amos Mead was a member of the Congregational Church of Greenwich. He
died February, 1807.
Richard Mead was a
farmer by occupation, and during the Revolutionary War, rendered valuable
aid to the American army. We quote the following from the history of Greenwich:
"Andrew Mead, Humphrey Denton, and Richard Mead. These men, more than any
others-deserve the highest praise for their brave and daring acts. It was
not so much their province to counsel and advise as to act. "Old men for
counsel and young men for action." Such men were Dr. Amos Mead, John Mackay
and Abraham Mead were of great service to the inhabitants as counselors.
They were past the meridian of their life, and one of them, Dr. Amos Mead,
had gained much experience by active service in the French war. But was any
daring deed to be accomplished, where hardy, brave, and reliable men were
necessary. After all, control of the town was lost to the Americans by the
destructive expedition of Governor Tryon, it was not safe for a patriot to
remain publicly in the limits for an hour. Yet, these three hung about the
place ready to assist the defenseless population against the brutalities
of the Tories. Each possessed of his arms, a faithful dog, and a fleet horse,
they spent their time about the village, hidden in the by-and-secret-places.
The winter of 1780 was one of the severest on record. The Sound was frozen
across and a great amount of snow accumulated. Yet these men scarcely knew
a night, during the early part of that winter, in which they did not sleep
with their horses and dogs in the snow. During that winter, some dozen or
twenty head of cattle, the most of which belonged to Mr. Jared Mead, were
taken off in haste by the Tories and driven towards New York. After much
earnest solicitation on the part of the owner, the trio consented to make
the most daring attempt of crossing the enemy's lines to retake them. There
had been recently a storm of rain, which had frozen as it fell and rendered
the roads extremely slippery, and made a hard, sharp crust upon the snow.
The pursuers therefore when upon the Sound with their horses and kept the
ice as far as Mamaroneck, and then, taking the road, could track the cattle
by the blood which had trickled from the wounds of the bayonets which had
forced them along. At Mount Vernon, they retook the cattle, and were returning
when they found they were pursued by a body of the enemy under a lieutenant.
Their horses were tired by their swift ride, and they knew that their only
safety was in separation, and in that case even one must be inevitably taken.
Accordingly, they left the cattle and plunged separately in different directions.
The enemy selected Richard Mead, pursued and took him prisoner. This was
about the middle of January, 1780. He was taken to New York and thrown into
the famous Sugar-House, where he remained for a period of six weeks until
exchanged. These three men were held in high estimation by the people. Their
known patriotism and courage, which could ever be relied on, caused the other
citizens, long after the Revolutionary War to remember their acts with the
greatest gratitude." Other facts might be recited and incidents given. Richard
Mead was twice married: first to Sarah Mead, and had one daughter, Sophia,
who married Peter de Mill, second to Rachel Mead, widow of Whitman Mead,
and had three children, viz., Thomas A., Elizabeth R., and Sarah A. Elizabeth
R. married George Webb, of New York, and is now dead. Sarah A. married Joseph
Brush, of Greenwich, and died leaving a family of ten children. Richard Mead
was a man respected by all those who knew him. He died April 19, 1824. His
only son, Col. Thomas A. Mead, was born in the same house where he now (1880)
resides in Greenwich, Fairfield Co., Conn., May 29, 1799. He has always been
a farmer, and now owns the same farm his father owned, which has been in
the family since 1785, and lives in the house built by his father in 1797.
He married Hannah Seaman, daughter of David Seaman, of New York, Feb. 23,
1833. They have had eight children, seven of them still living, viz.: Louisa
S., Mrs. Thomas Rich; Thomas R., who was captain of Company G, Tenth Regiment,
Connecticut Volunteers, was in several engagements, sickened and died at
Washington, NC, Oct. 22, 1862; Seaman; Abigail R.; Mrs. Benjamin Wright;
Elizabeth H.; Mrs. Henry Webb; Delia, Mrs. William E. Mead; Zophar; and Lucinda
P.
In
politics, Col. Mead has always been a Whig and Republican, and as such has
been one of the leading men of Greenwich. He was an assessor ten years, selectman
a number of years, member of the State Legislature two terms, 1852 and 1872,
and during his last term, server."
SOURCE: Hurd, D. Hamilton.
History of Fairfield County, Connecticut. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis
& Co. (1881), p. 396-398.
*[NOTE: This biography was originally published in 1881 (see above) and does
not constitute "proof" of authentic historical fact or early Greenwich, CT
or Mead family history. I simply offer it as clues to further
research.--mp]
ADDITIONAL MEAD FAMILY COMPILED
RECORDS:
Remington, Gordon L., FUGA. "The English
Origin of William [1] Mead of Stamford, Connecticut." The American
Genealogist (TAG). Whole Number 289, Vol. 73, No. 1. January 1998.
MEAD, Spencer Percival. History and
genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield Co. CT, Eastern.NY. New York:
Draper, Cecil Mead. Jonathan
Mead of Rensselaerwyk and some of his descendants. With a shorter sketch
of a single line of Williams, Mass., Conn. New York. Denver: 1972.
Feltus, Louise Celestia (Mead).Our
Two Centuries in Greenwich Conn., 1728-1924. Troy, NY.: R.H. Prout
and Co., 1948. .
Parker, C.E. The Mead family
of Connecticut. Santa Ana, CA: 1968.
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