The Passing of Herbert Bingham Mead 1924-2010

(Note: I have established another blog about the book I am researching on my father's service in postwar China. Go here: MyDadtheUSChinaMarine.blogspot.com)

I have not been posting for some time due to the recent passing of my father, Herbert Bingham Mead.

Dad died in the closing moments of his 86th birthday at a nursing home in Croton-on-Hudson, New York on February 25. He is dearly missed. Dad enthusiastically supported the creation of our cemetery association in 1990. In his younger days he maintained the cemetery property off Relay Place near Cos Cob's Mill Pond. When he and my mother were first married they lived in a small cottage nearby that has since been demolished. Up until five years ago Dad would go down to the Cos Cob plot and two others the Association maintains and keep them in good order.

He was a World War II veteran serving as a radioman in the U.S. Marines 1^st and 4^th Marine Division from 1943 to 1947, at Guadalcanal, Peleiu, the front lines in the Battle of Okinawa, and stationed for several years in Tianjin and Beijing, China after the Japanese surrender.

For many years he was employed in the Clairol’s research division of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut. After his retirement he started and operated a garden design and landscape business until six years ago.

My father was an active and passionate volunteer for over 40 years in Greenwich’s fire department services including serving as chief of the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Department and the Amogerone Volunteer Fire Company, contributing his time and energies. He was also a proud supporter of various US Marine Corps organizations.

I am very grateful for his guidance and support when the Association was first created and in the years since. Rest in peace, Dad. Thank you for all that you did -and for your example.

Jeffrey Bingham Mead

Moonlight Marriages Barred in Greenwich: January 12, 1900

We found this article in the archives of the New York Times. Published on January 12, 1900, it features comments by then-Town Clerk James R. Mead. It seems New Yorkers were venturing to Greenwich in order to be married under the evening moonlight, spoiling many evenings for Mead, his assistant, Greenwich clergy and Justices of the Peace. Enjoy!

New York Times 1910: TELLS STRANGE TALE OF TWEED'S FLIGHT; Greenwich Man Says He Escaped on Train to Cos Cob, Where Couple Awaited Him

Special to The New York Times: December 7, 1910, Wednesday

GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 6 -- After a silence of more than thirty years, Judge Frederick A. Hubbard of this town has published in a local paper a story which he believes explains the method by which Boss William M. Tweed got away from New York after his escape from Ludlow Street Jail on Dec. 4, 1875.

Click here and download the pdf file.

Deacon Abraham "Potter" Mead

Abraham Mead was born in 1742 who during the American Revolutionary War served as a Captain, assisting in the defense of New York.

But Abraham Mead is best known for the unique pottery he produced from his kiln. The following is reproduced from this link to the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich:

Deacon Potter Mead was a prominent citizen of Horseneck, the original name for central Greenwich. He was a commissioned captain in the Revolutionary War, town treasurer, real estate agent, deacon and treasurer of the Second Congregational Church, and one of the first Connecticut potters. As a teenager he was apprenticed to Adam Staats, a Dutchman considered Connecticut’s first stoneware potter. Staats kiln was located just south of the Davis gristmill. According to legend, Deacon Potter Mead, from close observation of Staats, discovered the secret of salt glazing. When Staats observed him throwing salt into the kiln, he is said to have exclaimed, “He’ got it! He’s got it!” True or not, Mead is known for his functional stoneware that was sold to the farmers and merchants of the Greenwich area and probably beyond to New York and New Jersey as well. The blue design is typical of his work.

For some high resolution photographic examples of his work go to this link.

Later in life he served as a deacon in the Second Congregational Church. He died in 1827 and is interred in the cemetery adjacent to the church known as the New Burial Grounds Association Cemetery.

