The Lost Tribes of Israel ‘Found’

Date: 16 May 2021 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Mead

The Lost Tribes of Israel "found"

Below are my conclusions from researching Benjamin Mead of Elkhart, IN (1789-1858). After extensive research I have concuded that more than likely he is a descendent of Joseph Mead, born 2 May 1656 Stamford, Fairfied, CT, and wife Sarah Reynolds. I have basically come to these conclusions by the naming patterns of "Joseph" and "Israel" in Benjamin Mead's family and the associations of Joseph, Uriah and Harvey Mead, Wm Judd, the Beardsleys, and the Bennetts who lived near by where Benjamin Mead lived in Catherine, NY in the early eighteen hundreds.

The Benjamin Mead family shows up in six records in the Tioga/Tompkins area of New York. In 1820 Benjamin is listed in the 1820 Federal census as living in Catherine, Tioga Co. In 1825 he is listed in Catherine in the NY census with a new born daughter, who's birth year matches Rachel Jane Mead's, daughter of Benjamin. In 1829 Benjamin's name was published in the Ithaca Journal & General Advertiser, October 07, 1829, Page 3, Image 3 that a letter was waiting for him at the Newfield Post Office. In 1830 he is listed as living in Newfield, Tompkins Co, NY. He is indexed wrong both at ancestry.com and familysearch.org. At ancestry he is indexed as “Benjamin Means” and at FamilySearch he is indexed as “Benjamin Ahalt”. In the 1835 New York census, Benjamin is shown to be living in Newfield, Tompkins Co with his presumed son Israel K. Mead as his neighbor. And in 1836 he is shown in the deed book selling his land to a Mr. Anderson. It wasn’t much later and the Benjamin Mead bought land in Elkhart, IN according to deed books there.

