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Writing a family book

It takes a long time!

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Have you been thinking about writing your family's history? Beverly Mead Brenneise was a full-time high school English teacher in Sacramento, California, with an interest in genealogy. Here is the first segment on how she finally found the time to do it and how she dealt with the pitfalls she encountered. Her series will continue in future issues of The Mead-e Family Tree.)

By BEVERLY MEAD BRENNEISE

Deciding to write a family genealogy book took me a long time.

I began collecting genealogical information about my family 28 years ago, when I was in my 30s. You probably know the routine: full names of my ancestors and family members, dates of births and marriages and deaths, places for all of these special events, pictures and on and on.

First, I kept this data in very loose form, making my notes on individual pages of paper, then filling in prepared standard forms with information, then purchasing an expandable binder from a Mormon bookstore. The forms were an excellent starting place for me. At that point, I wasn't even certain in which order to keep my information, but, gradually, I had accumulated a small stack of data.

I copied information from family Bibles, talked with uncles and an aunt who seemed to know quite a bit about our family, wrote to distant cousins on both my father's and mother's side of the family and obtained more information from others. In recent years, I did searches on the Internet and discovered even more about my ancestors. My stack of information seemed to grow in amazing amounts.

So, I began storing my data in a sturdy dress-sized box. Then, I began organizing it by families, putting information about each family into separate large labeled envelopes. Next, I decided it was time to invest in a genealogical computer program. I chose Family Tree Maker and, dutifully, typed my information into the program. When I switched from a Macintosh to a PC, I had to retype all my data using the new program.

The computer helped organize my data, but I didn't want to toss the paper notes I had accumulated over the years. Finally, I commandeered space in one of our family filing cabinets and put them, along with family photos I had been able to obtain, in manila folders. For me, this proved to be the best way of organizing my files.

I would take some of this information to our family reunions and, as I made new finds, I would introduce the new data to my growing files. Somehow, I seemed to work harder at finding more information just before the next reunion of our families, which we generally held every two years. It was exciting to learn what notable ancestors we might have, or how far back we could trace one of our ancestral families. But, my research for family history remained somewhat sporadic.

At this point, I had not thought much about writing a family history book. I just wanted to find out more about my ancestors. I was still working fulltime and I had a plate full of responsibilities, such as preparing homework and essays from my students on most weeknights and weekends. I also had plenty of other obligations with my family, my church and, in general, meeting the requirements of daily living.

Then, one of my nieces made a larger request.

"You know, Aunt Bev, I love having this information about my ancestors," she said, "but, what I really want to know is more about their actual lives, who they were, how they lived and what they believed."

I didn't respond aloud, but I protested mentally: "How in the world am I going to find out that kind of information?"

So, the years passed. At some point, I reconciled I would write a family history ... someday, but, after I retired! Surely, then, I told myself, I would have the time. In the meantime, I would get my material organized and, also, motivate myself to sit down and write it.

Family Tree Maker would help me organize it. I had birth/marriage/death records for my relatives already listed and the software program showed me how they were related to each other. I had seen some books comprised of this basic data-information, though, and I had found them a little dry. I wanted to include more. My niece's words remained in my mind -- "who were they, how did they live, what did they believe?"

I decided what I wanted my family history book to reveal was the characteristics and personalities of my ancestors. My computer program enabled me to add personal notations about them and to insert pictures of family members.

I had been fortunate enough to obtain some of this personal information about my great-grandfather Mead through a distant cousin whose own family records included an excerpt about his own grandparents. Part of the excerpt told about my great-grandfather being killed at a railroad crossing. He had died in the accident, but had been able to throw his infant granddaughter to safety. Now, stories such as that made family history more interesting.

About that same time, I came across a website on the internet about the Mead family. I tried typing the name of the earliest Mead family member that our family had identified in an earlier search and was surprised to find an article about that very ancestor: "Were Gabriel & William Related?" asked the article by Lee Meade from The Mead-e Family Tree. But, my hopes were dashed when a notation at the end of the article informed me the mead newsletter had ceased publication. Yet, this newsletter had given me the kind of information my niece had requested, about the Mead family, at least.

Last summer, two years later, I finally retired, and another family reunion was coming up. So, I tried once again to discover new information about our ancestors. I also learned much to my pleasure The Mead-e Family Tree had not ceased publication, but had been relocated to a new format on the internet as the www.meadnewsletter.com.

With this new information, I was inspired to make a rough outline of a book I would write on my Mead lineage. I worked out the presentation I wanted, organizing the story of my family on a generation-by-generation format. This way I could add the extra personal information I wanted in the form of stories, wills, military data, news events and whatever else I could find about my family's heritage. My software program, World Family Tree, enabled me to save the birth/marriage/death and photo records I wanted to include.

I was on my way!

