The English county of Hertfordshire is about 630 square miles, almost exactly the same size as Fairfield County, Connecticut. While it is reasonable to assume that all Meads born in colonial Fairfield County were related, there were several unrelatedl Mead families in Hertfordshire. And, sometimes, unrelated Meads migrated along similar paths; and ended up in the same place.
This was the case with John Mead of Watford and John Mead of Bishops Stortford, also in Hertfordshire. Further complicating genealogical research, both men lived in Hempstead, Long Island, in the 1650s.
Bishops Stortford is a small town in eastern Hertfordshire on the river Stort. Thomas Mede is first mentioned in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Michaels in Bishop Stortford in 1517, when he paid two pence rent for "the tenement that Harry Wood dwells in." Possibly, he was the son of William Mede, who owed suit of court in 1499 at the manorial court of Pyggote or Pecottes in Stortford.
Born around 1490, Thomas Mede paid rent of a penny a year until 1542. In 1534-35, John Snowe paid a penny for Thomas Mede's rent and in 1545-47 "mother Tuftnale and mother Mede paid four pence for their rent," so Thomas Mede must have died around 1545. Joan Mede, widow, paid rent of a penny in 1555-56 and two pence in 1556-57. She must have been Thomas Mede's wife.
Thomas Mede probably had two sons. In the lay subsidy roll of 1545, there were two Thomas Medes and Robert, the son of Thomas. One Thomas Mede paid a penny and the other paid 14 pence in tax, while Robert paid 2d.
Thomas Meade "of Rockerill in the parish of Stortford in the county of Hertford, husbandman, made his will in June 1552. He was apparently quite young, since he had just one child and, possibly, another on the way, so he was probably born in the 1520s. He left over 10 pounds in legacies, including five pounds for his daughter, Lucy, and another three pounds for his unborn child. His widow's name was Julian.
In 1557-58, Robert Mede paid rent of two pence in Stortford. In the 1560s, he lived in the adjacent parish of Thorley. In his will, proved in 1571, he mentioned his wife, Joan; two sons, Edward and Harry, and a daughter, Johanna. Several children had died young. In March 1561/62, John Meade, the son of Robert Meade, plowwright, was buried in Stortford. Two John Meades, twin sons of Robert Meade, were baptized and buried in November 1567, in Thorley. Robert Meade was buried in December 1570, as were his son, Ezechial, and daughter, Joan.
During Queen Elizabeth's reign, there were several Meads in Stortford, but it's not possible to connect them. In 1568, Thomas Meade married Isabel Worley; in 1579, Agnes Meade married Thomas Cock; in 1587, Richard Meade married Jane Miller, and, in 1594, Susannah Meade married Thomas Gase.
In the Feet of Fines in 1583, John Meade and Thomas Burlinge made a deal involving a cottage and land in Stortford. And, in 1601, in the will of John Miller of Stortford, he mentioned his brothers-in-law, Richard Mead and John Mead, and a meadow purchased from Thomas Mead. In 1606, Edward Willey sold a croft called Windell Meade to John Mead.
In 1641, a marriage license was issued so that Edward Totnan, gent, of St. Andrew in the Wardrobe, London, bachelor, 26, and Joane Meade of Bishops Stortford, 20, daughter of Thomas Meade, gent, could get married at Bishops Stortford. Soon after 1644, Edward and Joan Totnan or Totten emigrated to Hempstead, N.Y., where they lived until the 1630s.
John Mead, the son of William Mead of Stamford, also lived in Hempstead for a few years in the 1650s. In the spring of 1657, John moved across Long Island with his brother, Joseph, and their families. Tax records of 1658 in Hempstead show John had two cows. He moved back across the sound to Connecticut in 1660 when he founded Greenwich.
John Mead and Joan Mead Totten must have met since Hempstead was not a large town. Perhaps, they talked about their families. Who knows? Maybe they were related, way back then.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Vance Mead is a Greenwich native son who now lives in Helsinki, Finland, with his family. He is a regular contributor to the Mead Newsletter.)
LEE MEADE
Between us . . .
By LEE MEADE Editor and Publisher
AS WE MOVE further into a world of high and higher technology, our expectations grow proportionately and our disappointments become more profound. It seems it was just "yesterday" when I was hailing the potential of DNA to help us trace the mysteries of our ancestry. Everything sounded so great and it seemed to make sense. Today, I'm not looking anymore; nor am I waiting any longer for the DNA folks to provide me with better information than I have been able to find myself. I have been disappointed too many times by the failure of those who, perhaps, unknowingly or unwittingly, promised too much and delivered too little.
