Nathaniel Mead

SOME DESCENDANTS OF NATHANIEL 3 MEAD OF GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT, THROUGH HIS SON JOSIAH 4 MEAD by Gail Blankenau

https://archive.org/stream/ErwinRoots_Blog_PDF/Register/2009-04_djv...

(continued from Register 163 [2009]: 38)

4. Nathaniel 5 Mead (Josiah 4 , Nathaniel 3 , John, William 1 ), known as Nathaniel Mead 3rd and later as Nathaniel Mead, Jr., was born say 1731, probably at Greenwich. [43] He died before 19 September 1818, probably at Greenwich. [44] He married by 1756 (based on birth of first child), Elizabeth Smith, born at Greenwich 24 September 1739, [45] died after 7 January 1824 when she signed a deed. [46] She was the daughter of John Thorn alias Smith of Greenwich and his first wife, Hannah Mead, daughter of Jonathan Mead, cooper. [47] On 15 March 1785, Nathaniel Mead, by then known as Nathaniel Mead, Jr., was appointed administrator of his father-in-law's estate. The probate court ordered distribution to widow Abigail, and to the children, Elizabeth Mead, wife of the administrator; Hannah, wife of John Rouse; and Mary or Molly, wife of Amos Knapp. [48]

This Nathaniel Mead was known as Nathaniel Mead 3rd in the Greenwich records until the death of the older Nathaniel Mead, probably in late 1780, [49] when Nathaniel 3rd was moved up to Nathaniel, Junior. In seventeenth and eighteenth century America, "Junior" did not mean a son of the same name as it does today; it simply meant younger than another man of the same name in the same town.

While a Nathaniel Mead and a Nathaniel Mead, Jr., served from Greenwich in the French and Indian War, [50] given that this Nathaniel Mead was called Nathaniel Mead 3rd, he may not have served.

James Ferris "of Pound Ridge, Westchester County" (probably Josiah Mead's half-brother and so Nathaniel's uncle), sold to Nathaniel Mead 3rd on 13 March 1765 eleven acres for four pounds, ten shillings, the land bounded by Thomas Hobby, Isaac Holmes, and Josiah Mead. [51]

Nathaniel Mead 3rd may have served in the American Revolution, being listed as a private in the Mead genealogy, [52] but no designation of a Nathaniel Mead 3rd appears in published rolls. [53] Pension papers of Nathaniel's son Smith Mead, include a copy made by the town recorder of the list of Abraham Mead's company. This list only names Nathaniel Mead 3rd as the owner of Smith's gun.

Like his father, Nathaniel 5 Mead made numerous land transactions recorded in Greenwich records. For example, on 3 November 1785, Nathaniel Mead, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth made quitclaim deeds to George Lockwood for land that must have belonged to John Thorn alias Smith, as there are similar deeds to Lockwood from Abigail Smith, widow of John Smith; from Hannah and John Rouse; and from Mary and Amos Knapp. [54] On 20 October 1783, Nathaniel Mead Jr. quitclaimed to his nephew, John Mead, son of Abigail Mead. [55] On 13 October 1792, he conveyed land to his sister Charity Mead. [56] In addition, he and his son Thomas Mead quitclaimed on 1 April 1809 to John R. Cozine. [57]

"Nathaniel Mead Junr ." was listed in the 1790 census at Greenwich, as head of a household with two males under 16, two males 16 and over, and three females. Nathaniel's oldest son Smith Mead was listed below him. [58]

In 1800 at Greenwich, "Nathaniel Mead, Junr .," was head of a household with one male 10-16, one male 45 and over, one female 16-26, and one female 45 and over. Listed below Nathaniel Jr. was Nathaniel Mead 5th. [59]

Nathaniel Mead Jr., of Greenwich left a will dated 16 December 1805, proved 29 September 1818, [60] naming wife Elizabeth and children Smith, Josiah, Hannah, Abigail Denton, Nathaniel, John, Betsey Palmer, and Thomas. The births of the last three children are not in town birth records so they were probably the youngest.

