Hannah Mead (abt. 1749 - 1809)

Born about 1749 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Died 29 Apr 1809 at about age 60 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

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Biography

Hannah Mead was a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Lockwood) Mead of Greenwich, Connecticut.

On 12 June 1761, upon her father's decease, Hannah's siblings Rachel, Jemima and Jacob were placed under the guardianship of their mother.^[1] Sarah Mead dying shortly thereafter, Hannah's brother Joseph took on guardianship of three of his sisters.^[2]

On 17 September 1762, distribution was made to the children of Jacob Mead, including to Hannah Mead. Her three married sisters were referred with their husband's names given.^[1]

On 10 August 1763, Hannah 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 Elizabeth, east by land set off to her sister Rachel, and south by land of Jacob Mead.^[2]

We might be tempted to conclude that the guardianship records above that Hannah was over 21, but the records of her siblings' guardianships were found in miscellaneous papers, i.e., at some point they were in a rather loose and disorderly state, and there is a distinct possibility that papers in such circumstances can be lost.

Thus, we open the door for the assertion that Hannah Mead is she who died on 29 April 1809 in her 60th year, and whose remains were interred at the Tomac Burying Ground^[3] next to three of the sisters of this Hannah Mead: Abigail (Mead) (Lockwood) Guernsey, Jemima (Mead) Dodge and Ruth (Mead) Knapp. There are no other people with extant graves and last name Mead in this cemetery. While it requires us to believe we face a missing guardianship record, this wouldn't be the first time a guardianship record from the 1700s went missing. The proximity to her three sisters and lack of any other apparent purpose for a spinster named Mead to be there are too compelling not to conclude that this is she, and we thus estimate her date of birth as between April 1749 and April 1750, i.e. about 1749.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} 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. ↑ "Mead, Hannah, d. Apl. 20, 1809, in 60th yr.," thus born between 21 April 1749 and 20 April 1750. Mead, Spencer P. "Abstracts of Records and Tombstones of the Town of Greenwich," 1913, page 6.

• Mead, Spencer P. 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. (Page 220) New York: Knickerbocker, 1901, Archive.org accessed October 10, 2014.

This profile is part of the Mead Name Study.