When I first learned several years ago there was an opportunity to dig into history electronically and speed up the process of identifying my family ancestors, I couldn't pull out my wallet fast enough. It was certainly cheap, so I wrote my check and sent it in to the company I had chosen and began my wait. When the kit arrived with the information on how to painlessly swab the inside of my mouth, I dutifully undertook the task. I returned it immediately and began the long ... and longer ... wait for results.
It came in the form of a letter I did not understand. My swab had been received and was being processed. "Be patient," the letter advised. So, I was patient. Then, a second letter arrived with results assuring me my ancestors were likely from this planet. More testing would be necessary, I was told, to determine an exact continent. I asked for clarification and assured them I would continue to be patient. Boy, was I ever patient. But, several months later, when I had not heard anything in the way of a further explanation, I started to inquire among others in my group to see what they had learned. I received a second e-mail from the company, advising me there had been a problem. Sometimes, I was told, there were unexplainable circumstances when the results did not turn out as expected. But, don't worry, I was assured, my sample would be retested -- at the company's expense -- and I would be advised. Then, it ended with the magic words "Please, be patient!" I complained again and I received a garbled e-mail explanation.
Well, my patience has run out. I have checked with others who have done the swab test and, unfortunately, the results have been painfully similar to mine. Lots of early assurances and promises followed by a general lack of results. There have been promises of greater results, but that was dependent upon further testing -- and more money. This time, I didn't bite. So, I am going back to my own basics in efforts to find a quick fix to the past history of my early generations.
* * * *
FORTUNATELY, my forefathers were English and came to the colonial shores of America 150 years before the Revolutionary War. If you have done any research at all, you know what a headstart that has given me in digging up family roots. Until the advent of the printing press, the only form of written communication came through the church from sequestered monks and scholars. Interest in genealogy about the year 1500 changed all that.
My eighth grandfather was Henry Wolcott, who was one of the leaders of the organizing group in Windsor, Conn., when travel across the treacherous North Atlantic Ocean in the 1620s became a settler's option to escape the religious persecution of English royalty. Just a few years later, another of my eighth-generational grandfathers was among the hardy souls who brought his family to Stamford, Conn. in 1641.
My great grandmother was Mary Jane Wolcott, who married my great grandfather, Fayette Clark Meade (there's that first generation of Mead with the final "e" added). While the Wolcotts pursued political careers that included a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Oliver Wolcott), the second secretary of the treasury (Roger Wolcott) for presidents George Washington and John Adams and a host of governors of Connecticut and Colorado, the Meades moved to Minnesota and became farmers, town clerks and deacons of the Congregational Church.
Henry Wolcott was easy to follow. He was among the passengers on the Mary and John in 1626 and he was a man his fellow townfolk in Windsor addressed as Mr. Wolcott out of respect for his position of respect in the community. I can't tell you how William Mead reached colonial shores, although town records indicate he was one of the first men to be given "a homelot and 5 acres of land" when Stamford was settled.
So, with generational roots that extended back as far as American history could take me, I was expecting DNA to help me find connections in England and beyond. Not so!
* * * *
MY SOLUTION has been a simple one. I have gone back to the records of other researchers who have doggedly followed one dead end after another in their searches to what even DNA can not determine. I am relying more and more upon "real" people with whom I have become acquainted. Most of them I have never met face-to-face, but through the exchange of letters, e-mail and telephone conversations, I believe they are my best ways to uncover the past.
I have used Family TreeMaker since version 1 came on the scene some 10 or 15 years ago. I'm on version 16 now and continue to use it as a first source for my printed records. There are several reasons for my loyalty, not the least being my familiarity with it. It is well-organized and seems to meet all of my needs, while taking me to new areas I never expected to be able to go. Also, more researchers appear to be familiar with it than any other software program and the data I keep is easily moved through a GEDCOM file to other locations.
But, I would be remiss if I did not mention Legacy Family Tree, a software program produced by Millenia Corporation. I like it so well I now maintain separate data records on both Family TreeMaker and Legacy so I can switch back and forth to take advantages of their distinctly individual and unique capabilities. I particularly like the chronological charts featured in Legacy and the special section for recording DNA statistics (I do still believe). I like the automatic updates Millenia makes available to me without an extra charge. Even at $29 to $39 a pop (a bargain for start-up users), my Family TreeMaker upgrades have become a far-too-expensive proposition, and there is no discount for loyalty.
There is one thing they both have, and it is major. It is the access to built-in search engines which enable the user to go on the internet and compare records with the findings of others. Most have struggled through the same road blocks and deadends you have encountered. The information is not "proved" and verification is up to you, but I have found it to be the single most-important element of my on-going genealogical research.