(EDITOR'S POSTNOTE: Beverly writes her book in the July issue of The Mead-e Family Tree.)

The oldest road in England

From the records of Vance Mead

Icknield Way is about 4,000 years old. It is known as the oldest road in England. It already was ancient when Julius Caesar came, saw and conquered the British Isles in 55 BC.

The road begins at Stonehenge in Wiltshire and continues for about 200 miles northeast to Norfolk. About three-quarters of the way along the route, between Royston, Hertfordshire and Elmdon, Essex, is the village of Barley. It is in the northeastern corner of Hertfordshire.

Although Barley is in barley-growing country, it was not named after the grain. Called Beriai in the Domesday Book, it was originally Beora’s Lea, a forest clearing belonging to a Saxon named Beora, a name meaning bear. In the Middle Ages, Barley consisted of several manors, two of which belonged to monasteries. Mincinbury belonged to the Convent of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, while Abbotsbury belonged to the Abbey of Colchester in Essex.

Thomas Mede was sworn into the tithing of the lord king in the Mincinbury manor court in 1507. In 1508, he did the same in the Abbotsbury manor court. He was born in about 1490. In 1524, Thomas Mede was on a committee to collect “Palfreymoney”, a customary payment from the copyhold tenants to buy a palfrey (a small saddle horse) for the new Abbot of Colchester.

In the tax rolls of 1525, there were two Meades in Barley. Thomas and his son, William. Thomas Meade had goods worth 10 pounds, 5 shillings, the seventh highest assessment out of about 65 people named. William, who must have been around 20 years of age, had goods worth 2 pounds, 1 shilling.

In his will, dated 1530 and proved in 1531, Thomas Meade bequeathed “to the gild of Saint Katherine iiii bushels of malt and my great brass pan.” He gave 40 shillings to his son, Richard, who must have been born around 1515 or 1520; 6 shillings, 8d to his son, William, and 3 shillings, 4d. to his daughter, Sybil. The rest of his estate, which must have been worth eight or 10 pounds, went to his wife, Margaret.

In the will, Thomas says he has surrendered his house and land in Barley a year earlier, and that Richard had to surrender his right in the property to Thomas Miller in order to receive his legacy, so his family must have left soon afterwards.

In 1539, Sybilla Meyde married Richard Hunt in Stevenage, about 10 miles to the west. She must have been born between 1515 and 1520, making her the same age as Richard. Also in Stevenage, William Meade was buried in January 1546/47.

My interest in this family is the result of a coincidence of names and dates. The earliest known ancestor of the Meads of Fairfield County was Richard Mead, who was born about 1515 –1520 and was married in Watford, Herts, in 1545. In 1544, Margaret Meade, widow, rented two houses in Watford, co-signed by Thomas Heydon, who was a witness to Richard Mead’s will in 1559. She probably was Richard’s mother.

I have found no record of anyone named Mead in Watford for 40 years before 1544, including in the lay subsidy rolls of 1544, which are quite comprehensive. Possibly, Richard was exempt as a result of poverty, but this seems unlikely, since he made cash bequests of more than 8 pounds in his will. Together with his household goods, his estate must have been worth 10 or 12 pounds. In the lay subsidy of 1524-25, Meads were taxed on goods worth as little as two pounds.

There were no Meads taxed in Barley in the 1540s, so they must have moved away – or died.

Sybill and William are accounted for above. I don’t know about Richard. Possibly, he was the Richard Mead of Thorley, just south of Stortford, who was in the muster rolls in about 1540. There is no record of Richard Meade in Thorley after 1540, and the parish records there are very good starting in 1539.

Stane Street, the old Roman road, went from Stortford to St. Albans. From there, it was just a few miles down Watling Street to Watford. So, it’s possible Richard Mead was born in Barley about 1515, left there in the 1530s, lived in Thorley for a few years, and moved to Watford with his mother in 1544.

Of  course, Richard and Margaret were common names, so this could be just a coincidence. It may be impossible to prove, and simple to disprove just by finding a Richard Mead in Barley after 1545.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Vance Mead is a native of Greenwich, who now lives with his family in Helsinki, Finland. He researches the early Meads in England and is a regular contributor to the Mead-e Family Tree.)

It's that time of the year!

REUNION AT LAKE GEORGE

The second annual reunion of the Mead Research Group is being planned for Saturday and Sunday, July 29 and 30, on the shore of Lake George near Glen Falls, N.Y.

Lance Mead of Brandon, Vermont, who coordinated last year's summer get-together, is organizing the 2006 event. For anyone seeking information or planning to attend, Lance can be contacted by e-mail at lmeade52089@aol.com.

Among the early registrants for the reunion is Lee Meade of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, editor and publisher of the Mead-e Family Tree, a free quarterly newsletter dedicated to Meads in America who are seeking their genealogical roots.

