On Memorial Day 2024 weekend, David Wold and Don Sylvester of the Captain Matthew Mead Branch of the Connecticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution visited the Mead Burying Ground at North Greenwich.
While there, they placed SAR medallions and flags at several graves of patriots who died in or associated with the American War of Independence.
Historic Mead Burying Grounds, Inc., the family cemetery preservation association, extends its sincerest gratitude for this recognition.
One of the most famous stories associated with this Mead family farm and cemetery in North Greenwich was written by Historian Spencer P. Mead in the family genealogy book:
“The old house was raided by a party of British and Tories. Obadiah, a son of Benjamin III, was then quite a lad. His sisters, Anna and Phebe, who were younger, hid with their mother in the cellar of the old house as the Redcoats marched up the road, and their father and the older girls, Mary and Theodosia, barricaded the doors and windows, while Obadiah, the only son, solicitous for the cattle without, drove them into the yard, then beat a hasty retreat to a neighbor’s barn.
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Shirt worn by Obadiah Mead when he was killed. It is now
in the collections of the Greenwich Historical Society. |
“An unfriendly Tory, Knowing the fact, informed the British soldiers, who surrounded the barn, threatened to set fire to it unless he came out. He, too brave to surrender, jumped from the barn and ran across the orchard towards the rocks above Dyspepsia Lane (Cliffdale) but the British followed.
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| Benjamin Mead II House, circa 1728. |
“Seeing that escape was impossible, Obadiah surrendered, only to be immediately fired at and instantly killed. The ball passed through his left arm and entered his side. After killing the son, the Redcoats forced their way into the house, but unable to find the father, they departed, taking with them the horse and the geese.”
Marked graves include Obadiah Mead and Benjamin Mead III.