* * * *
ANCESTRY.COM, which is located in Provo, Utah, seems to be the leader among the multitude of commercial organizations who are now engaged in a genealogical battle of monumental proportions. It is the parent company of Genealogy.com, another very well-organized firm, and is also affiliated with MyFamily.com under a corporate umbrella of Generations Network.
In the final two weeks of December, Ancestry.com added 13 1/2 million new names to its mushrooming data base in its ongoing effort to remain at the head of the pack.
I am certain the folks researching DNA will get better with the passage of time and improve their communication skills with folks like me who expect more than a six-month report. Ever since computer technology became widespread in the early 1960s, I have wondered why the industry advertised for "technical writers." It always seemed to me they needed mom-and-dad types who could use nickle and dime words to explain in very un-technical terms what they were really talking about. Perhaps, that's one of the reasons why many people still long for the ability to buy a simple typewriter.
But, at it's best, DNA is here to stay, too. It is a solution, which I attempted to make of it. With the results I have had, it probably is not worth the money. As I have indicated, I am just going to go back to basics -- pestering my friends and relatives for information about their families, asking questions of those who already have answers and, yes, waiting patiently for somebody to ungarble my DNA e-mail.
Special article by Vance Mead on early life of William Mead
OUR NEXT ISSUE of the Mead-e Family Tree will be very special!
Vance Mead will be writing a comprehensive story on William Mead, covering “everything we know, suspect and imagine” about the English adventurer who became a founder of Stamford, Conn., and the progenitor of the Mead family in America.
It is scheduled for publication on April 1, 2007, on the internet at www.meadnewsletter.com.
A regular contributor of the Mead-e Family Tree, Vance is a native of Greenwich, Conn., who now resides with his family in Finland. Each summer, he vacations in England and has made trips to William Mead’s hometown of Watford in Hertfordshire Parish to compile a wealth of information on William’s life.
He will trace William’s early life in England, his marriage(s), his family and his travels to the New World, telling what is known and suggesting several interesting alternatives that led to his emergence in history on Dec. 7, 1641, when he was granted a “homelot and 5 acres of land” to build a home in Stamford.
He’ll include the findings of known genealogist Gordon Remington, who also has documented the history of the Mead family from its English roots to 17thCentury Connecticut.
Also, Lee Meade will publish the third and final segment of his biographical short story: One More River to Cross. Taken from his great grandfather’s letters to his wife during the Civil War, it traces the military career of 1st Lt. Fayette Clark Meade as a member of the Michigan Sharpshooters to the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomatox, Virginia, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the celebration of the Grand Day parade in Washington, D.C., marking the end of hostilities.
Watford, Hertfordshire, England
SECOND OF A 4-PART SERIES One More River to Cross
Confederate and Union soldiers meet in Appomatox Court House to end the Civil War.
Battlefield at Gettysburg littered with dead soldiers.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When 1st Lieutenant Fayette Clark Meade volunteered to join the Michigan Sharpshooters during the Civil War, it is very likely he did not know just what he was getting into. Like many others, he left his wife and 6-month old daughter on their small farm in central Michigan and marched off to do battle. He was a patriot and he believed his country needed him.
Now, it was the spring of 1865, Gettysburg was over and the Union Forces had the Confederates hemmed in near Petersburg, Va. Northern troops had plenty of food and morale was high. The South had been cut off from its supply lines and had to scrape for any morsels of food it could find. Surely, it seemed to Meade, the war was coming to an end.
Although he did not do any of the actual fighting, he had received a battlefield commission. For all practical purposes, his life was good. He exchanged letters with his wife and was encouraged to learn things were going well at home. But, as it was for most of the soldiers with him, the routine was boring.
While they sat on one side of the Appomatox River, the enemy waited on the other. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had taken command of the Army of the Potomac and believed he could outwait his adversary. "It is better to keep (Gen. Robert E. Lee) pinned down here than to drive him south and have to follow him." So, he waited.
Chapter Two
By LEE MEADE
The orderly's voice pierced the morning quiet as 1st Lt. Fayette Clark Meade lay in bed.
"Lt. Meade, sir," he shouted. "Gen. Parke would like to see you."
Meade carefully checked his uniform and looked down at his boots to see if they had too much mud on them for him to be presentable before his commanding officer. He grabbed a rag and gave the boots a quick wipe, shrugging his shoulders in deference because he knew they would be dirty again before he completed the trip through the mud to the general's command post on the other side of the compound.
