John Mead

Abt 1628 - 1699  (~ 71 years)

• Name	John Mead  [1, 2]
  Birth	Abt 1628	England   [3]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate birth	Abt 1634	Greenwich, London, England   [4, 5, 6, 7]
  Death	5 Feb 1699	Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut   [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]
  Burial	5 Feb 1699	Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut   [6]
  Person ID	I9636	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	12 Sep 2021

  
  

  Father	William Mead,   b. Bef 27 Dec 1592, Watford, Hertfordshire, England d. Aft 19 Sep 1657, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age > 65 years)
  Mother	Philip   d. 19 Sep 1657, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
  Marriage	Abt 1620	Watford, Hertfordshire, England   [3]
  Family ID	F4193	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Hannah Potter,   b. 9 Sep 1634, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts d. Aft 13 Nov 1700, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age > 66 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1656  [12, 13]
  Children	+ 1. John Mead,   b. Abt 1658, Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut d. 12 May 1693, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age ~ 35 years) + 2. Ebenezer Mead,   b. 1663, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut d. 1728, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut (Age 65 years) + 3. David Mead,   b. Abt 1665, Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut d. Feb 1727, Bedford, Westchester, New York (Age ~ 62 years)
  Family ID	F757	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Sep 2021

  
  

• Notes

  Freeman of Greenwich in 1670. In 1672 he was among the 27 purchasers of the land to the west of the original Greenwich settlement on Elizabeth Neck, then called Miosehasseky (Horseneck), now Greenwich Borough, i.e., the modern town center. Member of the Connecticut assembly for Greenwich in 1679, 1680, and 1686. "John Mead was somewhat irascible. Spencer P. Mead, following De Mille, related a traditional anecdote from John's later years of how he threw a Quaker who had offended him into the Mianus River. In the mid-1650s, he was chastised by the court for various misbehaviors, including slander and making a false accusation against Richard Law, constable of Stamford; the court stated that 'they did not remember that they mett wth such a case since they say as a court, wherin their hath bine so much mallic(e) and bitterness of spirit...'" ["The English Origin of William Mead", citation details below.] From History and Genealogy of the Mead Family by Spencer P. Mead, citation details below: The following anecdote, which has been preserved by tradition, shows his character: One day when he was quite an old man, as he was going for his grist on horseback to the mill at Dumpling Pond, before he reached the Mianus River he overtook an old Quaker jogging slowly along, loaded with a heavy budget. In a real spirit of kindness he offered to take the Quaker's load upon his horse, and thus give him a lift on his journey. "No," replied the Quaker, "thee don't get my bundle, for I can read men's thoughts. Thee wants to get my bundle, and then thee'll run off. Thee don't get my bundle." "Very well," was the simple reply, and so they went slowly on together. At last they came to the brink of the Mianus River. Here the Quaker was really in trouble. How to cross a river, two or three feet deep, dry shod, was quite a puzzle. But he gladly accepted a second offer of assistance from the horseman. The bundle was mounted in front, John in the middle, and the Quaker behind. Arriving at the centre of the river, in pretending to adjust his stirrup John caught the Quaker by the heel and gave him a gratuitous bath. Such treatment was too much, even for Quaker forbearance, and the victim, with his hands full of pebbles, would have taken summary vengeance, had not the other party threatened to put the bundle under a similar course of treatment. This threat, and the lecture following it, gradually cooled off the Quaker's anger. John informed him that all had been done for his good, to teach him a lesson. And the lecturer said he hoped the stranger would never again profess to read men's thoughts. "For," said he, "I asked you to ride, kindly in the first place, when you refused; but at the second time of asking, I really intended to do as I have just done." So saying, and tossing the bundle back, he rode on, leaving his companion to apply the moral as he thought best.

  
  

• Sources

  [S664] Nicholas Knapp Genealogy by Alfred Averill Knapp. Winter Park, Florida: 1953. [S3756] Knap Knapp Family Genealogy by Charles Ruggles Knapp. Winona, Minnesota: 1905. [S398] Gordon L. Remington, "The English Origin of William Mead of Stamford, Connecticut." The American Genealogist 73:1, January 1998. [S397] History and Genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Eastern New York, Western Vermont, and Western Pennsylvania from A.D. 1180 to 1900 by Spencer P. Mead. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1901., date only. [S399] The Settlers of the Beekman Patent by Frank J. Doherty. Ongoing multivolume series begun in 1990., date only. [S396] Belnap Family Organization. [S5951] Mead-Clark Genealogy by Eva Mead Firestone. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1946., year and country only. [S119] Ancestors and Descendants of Andrew Lee and Clarinda Knapp Allen by Gerald R. Fuller. Esther Fuller Dial, ed. The Andrew Lee Allen Family Organization, 1952. [S397] History and Genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Eastern New York, Western Vermont, and Western Pennsylvania from A.D. 1180 to 1900 by Spencer P. Mead. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1901. [S398] Gordon L. Remington, "The English Origin of William Mead of Stamford, Connecticut." The American Genealogist 73:1, January 1998., year only. [S402] Genealogy of a Branch of the Mead Family, With a History of the Family in England and in America and Appendixes of Rogers and Denton families, by Lucius E. Weaver. Rochester, New York, 1911. [S5951] Mead-Clark Genealogy by Eva Mead Firestone. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1946. [S399] The Settlers of the Beekman Patent by Frank J. Doherty. Ongoing multivolume series begun in 1990.