After 18 months of research on the Benjamin Mead family of Elkhart, IN I have come to the concusion that Benjamin Mead is related to the Joseph Meade listed in the 1810 census in Catherine, Tioga, NY and more specifically possibly the son of an Israel or Joseph Mead who might have been related to Uriah, Nehemiah and Jacob (aka Israel) Mead. I make this assertion because a Benjamin Mead is listed in Catherine in the 1820 census where previously a Joseph Meade was listed in 1810, and a Harvey Mead married in Catherine, Tioga, NY in 1818 was linked to Uriah, Nehemiah and Jacob (aka Israel) Mead by a probate of neighbor Daniel Mead in Greene, NY. In 1818 Harvey Mead married an Elizabeth Vangorder in Catherine, NY (record availabe at ancestry.com). She was the daughter of Henry or James Vangorder, neighbor of Joseph Meade in the 1810 census in Catherine. The Van Gorder family lived only five doors down from Joseph Meade who is listed in the 1810 census in Catherine, so more than likely Harvey Mead was related to Joseph Meade. After the marriage Harvey disappears from Catherine. By searching the 1820 census in NY, and then cross referencing all the Harveys with grantor deeds in the pertinent counties, to discover which Harvey had a wife by the name of Elizabeth, I was able to locate Harvey in Cairo, Greene Co, NY as a young couple with a newly born baby; wife Elizabeth; living four doors down from Daniel Mead. Deed: Harvey Mead and Elizabeth his wife of Cairo, Greene to David Bennett of Greenville, Green Co. Book Q page 441. image 245. year 1832. Fifty acres by Nathan Lockwood and Bennet partly in Greenville, and partly in Cairo. (After the 1830 census in Greene County, NY Harvey Mead disappears. He might have had a son by the name of Horace because Harvey’s neighbor James Renne of Cairo, Greene died in 1830. In the will probated Nov 1. 1830, Harvey and Horace Mead were named Execs). Harvey's neighbor Daniel Mead died in 1832 in Coeymans, Albany, NY and left a probate mentioning his land in Cairo, Greene County and his brothers Uriah, Nehemiah and Jacob, who were close cousins to the Israel Mead who married Hannah Bennett. I make this assertion by assuming that the Benjamin Mead living in Catherine, Tioga, NY in the 1820 Federal census and the 1825 NY census is my Benjamin Mead who lived in neighboring Newfield, Tompkins, NY during the 1830 Federal census and 1835 NY census. (There was a Benjamin O Mead in the area but he was a little younger than my Benjamin and had primarily daughters). By linking my Benjamin Mead to the Benjamin Mead of Catherine, NY I am able to link him to William Judd who lived in Catherine, Tioga NY during the 1840 census and lists in his household during the 1850 census in Cass, MI, Benjamin S. Mead (Jr), Smith Mead, and Joseph Mead who are listed as grandsons of Benjamin Mead in his last will and probate in Elkhart, IN in 1858 (viewable at ancestry.com). Wm Judd's household is the only household in the USA during 1850 which names those three grandsons together that are mentioned in Benjamin Mead's will in Elkhart, IN. I am assuming that William Judd married Benjamin Mead's daughter in law Mary, who was the presumed wife of Israel K Mead previoulsy. Israel K is listed in the 1835 New York census in Newfield, Tompkins, NY living next to Benjamin Mead. Grandson Smith Mead, born 1835, lists in his Civil War records he was born in Tompkins Co, NY in 1835 exactly where Benjamin Mead and presumed son Israel K Mead were living at that time. He also said he moved to Cass, MI in 1844. ( Smith Mead's descendent's DNA match mine, known descendent of Benjamin Mead of Elkhart, IN) Incidentally, Rachel Jane Mead, daugther of Benjamin Mead named one of her sons "Israel K" after her presumed deceased brother. In the 1850 census grandson Israel Wikham, born 1840 IN, is listed as the son of Rachel Jane Wickham, daughter of Benjamin Mead. Benjamin Mead mentions his daughter Rachel Jane Wickham in his will of 1858 and her marriage record of marrying Joseph Wickham Sept 2, 1838 Ekhart, IN is registered in that county. (BTW; researchers have mistakenly linked the DNA results of descendants of Rachel Jane Wickham through DNA to the Rachel Jean Mead living in Chester, Washington Co, NY during the 1855 NY census. Rachel Jean's father in law was Gideon Mead). (also--Israel K Wickham's middle initial "K" is taken from Civil War records, viewable online at ancestry) Joseph Meade is listed living in 1810 in Catherine, NY. I believe he is the Joseph Mead, born abt 1776, who lived in Kortright, Delaware, NY with his wife Betsey during his life. (Joseph is also listed in Kortright, Delaware during the 1810 census; although the ages and number of the household don't quite match which that of Catherine)*. Joseph Mead's sons, Israel G, Jabez and Josiah Mead later lived in Klimax, Kalamazoo, MI, circa 1860-80, very near where Wm Judd lived in Cass, MI. I link my Benjamin Mead to this Joseph Mead because not only did their offpsring live near each other in MI, but both families named sons or grandchildren "Joseph" and "Israel". Joseph Mead of Kortright named one of his sons Israel G Mead. I reasearched the other Josephs and Israels in early CT and NY, and did not find any other connection other than to the Joseph Mead, died 1814, and Mary family of Danbury, Fairfield, CT. And not only did William Judd live near Joseph Mead's sons Israel G, Josiah and Jabez but, Benjamin Mead's grandaughter Marietta Mead--Finney lived in Kalamazoo, MI during the same time as Joseph Mead's sons. To further link Joseph Mead of Kortright, Delaware, NY (who earlier was in the 1810 census in Catherne, NY, who was the son of Joseph Mead, died 1814 CT and Mary) a Minor M Mead appears to be living in Catherine, NY during the 1860 census. The age is off a little, but to my knowlege Minor M Mead, was the son of Joseph of Kortright, NY. Researchers have linked the Joseph Mead of Kortright, Delaware Co, NY to being the son Joseph Mead of Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT who died in 1814 and was married to "Mary". The parents of the Joseph who married Mary were Israel Mead, died 1781 Danbury District, Fairfield, CT and Hannah Bennett of Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906" list the children of Joseph Mead and" Mary" as: Israel, Jabez, Joseph, Josiah, Nehemiah. Joseph's children are also listed in his will, 1817 CT, see will Keeler-Wood Genealogy page 88. Joseph Mead and Betsey, his wife of Kortright, Delaware Co, are selling land in Peekskill, Westchester, NY (book 143, page 252. image 390) in 1850. Mentioned in the deed is a lot lately owned by Josiah Mead and Israel Mead deceased. This is ironic becuase in the 1810 census in Sommers, Westchester, NY an Israel Mead is listed with a family. There are three Israel Meads who come on the radar screen as possible fathers of my Benjamin Mead. There is a Israel Mead listed in the 1810 Sommers, Westchester, NY census, whom I don't know who he is. There is the Israel Mead who married Mary Rundel, see below for more details, and the Israel Mead who is possibly the son of Zecariah Mead. . In Spencer Percival Mead's book History and Genealogy of the Mead Family, it says that the Israel Mead listed in Halfmoon, Saratoga Co, NY during the 1810 census is the son of Zachariah Mead, (who was the son of Nehemiah Mead and Mehetibal Hodgdon, who was the son of Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds page 26). In the 1820 census in Halfmoon, Israel is missing and Zachariah Mead is present The Israel Mead who died in 1829 in Danbury, CT (See Find A Grave) (and who was the son of Joseph Mead, died 1814 of Danbury, Fairfield, CT and Mary) was born too late to be the father of my Benjamin Mead. "Israel Mead age 56 dies at Ridgefield" --New York NY Spectator—1829-30--------this would make Israel born 1774--too young to be father of my Benjamin The Israel Mead who died about 1829 in CT, does not mention children in his estate in 1830 in Danbury, Fairfield, CT. But, oddly, the Find a Grave memorial he's listed in show otherwise: The burial of his daugther Polly next to Israel in the cemetery in Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT confirms the assertion that Israel had children (see Find A Grave).

