Meads Family Tree 1803 to 1983 (Book)

Date: 1803 to 1983
Location: New Zealand
Surname/tag: Meads

Reproduced from the comments made by Pauline Meads in the Foreword of the published book

I would like to extend my thanks to Dianne Falloon (nee Meads) who even though does not know it , was responsible for me starting on compiling a family tree. In December 1981 I obtained a copy of a work that she had done and thought that it would be interesting to see if i could update it. Little did I know what she had done was only the tip of the iceberg. I next sent a circular letter to all Meadses listed in telephone books. From there I spent the best part of two weeks doing a cemetery crawl. I also visited the Wanganui Public Library to view the work that Ethel Rhodes had placed there. During the visit I also met the late Bert Meads from Bulls. Bert was very interested in the family tree , was very encouraging and was responsible for me obtaining the work of Diane Fletcher (nee Scott). It is sad that Bert is not with us to see the finished book. The work of Diane Fletcher made my task much easier and gave me many lines of inquiry to follow. I would like to thank Diane not only for her efforts in compiling this work but also for the encouragement that she has given across the Tasman. To all the family members that have helped with information a great big thank you. Many of you have spent time in finding information for me which was not readily available. No single person can take credit for this book. It is a family effort.

The book is incomplete but I feel that if we don't publish now parts of it will be lost forever. I apologise for errors which are no doubt contained within the book. Attempts have been made to have everything correct but I am sure that errors have crept in, some of these will be of my making and others due to incorrect information being given.

Pauline went on to continue to update the family tree. In 2000 Warren Meads published a copy of Pauline's work online. This resulted in more information being available and Warren and Pauline continued to share research and the information and that they each obtained until her death in 2010.

While the work is not technically sound in that it does not have official sources for all the facts, the facts that it does have, have come from real people, family bibles, and documents and memories of those people. It is a powerful source of the truth and as such is a proper source

In today's information age it is inappropriate to publish such a book as it has full details of people that would be considered private information and collecting and creating such a book and publishing it today would not be possible so we have a very big debt of gratitude to give to Pauline for undertaking and publishing this work

A list of the descendants of Joseph Meads on WikiTree can be found here and more information on the Meads full family tree can be found here