UPDATE A Gate in Union Cemetery: Elkanah Mead, 1869

We received this curious photo of a stand-alone gate in Union Cemetery, Greenwich. 

The name Elkanah Mead is a familiar one here -especially if you were a client of the Elkanah Mead Insurance Agency. 

Admittedly we are not sure if this gate marks the spot in the cemetery were Elkanah Mead is interred. There is no gravestone nearby with his name on it. 

UPDATE OCTOBER 16, 2016

Today we report that the iron gate was cleaned and a coat of satin paint was applied to its surface. We appreciate the cooperation of the Second Congregational Church and its Cemetery Committee.

In the not-too-distant future we will be applying a gold colored paint to the lettering and numbers on the gate. 

Mead Triumphs Again; Another Decision in the Famous Barn-Burning Case (New York Times, 1889)

Source: The New York Times. January 6, 1889. Page 16.

Another decision was given yesterday in the celebrated barn-burning case of Alexander Mead against David S. Husted, which has occupied the courts of Connecticut for the last 10 years. The decision was in Mr. Mead's favor, and he came to New York yesterday afternoon with his ruddy face wreathed in smiles and his right arm burdened with a huge volume of the many and various court proceedings. He had had four barns burned and then he quit building them, not only because it was almost a certainty that any new structure would meet the fate of its predecessors, but because his series of misfortunates had become famous in insurance circles, and he found it impossible to obtain fire insurance on anything he possessed.

Mr. Mead's first barn was burned in 1875. It was a large structure, situated on his place in Greenwich, Conn., and was filled with hay and grain. While the barn was on fire a young lady of the neighborhood saw David S. Husted standing in a celler across the street from the burning building, watching the fire. That same year, but prior to the burning of Mead's barn, Husted had been arrested by the Glen Falls Insurance Company for obtaining money under false pretenses. He had built a new house, which was burned almost as soon as it was insured in the Glen Falls Company. The latter had Husted confined in the Glen Falls Jail until he paid back all the moneys received from the insurance company. When Husted was released from prison it was reported to Mead that Husted blamed Mead for the action of the insurance company and had sworn vengeance. To this Mead paid so little attention that he built another large barn in 1876 and it stored it with all kinds of crops. In March, 1877, this barn was likewise destroyed by fire. Mead had his suspicions, but he was still in need of a barn and therefore proceeded to a erect another structure on the site of the old one. In January, 1879, this barn was burned, with 27 head of cattle and a large amount of grain, farming implements, etc.

Mead then determined to do something for his own protection, and acting, under the advice of George H. Watrous of New Haven, he began a suit for $20,000 damages against Husted and attached the latter's farm for that amount. The case was brought to trial in 1880, but the evidence bearing on the burning of the barn in 1875 was ruled out under the Statute of Limitation. Mead appealed from this decision to the Supreme Court of Errors and a new trial was granted with the admission of the 1875 evidence. The second trial was held before a jury in Bridgeport in 1883, and it was testified that Husted had openly threatened to burn down Mead's barns until Mead should suffer a loss equal in amount to the sum of money that Husted had been compelled to pay back to the Glen Falls Insurance Company. The jury disagreed, but the case was brought to a fresh trial at Danbury in the Fall of the same year. On the trial Mead obtained a judgment of $5000 in costs against Husted. The latter appealed to the Supreme Court for a new trial, but the appeal was denied. Then Mead attached Husted's farm and recovered $6,000 as the total of the judgment.

In the meantime Mead had built a fourth barn, despite the fact that he could obtain no insurance on the building, and this was also burned in 1884. The town of Greenwich and became thoroughly aroused, and offered a reward of $2000 for the detection of the guilty party. Nothing came of this, although several New York detectives undertook to ferret out the criminal. Nevertheless, Mead began a civil suit against Husted for the value of this barn and again attached his farm. At this Husted asked for new trial of the first case on the ground of newly discovered evidence, which was granted last March by Judge Torrence of the Superior Court. From this decision Mead appealed to the Supreme Court and the case was tried last October on the appeal. Yesterday a decision was rendered refusing a new trial to Husted. This leaves Mead in possession of the $6000 judgment already obtained and clears the way for a trial of his suit for $7000 damage for the barn burned in 1884. He is determined to press this suit immediately.

