Sarah (Lockwood) Mead (abt. 1708 - bef. 1762)

Born about 1708 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 21 Mar 1762 before about age 54 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Overview

Sarah Lockwood, daughter of Joseph Lockwood of Greenwich, Connecticut, appears to have been among the elder, perhaps the eldest of his children. Her only known husband was Jacob Mead of Greenwich. If she was the mother of all Jacob's children, as his last will would tend to lead us to believe, and if a transcription of her son Jeremiah's gravestone is believed, then she was married by about 1726 at the latest, with her first child born by about 1727 at the latest. Her last child was born around 1752. This is a rather long, although by no means unheard of, period of childbearing, and efforts to pin down the date of her marriage to Jacob should continue, in no small part because a stong estimate of Sarah's date of birth would aid in development of her father's profile and questions about his wife or wives. Sarah died between 18 June 1761 and 21 March 1762, less than a year after her husband.

Several of Jacob and Sarah's children had connections to the Church of England, later the Episcopal Church.

The graves of their four youngest daughters rest together at the old Sound Beach burying ground, also known as the Tomac burying ground.

Details

By her father Joseph Lockwood's last will, executed in December 1748 and proved in January 1749, his daughter Sarah Mead was to receive £10 old tenor. The appraisers allocated an old mare to her at that value, and Jacob and Sarah Mead of Greenwich acknowledged receipt from her brothers Daniel and Joseph Lockwood, executors, on 20 January 1748/9.^[1]

By her brother Eliphalet Lockwood's last will, executed and proved in 1753, his sister Sarah Mead was to receive £20 current money of New York.^[2]

Jacob Mead of Greenwich executed his last will on 6 April 1761, witnessed by Sam'll Peck, Jonathan Jesup and Alexander Montgomery, naming his wife Sarah as sole executor and making bequests:^[3]

• to wife Sarah, one third of estate during her widowhood;
• to son Joseph, 27a. on west side of Mianus R., above the country road and below the mile and half [line] which I gave him be deed, 3a3r. in Stamford at South field;
• to son Jeremiah, 17a3r. at the Point which I gave him by deed, 1 acre of the New Lot for a building lot;
• to son Jacob, my dwelling house, barn and lot of 4a. called the Orchard, and 12a. adjoining called the Close, 5 acres of the New Lot, 2 steers, husbandry tools;
• to sons Joseph and Jeremiah, the Wheat Close, partly in Stamford;
• to three sons, the Back Pasture in Stamford;
• to all children, my undivided land in the [fove mild? five mile?];
• to daughters, £30 lawful money to be divided equally, all other moveables, accounting for £20 already given to daughter Sarah and £19:5 already given to daughter Abigail.

The will was proved on 2 June 1761.^[3]

On 12 June 1761, Sarah Mead gave bond for guardianship of Rachel, Jemima and Jacob Mead.^[4]

Inventory was taken on 18 June 1761 by Samuel Ferris and Sam'll Peck, and exhibited by Sarah Mead on 7 July 1761.^[3]

On 21 March 1762, letters of administration of the estate of Jacob Mead with the will annexed were granted to Timothy Lockwood and Joseph Mead.^[3]

An undated entry in the second index to the second volume of Stamford Probates indicates that Joseph Mead gave bond for guardianship of three of his sisters, "per record on file."^[3] Such record has not been found.

It appears from the above that Sarah (Lockwood) Mead died between 7 July 1761 and 21 March 1762, after which her son Joseph became guardian to three of his sisters [though it is unclear why Jacob Mead [II] was one of those under Sarah's guardianship, yet it was three sisters over whom Joseph was made guardian thereafter].

On 7 September 1762, accounting was filed and a distribution ordered according to the will. On 17 September 1762, distribution was made to:^[4]

• Joseph Mead
• Jeremiah Mead
• Jacob Mead
• Sarah, wife of Nathan Pardee
• Abigail, wife of Capt. Timothy Lockwood
• Jemima Mead
• Elizabeth, wife of Ephraim Lockwood
• Hannah Mead
• Tammis Mead
• Rachel Mead.

In April 1763, intestate real property was reported by the new administrators and ordered to be distributed, there being no widow, and the lots known as the Bull Lot and David Peck's Lot in Mianus Neck were divided on 10 August 1763 by Samuel Ferris Charles Webb, Sam'll Peck to the same ten heirs as the earlier distribution, though in this latter case using only their given names.^[3] See Research Notes, below, for details on these lots.

Research Notes

Tomac Burying Ground

The graves of Jacob and Sarah's four youngest daughters are in the Tomac burying ground, also known as the old Sound Beach cemetery. Each of their profiles cites the freely available Spencer abstracts and/or Find a Grave photos.

