Mead in Watford, 16th and 17th centuries

[Vance Mead]

Hello all. I'm interested in the Mead family in Watford, starting with Richard Mede, ca. 1515-1560. They lived there, as well as in Ridge and Hatfield from about 1550 to 1700. I have quite a lot of information from wills, parish records, lay subsidies, muster rolls and manorial records.

Is anyone else interested in this family at around that time, especially in the counties of Hertford, Bedford and Buckingham? I have quite a lot of information on my web site and am always glad to share.

Also, is anyone else intersted in the 16th and 17th centuries, and are there any classes of records that I have missed?

And finally, does anyone know if there are there any plans afoot to put more Hertfordshire records online? Essex has SEAX, Bedfordshire has its online search, the Bucks FHS has several databases available. So, I'm wondering if there might be a project to put Herts wills or will abstracts online. Very useful for finding all those witnesses and beneficiaries. And perhaps the logical next step now that Wills at Hertford has been published.
Vance Mead

[Alan Mead]

Hello Vance.

I've come across your work regularly on the web while I've been researching my own Mead family.

Currently I'm looking at George Mead, yeoman of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, c1652 to c1709, his wife Hannah Hearne c1665 to 1729, and their children. George was my seven times great grandfather. I believe he was formerly married to Mary ____. I haven't managed to link to any Mead ancestor earlier than this.

This family can be found at http://www.meadfamilyhistory.me.uk/index.htm.

Sadly, looking at the vast amount of information you have gathered together, I think it's unlikely that I have anything that will be of use to you.

Alan Mead

[Vance Mead]

Hello Alan,
It's nice to meet you. I'll keep a lookout for George Mead. As he was in Sawbridgworth, he could have come from Essex. It's not far from Great Dunmow, Great Easton, Clavering and so on. There were an awful lot of Meads around there. Also in Bishops Stortford, Ware, Enfield. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting one.

Are these some of yours?

22 May 1701 George Mead of Billericay, Mercer, and Mary Goodwin of Shenvill



Lease for a year DE/Z120/44684 19 Dec 1716
Contents:
By William Warman the elder of Chrishall, Essex, yeoman, to George Mead the younger of Billericay, Essex, singleman, of a piece of land in Mansfield, Sawbridgeworth.
Signature. Seal (arm)


Regards
Vance Mead

[Vance Mead]

Alan
I suppose you've looked at all the Mead wills in Essex? Unfortunately I have only a few from the second half of the 17th century. There were quite a lot around there. These were within a few miles:

1659 Edward Mead, shoemaker, Aythorpe Roothing
1661 Edward Mead, yeoman, Gt. Canfield
1666 William Mead, husbandman, Birchanger
1667 William Mead, yeoman, Takely
1669 Robert Mead, husbandman, Writtle
1674 Nicholas Mead, yeoman, Farnham
1675 Thomas Mead, husbandman, Farnham
1679 Thomas Mead, Hatfield Broad Oak
1688 Agnes Mead, widow, Farnham

If you expand the search as far as Great Dunmow or Ugley, there are a lot more.

Also I have a George Meade connected with Sawbridgeworth, but a bit too early for you. In the mid-1620s, George Meade of Great Hallingbury was an overseer of the will of Edward Bevis of Sawbridgeworth.

[Alan Mead]

Hello Vance - and very many thanks for these items.

George Mead of Billericay, mercer, who married Mary Goodwin, was the eldest son of George, yeoman of Sawbridgeworth, and brother of Thomas, from whom I'm descended, who also ended up in Billericay/Great Burstead.

I haven't previously come across the details of the lease of land in Mansfield that you mention - but this ties in nicely as this could well be the " ... piece of Land lying in Manfeild containing one acre and a halfe ..." that the elder George left to his wife when he died. Maybe she sold it to William Warman who then leased it back to the Mead family (George the younger).

Regarding the wills, I have previously obtained copies of quite a few Mead wills - but none of these - so I'll certainly look into them.