There was another Israel Mead, who shows up in the censuses living in the CT area who died about 1807. He married Mary Rundel as his second wife. It is important for researchers to make the distinction between the these Israel Meads. There were other Israel Meads in the records whom I have disqualified as being potential fathers of Benjamin Mead. Two of Benjamin Mead's grandsons were named Joseph Mead: Joseph D Mead ( born 1841), the son Albert B Mead, who was the son of Benjamin, and Joseph Mead (b. 1832 NY) son of Israel K Mead, presumed son of Benjamin Mead . Incidentally, at this point I don't know what happenned to Joseph Mead (b. 1832 NY) and his brother Benjamin S (the two brothers of Smith Mead). Did they die in Michigan fighting in the Civil War(?) To further link my Benjamin Mead to the Israel Mead/Hannah Bennett family of Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT, the Uriah Mead Jr. listed in the 1830 census in Catherine, Tioga, was the son of the Rev Uriah Mead Sr, b 1760. Uriah Sr was the presumed grandson of Jeremiah Mead who was the brother of Israel Mead who married Hannah Bennett. (There is a deed in Wilton, Fairfield, CT deed books which lists all the adult children of the Rev Uriah Mead, including Uriah Mead Jr). I did some research on the neighbors of the Meads in Catherine using the 1810 censuses. In 1790 Elias Beardsley was living in Newtown, Fairfield, CT which is near Danbury and Redding, Fairfield where the family of Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds resided whom I believe my Benjamin was descended from. A little later Elias Beardsley appears early in Catherine, and was the first father in law to Wm Judd.

Also I researched the Ephraim Bennett and his sons Thomas and Samuel who were also neighbors in Catherine censuses. Revolutionary pension records indicate that father Ephraim Bennett was living in Warwick, Orange, NY during the Revolution and early on in Catherine, NY. Orange Co is where many of the descendants of Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds moved to. Some familysearch.org genealogies say that the Bennetts married into the Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds family in CT in the 1700s. Birth records in Fairfield, CT give an Ephraim Bennett being born June 3, 1705 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT; parents given as James Bennett and Sarah Adams. These are the same parents given for Hannah Bennett born about 1710 who married Israel Mead.

