Capt. Thaddeus Mead of Wilton, Conn., a traced descendant of William Mead of Stamford, through his oldest son, Joseph, was one of the earliest military heroes in the colonial history of America.
Thaddeus lived 50 years before the Revolutionary War in the days when the British and New England colonists were allies. He was the great-grandson of immigrant William Mead in a line of descent that included Joseph I, Joseph II and Jeremiah.
Thaddeus was among the many Meads of Connecticut who joined with the British military to fight in the French & Indian War. He served in campaigns from 1755 through 1760 before his death from battle wounds sustained near Montreal in the final days of fighting.
A historic powder horn, which he carried with him during the hostilities, was brought back to Connecticut from the Canadian battlefield where he died. It is now preserved in the Albany (N.Y.) Institute of History and Art. The horn is believed to have been carved by John Bush, an African American serving with the colonial forces. Bush was skilled in "Scrimshaw" carving and made powder horns for other soldiers.
Thaddeus was born Nov. 18, 1726, in Wilton, Conn., to Jeremiah Mead and Hannah St. John. He married Rebecca Betts in 1747 and they had six children (Sabra, Rachel, Dorothea, Hannah, Rebecca and Jasper) before her death in 1757.
Connecticut was very generous in supplying men to aid the British. The war dragged on for nearly nine years from 1754 to 1763 and touched almost every New England family. The end of the war came in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty gave Britain all French land in Canada and to the south, and all of France's holdings east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. Britain also received the territory of Florida from Spain, which had become a French ally in 1762. France kept two small islands south of Newfoundland -- St. Pierre and Miquelon -- and the Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
The war was the last and most important conflict in North America before the Revolutionary War. It had raged across the colonies with George Washington a commander among the colonial forces. Washington, then a major, had demanded the French abandon their new forts along the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia, but they refused and defeated him at Ft. Necessity in the first battle of the war. Gradually, the fighting moved north and the war was fought mostly in northern New York and along the Canadian border.
The British were unable to take Crown Point and Fort Niagara, but they won forts Beausejour and Gaspereau in what is now New Brunswick. The French captured Fort Oswego and, with their Indian allies, destroyed Fort William Henry at the southern tip of Lake George.
Finally, in 1759, the British gained the offensive, forcing the French back to Canada. Gen. James Wolf began a three-month siege of the city of Quebec by attacking the French forces, under Gen. Marquis de Montcalm. The British burned the towns and farms beneath the city, but Montcalm remained on high ground and refused to counter attack.
With winter approaching, Gen. Wolfe mounted an attack on the Plains of Abraham just west of the city. A report on the battle reads:
"The attack on Quebec began during the cloudy, calm night of Sept. 12-13, 1759. The tide bore British flatboats to the Anse au Foulon, a bay from which a path rose steeply to the Plains of Abraham. One boatload of men climbed silently and surprised an enemy guard. By dawn, about 4,500 British regulars had climbed the path and were ranged for battle. Montcalm had expected an attack at Beauport (on the north side of the city). He quickly moved about 4,000 troops to meet the enemy. They arrived about 10 o'clock that morning.
"The French advanced too quickly and began firing at long range, with little effect. The British held their fire until the French were within 120 feet. Then, the British fired, reloaded, fired again, and charged with bayonet and sword. The French retreated in disorder."
Both Wolfe and Montcalm were critically wounded early in the battle, which lasted only 15 minutes, and a French subordinate of Montcalm surrendered to the British the next day.
The fall of Quebec crippled the French army and cut off its supply routes along the St. Lawrence River. However, fierce fighting continued at Montreal, with Thaddeus in the thick of it.
English generals did not think much of the colonials as soldiers and tried to keep them out of the main line. But, American wilderness fighters distinguished themselves greatly and helped the British to victory. When Gen. Jeffery Amherst captured Montreal in 1760, for all practical purposes, the war was over.
Just before his death, Thaddeus had been promoted to captain in the Ninth Company of the Connecticut Third Regiment. He served under Gen. Phineus Lyman, an outstanding colonial militia officer who battled British commanders to gain recognition for the contributions of his troops. Lyman was a soldier who believed in keeping his troops intact and engaged.
The powder horn was uncovered through a chance conversation by Robert and Brian Mead of Arlington, VT. Robert had seen the historic artifact in a museum in Albany, where it is presently located, and realized his brother had a client with the Mead surname. She was a daughter of Lance Mead.
Jasper Mead and his wife, Elizabeth Benedict, are buried at Galway, near Lake George in upper New York State. Jasper was the son of Capt. Thaddeus Mead, who is believed to be buried on the battlefield at Montreal.
Candid photos from 'the Gathering'
Mead-e Research Group meets in New York
Members of the Mead Research Group gather at a marker commemorating historic Fort Edward, which was built as a critical supply point by the Connecticut militia.