Can you help? Dr. William Mead, Revolutionary War Surgeon, 1st New York Regiment

The Association has received an inquiry from Glenn Hunger of Burnt Hills New York. Can you help? He was referred to us by Anne Young, archivist of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Glenn is conducting research on Doctor William Mead, Revolutionary War Surgeon, 1st New York Regiment. Dr. Mead was the son of Benjamin Mead and Martha Ferris, born in Greenwich on October 15, 1747 and died on February 1, 1829. Dr. Mead is buried in Charlton, N.Y. 

Benjamin Mead and Martha Ferris are buried in our family plot at the Mead farm in North Greenwich off Cliffdale Road.

*From Spencer P. Mead’s History and Genealogy of the Mead Family, William Mead is mentioned on page 404, and as having married Phebe Farrant (b. October 30, 1741, d. October 21, 1776).

*From Daniel M. Mead’s A History of the Town of Greenwich, William Mead is mentioned on page 290 as having William, Abigail and Anne. (Daniel M. Mead continues with names of children not attributed elsewhere to Benjamin Mead.)

Dr. William Mead married Geertruyd Myndertse in Schenectady, N.Y. and had two children - Catarina b. March 7, 1780 and Benjamin b. November 25, 1783.

Glenn wrote, "I have found two references to Anne Mead. The first reference is in a geneologist’s notes in the Saratoga County Clerk’s Office indicating Anne is the daughter of Dr. William Mead. The second reference is of Anne and Geertruyd Mead’s signatures on a request to the County Clerk in appointing an executor to probate Dr. Mead’s estate in 1829. I have no additional information on Dr. Mead’s other children - William, Abigail, Catarina or Benjamin."

"I’m seeking any information, insights, references, etc. with regard to:

• Doctor William Mead’s childhood, education (primary, secondary and medical), friends, family, medical practice, etc.
• the death of Phebe Farrant and the lives of their three children - William, Abigail and Anne,
• the lives of Dr. Mead’s two children with Geertruyd - Catarina and Benjamin.

I appreciate any help you are able to offer."

If you can assist Glenn please contact him:

Glenn Hunger
PO Box 529
Burnt Hills, NY
Tel: 518-399-9079
Email: psesq1@aol.com

Deacons Silas Hervey Mead: Abolitionist

As this is Black History Month we share an excerpt from a letter dated November 8, 1842 by Deacon Silas Hervey Mead of North Greenwich to Amos Starr Cooke, a Danbury-born missionary to the Hawaiian Islands. The original letter is in the archives of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society which maintains the Mission Houses Museum in Honolulu:

You speak about the Abolitonists. I will here just state that their enemies gave them the name of persons of one idea and I for one will respond to that name. I hope I never shall have any other idea only to do God's Will without distinguishing whether it is popular or not, and that I believe is true respecting the largest part of the Abolitionists that I am acquainted with.

You say you are afraid some of the Abolitionists zeal for that object blinds their eyes to other benevolent objects, we often hear that said with us, so often, that it would be impossible for us to sleep. The truth is because we do not go and spend all our strength pushing the car where the most are pushing, then we are slandered.

I tell you my friend in a general way show me an Abolitionist, and I will show you a strong Temperance man, and a strong man for keeping the sabbath, and a strong man for God anyway and everyway, a real go ahead Christian. There may be some exceptions, but I should think not many in proportion to the whole.

You say you are afraid I am a getting cold on that subject: no my dear friend, nor shall I ever so long as I have the Bible to read, and my powers of reason left me. I have made up my mind not to foul my fingers with it anyway. I'll not vote for it, but against it, nor will I use the products of slave labor as a general thing neither for eating, or wearing, at home or abroad.

I must say that (as I do by alcohol) that I am opposed to it at all times and places and for anything and everything. And I would say to you hold on against slavery, it does good.

Web Site Update in Progress

The Association's web site is in the process of updating and redevelopment. Some of the features will be simplified. Links to this news-blog and the YouTube channel will also be added. Some of the visuals have been updated. Our hope is that our descendants near and far will further enjoy the web site as our primary educational tool for family and public outreach.