Meade, a retired newspaperman, will lead a discussion on writing a family history and editing a newsletter on the internet.

Anyone interested in Mead (Meade, Meed, Meagh, Meads) family history will be welcome at the gathering. You do not have to be a member of the Mead Research Group in order to attend. Activities during the last week in July will include round table forums, museum and history center visits, trips to area historical sites and an informal exchange of information.

An agenda of events will be featured in the July 2006 issue of the Mead-e Family Tree, which will be published on the internet July 1. 

Shortly after last summer's meeting, a tragic accident claimed the lives of William and Margaret Nadvornik, who died when their cruise boat overturned on Lake George. William was a third great grandson of Rachel Mead (1776-1845) of Stamford, CT. His line of descent was from William through John, Jonathan, Jonathan II and Jonathan III. 

I HAVE BECOME mesmerized by the pre-Revolutionary War tragedy that occurred in Deerfield, Mass., when French soldiers led a band of Indians in an assault on the small colonial settlement on February 29, 1704.

Since I first read about the bizarre happenings in Danielle Skjelver's novel: "Massacre, Daughter of War," long forgotten details about the shocking events have been popping up in my Mead family research with haunting regularity. It seems as if every Mead(e) I know is connected to one or another of the Deerfield victims.

First, I was simply intrigued by the very savage nature of the attack. The French and Indian War was at its peak as armies of the French and English battled back and forth in an effort to gain a stronghold in continental North America.

Names of those who died became ancestors, tying many Meads together in widening blocks. Those who were left told stories that portrayed vivid images of the horrors of 17th century combat. A visit to Deerfield has climbed to the top of my list of places to go when Helen and I make our own pilgrimage to the Mead reunion in upstate New York this summer. It has become the place I most want to visit.

At the top of my list about Deerfield is the incredible story of Josiah Rising and Abigail Nims, both pre-teens at the time of their captivity. Josiah was 9 and Abigail 2 when they were seized from their homes and taken with their mother on the long march to Canada. Their mother died on the journey, but extracted a promise from Josiah to look after little Abigail. He did such a good job that, after growing up among the Mohawk Indians and Catholic missionaries, they were married and raised their own family of 12. But, that is really just a continuation point in the intriguing story of Deerfield. It seems to live into eternity through the lives of Josiah and Abigail, and through their ancestors.

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"MEAD", WHO WAS identified by last name only, was a character in the prologue of "Massacre, Daughter of War" and first caught my attention as I read it.

Then, I learned Sarah Mead, the daughter of Joseph II and Sarah (Reynolds) Mead, had married Benjamin Stebbins and I had my own family link to Deerfield. Benjamin was born at Deerfield in 1692. His father, Benoni Stebbins, died in the attack. Apparently, Benjamin and his mother were in neighboring Hadley, Mass., at the time and were spared. 

Next, while planning a 100th anniversary of my childhood home in Forada, Minn., I met Jean and Eddie Hines of St. Paul, Minn. Jean had attended the country school which stood on land my grandparents had provided and Eddie was a direct descendant of the Nims family.

My Deerfield connections continued to grow when Vance Mead, my newsletter collaborator, wrote from Finland he had received a copy of Danielle's novel and was related to Samuel Boltwood, another of the Deerfield victims.

Finally, I had an e-mail message from Tanis and Dan Mulder of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who had stumbled across my newsletter on the internet. They were interested in the Deerfield story because their family also was related to Josiah and Abigail. Through a website they have established at  www.meadequesnel.ca, I was able to follow the family's interesting trail from Rutland, Vermont, and across Canada.

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THE MEADS can trace their genealogy back to William (1592-1663) and follow a line through John, Jonathan, Timothy, James, James Jr., Franklin and Roland Price Meade. James Jr., son of Col. James Mead and Mercy Holmes, is believed to have been the first white baby born in Vermont on Oct. 9, 1754.

The international relationship between the New England Meads and French Canadian Quesnels began when Mary Rachel Mead, granddaughter of Roland Price Mead, was united with the Quesnels. She married Arthur Quesnel, a descendant of Pierre Quesnel, who was one of the founders of Montreal. Ironically, their marriage put Meads on both sides of the climactic Battle of Montreal in which Capt. Thaddeus Mead was killed while fighting for the British.   

