The Name 'New Lebanon' (Letter to the Editor,1899)

Source: Greenwich Graphic. December 16, 1899. Page 1.

THE NAME NEW LEBANON 

Mr. Milo Mead Tells about a Deed and Refutes Some Misstatements. 

Editor of the Greenwich Graphic:

DEAR SIR – The Greenwich News of the 8th of December says: "The western part of the town known to the United States Government as Hawthorne:" How is it that the Government knows it by that name? Probably by the influence of one dollar bills paid to some of the officers of the Government to have that name adopted. Probably not a baker's dozen of the inhabitants of this village were in favor of that name. The government knows very little of this a village only by reputation, certainly it is not by the general business that is done under that name. There is not a store or blacksmith’s shop, or shoe maker’s shop, or market, excepting one and that is unoccupied in the village that does business under the sign Hawthorne.

The News says: "That the name excites his wrath (meaning myself) as much as a red rag does a bull.” If a bull could laugh and talk he might refer with a grin about the going for a red rag seven years after date, eastern time. “I am not in it” claims this singular paper.

In the News of November 24th among the real estate transfers was this item. “Milo Mead to William Boal, lot on southerly side of Delavan Avenue,” this with the exception of the word Hawthorne the News says was copied from the warrantee (he made a mistake in spelling) it should have been warranty deed. The News says that I kept the deed, and that deed was drawn March 8th 1892 and recorded November 11th, 1899, and the paper says it does not know what my idea was in holding this deed back so long before having it recorded. Here the News evidently grins and thinks that it has scored a point against me. I did not hold the deed back, it was handed to the buyer of the ground within ten minutes after the money was paid. Perhaps it would be pertinent, to suggest to the editor of that Greenwich paper, the propriety of changing the name from the Greenwich News to the Greenwich History, news is what has lately happened, history is an account of what happened years ago. 

Near the beginning of the article he says I have an exclusive name for the for the place, and that I dislike both other names. That does not follow of course. A man may like three persons, but he may like one of them better than the other two. The sovereigns of Europe have names enough to nearly reach across this page.

“The Fire Company there” (the article further says) “refused to apply that name (New Lebanon it means) to the organization even though a bribe was offered them in the shape of a building lot.” That is not exactly correct. Seventy-five dollars was offered to the company by three persons, which the “Greenwich History” would call a bribe. The company was organized and incorporated under the name of the “New Lebanon Fire Company,” but afterwards the name was changed to “Protection Fire Company.” The Editor of the “History” seems not to know in his writing and his talk the difference between a bribe and a prize. This is what the > Webster’s Dictionary says about a bribe, (part of the definition) “a price or reward with a view to pervert the judgment or corrupt the conduct of a judge, witness of other person or persons to some act contrary to what he knows to be the truth, justice or rectitude.” The editor of the “History” probably knows what the word bribe means, it is probably used by him for effect, not because there is an propriety in its use in respect to Belle Haven Avenue and the New Lebanon Fire Company. 

MILO MEAD

Mrs. Solomon Stoddard Mead (Mary Sands), North Greenwich.

Caroline Mills Smith Mead's Real Estate Developments in Cos Cob

In the June 11, 1910 announcement of Caroline Mills Smith Mead's funeral it was mentioned that: 

Mrs. Mead owned a large acreage of Cos Cob property, and although advanced in years was deeply interested in building up that part of the town, opening up her land into desirable building lots, handsome cottages having been built on many, Mrs. Mead's wish being that only a good class of houses be constructed, and the attractive section known as Mead Circle, which has so rapidly built up the past few years, was a part of her holdings. 

A recent trip to the Greenwich Town Clerk's office reaped a reward in the form of maps of Caroline's subdivisions and and developments in Cos Cob:

Obituary: Agnes Smith (Milo Mead, 1900)

Source: Greenwich Graphic. January 13, 1900. Page 1.

Died at Milo Mead's

NEW LEBANON, CONN., JAN. 10, 1900

AGNES I. SMITH

Agnes I. Smith died at the residence of writer Jan. 5th, aged 60 years. She was born in the North of Ireland and came to this country in a sailing vessel when she was about eighteen years of age. The vessel was several weeks in making the passage and came near being lost.

She attended Mrs. Deacon Mead three and a half years and has since been employed in my home where she would have been, if she had lived until the 31st of March next, twenty-seven years.

She was taken sick with pneumonia years ago and after she recovered from it, her constitution was enfeebled and she became liable to an attack of asthma, from the effects of which, she suffered much sickness and distress.

She was rather an exceptional person in fidelity and ability to manage house hold affairs, she had the esteem of many neighbors. She was a member of the Second Congregational Church of Greenwich.

MILO MEAD

Death of Elkanah Mead (1894)

Source: Greenwich Graphic. April 21, 1894. Page 1.

Mr. Elkanah Mead, who died at his home in Stanwich on Thursday of last week, aged 76 years, was an old resident of Greenwich, and had always taken a deep interest in the welfare of the town. For three years he was selectmen, and was at one time captain of a Greenwich company of the Fourth regiment. He had been a member of the second congregational church for fifty-five years, and a deacon in the church for twenty-four years and was a prominent worker in the cause. 

He was universally respected and looked upon as a straightforward, earnest and Christian man. The funeral services were held on Monday, and there was a large attendance. Rev. Russell T Hall conducted the services, and there was appropriate singing by the quartette. 

Mr. Mead's Tip Up Washer (1901)

Source: Greenwich Graphic. July 27, 1901, Page 5

Mr. I.L. Mead (Isaac Lewis Mead) in his leisure moments turns his attention to photography, and being of an investigating and inventive turn of mind, has made some practical improvements in the manner of taking and developing photographs. His latest invention is what might be called a tip up water washer, or "perpetual motion washer," as some of his friends designated it.

It's a tub about the size of an ordinary soap hoax. On one end are two pipes which act as syphons, running up the inside of the tub and down again on the outside. 

On the bottom is a perforated piece of zinc about the size of a plate. On springs in the tub are arranged strips of muslin, one above another. Between these strips of muslin are placed the prints, right out of the "hypo" bath. The tub is placed on a table and rests on knobs, and inch or two high a few inches to one side of the center of the tub; a weight is placed on the top, on the side needing the weight to keep the balance.

A short hose is attached to the perforated zinc in the bottom of the tub, and this runs to a faucet. The water is turned on and the box begins to fill; just as it reaches the top, the syphon pipes, which have filled also, are emptied of air by the pressure; the water in the box rushes into them, the syphon connection is complete, the weight more than balances the other side, the tub tips, and the water is soon drained from it, for it flows out faster than it flows in. When it is emptied the tub tips back and begins to fill again. The prints remain in the tub about an hour when the chemicals are thoroughly washed out of them and they are ready to dry in the sun.

The ordinary way of washing prints, after their "hypo" bath, is in dishes, in which the water must be kept in motion and changed every minute or two, and this work being done by hand, is tedious, and requires an hour.

With Mr. Mead's machine a dozen or more prints may be washed with no trouble, and it is done better than by hand. The water is gently agitated all the time, for the tub fills and empties in about two minutes, and no handling of the prints during the washing is required. The tub works automatically and will continue n operation until the water is turned off, requiring no attention when once set in motion.

This is only one of a number of improvements of Mr. Mead's in the developing of photographs, but the most important of all.