Thanks again for your advice.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan

Do you know anything about Joshua Mead, poulterer of Sawbridgeworth, PCC will made in 1707? Possibly he is related to George Mead? Joshua appears to have been born in Thorley, about 2 miles away, the son of Samuel Mead and Margaret. Samuel in turn is the son of Samuel, whose will is from 1620/21.

Joshua Mead was living in Sawbridgeworth in 1676.

Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance,

Yes I've encountered Joshua and the conclusion that I came to was that he seems to be of similar age to George (c1652-1709) and surely must be related, but I haven't been able to link him in definitely as a member of "my family".

As you say, he was born in Thorley c1637.

In 1670 the Quarter Sessions show that there was a presentment for Joshua, a poulterer, not attending church. Maybe he was a non-conformist - George Mead's sons certainly were. Another mentioned was Jeremiah Herne (Hearne was George's wife's maiden name).

When living in Sawbridgeworth Joshua was licenced as a kiddler/higgler 1687-1706 (as were John Mead of Sawbridgeworth, John Mead of Gilston and Henry Mead of Sawbridgeworth).

I understand a higgler to be a dealer, especially of poultry and dairy produce, who buys up stock and sells it on. (Maybe the nursery rhyme ... Higgledy Piggledy my black hen ... has its origins in this trade!)

Thomas Mead of Gilston, George Meade and Joshua Meade of Sawbridgeworth, and John Meade of Thorley were included in the list of those in the Association for the preservation of the life and government of William III, 1696.

Joshua was buried in 1707, the year before George.

For the next few generations Meads of Great Burstead were still marrying folk at Thorley (the Flack family). These people were all tied together somehow but I have yet to find a will (Samuel's ?) that gives me the information I want.

Happy New Year.

Alan

[Alan Mead]

Sorry Vance.

I should have mentioned that I don't seem to have come across the reference to Joshua's will before. I will certainly track this down.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan
Happy New Year.

As I'm sure you know, you can download a copy of Joshua's will from documents online - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/

Another place where there are wills for Essex and eastern Hertfordshire is the London Metropolitan Archives. They have wills from the Consistory Court of London. I have a few of there wills, but only one or two from the latter half of the 17th century. There are also some wills from a few Hertfordshire parishes probated in the Commissary Court of London. These are at Guildhall Library. But I think I have all of these.

About George Mead's date of birth. The average age of first marriage for men in the 17th century was about 27 - after apprenticeship or seven to ten years of being a farm servant. So, if his eldest child was born in 1673, that might put his date of birth in the mid-1640s. This was during the Civil War, so there might be gaps in the parish records.
Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance

Thanks again for your ideas, all very gratefully received.

Coincidentally I've just been trying to download Joshua's will. Got as far as typing in my payment details when the process failed and a message said to try later. As all my details had gone in, I'm not sure whether I've paid or not! Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

I've also checked through my records and found that I already have a photocopy of the will of Samuel Mead of Thorley, 1621, along with half a dozen others including that of Agnes his wife. They are all difficult to read (which is obviously why I didn't transcribe them years ago). Samuel's will mentions a son Samuel and daughter Hannah.

I live in hopes that there'll be a clue there somewhere.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan
I also have a copy of Samuel's will, though not Agnes's. His will is quite longwinded, but the end result is that they had two children, Hannah and Samuel. Hannah must be the Anne christened in 1585; Samuel was christened in 1589. There was Joseph christened in 1583 but he must have died young.

Sam junior has six children shown in the IGI, from Samuel born in 1622 to Joshua born in 1637.

In the 1620s there were 81 children christened in Thorley. This dropped to 56 in the 1630s, to 28 in the 1640s, rising to 42 in the 1650s and 53 in the 1660s. I suppose this could either mean that fewer children were born during the Civil War and Commonwealth. Or that Nonconformists had their children christened elsewhere or not at all.