Children of Nathaniel 5 and Elizabeth (Smith) Mead: [61]

• 6. i. Smith 6 Mead, b. 15 Dec. 1756; m. Martha (possibly Mead).
• ii. Josiah Mead, b. 9 Oct. 1761; d. 28 March 1839 age 74 [sic], bur. Mt. Zion Cemetery, Jay Twp. Elk Co., Pa. [62] He m. (1) Second Congregational Church, Greenwich, 18 Aug. 1783 Mercy Burley; [63] (2) Saratoga Co., N.Y., 1814 ABIAH (STRICKLAND?) GARNSEY. [64] Perhaps he married a third time (see below). The Mead Family provides a list of privates in the Continental and New York Forces, which includes the name Josiah Mead, [65] possibly this man. Josiah Mead was in Saratoga, Albany Co., N.Y., in 1790. [66] In 1797 Josiah Mead of Greenfield, Saratoga Co., conveyed land to John St. John. [67] Josiah Mead was in Greenfield in 1800 and 1810. [68] He advertised land for sale in Greenfield on 27 Sept. 1814, as follows: "Abiah Mead the Administrix and late the Widow of Eldad Garnsey, deceased, and Josiah Mead, the present Husband of Said Abiah." [69] Josiah Mead and Eldad Garnsey both served in the same military company for New York in 1803, Josiah as a captain and Eldad Garnsey as an ensign. [70] Josiah Mead moved to Clearfield Co., Pa., between 25 June 1816, when he took an inventory at Greenfield [71] and Nov. 1817, when he was living in a log cabin in Clearfield Co. [72] The 1820 census of Pike, Clearfield Co., shows Josiah Mead as head of a household with one male 0-10, one male 10-16, one male 16-26, one male 45 and over, two females 10-16, and one female 45 and over (perhaps a third wife). [73] In 1830 Josiah Mead, age 60-70, was living alone in Clearfield Co. [74] Josiah Mead's will, dated 15 March 1738, proved 7 Feb. 1840, [75] mentioned ' 'my children" but named only those who were to have amounts deducted from their portions: Amanda Morey, Elisabeth, Sarah (deceased), Anny, Mercy, and Lucy. Smith Mead was to be executor, [76] and John Mead was one of the witnesses.
• iii. HANNAH MEAD, b. 28 March 1764; m. Second Congregational Church, Greenwich, 17 March 1784 JOSEPH Mead. [77] He was the Joseph Mead listed at Greenfield in 1800 and 1810. [78] Apparently this family later moved to Williamson, Wayne Co., N.Y. [79]
• iv. ABIGAIL MEAD, b. 26 May 1766; m. Second Congregational Church, Greenwich, 14 Feb. 1793 Daniel Denton, [80] who d. by 30 Aug. 1823 when administration was granted on his estate to John M. Denton [his son]. [81] She was called Abigail Denton in her father's 1805 will.
• v. Nathaniel Mead, b. 4 Nov. 1768; d. probably in Saratoga Co., 20 May 1819 age 50. [82] He was head of a household in the 1810 census of Greenfield with one male 16-26, one male 26-A5, and one female 26-45. [83]
• vi. JOHN MEAD, b. say 1771; mentioned in his father's 1805 will. No John Mead the right age has been found in the Federal censuses of New York State.
• vii. BETSEY MEAD, b. say 1774; m. Greenwich 18 Jan. 1801 BENJAMIN PALMER, [84] b. ca. 1733, d. before 5 May 1801, son of Daniel and Barbary ( ) Palmer. [85] Her father's 1805 will makes special provisions for Betsey Palmer, widow, "the use and Improvement of my Shop and Garden spot adjoining the same, the keeping of a Cow Winter and Summer . . . also firewood for one fire during the time she continues a widow . . . also Fifty Dollars to be to her and her heirs and assigns forever, said fifty Dollars is not to be paid her until she quits the shop and relinquishes her claim to keeping sd. Cow & firewood." Congregational membership records show that Benjamin and Betsey had a posthumous daughter Elizabeth, who married Arza Banks. [86] Her first cousin, Demas Mead, quitclaimed to Arza Banks an interest in land that had belonged to Nathaniel Mead [her grandfather] on 1 1 March 1824. [87]
• viii. THOMAS MEAD, b. ca. 1777; d. Greenwich in Sept. 1827 age 50, [88] weighing 350 lbs. [89] He m. Greenwich 5 Aug. 1798 MATILDA PECK, [90] daughter of Ephraim Peck, [91] d. Greenwich Dec. 1810. [92] In 1809 Thomas and his father gave a quitclaim deed to John R. Cozine. [93] Thomas was in the 1810 census of Greenwich. [94] In 1818 Thomas was the executor of his father's estate. On 7 Nov 1820, Thomas Mead gave a deed to Demas Mead, based on a note of hand. [95] The index of Greenwich deeds show Thomas Mead giving quitclaim deeds to Richard Mead in 1821 and John M. Denton [his nephew] in 1822; and a lease and quitclaim deed to Demus Mead [his nephew] in 1823. [96]

Notes:

