A Sad Catastrophe: Two Boys Drowned at Ten Acres While Sailing a Boat (1894)

 Source: The Greenwich Graphic. December 1, 1894, Page 1.

The Pond at Ten Acres
(former Ebenezer Mead Farm, now the site of Cardinal Stadium on the campus of Greenwich High School).

No more sad affair has occurred in Greenwich in many years than the drowning of two boys at Ten Acres on Sunday morning last. The community was startled and horrified, as the report spread quickly after the catastrophe, and expressions of sorrow were heard on every hand and deep sympathy for the parents of the boys came from every one.

Three boys, John Mead, aged 16 years; James Gillespie and John Brandan, 18 and 17 years old, started on Sunday morning for Ten Acres. John Mead, a son of Captain Joseph G. Mead, Jr., a resident of Mechanic Street, had invited his cousin John Brandon, who lives in Brooklyn, to come to Greenwich and make him a visit, and Brandon asked his friend, James Gillespie, to come with him and he consented. They came on Saturday and expected to stay a day or two.

John Mead wanted to make it pleasant for his friends and show them around, and proposed that they go down to Ten Acres. It was about 9 o'clock when they arrived there.

On the north end of the pond there was a boat. Recently Mr. Maher had thrown up an embankment across this portion of the pond to keep sticks and leaves and debris from the brook from entering the pond, and this had formed a second pond being separated from the larger one by the embankment. This upper pond is quite large, but it was thought that the water was shallow here and that there was no danger. 

The boat was in the upper pond. The three boys stepped into the skiff, which had been put there only about two weeks ago. There was no sail in it and they rowed around for a while, and Gillespie said he was cold and went ashore. John Mead said he knew where there was a sail, and Brandon said, "Go get it," and he ran across the field and returned with it. It was much too big for the boat and weather-worn. There was some discussion about using it, but Brandon finally succeeded in rigging it up after a fashion.

Brandon urged them to get into the boat, but Mead and Gillespie were timid about risking their lives in such a craft. Finally Mead jumped in and Gillespie remained on the bank and watched them. They sailed down the pond nicely and all went well. 

First Congregational Church Cemetery, Old Greenwich, Connecticut

First Congregational Church Cemetery, Old Greenwich, Connecticut

As they turned and came back the wind, which was very puffy and stiff, struck the boat and it went over on its side but righted and they came before the breeze at a lively pace. Brandon was at the stern steering and Mead was tending the sail, when the rope broke and the sail flopped.

Johnnie Mead, in attempting to regain the sail, lost his balance and fell in the stern of the boat. This sudden weight tipped it up so that the bow was out of water, and the rear of the boat went under and the water rushed into it. The boys became frightened and the skiff tipped over. 

They were not over fifty feet from land and but a few feet from the embankment. As they were thrown into the water, one of them grasped the rudder rope but the rudder unloosened from its socket.

Gillespie, standing on the bank, hallooed to them to hold on to the boat, but they evidently had become so frightened as to have lost their presence of mind. He could not swim and neither could his comrades. They were in the ditch where the water is about ten feet deep and ten feet wide, and is the deepest part of the pond; two feet to the south of them was the embankment with sloping sides. On the other side of the ditch the water was from five to six feet in depth.

Gillespie saw them come up twice and then they disappeared. He waited for a few minutes and then ran to the village to Johnnie Mead's home. It did not occur to him to run to the nearest house, for he was a stranger and he was too frightened to think of anything but to go to Mr. Mead's house. Exhausted and panting he told Mr. Mead what it happened. 

Help was clipped quickly obtained, and Richard McCormick, Charles Hartung, Thomas Ritch, Mr. Mead and Gillespie went at once to the pond. The boat had drifted nearly ashore, and near it were the hats of the two boys. McCormick and Hartung jumped into the boat, and guided it to the place where the rudder was seen floating, for Gillespie had told them that was the spot, and looking into the water they saw the two boys standing upright, clutching each other. It was the work of but a few minutes to get them out. It was found that the rudder rope had become entangled around Mead's body. 

The poor boy, Gillespie, was almost insane. A GRAPHIC representative met him at the top of Put's Hill just after the bodies had been recovered.