It is helpful, here, to cite the Hale Collection, consulted on Ancestry.com, because the researchers and compilers of the data for the Tomac burying ground apparently maintained the order in which the grounds were traversed in their published document. The following were copied, in order, on 27 November 1934:^[5]

• Mead, Hannah
• Skelding, Hannah [daughter of Rachel (Mead) Knapp]
• Dodge, Jamima, wife of William
• Knapp, Rachel, wife of Titus
• Knapp, Titus
• Guernsey, Abigail, wife of Samuel and of Timothy Lockwood

If there was any doubting the association of spinster Hannah Mead, Jemima (Mead) Dodge, and Rachel (Mead) Knapp with this family, their graves lying next to each other and beside their sister Abigail, for whom other evidence more certainly ties her to the family, should help to assuage the doubts.

Investigation into her children's ages

Note: The ages of Joseph and Jeremiah hinge on the age at death of Jeremiah as reported in an abstract of gravestones. 1727-8 remains somewhat suspect given other factors, including his wife's age and the large gap left between his purported birth date and that of his sister Sarah's.

Note: If we believe the probate record, including the abstract by Spencer Mead of three guardianship records, then Rachel, Jemima and Jacob were under the age of twenty one on 12 June 1761. This doesn't preclude other children from also being under 21 on this date, because, e.g.: (a) they may have been over age fourteen and chosen different guardians, (b) they may have married prior to age 21, which would preclude them from requiring guardians, or (c) their guardianship record may be lost. This note primarily refers to the case of Hannah Mead, who was apparently a minor despite her lack of a guardianship record, but could apply to Tammis, as well.

Note: In cases where evidence implies a birth date range spanning twelve months, the estimates below show the date as about the middle month, thus if the range is from March 1727 to March 1728, we estimate September 1727. While in other contexts this may be misleading on first glance, it is helpful in these notes for evaluating the time elapsed between siblings.

Of those children for whom we can at least assign a provisionally sortable date:

• Joseph Mead, eldest son^[6]
• Jeremiah Mead, b. abt. September 1727^[7]
• Sarah (Mead) Pardee, b. abt. September 1735^[8]
• Abigail (Mead) (Lockwood) Guernsey, b. June 1740^[9]
• Elizabeth (Mead) Lockwood, b. abt. 1742^[10]
• Jemima (Mead) Dodge, b. abt. August 1746
• Hannah Mead, b. abt. October 1749
• Rachel (Mead) Knapp, b. abt. March 1752

We cannot place these two within the ordered list, without more information:

• Tammis Mead, b. ?
• Jacob Mead, b. aft. 1740

Tracing the intestate lots

On 10 August 1763, two tracts of intestate property were divided among the heirs of Jacob and Sarah (Lockwood) Mead.^[3] Tracing this land may prove helpful in tracing these heirs later lives. In particular, we have very little to say about sons Joseph and Jacob Mead at this time, and a few of the daughters could stand to have some deeds confirming their relationship to their husbands.

• David Peck's Lot. West boundary of all subplots is the Mianus River. East is a drift way. Apparently Jeremiah already owned the land to the south.
  • to Joseph Mead, as eldest son, 2 acres 2 Roods 4 rods [2a2R4r], b. n. by Anthony Demill and heirs of Still John Lockwood and s. by lot set off to Jemima;
  • to Jemima, 1a1R2r b. n. by land set off to Joseph, s. by land set off to Tammy;
  • to Tammy, 1a1R2r b. n. by land set off to Jemima, s. by land set off to Jeremiah;
  • to Jeremiah Mead, 1a1R2r b. n. by land set off to Tamme, s. by said Mead's own land;

• Bull Lot. Jeremiah and Jacob have preexisting lots to the south. From a 1764 transaction, noted below, we learn that these lots were also east of the Mianus River, though not joining the river, and not necessarily in Mianus Neck (although it seems most likely that they were).
  • to Jacob Mead, 3R34r, b. n. by Reynolds, w. by a highway, e. by land set off to Sarah, s. by land of Jeremiah;
  • to Sarah, 3R34r, b. n. by Eneas Reynolds, w. by land set off to Jacob, e. by land set off to Elizabeth, s. by land of Jeremiah;
  • to Elizabeth, 3R34r, b. n. by Eneas Reynolds w. by land set off to Sarah, e. by land set off to Hannah, s. by Jacob Mead;
  • to Hannah, 3R34r, b. n. by Reynolds, w. by land set off to Elizabeth, e. by land set off to Rachel, s. by land of Jacob;
  • to Rachel, 3R34r, b. n. by Reynolds, w. by land set off to Hannah, e. by land set off to Abigail, s. by land of Jacob;
  • to Abigail, 3R34r, b. n. by Reynolds, w. by land set off to Rachel, e. by land of Jeremiah Mead, s. by Jacob Mead