• 43. See note 34 for discussion.
• 44. Stamford District Probate, 11:536, 538, 555.
• 45. Greenwich Common Place Book [note 33], 100.
• 46. Greenwich Deeds, 20:774.
• 47. Greenwich Deeds, 7:219 (as John Smith; see next note for alias). This Jonathan Mead is not in Mead, Mead Family [note 2].
• 48. Stamford District Probate, 7:660, estate of John Thorn alias John Smith; inventory and distribution at 763. The decedent had married second at Greenwich 28 March 1745, Abigail Hubbard (Greenwich Common Place Book [note 33], 100; Greenwich Deeds, 7:219).
• 49. See note 34.
• 50. Both Nathaniel Mead and Nathaniel, Jr., served in Capt. White's company for 17 days in 1757, and a man perhaps named Nathaniel Mead in Capt. Thomas Hobby's 8th Co., Col. Elihu Chauncy's 4th Regiment in 1755 {Connecticut Men in the French & Indian War [note 36], 1:217 (the former), 48, 61 (the latter, his name with question marks).
• 51. Greenwich Deeds, 9:259.
• 52. Mead, Mead Family [note 2], 75.
• 53. A Lt. Nathaniel Mead, perhaps serving under Capt. Odle Close, is on a 1779 list {Rolls and Lists of Connecticut Men in the Revolution, 1 775-1 793, vol. 8 of Connecticut Historical Society Collections [Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Historical Society, 1901], 209).
• 54. Greenwich Deeds, 12:369-71, 376-77.
• 55. Greenwich, Deeds, 13:659.
• 56. Greenwich Deeds, 13:184-85.
• 57. Greenwich Deeds, 16:480-81.
• 58. 1790 U.S. Census, Norwalk and Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, roll 1, p. 326. On p. 328 is Nathaniel Mead, three males 16 and over, three females, one slave, and one other free person.
• 59. 1800 U.S. Census, Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, roll 1, p. 14.
• 60. Stamford District Probate, 11:536 (will), 538 (order to advertise for claims), 555 (inventory taken 19 October 1818). Nathaniel must have transferred at least some property, either personal or in cash, to most of his children before his death, as he left all the children, except son Thomas and daughter Betsey Palmer, various small amounts of money, because of sums he had "heretofore advanced" to them.
• 61. Births for the first five are recorded in the Greenwich Common Place Book [note 33], 123; the last three are named in their father's will.
• 62. Sarah A. Caskey and Iris S. Caskey, Cemeteries and Burial Plots of Elk County, Pennsylvania (Brockway, Pa.: D'Amato Printing Specialties, 1991), unpaginated, alphabetical by cemetery within township.
• 63. Frederic W. Bailey, ed., Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800, 7 parts (New Haven, Conn.: Bureau of American Ancestry for Family Researches, 1896-1906; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976), 4:89; Spencer P. Mead, "Abstracts of Church Records of the Town of Greenwich," typescript (1913), 64 (calls her Mary Burley).
• 64. The marriage took place between 28 June 1814 and 5 September 1814 (see note 69).
• 65. Mead, Mead Family [note 2], 76.
• 66. 1790 U.S. Census, Saratoga, Albany County, New York, roll 6, p. 330.
• 67. Cornelius E. Durkee et al., "Grantors in the County Clerk's Office of Saratoga County, N.Y., 1791-1831," manuscript (1904), alphabetically arranged, on microfilm at New York State Library.
• 68. 1800 U.S. Census, Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York, roll 27, p. 1146; 1810 U.S. Census, Greenfield, roll 35, p. 845, with two males 0-10, two males 10-16, two males 16-26, one male 45 and over, two females 0-10, one female 10-16, three females 16-26, and one female 26-45.
• 69. Independent American (Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New York), 9 November 1814, p. 3, col. 4; digital image, Early American Newspapers, Series I, at NewEnglandAncestors.org. The petition of Abiah Mead, dated 5 September 1814, names eight underage children of Eldad Garnsey, deceased (William A. D. Eardeley, Abstracts of Wills, Administrations, and Guardianships in NY State, 1787-1835, online database, NewEnglandAncestors.org). Her maiden name is given as Abiah Strickland in Judith L. Young-Thayer, The 2005 Garnsey-Guernsey- Gurnsey Genealogical Dictionary (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 2005), 335-36, which does not show her marriage to Josiah Mead nor her date or place of death. On 28 June 1814 she was still Abiah Garnsey, widow (ibid., 336).
• 70. Hugh Hastings, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York 1783-1821, 4 vols. (Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon, 1901-02), 1:662.
• 71. Eardeley, Abstracts of Wills [note 69].