Here's the way the fascinating story unravels from the Meads of England to the French colonies of Canada:

1-Richard Mead of Watford, Hertfordshire, England (1515-1557) married Margaret Gouldthorpe (1517-1560); 2-Priscilla Mead of Watford, Hertfordshire, England (1548-1606) married Dorothy Grey (1549-1609); 3-William Mead of Stamford, CT (1592-1663) married Philippa Kilvey (1600-1657); 4-John Mead of Greenwich, Fairfield, CT (1634-1698) married Hannah Potter (1636-1700); 5-Jonathan Mead of Greenwich, Fairfield, CT (1664-1711) married Martha Finch (1670-1748); 6-Timothy Mead of Nine Partners, Dutchess County, NY (1701- ) married Martha Weeks (1703-1737); 7-Col. James Mead of Rutland, Rutland, VT (1730-1805) married Mercy Holmes (1731-1823); 8-James Mead of Rutland, Rutland, VT (1773-1813) married Phebe Smith (1773-1850); 9-Franklin Mead of Rutland, Rutland, VT (1804-1859) married Rachel Price (1814-1874); 10-Roland Price Mead of Rutland, Rutland, VT (1837-1879) married Mary Rachel Ashford (1839-1899); 11-Mary Rachel  Meade of Rutland, Rutland, VT (1861-1921) married Arthur Quesnel (1858-1933).

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ROLAND WAS an adventurer who moved from Vermont before eventually settling in Manitoba. His wife, Mary Rachel Ashford, was the daughter of a British army pensioner who lived in the area. Roland explored the countryside into Alberta and was an artist and editor of a newspaper in Winnipeg, where he lived on Meade Street, in the 1860s. He, also, was a painter of note and did the first canvas curtain at the historic Walker Theatre in Winnipeg. 

Arthur had a rich colonial history of his own. He was a descendant of Pierre Quesnel, who was a founder of Ville-Marie, a small Canadian settlement which became Montreal. Pierre returned to France in 1643, but his son, Oliver, continued the Quesnel name in Canada. Oliver’s great-great grandson, Antoine, was Arthur’s father. And, it was Antoine who married Elizabeth Sequin, granddaughter of Ignace Raizenne (Josiah Rising) and Elisabeth Nims (Abigail Nims), the children taken prisoner during the attack on Deerfield and raised by  the Canadian Mohawk Indians near Montreal.

Arthur and Mary led the exploration past the Great Lakes and into Western Ontario and present-day Manitoba. They opened the first post office in Manigotagan on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg in 1908 and ran a boarding house there. Arthur established a fur trading post and was a partner in the San Antonio gold strike of 1911.

Now, their descendants have established a website (www.meadequesnel.ca) and are busy gathering information about the rich and interesting histories of their international families. It continues the heritage of Deerfield and adds another chapter to the exploration of North America where early Meads played a significant role.

Lee Meade, Editor and Publisher

AFTER THREE YEARS of research, there now are 42 members of the extended Mead-e family who have completed tests with Family Tree DNA to determine their original blood lines.

Carolyn Mead-Hildebrand of Sanger, Calif., who is administrator of the project for the Mead-e family, says three distinct family lines have emerged from the testing and additional results are expected to produce more definitive branches.

Mead-Hildebrand is encouraging new members who have an interest in the program to contact her at www.noelcaro@aol.com for additional information. She added that financial assistance is available for those who need it.

Family Tree DNA also has expanded the depth of its testing program to include a 59 marker Y DNA test. Standard testing is done in 12, 25 and 37 marker stages.

Since the program began, Family Tree DNA has added more than 58,000 records to its database of Y-DNA results.

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U.S. MAY RECOGNIZE HOSTS OF FIRST THANKSGIVING

THE YEAR AFTER the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, the chief of the Mashpee Wampanoags struck a treaty with the English colonists and hosted the first Thanksgiving. Now, 346 years later, the U.S. government has given preliminary approval to recognizing the American Indians as the 564th tribe in the nation.

Final determination is expected on March 31, 2007.

"History in one respect now comes full circle," tribal chief Vernon Lopez said. "Our ancestors, as a sovereign nation, met the Mayflower, and that meeting led to the birth of this great nation. Today, our government has reaffirmed this status and the faith of that first meeting."

Glenn Marshall, chairman of the tribe's council, called it "a tremendous day for the Mashpee."

"It's the most compelling story anybody has heard," Marshall said. "The culture is alive in our young kids and our elders."

WE’RE GROWING, TOO

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE, but viewership of The Mead-e Newsletter continues to increase with each published issue.

The reported number of  “hits” was more than 20,000 for the fourth consecutive quarter.  The current issue of the newsletter had 21,064 “hits” from January through March.

The newsletter is distributed free on the internet at www.meadnewsletter.com. It is edited and published by volunteer writers. All other fees are covered by contributions from readers and interested parties. Donations should be sent to: Lee Meade, Editor/Publisher, 8505 Flying Cloud Drive #221, Eden Prairie, MN 55344.

Also, anyone with a story idea or a manuscript for a future article should contact the editor at the above address.

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NOW RUNNING AT 60 – AND MORE

IF YOU ARE a serious researcher of the Mead-e family, we encourage you to consider joining the Mead Research Group on www.yahoo.com. Membership is free.