He told the story as best as he could, with trembling form and bated breath, and then pointing to the pond said; "Suppose I had gone out in the boat, where would I have been; lying on the bank dead with them." The poor boy was a sad sight indeed, his reason was on the verge of going.

First United Methodist Church, Greenwich, circa 1890. 

THE FUNERAL

Funeral services were held in the Methodist Church on Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock, and the Church was crowded to overflowing. Chair were placed in the aisles to accommodate the large throng. 

Two white coffins were tenderly and touchingly brought into the Church, one containing the body of john C. Brandow, by six of his comrades who had come from Brooklyn to perform this sad duty. They were James Gillespie, William Allen, Fred Heyman, Frank Broombacker, David Fleming and William Noble, and following were Charles Crosby, Herbert Platt, Jacob Rippel, Harry Talbot, Harry Burnett and Leo Cuecil, bearing the other with the body of John C. Mead.

The bodies were both dressed alike in their coffins, and in the lapel of their coats was a little white bouquet. They were placed near the altar rail, and around them was a mass of flowers made into wreaths, pillows, broken columns and other designs, these being gifts of kind and sympathizing friends. 

The choir of the church sang the favorite hymns of the two boys, one in particular being pathetic, "Throw Out the Life Line." Its effect upon the audience was touching. 

Rev. Dr. Adams delivered an address full of feeling. After the services at the Church the funeral procession proceeded to Sound Beach. 

Conspicuous in the line was a special carriage which contained the flowers, which, at the arrival at the graves, were left upon the coffins of the two boys who were buried as they died, side by side. 

Dr. Adams said: "There is no man standing before his fellow meant such a time as this that knows enough to tell the reason why. There is no man, however deeply he may have suffered, that can communicate to the hearts that are especially bereaved under these circumstances, the comfort that they need. There is no man, however wide his observation and however deep his research, that is able to present the peculiar providence that brings us together this afternoon as to make it clear to his own understanding or to anybody else, that the way that this affliction may work out other than as God himself has set down in his word. 

"It is most unusual that such an accident as this should occur. There are all sorts of things which we call accidents in the world, and yet, if we believe God's Word, somewhere and somehow, he who sees the spiral fall and who is not unmoved by it, takes cognizance of all these strange and effective dispensations, and it is the duty of the minister of religion stands before his fellowmen at such a time as this to point in but one direction, namely, to Him before whom we all stand; to Him who is above all circumstance and is the helper, solace and comfort of man. 

"We turn to that wonderful sentence of the Lords Prayer, 'Our Father who art in Heaven,' and we know that there are things that seem to us utterly disastrous in the world that are after working out that which is good. The flash of lightning and the roar of thunder, while disastrous here and there, while disastrous here in there, make the forces which give the summer its beauty, purifies the air and makes the sunshine clearer than it otherwise could possibly be. It oftentimes turns out that what we think may be calamities are for the best after all. We know not how all things are worked out. 

"Destruction goes everywhere. The plow that goes through the furrow in the spring destroys multitudes of things, and yet out of that apparent destruction comes the waving harvest and the glow of the autumn. It is just so in the gathering of the crops; in a gathering of the crops; there is distraction even in reaping. It is the law of death, as much as the law of life.

"The going off of men in their youth, or in their middle-age, at times seems untimely at times seems untimely and strange and marvelous, and strange and marvelous, but there is one that never fails, and that is God, who loves men even in the depths of their greatest sorrow and bereavement. As a rule poor human nature tries to make the best of things. Certain things come to pass that we expect and we look them in the face. It is the unexpected that happens. Who would have dreamed on that morning, the other day, when these bright young men went for their morning walk that they would never come back? Who would have dreamed that that man who the other day went over to his office in the city of New York would never go back to his home again? Life is full of these things, and strange to say, we never get used to them. Death everywhere! Tombstones standing like silent sentinel, pointing with their marble fingers to another world, and yet we get accustomed to them. 

"There is only one thing that can bring rest to the souls of men in these hours of darkness and sadness, and that is the strength of him who is the omnipotent God. He has taken into his own harbor these souls that have departed. Those same loving arms rule on both sides of the river. As the great bottom is under the ocean and as the shores go down beneath the rivers, so the great arms and hands of God are down under humanity, ready to hold them up and give them strength.

"We come here to-day in the presence of death, not of aged men or aged women, but young men, in their pride and strength, going out quickly into the other world, and it brings a lesson especially to be done: 'Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye the Son of Man cometh.'