Gen. John G. Parke shared responsibility for the Union siege of Petersburg with Gen. Edward Ord and Gen. Joseph Wright. Parke had the Ninth Corps, stationed to the right of Petersburg and along the railroad to City Point.
"I just received a wire from Gen. Grant," Parke told the young lieutenant. "The President is coming to City Point and I want you to pick a squad of men to greet him. He will arrive Thursday, the 23rd, with Mrs. Lincoln. You'll go to City Point tomorrow and stay with him as long as he is here."
"Yes, sir," Meade snapped, hardly believing his ears. He had come to the general's headquarters expecting to hear news of an impending move against the Rebels, even a possible march with Grant's other forces.
"The President!" he thought. "He's coming here, and I'm going to meet him!"
City Point was located on the James River about seven miles from their encampment alongside the Appomattox River just east of Petersburg. A railroad ran up to the harbor and the city was an important supply point. Both the port and the railroad had been under Union control for several months. It was one of the major reasons the Union forces had food and ammunition, while the South did not.
Grant, suspecting an end to the war was near, had sent a wire to Lincoln on March 20, requesting the visit. He said he wanted to meet with the president and suggested "a rest would do you well." Lincoln accepted and on March 23, the President, Mrs. Lincoln, their son Tad, a maid and two bodyguards sailed on the River Queen, down the Potomac River from Washington and up the James River to City Point, arriving about 9 o'clock the following evening.
Despite the close proximity to the battlefield, a Union band was on hand to greet the President. Lt. Meade stood proudly beside his squad, as did the other courtesy representatives from military units in the area. There was little pretense of high security as the Union forces almost flaunted their growing superiority over the Confederates. Shortly after their reception, the Lincolns retired for the evening, putting off until the next day the start of any formal meetings.
But, the President could not get to sleep. He walked the deck of the River Queen for several hours, causing a Union sentry to remark the next morning: "Such pain. I have never seen a man with such a heavy heart."
Lincoln had been glad to get away from Washington, D.C. He had thought if he could distance himself from some of the routine, time-consuming details of government, he might be able to concentrate upon how to end this God-awful war. He liked his generals, Grant and George Gordon Meade, who had commanded the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, and looked forward to seeing them.
Admiral William Porter and Gen Sherman also would attend the meeting. Sherman and Lincoln had never met in person, and did not share the confidence in each other that the President had with Grant, Meade and Porter. But Grant and Sherman had become good friends during the war. Sherman had sailed up the Atlantic Ocean from Savannah and didn't know Lincoln would be there until his arrival.
As it turned out, Sherman's army never did get to Virginia before the end of the war, but he had a hand in drafting its conclusion. Later, following Lincoln's death, Sherman said: "Never in my lifetime have I met a man who I considered to be such a remarkable person."
While the Lincolns slept and the officers fine-tuned the points of their discussions, the Confederates had other ideas. At 4 a.m. on March 25, they surged forward against Fort Steadman, an eastern bastion just 150 yards in front of the Southern lines. Lee hoped to cut the Union lines and create another escape route to the south. Successful at first, they were thrown back after four hours of bloody fighting. Rebel losses were estimated at 4,000 men, while the Northern army lost half that many.
Lt. Meade was at City Point when he heard the gunfire from the direction of his camp. "It has started," he thought. "I wonder if this is it -- and with the President right here."
Dressing hurriedly, he moved his squad of men into position at the end of the dock where the President's ship was tied up. But, after several tense hours, word came the attack had been repulsed, and the Rebel troops were in full retreat.
Despite the danger, the President elected to tour the area of fighting and a small group boarded a special train at City Point to travel the seven miles to the Petersburg siege lines. There, Lincoln looked on as the grim-faced Union soldiers stood behind their entrenchments while others buried the casualties -- North and South alike -- who had been killed in the ill-fated assault earlier that day.
Lt. Meade kneeled beside a young Confederate soldier who had fallen in battle the night before. His knapsack was laying beside him and the lieutenant opened it up. It was nearly empty, but he took out two pieces of blank paper and placed them in his pocket. It was the only battlefield souvenir he ever kept and it was not to herald their victory, but to remember the ravages of war.
In late afternoon, the President returned to City Point, and the conferences among the Union military leaders, in anticipation of the end of the war, got under way.
Lincoln was unflinching in his opposition to slavery and in defense of the decision to go to war. Just a few days prior to his visit to City Point, the president had declared: "I have always thought that all men should be free; but it any should be slaves, it should be first those desire it for themselves, and secondly, those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
Actually, Lincoln may not have much input into the strategy to be used in ending the conflict. Despite the high-level discussions, it is speculative if Grant confided to the others in detail what he planned to do and when he planned to do it. They did talk about the terms of surrender, and in that matter the president's views prevailed. Lincoln had only two major points of concern: first, that the Union should be preserved, and, second, that slavery should be abolished.
