Rachel (Mead) Knapp (abt. 1752 - 1826)

Born about 1752 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Titus Knapp — married 14 Oct 1773 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 10 Sep 1826 at about age 74 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Daphne Maddox [send private message] and Rosalind Alley [send private message]

Biography

Rachel Mead was a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Lockwood) Mead of Greenwich, Connecticut, apparently their last child.

Greenwich genealogy superhero Spencer Mead's manuscript of abstracted gravestone data erroneously implies that Rachel was born between September 1755 and September 1756. We take the position that her stone implies a birth date between September 1751 and September 1752. See Research Notes, below.

On 12 June 1761, upon her father's decease, Rachel was among three children who were put under the guardianship of their mother.^[1] Sarah Mead dying shortly thereafter, Rachel's brother Joseph took on guardianship of three of his sisters.^[2]

On 10 August 1763, Rachel received a distribution of intestate property from her father's estate -- 3 roods and 34 rods from the lot called the Bull Lot, bounded north by [probably Eneas] Reynolds, west by land set off to her sister Hannah, east by land set off to her sister Abigail, and south by land of Jacob Mead.^[2]

On 14 October 1773, Rachel Mead of Greenwich was married to Titus Knapp of Greenwich, per records of the First Congregational Church of Stamford.^[3]

Titus was a Revolutionary War soldier. In his first tour of duty, he was taken as prisoner of war and held in one of the sugar house prisons for 10 months. He rejoined his company upon his release and served for two more tours thereafter.

On 27 August 1794, Titus Knapp, an adult, Hannah and Sarah Knapp, daughters of Titus Knapp, and Maria, wife of Abraham Quintard were baptized at St. John's Episcopal Church in Stamford.^[4]

Rachel (Mead) Knapp died on 10 September 1826. Her remains were interred at the Tomac Burying Ground.^[5][6][7] See Research Notes, below, regarding her gravestone.

Titus Knapp of Greenwich executed his last will on 10 March 1837, witnessed by Peter Lockwood, Cornelius Ford and Ann Ferris, nominating Joshua B. Ferris of Stamford and "my grandson William K. Quintard" as executors, and making bequests to:^[8]

• grandson Henry K. Skelding of the City of New York;
• grandson WIlliam K. Quintard
  • homestead where I now live, consisting of 42 acres b. n. by Messenger and Enos Lockwood, e. by Peter Lockwood, Eliakim Ford and George Ferris, s. by the town lot and Enos Lockwood, and w. by Greenwich Cove;
  • 11 acres timber and plough land in the neck, b. n. by Enos Lockwood, e. by Charles Hendrie, s. by Joshua and Gideon Ferris, w. by Eliakim Ford;
• granddaughter Sarah K. Marshall.

Titus and Rachel (Mead) Knapp had children:

• Mary Knapp, b. 28 June 1775; m. Abraham Quintard.^[4][9][10]
• Sarah Knapp, bap. 27 August 1794; prob. she who was b. 7 April 1777 and d. 6 September 1795.^[4][6]
• Hannah Knapp, b. April 1783, bap. 27 August 1794; m. James Skelding.^[4][11][12]

After Mary (Knapp) Quintard's death in 1801, her widower married, second, Charlotte Dodge, daughter of William and Jemima (Mead) Dodge. Charlotte was a first cousin of Abraham's late wife Mary.

Of the heirs named in Titus' will, Henry Knapp Skelding was a son of Hannah (Knapp) Skelding, and William Knapp Quintard and Sarah Knapp (Quintard) Marshall were both children of Mary (Knapp) Quintard.

Research Notes

Rachel's Age

The eminent Spencer Mead's abstract of Rachel's gravestone reads, "Knapp, Rachel, wife of Titus Knapp, d. Sept. 10, 1826, in 71st yr."^[6]

Examination of two photos of the stone on Rachel's Find a Grave profile reveal that the stone itself was carved to read, "In Memory of RACHEL wife of Titus Knapp who died Sept. 10 1826 aged 74".^[5]

First, Mead inexplicably transcribed "aged XX' as "in XX yr." This is surprising to see from such an accomplished genealogist. The difference is one year, because a person's 1st year begins at age 0, their 2nd year at age 1, etc.