There are some wills online at Essex's Seax. One of them is for Edward Mead of Aythorpe Roding, shoemaker, 1669. This is about 5 miles from Sawbridgeworth. I'll transcribe it this afternoon, but at a quick glance I didn't see any sons named George, just Edward and John.
Vamce

[Vance Mead]

Alan
I've been transcribing a few wills from the Essex Seax site. The only George Meade is a testator from Heydon in 1669. But it elimates some names anyway.
Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance,

Once again, many thanks for your help.

I still haven't got my request for Joshua Mead's will sorted out. If you remember, the system failed just at the point where I had entered my payment details. My credit card was charged but I still haven't received details of how to view the document. So I am now waiting for response to an email.

Alan

[Alan Mead]

Good old National Archives. They've sorted out the problem and have sent me a copy of Joshua Mead's will of 1707.

Joshua names his six sons:- John, Joshua, Caleb, Samuell, Henry and Joseph. John and Joshua were his joint executors. Witnesses were John Holmested, John Miles, Thomas Stocklee [?] and John Perry. Nobody else is mentioned.

[Vance Mead]

Oh well, back to the drawing board. Were there any overlaps in the witnesses between his will and George's?

I suppose you've seen this apprenticeship, a couple of generations later:

Mead, George, son of George, Billericay, Essex, grocer, to Joshua Channing, 5 Dec 1746, Glovers' Company

Vance

[Vance Mead]

Alan
I'm not sure if this is significant, but here goes.

George Mead was a witness to the will of John Eve of Sawbridgeworth, grocer, in 1694. This could be just because they were neighbours, but there is a family connection between another John Eve and (probably) another George Mead.

There were quite a lot of Meads in the village of Ugley, about ten miles north of Sawbridgeworth (someone once explained that this not so beautiful name means the clearing or ley belonging to a Saxon named Ugga.)

I have their wills going back to the 16th century. I have the wills John Mead (1668) and Alice Mead (1678), husband and wife. John mentions his daughter Alice, who was married at that time to John Eve (probably of Elsenham, yeoman, will dated 1676). By the time of Alice's will in 1678, John Eve was dead and daughter Alice was now married to William Asur or Asser. John and Alice were both quite elderly (I think John was probably born in 1587, the son of John Mede of Ugley whose will is dated 1593.) They were married in about 1610 and had children starting in 1612.
Their children were:
1612 Alice d of John Meade & Alice
1614 Mary d of John Meade & Alice
1616 John s of John Meade & Alice
1620 Thomas s of John & Alice

Alice in her 1678 will mentioned a grandson named George, apparently the son of John, her son. I'm not sure when George was born. I have him born in 1674, but this might not be right (I have some parish records online for Ugley, but I think I copied them at the Society of Genealogists library about 15 years ago. Anyway, they don't cover the period after 1635. I think I must have put 1674 because George isn't mentioned in his grandfather's will but he is in his grandmother's.

So, as an outside chance, George Mead of Ugley could be the same as George Mead of Sawbridgeworth. There are transcripts of the Ugley parish recofrds at the Society of Genealogists library, Worth a look, next time you're in London.

Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance - you are a mine of information.

You mention that "George Mead was a witness to the will of John Eve of Sawbridgeworth, grocer, in 1694" and this could well be my George Mead as his wife Hannah refers to her "loving Sister Ann Eve" in her own will, written 1728. I presume that at this time Ann Eve was a widow as she was living in the widow Hannah Mead's house. George and John could have been brothers-in-law.

I'll certainly take a look at the Ugley Parish Registers at the SoG. Maybe I'll try to arrange something for next week.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

In John Eve's will he mentions "Anne Eve my now wife" which I interpret to mean a second wife. Also daughters Elizabeth the wife of Henry Waller, and Anne Eve. Sons William Eve, Joseph Eve, Nathaniel Eve, Mordecai Eve, John Eve.

I was trying to sort out the Ugley Meads yesterday, but I couldn't place all the Williams and Johns. I have a dozen or so wills, but I'm missing the parish records after 1630, and possible some before that. I think I have all the Ugley wills before 1700, except for that of Laurence Meade in 1550/51. I'm not sure why I haven't got that one, I think it might have been damaged and they weren't letting anyone see it. If you go to the SoG library I hope you'll post the parish records here.