Family trees at familysearch.org also show that the Green Bentley and Ephraim Bennett families (who were neighbors of my Benjamin Mead and Joseph Meade in Catherine, Tioga NY during the early 1800s) lived in Goshen, Orange, NY during the 1780s and 1790s. This is significant because Sarah Knapp who who later married the grandson of Benjamin, Joseph Mead in Elkhart, IN traces her roots to Goshen. It is also where Zachariah Mead lived during the 1800 census. Zachariah Mead is linked to Israel Mead in Halfmoon, Saratoga, NY. Zachariah is listed in the 1820 census there, and Israel Mead is listed in the 1810 census there.

Catherine, Tioga was not a very big place, so more than likely any Meads or others realted to Meads by marriage would be related to my Benjamin Mead. The following Meads resided in Catherine, NY 1790-1830s. Most of the following records came from ancestry.com:

Joseph Meade 1810 census 1810 tax list Joseph Mead About 1815 Abel Mead owns town lot in Catherine –from county history book (Abel may be the descendent of the Timothy Mead line of Vermont---not my line) 1818 Harvey Mead married Elizabeth Vangorder neighbor of Joseph Mead 1820 census Benjamin Mead-----my ggg grandfather 1825 NY census Benjamin Mead-----my ggg grandfather 1830 census Uriah Mead Jr. 1860 census Minor Mead, son of Joseph Mead of Kortright, Delaware, NY who I suspect is related to my Benjamin Mead

Other than Abel Mead all the Meads who lived in Cathrine, NY were descended from Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds.

In my mind there is no doubt that the Joseph Meade in the 1810 census in Catherine, NY was related somehow to my Benjamin. Despite the 1820 census listing people in alphabetical order, both Joseph and Benjamin are listed with the same neighbors (whose surnames started with the letter M., e.g. John Morris, Mathias Miller, Jacob Mills, etc.) in both censuses.

From the research that I’ve done so far, I would have to conclude that Benjamin Mead moved from Catherine, about a mile west of Cayuta lake to Newfield, Tompkins Co, by 1830 when he shows up in that census. I do not see any Meads receiving land bounties in Tioga/Tompkins who appear to be Benjamin’s father. Benjamin Mead lived in the Watkins and Flint Purchase, and farmed only 40 acres.

By censuses, I have determined that Israel Mead, Uriah Mead and Zachariah Mead may have associated together. In Spencer Percival Mead's book History and Genealogy of the Mead Family, it says that the Israel Mead listed in Halfmoon, Saratoga Co, NY during the 1810 census is the son of Zachariah Mead, (who was the proven son (by probate) of Nehemiah Mead and Mehetibal Hodgdon, who was the son of Joseph Mead and Sarah Reynolds page 26). In the 1820 census in Halfmoon, Israel is missing and Zachariah Mead is present. I am wondering, if in fact, this Israel Mead was the Israel Mead whom I suspect was the father of my Benjamin, and not the son of Zechariah Mead (?). In the 1800 census in New York, Zechariah Mead born before 1755 is listed living by Uriah Mead in Albany Watervliet. While doing deed research for the Meads in Wilton, CT I did see that Uriah Mead held land in Wilton, Fairfield, CT just as the Joseph Mead/Mary family did.

Benjamin Mead’s grandson Joseph D Mead married Sarah E Knapp, (born in NY in 1839) in 1867 in Elkhart, IN. I couldn’t find Sarah E Knapp in the 1860 census in Elkhart, IN, leading me to believe that our Meads knew Sarah Knapp’s family from NY. After extensive research I was able to find the ancestry of Sarah at familysearch.org family trees (Sarah Knapp's father left a will in NY naming his children). Her great grandfather was John Lewis Knapp of Goshen, Orange, NY. In the 1800 federal census, John Lewis Knapp is listed one page over from Zachariah Mead, born before 1755.

Israel Mead (died 1829) may have lived in Orange county, NY also, as I know his brother Josiah did. (Josiah Jr lived there after Josiah Sr died). By a deed that appears in Orange Co in 1827 I know that Josiah Mead died and an Israel was exec of the will.