Second, Mead read a 1 for the second digit of her age, where the photos appear to show a 4 with its left most corner obscured by degradation in the same way that a portion of the 7 to its left has been obscured. There is a clear line extending to the left of what Mead transcribed as a 1.

This is of more consequence than it might otherwise be, because Rachel was the youngest of her siblings, and the childbearing years of her mother are relevant to questions about whether she had half-siblings, about the age of her maternal grandfather and identity of her maternal grandmother, etc., etc.

Adopting the theory that she died on 10 September 1826 aged 74, we assert she was born between 11 September 1751 and 10 September 1752.

Errors in Secondary Source

The Nicholas Knapp Genealogy is full of errors regarding Titus Knapp, not all of which need to be mentioned outside the confines of Titus' profile. But with respect to his children, documented here, it has one or two:

First, it conflates Sarah Knapp Quintard, who married Gilbert Marshall, with Sarah, daughter of Titus and Rachel (Mead) Knapp. The latter is probably the Sarah Knapp whose grave is at Tomac, who died in 1795 shortly after her 18th birthday.

Second, it assigns a son Titus to the family. It seems the authors did not contemplate that Titus who was baptized in 1794 was an adult and the father of the two girls also baptized that day, i.e. it was Rachel's husband, not a son named Titus, who was baptized.

If Titus and Rachel (Mead) Knapp did have a son named Titus (and there is no evidence that they did), he must have died without issue, per the will abstracted above.

Sources

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?).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} 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.
   • Guardianships, Joseph Mead (guardian), date not known, page 2:index/image 264.
   • Distribution of intestate portion, 10 Aug 1763, page 3:114-15/image 523.
3. ↑ Marriage of Titus Knap and Rachel Mead, 14 October 1773. First Congregational Church (Stamford, Connecticut). Church records, page 3:181 consulted as "Church records." FamilySearch, film # 7,833,735, image 364.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Mead, Spencer P. "Abstract of church records of the town of Stamford, county of Fairfield and state of Connecticut." 1924, page 268, citing St. John's Episcopal Church, Stamford; consulted as FamilySearch, film # 7,831,827, image 432.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 08 December 2022), memorial page for Rachel Mead Knapp (unknown–10 Sep 1826), Find a Grave Memorial ID 21447910, citing Tomac Burying Ground, Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by Lisa Henry Prindle (contributor 46860145).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Mead, Spencer P. "Abstracts of records and tombstones of the town of Greenwich," 1913, page 5.
7. ↑ Buckland, John A. "Historic Burying Ground Research Paper." Tomac Historic Burying Ground Association, October 1997, page 43. Link to PDF (archived).
8. ↑ Estate of Titus Knapp, 1838. Last will, ex. 10 March 1837, pr. 29 October 1838. Stamford District Probates, page 16:26. Stamford Probates. Connecticut. Probate Court (Stamford District). "Probate records, 1728-1916. Probate records v. 15-16 1833-1844." FamilySearch, film # 7,626,809, image 312.
9. ↑ "Quintard, Mary, wife of Abraham Quintard, and dau. of Titus and Rachel Knapp, d. June 23, 1801, ae. 25 yrs, 11 mos and 26 days." Mead, "Abstracts of records and tombstones of the town of Greenwich," page 8. She died five days shy of her 26th birthday, per her stone, thus born 28 June 1775. Alternate birthdates given on Find a Grave and NEHGR 109:192 are difficult to explain. They seem to be based on faulty calendar arithmetic.
10. ↑ Huntington, Elijah B. Stamford registration of births, marriages, and deaths... found in Stamford registers... Stamford: W.W. Gilespie, 1874, page 84.
11. ↑ Huntington, "Stamford registration..., page 99.
12. ↑ "Skelding, Hannah, wife of James Skelding, d. Nov. 20, 1822, ae. 39 yrs and 7 mos. Mead, "Abstracts of records and tombstones of the town of Greenwich," page 8.

• Boyer, Frederic Q. and Herbert A. Poole. "The Quintard Family In America." New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston: The Society, July 1955, page 109:192-3.