"Years ago a woman up in the interior of the state of New York heard her son had been shipwrecked and was drowned. She had been praying for him for years, but some one went into this woman's presence and said, but someone went into this woman's presence and said, 'What do you think now? You have trusted God all your days about your boy; what do you think now?' She clasped her hands, looked up and said, 'Notwithstanding the promise of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.' So I bid these mourning and these sorrowing hearts, look into the face of God.

"It is a hard thing to bury a little baby boy or baby girl; taken out of your arms and taken away to another world. But when our children rise up, slowly growing into manhood and womanhood, until they look right into your eyes on a level, it is harder still. Your boys and your girls come up around you and you lean on them in spite of you; you can't help it; you think you wont, but you do. The mother walks out in the street with her manly boy and takes him by the arm -the boy she carried on her bosom and nurse doesn't baby.the boy she carried on her bosom and nursed as a  baby. The father makes believe he is as young and stalwart as ever, yet after all he leans on them. He thinks he won't but he can't help it. God brings us into such relations, and it is none the worse for us. But oh! when they die! oh when they pass away! Words are not down in poetry; words are not written in human speech: words are not in any literature that I have found, to express it. I have only this to say: God does know you; God does love you and will help you, and God will stand by you.  

"Over the death of these young men let us consecrate ourselves to the service of God. One of them has been on my list of prayer here for more than a year, and every day that has gone over his head there has a prayer gone to heaven for him, I believe God heard it. Let us cultivate love; let us cultivate sympathy; let us give our hearts to God. Young people, let this be a warning to every one of you. Seek the great and loving God; make him your friend; give yourself to the service of the King invisible, eternal and everlasting. Now, in the days of your youth, get ready for the days sure to come." 

Greenwich Life As It Is-And Was: Zechariah Mead (Soldier's Monuments in Greenwich and Stamford)

 Source: Greenwich News and Graphic. Friday, June 1, 1923. L.B. Edwards. Page 9, Column 1. 

If the question was asked most residents of Greenwich, Who is Zechariah Mead?, they could not answer the inquiry. They probably would reply that they had never known such a man. Some of the older members of the community would say immediately with pleasing enthusiasm, "Yes, I do." 

Zechariah Mead was a prominent young man living in Greenwich sixty-three years ago, and belonged to one of the oldest Mead families, and while not among the number of young men who were the original members of Company I, the "crack" Greenwich company of the famous fighting Tenth Connecticut Regiment of Volunteers, as it was and still is known by among old soldiers and others who are familiar with its record in the war of the Rebellion, he joined the company later and in one of the few survivors who took part in the Memorial Day exercises in Greenwich this year.

For over forty years Zechariah Mead held an important position in a prominent New York city bank, giving it up only a short time ago on account of the infirmities of age. 

Every Memorial Day since the beautiful soldiers' monument was placed on the conspicuous triangular knoll southeast of the Second Congregational Church, flowers have been placed at the base and a wreath or other flowers hung near the top, where the figure of the soldier in solid granite always scouts attention from the observers of interest in the town, especially strangers.

The flowers used have mostly been lilacs, as their attractive blossoms have been the most in bloom at this season of the year; until hear in Greenwich, if nowhere else, the lilac has come to be regarded as the national symbol for Memorial Day observance, no national flower having been adopted.

Now, however, it seems that the Flanders Poppy will become the national Memorial Day flower, and it has been stated that more than 40 states will show their regard for those who fell in war by the use of the poppy for Memorial Day decoration, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are inaugurating a movement for the recognition of this pretty little flower, as the national Memorial Day blossom. 

The very many wearers of poppy blossoms on Memorial Day paid silent tribute to the soldiers gone, and where they were sold, as they were in many places, the proceeds realized will be used to alleviate the condition of disabled ex- servicemen, the comrades of those living in Greenwich, who formed the Greenwich Company, as well as other veterans of the late war for taking part in the Greenwich Memorial Day exercises.