Orange Co deeds

Daniel Vail to Israel Mead and Co; HH page 403 (image 463) of film # 007157798. Year 1807 (mistake of transcriber. The year is actually 1827--my note) Daniel Vale of Monroe, Orange Co to Robert Lamourex, David Hume and Israel Mead admins of Josiah Mead deceased of the second part 3 1/2 acres in Monroe, Orange Co, NY

The DNA test for William Mead, 74, living near Phoenix on April 4, 2019 also indicates that Wm Mead is a descendant of Benjamin Mead, born 1666, and Rachel Brown (born circa 1680 CT) and his son, Eliphalet Mead who married Abigail Rundle. My research into this line did not find any connections to my Benjamin Mead.

The DNA results of the Smith G Mead family match mine. I took the same type of test, the autosomal test, that a descendent of the Smith G Mead family took, and DNA ancestry says our DNA match. A Joseph Mead (screen name) matches me as a 4th-6th cousin. He matches at the 20cM across 1 segment of DNA. The ancestors he listes on his public family tree at ancestry DNA are Roy Mead and Evelyn Kuskie who are descendents of Smith G Mead, listed at familysearch.org Family Trees. --Nov 25, 2020

I also matched Taylor Marcoux's Tree for autosomal DNA at ancestry. She is a descendent of Smith G Mead, born 1835 Tompkins, NY also:

Melba Mead Melvin Mead Roy Martin Mead 1897-1958 Wm Tecumseh Sherman Mead 1870-1921

Also, I compared my Autosmal DNA test at Gedmatch against a descendent of Joseph Mead and Mary, Linda Wade geniebugg66@gmail.com, who is related about seven generations back and our DNA did not match----Nov 24, 2020

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• It is important to realize while searching records in early NY that extended family members associated much more closer than they do these days because families had been bottled up in CT for almost 200 years and often went to the same churches; and that often heads of households held land in various counties in NY where they often did not live. Enumerators while doing their counts for the census in the various counties often had to ask neighbors for family counts if the owner of the land did not live on the land in his county. As is the case in Catherine, I think the enumerater went by his own memory when he allocated the family members to each household.

Descendency of Smith Mead, born 1835 Tompkins, NY:

I. William Mead --first immigrant b. 1592 Watford, Hertfordshire, England d. Sept 19, 1663 Stamford, Fairfield, CT

m. Philippa Kilvy b. England d. Sept 19, 1657 Stamford, Fairfield, cT

II. Joseph Mead b. Apr 25, 1624 Greenwich, Kent, England d. May 3, 1690 Greenwich, Fairfield, CT

m. Sarah Brown b. Mar 24, 1636 Stamford, Fairfield, CT d. Mayt 6, 1708 Greenwich, Fairfield, CT

III. Joseph Mead b. May 2, 1656 Stamford, Fairfield, CT d. Sep 9, 1714 Greenwich, Fairfield, CT

m. Sarah Reynolds (married St. John after 1714 according to probate records) b. Nov 5, 1665 Stamford, Fairfield, CT d. 1709 Greenwich, Fairfield, CT

IV. ?

V. ?

VI. Israel Mead or Joseph Mead

VII. Benjamin Mead b. 1789 NY d. Aug 1858 Elkhart, IN

m. Betsey LNU circa 1810 b. 1787 NY d. circa 1860?

IIX. Israel K Mead b. circa 1810 NY d. circa 1835 Newfield, Tompkins, NY

m. Mary LNU (married William Judd by 1846 after her first husband's death) b. 1811 NY d. Jan 19, 1865 Cass, MI

IX. Smith G Mead b. 1835 Tompkins, NY d. Mar 10, 1881 Grand Island, Hall, Nebraska

Reference to Deeds, and other sources came from Familysearch.org Catalog online

Mark Royston

Oct 9, 2020 redited Oct 21, 2020; Oct 22, 2020, Oct 28, 2020, Nov 6, 2020, Nov 13, 2020, Nov 25, 2020; May 14, 2021