So far, the deeds of Greenwich not having been examined, we have but one transaction from a secondary source:

• 1764: Nathan and Sarah Pardee of Salem, Westchester Co., New York, to Ephraim Lockwood of Greenwich [at that time husband of Elizabeth Mead], land in the East Society of Greenwich, e. of the Mianus River, set off to Sarah from the estate of Jacob Mead. Mention is made of "our sister Hannah Mead."^[11]

It is curious that Hannah was mentioned in the deed. As originally distributed, Hannah's lot did not have a bound with Sarah's. Perhaps they swapped lots not long after they were distributed?

Sources

1. ↑ Estate of Joseph Lockwood, 1749. Stamford Probates. Connecticut. Probate Court (Stamford District). "Probate records, 1728-1916. Probate records v. 1-3 1728-1772." FamilySearch, film # 7,626,803.
   • Last will, ex. 16 December 1748, pr. 2 January 1748/9, page 2:266/image 402.
   • Division, 15 March 1748/9, pages 1:20-23/images 279-80.
2. ↑ Last will of Eliphalet Lockwood, ex. 16 March 1753, pr. 30 April 1q753. Stamford Probates, 2:320. Stamford (Connecticut). "Probate records, 1728-1916. Probate records v. 1-3 1728-1772." FamilySearch, film # 7,626,803, image 429.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Estate of Jacob Mead 1761. Stamford Probates. Connecticut. Probate Court (Stamford District). "Probate records, 1728-1916." "Probate records v. 1-3 1728-1772." FamilySearch, film # 7,626,803. "Probate records v. 4-5 1772-1782." FamilySearch, film # 7,626,804.
   • Last will, ex. 6 April 1761, pr. 2 June 1761, page 5:267/image 350.
   • Inventory, 18 June 1761, page 5:269/image 351.
   • Guardianships, date not known, page 2:index/image 264.
   • Letters adm. with the will annexed, 21 March 1762, page 2:346/image 442.
   • Inventory of intestate portion, 16 April 1763, order to distribute, 18 April 1763 page 3:66/image 499.
   • Distribution of intestate portion, 10 Aug 1763, page 3:114-15/image 523.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Mead, Spencer P. "Abstract of Probate Records for the District of Stamford...," 1919, page 1:331, citing miscellaneous papers not copied. Such papers for other probate districts in Connecticut have been found among the rolls of the estate papers films, but in the case of the Stamford district, where Greenwich probates were heard, no such film has been found (yet?).
5. ↑ The Charles R. Hale Collection. Hale Collection of Connecticut Cemetery Inscriptions. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library. Connecticut Headstone Inscriptions Vol. 17, 408-60 Old Sound Beach Cemetery, page 310; consulted as Ancestry.com. Connecticut, U.S., Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012, Connecticut Headstone Inscriptions Vol 17, image 529.
6. ↑ Joseph is apparently the eldest son, thus born before Jeremiah, who was born about 1728.
7. ↑ "Jeremiah Mead, d. March 17, 1817, aged 89 yrs.," thus born between 18 March 1727 and 17 March 1828. Nicholson, "Inscriptions from Drew or Clift Cemetery," NYGBR 49:327.
8. ↑ As of 12/22, Sarah (Mead) Pardee's Find a Grave profile incorrectly states her death date. It does, however, have a barely legible photo of her gravestone -- enough to see that she died in March 1807 in her 72nd year [i.e. age 71], thus born between March 1735 and March 1736. Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 05 December 2022), memorial page for Mrs Sarah Mead Pardee, Find A Grave: Memorial #93295375, citing Jeremiah Smith Cemetery, Charlton, Saratoga County, New York, USA; Maintained by J.P (contributor 47350747).
9. ↑ "Guernsey, Abigail, wife of Samuel Guernsey d. Nov. 29, 1826, ae. 86 yrs and 5 mos, and widow of Timothy Lockwood." Mead, Spencer P. "Abstracts of Records and Tombstones of the Town of Greenwich," 1913, page 4. Abigail would have been 17 days shy of her majority when her siblings were placed in guardianship, but she may already have been married, given that she was married by 17 September 1762 at the latest.
10. ↑ Elizabeth Mead's husband Ephraim Lockwood was born in February 1738/9. She is most likely to have been the same age as him or a bit younger, and they were married about 1761. Given these constraints and the birth dates of her siblings, we can fairly comfortably slot her in around 1742 or '43.
11. ↑ Jacobus, Donald L. The Pardee Genealogy. New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1927, page 125.