Lunch at the Old Tavern Restaurant in Fort Edward was a get-acquainted reception for members.
This is a scale model of Fort Edward at the Fort House Museum.
Carolyn Mead Hildebrand explains progress in the Mead DNA Project to an interested group at the Brookside Museum in Balston Spa, N.Y. Included are Peter Meade, Lore Mead, Jennifer Kernan, Lance Mead, Pat Mead Steele and Pat Steele.
It's like reading a phone book
By VANCE MEAD
No one likes paying taxes, but genealogists should love tax records.
Poll tax and lay subsidy rolls are among the best records available between 1300 and 1550. Lay subsidies (for laymen; clergy were taxed separately) were levied on individuals from the beginning of the 14th century until 1327.
A list of Hertfordshire taxpayers in 1307 has been published. I have this book, which my wife says is almost as much fun as reading the phone book. Poll taxes were levied in 1377, 1379 and 1381. Lists of these taxpayers also have been published, but, unfortunately, nothing survives in Hertfordshire.
In the 16th century, there were two major lay subsidies, one in 1524-25 and the other in 1544-45. Poor people were exempt, but in many cases the taxes the taxes covered a large portion of the adult population. For example, in Watford in 1544, there were about 100 people listed (but no Meads). These were heads of households, mostly men, but also a few women, probably widows.
If the average household had five people (possibly more since wealthier householders had larger families as well as apprentices and servants), this would represent about half the population of Watford.
In the 1524-25 lay subsidy rolls, there were these Meads in Hertfordshire: Robert Meede of Albury, goods worth 10 pounds, 4s, 6d; William Meyd of Braughing, goods worth 2 pounds, 13s, 3d; Simon Mede of Gilston, goods worth 2 pounds; Thomas Meade of Barley, goods worth 10 pounds, 5s, and William Meade of Barley, goods worth 2 pounds, 1s.
In the 1544-45 lay subsidy rolls, there were these Meads: Robert Mede of Furneaux, Pelham, paid 14s, 8d; Richard Mede of Furneaux, Pelham, paid 3d; John Mede of Furneaux, Pelham, paid 2d; Johanna Mede of Furneaux, Pelham, paid 1d; William Mede of Braughing, paid 3d; Simon Mede of Gilston, paid 14d; Thomas Mede of Stortford, paid 1d; Robert Mede, his son, of Stortford, paid 2d; Thomas Meade of Stortford, paid 14d; Michael Meade of Ware Upland, paid 4s; John Mede of Ashwell, paid 1d; Edward Mede of Gravely, paid 1d, and John Mede of Gravely, paid 1d.
They were all in the northeastern part of the county. Since they were among the better off people, most can be found in other records.
William Meyd of Braughing in 1525 must be the William Mede who paid 3 pence there in 1545. Robert Meede of Albury probably is Robert Mede of Furneaux Pelham, an adjacent parish. Robert Mede was a constable there in the muster rolls in 1547, where it says "Robert Meade hath a hole harnes for a man wt a bowe & schef of arowys." In 1541, Robert Mede paid 13d. Richard and John Mede in Furneaux Pelham probably are his sons and Johanna Mede could be his widowed mother.
Simon Mede of Gilston was in a manorial court roll in 1537, when he was fined for (I think) failing to clear out a ditch on his land called Mancroft. In about 1540, he was in a muster roll, and his will is dated 1546.
I'm not sure where Michael Mede of Ware came from. Possibly, he was from Essex. In the Feet of Fines in 1553-54, there is this item: "Michael Mede: Thomas Crowley, gent, son of Robert Crowley late of Wendon Lofts. Messuages and lands in Ware, Great and Little Amwell, Thundryche & pasture in Amwell." Thomas Crowley was the father-in-law of Thomas Meade of the same village.
Thomas Mede of Stortford had lived there at least since 1517. Possibly, he was the son of William Mede, who owed suit of court in 1499 at the manorial court of Piggots or Pecottes in Stortford. The two Thomas Medes probably were father and son. One died about 1546, the other left a will in 1552, and Robert Meade died in 1570 in Thorley, an adjacent parish.
I have no other information about John Mede of Ashwell.
Edward Mede of Gravely was buried there in 1555. John Mede was a billman in the muster roll of about 1540, and was buried there in 1559.
Thomas Meade and William Meade of Barley were father and son. Thomas left a will in 1531 in which he named his wife, Margaret, his sons, William and Richard, and his daughter, Sybill, who married Richard Hunt in 1539 in Stevenage, about 10 miles to the west. William, possibly her brother, was buried in 1546-47.
I'm not sure what happened to Richard, but I have an idea. I'll write about that later.