The Ugley Meads - it's an unfortunate name, isn't it. The home of the Ugley Farmers' Market and the Ugley Women's Institute. Though I'm sure they're all lovely ladies. And not far away, in Herts, is the village of Nasty.

[Alan Mead]

This is beginning to look exciting. That makes two possible Eve connections to the Mead family - the witness to John Eve's will being George Mead and Ann Eve (John's wife) being named in George's wife Hannah's will.

I'm going to the SoG on Thursday 15th and will certainly post my Ugley findings here.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan
How did it go at the SoG? I hope it wasn't a wild goose chase.
Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance,

You suggested a while back that George might have been born in the 1640s rather than around 1655. I found a record of his monumental inscription at the SoG and he died 22 March 1708 aged 68. Therefore he was born 1640. Spot on!

I also discovered the excellent "Mead family of Somerset and Essex 1300-1900" compiled by Elizabeth Holliday, which I know you helped greatly with. Fascinating but too much to take in during the time I had available - I wonder if Elizabeth has copies for sale? I'll email her.

I went through the transcripts of the Ugley parish registers and unfortunately didn't come up with anything that helps. Mead(e) data that I noted is too large to fit onto a message on this forum - I'll send it to you directly.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan
It's too bad that was the wrong George - it would have taken you back 4 or 5 generations. What's you next step? There are still two dozen or so Mead wills in Essex between 1640 and 1700 that I haven't transcribed. Some are quite far away, but there are several from Farnham and other nearby places.

Thanks for sending those parish records. It will help me sort out all the Johns and Williams. At least there you're lucky, that George was a relatively uncommmon name. If you were looking for John or Thomas, you'd have dozens to choose from and no way to decide which one it is.

I have a vague recollection that I exchanged emails with Elizabeth Holliday 10 or 12 years ago. I think she was researching Meads in Great Waltham and High Easter. Have you contacted her? Has she got any copies of her book she'd be willing to sell? She also deposited copies at the Essex and Hertfordshire record offices.
Vance

[Alan Mead]

Vance,

I'm going to work on two fronts - hopefully as methodically as possible!

I'll draw up a list of all the parishes surrounding Sawbridgeworth and try to work through the registers. If that fails then I'll move out to the next ring, and so on.

Secondly I'm going to try to draw up a list of all the Mead wills from Essex and Herts, check and tick off the ones I already have, and try to track down and get copies of the others.

I've emailed Elizabeth Holliday so now will wait to see if copies of her book are available.

I had a real stroke of luck a while back. I was flicking through a magazine (nothing to do with family history) and saw a property for sale - Waters Place Farm, Ware. It sounded familiar so I checked my records and found that Robert Mead of Great Burstead mentioned the farm in his will proved 1819. It was occupied then by relations/friends of the Meads - the Flack family. This family and others - the Hummerstone family - seemed to be intermarrying with Meads from Sawbridgeworth days right through to the mid 19th Century and there must have been a fair bit of traffic between this side of Herts and Essex. I even tracked down a picture of the place on the internet - and of course had to make a detour to view it (from afar) after visiting the Hertfordshire Record Office one day. Just behind it is the appropriately named Mead Wood.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Alan
I have lists of all the Mead wills for Essex and Herts on my site, including PCC and Consistory Court. The ones I lack which are nearby are in Farnham, Berden, Great Easton, Henham and Hatfield Broad Oak. Maybe one or two others.
Vance

[Vance Mead]

I should have said I have listed all the wills before 1700, with the possible exception of any wills that might have been proved in the Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's. This covered the parishes of Albury, Brent Pelham and Furneux Pelham.

[Vance Mead]

Alan

Any luck getting in touch with Liz Holliday?

Is that her email address, at one-name.org?

Vance

[Alan Mead]

Yes Vance.

She replied to me yesterday and has very kindly sent me a copy of the narrative part of her book. She has also asked for a GEDCOM copy of my data which I'll send later today.

Alan