"If the South will concede to those two issues, I am almost prepared to sign my name on a blank sheet of paper and let them fill out the remaining terms by which we are to live together," Lincoln said.
Cannon overlooks Gettysburg, Pa.
Gen. George Gordon Meade
Grave site of 1st Lt. Fayette Clark Meade in Alexandria, Minn.
Union soldiers relax during day at the front
Grant had been planning an attack of his own for March 29 to cut the few remaining Confederate railroad lines and set the stage for a decisive confrontation against Lee. Grant had been joined by Sheridan and now had a three-to-one manpower advantage over the Southern forces.
It was agreed Parke, Ord and Wright would maintain their positions directly in front of Petersburg while Sheridan moved south of the city and then westward in an effort to encircle Lee. Lincoln would remain on board the River Queen so he could be kept abreast of upcoming developments.
"The result is predetermined," Grant had told Lincoln earlier in the month. "However, we must wait until the roads have dried sufficiently to make it possible for us to move our wagons and artillery so that our army can operate efficiently in the enemy's territory. Then, we can put this war behind us and begin rebuilding the nation."
But, on April 1, the Southern army, under Gen. George Pickett, started the action, breaking through the Union lines near Five Forks, a small junction 15 miles southwest of Petersburg. It was a move generated out of sheer desperation and met with limited success, however, Sheridan rallied his troops and threw back the Confederates.
The next day, Lee mounted a valiant defense against Grant's strong overall assault, but the Southern lines were too thin. Lee advised Confederate President Jefferson Davis he couldn't and that night, during a respite in the fighting, the Rebels quietly withdrew their forces from both Richmond and Petersburg.
The Southern troops hoped to join each other to form a single defense, but it didn't work out. Lee had Grant and the James River to the north and Sheridan and the Appomatox River to the south.
When the Union forces at Petersburg learned the Rebels were gone, they surged through the city in fast pursuit.
Grant's better-equipped and fresher troops were able to get ahead of Lee. Grant telegraphed Lincoln, who was still at City Point: "We are now up, and have a continuous line of troops, and in a few hours will be entrenched from the Appomatox below Petersburg, to the river above. All seems well with us, and everything quiet just now."
Lincoln replied with the following message: "Allow me to tender to you and all with you the nation's grateful thanks for this additional and magnificent success."
Then, Lincoln sent another message to Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, who had remained in Washington. It read: "This morning General Grant reports Petersburg evacuated, and he is confident Richmond also is. He is pushing forward to cut off, if possible, the retreating army. I start to him in a few minutes."
Lee was surrounded. Even worse, as he retreated into the Appomattox Valley, there was no food to be found for his exhausted troops. At one point, while his weary troops were resting alongside the road, Gen. George Armstrong Custer surprised them by leading a cavalry charge that further disoriented the Southern army. By April 6, in a running battle at Sailor's Creek, more than 7,000 Confederate troops were captured and Grant had all of the possible escape routes closed.
The next day, Lincoln sent his famous telegram to Grant: "Gen. Sheridan says 'If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will surrender.' Let the thing be pressed."
Lincoln then returned to Washington. Lt. Meade left to rejoin his unit, too, but while he had been guarding the president, the company had moved out in pursuit of the fleeing Confederate forces. He began his own search to find them.
Meanwhile, Lee realized the inevitable. "There is nothing left for me to do, but to go and see Gen Grant," he said. "I would rather die a thousand deaths."
The formal surrender took place at the home of Wilbur McLean in the small Virginia village of Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1965. The two military leaders, each respectful of the other, were stoic and impassive as they met.
At first, Lee did not remember Grant, although they had served together in the Mexican War. They talked informally about the weather, the Mexican War; then, the business at hand.
Grant, seated at a small table, began to write: "In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U.S. authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside."
Lee had moved from his own table to read over Grant's shoulder as he wrote. When Grant handed the paper to him, Lee, without ceremony, returned to his chair, sat down and signed it.
The formal surrender took place on April 12, 1865, four years to the day after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
The Civil War -- the great Battle between the United States of America, was over!
On the road back to his headquarters near Petersburg, an aide asked Grant if he had advised President Lincoln concerning the surrender.
"By gosh," Grant declared. "I forgot to tell him."
Stopping the column, he sat down on a roadside stone and wrote a message to be wired to the president.
To be concluded in the next issue
Short Shots ...
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