Between Us . . .
I GUESS I'm just too impatient to ever become a really good, conscientious and hard-working family genealogist.
Oh, I can remember when I first got the urge to try and follow up on the work that had been going on for years and years by my grandparents and other relatives.
Every so often a newsletter would arrive in our mail box with an update on what was going on in various corners of the family. My aunt and uncle made a regular once-a-year stop at our house and always had a new version of the family tree to leave behind. And, my grandfather, without the benefit of a typewriter, computer or copying machine, painstakingly drew charts and graphs to show me who had married who and where they now lived with his urging that I would really like them if I got to know them.
Being a former newspaperman and public relations executive, I sort of fell into the Will Rogers' philosophy: I never have met a person I didn't like. So, I have to confess my grandfather probably was correct. I'm not certain he thought, that of all his grandsons and granddaughters, I would be the one who would elect to spend much of my retirement searching for leaves on the family's tree. But, I believe he would approve of most of my efforts.
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TODAY, WE have so much detailed information at our fingertips that I find myself getting exasperated by what a lousy job we are doing with it. It seems as if more and more people are coming out of the woodwork every day looking for facts on who they are, where they came from and how many horse thiefs lurked in their hallowed past. Of course, they don't want to work to find the answers.
So, they are perfectly willing to latch onto a bit of misinformation and accept it as the gospel truth in an effort to turn a half-hour session on the internet into their own personal volume of "Everything I Ever Wanted to Know, as Long as I Didn't Have to Look Too Deeply." Unfortunately, they have recorded it for posterity.
Perhaps, it's my training as a journalist, but I started my research "disbelieving" everything I read. I wanted proof my grandmother was born in Ohio, not Pennsylvania, as the U.S. Federal Census reported. Why not question it? My own name was inaccurately spelled in the 1930 census for Minnesota. In fact, I still don't know if my ancestors were Meads (without the final "e") or Meades (with it). Immigrant William wasn't either, technically. His name was listed as "Mayd" when he was given "a homelot and 5 acres of land" at the founding of Stamford, Conn., on Dec. 7, 1641. Hmm, now that's a date I should remember. My wife's grandfather didn't help matters a bit when he moved from Norway to Minnesota and changed his name from Johanus Johannessen to John Johnson. Can you imagine it? A Norwegian coming to Minnesota and changing his name to John Johnson!
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WHEN I open a website on the internet to explore the findings of others, I marvel at some of the elaborate creations they have spun. It must have taken a great many hours and more creative genius than I will ever have to record the history of the family.
I have only one question: Why couldn't they do it correctly?"
Dr. Spencer P. Mead started it all by compiling his amazing genealogies of the family way back in 1901. But, when he wrote about the Meads, he was very careful as to what he said and what he didn't say. Pretty much, he insisted on having the background material to support his records. If he didn't know Gabriel and William were "brothers", he didn't say they were. Unfortunately, he hinted there were tales they might have been. Those of us who have followed the good doctor did not continue his practice of substantiating sources.
Excuse me, folks, but Gabriel and William Mead were not brothers. They both came from England, but didn't even live in the same city. Gabriel was from Henley-on-Thames or, perhaps, Lydd; William from Watford in Hertfordshire. More than likely, they never knew each other. Neither is there any record to indicate they traveled to America together on Capt. Stagg's ship, the Elizabeth. And, William was not married to Martha Davis or Mary Barker. Death records indicate his wife's name was "Philippa" and she died during an outbreak of malaria on Sept. 19, 1657 in Stamford.
There! I've finally got it my chest. I believe Dr. Mead is the greatest single contributor to the genealogy of the Mead-e Family, but why can't the rest of us follow his lead with a wee bit more attention to fact and detail?
Lee Meade, Editor and Publisher
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WRITE TO US with your comments or suggestions for future articles. The Mead-e Family Tree is published quarterly in January, April, July and October and is available free on the internet. If you would like to make a contribution to production costs, please send your donation to Lee Meade, Apt. 221, 8505 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344-3955. Our e-mail address is LeeMeadeRoots@aol.com
Credits
Each time, I publish a new issue of the Mead-e Family Tree, I glance back as I copyread it and think of the others who have helped. I start with Vance Mead, my incredible correspondent who lives in Helsinki, Finland. Born and raised in Greenwich, Conn., the very heart of "Mead Country", he has contributed an article for every single edition I have published. The depth of his writing is unlimited and his research of early England history is unparalleled. Then, there is my internet friend, Lance Mead, also a Greenwich native who now toils and makes his home in Brandon, Vermont. His assistance has been immeasurable - as a research source and, particularly, as a photographer. Many of the photos that have appeared in the newsletter, were taken by Lance. I am privileged to say that without both of them, I would be unable to do this newsletter.