• 72. James W. Silver, ed., "Frontier Days: An Autobiographical Sketch of Chauncey Brockway," Pennsylvania History 25 (1958): 137-61 at 137, 140.
• 73. 1820 U.S. Census, Pike, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, roll 98, p. 305, seven names above was a Smith Mead, and there was a John Mead on the previous page. The presence of only five children in Josiah Mead's household in 1820 suggests that the Garnsey children were not there. As is evident from the 1810 census (see note 68), Josiah Mead must have had underage children living in 1820. Abiah had eight children under 21 in 1814 (see note 69), and no connection to Pennsylvania is shown in the entries for her children in Young-Thayer, Garnsey Genealogical Dictionary [note 69]. These factors suggest that the female 45 and over in Josiah Mead's household in 1820 was not Abiah (Strickland?) (Garnsey) Mead.
• 74. 1830 U.S. Census, Fox, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, roll 161, p. 243, again with a Smith Mead on the same page.
• 75. Clearfield County Wills, A: 69-71.
• 76. Smith Mead may have been Josiah Mead's oldest son. In 1850 Smith Mead was listed as age 65, born Connecticut (1850 U.S. Census, Fox, Elk County, Pennsylvania, roll 776, p. 312). Elk County was created from Clearfield, Jefferson, and McKean Counties in 1843.
• 77. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages [note 63], 4:90; Mead, "Church Records of Greenwich" [note 63], 64. This Joseph Mead is not in Mead, Mead Family [note 2]. Descendant Susan Davis cites a record by this couple's granddaughter to confirm the identity of Hannah (Mead) Mead (email from Susan Merrill Davis to the author, dated June 28, 2007, stating "Thankful Loretta Tanner (my 3rd great grandmother) was proxy for Hannah Mead on Aug 2, 1875 for her endowment in the Endowment House [in Salt Lake City]. The granddaughter included the exact date of Hannah Mead's birthday [i.e., date of birth] and that she married Joseph Mead." While endowment records are not completely reliable, a granddaughter would probably know who her parents were.
• 78. 1800 U.S. Census, Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York, roll 27, p. 1146; 1810 U.S. Census, Greenfield, roll 35, p. 854.
• 79. Based on detailed family records in the possession of Susan Davis (see note 77).
• 80. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages [note 63], 4:92; Mead, "Church Records of Greenwich" [note 63], 67.
• 81. Stamford District Probate, 12:331; 13:34. Widow Abigail Denton was mentioned in the probate.
• 82. Saratoga Sentinel death notice dated 26 May 1819 in Cornelius E. Durkee, "Index to Marriage and Death Notices in the Saratoga Sentinel, 1819-1837," typescript (1870), 50, at New York State Library.
• 83. 1810 U.S. Census, Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York, roll 35, p. 845.
• 84. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages [note 63], 4:95; Mead, "Church Records of Greenwich" [note 63], 69.
• 85 Horace Wilbur Palmer, Palmer Families in America, 2 vols. (Neshanic, N.J.: Neshanic Printing Co., 1966), 1:57, which mentions letters of administration to his widow dated 5 May 1801, citing Stamford District Probate, 9:361.
• 86 Joel Hervey Linslcy. Catalogue of Members, Commemorative Discourse, Delivered on the Occasion of Meeting for the Last Time in the Old House of Worship of the Second Congregational Church in Greenwich, Dec. 5, 1858 (New York: John A. Gray, 1860), 32, Elizabeth Banks, wife of Arza Banks, daughter of Benjamin Palmer, admitted September 21, 1828 by Rev. Noah C. Saxton.
• 87. Greenwich Deeds, 20:780. Demas Mead will be treated in Part 3 of this article.
• 88. Connecticut Courant, 17 September 1827, p. 3, col. 4, in Early American Ancestors, Series I, at NewEnglandAncestors.org. His birth year is estimated from his age at death.
• 89. Deaths Reported in the Boston Recorder & Telegraph, 1827 and 1828, online database at NewEnglandAncestors. org.
• 90. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages [note 63], 4:95; Mead, "Church Records of Greenwich" [note 63], 69.
• 91. Darius Peck, A Genealogical Account of the Descendants in the Male Line of William Peck (Hudson, NY.: Bryan & Goeltz, 1877), 75.
• 92. Ibid., 75, which says her husband Thomas Mead "died there July 1827."
• 93. Greenwich Deeds, 16:480-81.
• 94. 1810 U.S. Census, Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, roll 1, p. 338.
• 95. Greenwich Deeds, 19:432.
• 96. Greenwich Deeds Index [FHL 0,004,3 11].