One of the most notable bits of evidence in the great volume elicited by these barn-burning trials is the story that one Alfred Dyckman, a devout Methodist of Greenwich, prayed that the man who burned Mead's barn might be paralyzed. It was gravely told in court but the following morning after this prayer was uttered Husted had a fit.

Elynore Peterson Plans Her Wedding: Connecticut Girl's Marriage to Douglas P. Mead to Take Place on Saturday (New York Times, 1934)

Source: The New York Times: May 3, 1934. Page 16.
Special to The New York Times.

Douglas Parker Mead of Stamford, son of Mrs. Elbert M. Reynolds of Greenwich, and Miss Elynore Peterson, daughter of William Peterson and the late Mrs. Peterson of Glenbrook, Connecticut, will take place in the Swedish Evangelical Congregational Church Stamford, on Saturday afternoon, at 5 o'clock. Reverend Oscar F. Johnson, the pastor, will officiate.

Mr. Mead is with the Stamford Trust Company. His father, the late Seaman M. Mead, was a descendent of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Greenwich.

Mrs. Reynolds, mother of Douglas Mead, is the daughter of the late Nathan Parker of Port Chester, where she was born. Following the death of Mr. Mead she was married to Mr. Reynolds, formerly lived in North St., Greenwich and whose ancestors were among the pioneer residents of the town.

Oliver D. Mead, 96, Greenwich Banker: Executive of Lumber and Land Companies is Dead (New York Times, 1939)

Source: The New York Times. January 12, 1939. Page 19.

Oliver Deliverance Mead, former banker and lumber dealer, died in his home, Field Point Park, here this morning. He celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday on Dec. 29, and on Monday made his usual trip in town and his electric automobile, 1922 model, to pay his town taxes.

Mr. Mead was vice president of the Maher Brothers Corporation, a large lumber and coal firm. He was president of the New Burial Ground Association and for ten years president of the Greenwich National Bank.

Born on his father's farm on Dec. 29, 1842, he attended Greenwich Academy and in 1882 moved to the Zophar Mead homestead, Field Point Park, a house built in 1792, which he inherited with 120 acres from his cousin, Oliver Mead. He organized the Field Point Land Company and served as its president for many years, dividing the farm into home sites, which now make up Belle Haven. For thirteen years he served in the Connecticut militia and was for a time Justice of the Peace.

In 1864 he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and had voted in every presidential election since that time. Mr. Mead sought to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War. "They thought I wasn't physically able," he said recently, "and now there are none of them left." He was the oldest member of the Elks and Masons here.

Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Adam Reed Guy of Brooklyn and Mrs. Newell L. Walker and Mrs. William J. Ferris of Greenwich and a granddaughter, Mrs. Granville K. Lester.

375th Year Greenwich Founder's Day Monument Dedicated at Greenwich Point July 18

World War I Centennial: Mead's of Second Congregational Church, Greenwich Who Served

The above names are on a plaque in the Second Congregational Church that reads as follows: 

This tablet erected in honor of those of this church who answered the call of their country in the world war 1914-1918. 

376th Founders Day: July 18, 2016

In 1990 -also the year the Town of Greenwich celebrated its 350th founding -Mead family descendants gathered in Tomac Cemetery in Old Greenwich and dedicated this monument. 

Below are additional images of Tomac Cemetery. 

According to the late Town Historian William E. Finch, Jr., the family's original ancestors are interred in this cemetery in the back section among the plain fieldstone markers. 

We wish all near and far a Happy 376th Greenwich Founders Day.