It was a number of years after the Civil War was over, that the residents of the town of Greenwich decided to erect a suitable memorial in recognition of their valiant deeds. Many of the other towns of the state, within a comparatively few years after the soldiers and sailors returned to their homes and the war was declared ended, had directed memorials of some kind, and as the years went by criticism became more and more severe in Greenwich because nothing had been done in the matter in Greenwich. Finally public opinion became aroused and Horace W. Barton, who was engaged in the monument business in Woodlawn, but whose home was at Greenwich, was consulted and he submitted plans of the soldiers monument that seemed to please all who inspected them. 

Then a town meeting was called and the resolution appropriating the $6000 required was passed without a dissenting vote, and it was not long after the monument was placed in position with the appropriate exercises.

Stanford was more remiss than Greenwich in neglecting proper permanent recognition of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. There were a number of Greenwich veterans living in Stamford and they did not hesitate to call attention of the old soldiers of Stamford to what Greenwich had done in honor the veterans and Stamford residents; many of them were insistent that some action be taken on the part of the Town to place Stamford on the map with other cities and towns of the State that had so long in abeyance.

And then, too, the action of Greenwich was an incentive for Stamford to do something. The town did it, but it took an object lesson, laughed at by many Greenwich people who saw it, to secure what those who insisted that Stamford should have– a suitable recognition in form of a monument for the Stanford soldiers and sailors. The object lesson was given one Memorial Day morning. It was a beautiful day and the residents had begun to start the Memorial Day exercises. Many of them were wealthy New York business men who lived with their families in handsome residences, of which there was a large number of conspicuous homes, and the conditions prevailing were similar to those of most towns whose prominent residents were largely of the commuting class and there was very little interest taken by them in local affairs of the town.

On this Memorial Day morning, located on a permanent place in front of the public square on Main and Atlantic Street and Park Place, was a small monument. It had been put there the previous night. It was about five feet high, of wood frame, covered with  unbleached cotton cloth.

At the front was a wreath of green leaves and underneath lettering: "The way Stamford remembers its veterans," or wording of similar effect. There was a lot of mad Stamford folks when they saw it, and some laughed at it, however, and said that it was a great joke, while the majority passed it by with a look of disgust. It was the talk of the town on that Memorial Day and some of the residents said they would find the ones who were the instigators of the insult.

"Plain" Sam Fessenden, leading politician, state's attorney and public spirited citizen, who had been a lieutenant in the Civil War, smiled in his friendly way when spoken to about the matter, and Alexander Weed, an old soldier who knew more about jokes than any other man in Stamford and was one of the kindest-hearted men of the town, stormed around some and appeared to be very angry when spoken to about it by those we're going to find one, but it was noticed that after they left his store he would go into the back room and laugh, and it soon became evident that the two close friends knew more about the monument than they were willing to tell.

But it had the desired effect, for soon after the Town of Stamford was presented with a cannon, captured from the Spanish in the Spanish-American war. This was mounted on a suitable base in West  Main street park, and dedicated with appropriate exercises and afforded a suitable and rather unique soldiers monument for Stamford.

Time's Toll Takes Mead Homestead: Old House at Turnpike in Cos Cob Replaced by Handsome School Building

 Source: Greenwich News and Graphic: April 20, 1915. Page 1. 

The Mead homestead on the old Boston turnpike at Cos Cob is another of the monuments to old Greenwich days which are fast demolished to make room for more modern and pretentious structures. Although the old weather-beaten landmarks ugly and ______ out of place in this supposedly harmonious age they still hold a dear and cherished place in the hearts of the old residents of Greenwich who look back into the dim past with straining eyes, seeking to bring back to memory the scene of "yesterday's year." But with the list of the old familiar landmarks, yearly, growing smaller it will, not be long before they will, like the age they dated for, become also a thing of the past.

The old Mead homestead was situated on the land with was sold to the town for a school site and which to-day contain the Cos Cob public school, in a practically finished state. When the new school house began to assume proportion, it was only natural to have the old house torn down.

For more than one hundred and fifty years it had been a landmark and was one to the pretentious houses on the Post Road many years, always attracting attention from the traveler ___ ____ as they passed by on their journeys.

For upward of seventy-five years, it was the home of William Mead, who died over twenty-five years ago. He was a prosperous farmer and owned a large tract of land surrounding house. ___ all the houses built in the _____, the timbers were large, and as the _____ boards were torn away the ____ out, timbers are revealed to view. But what attracts the most attention are the old stone and cement chimneys with the large open fireplaces, which were the only source of heating the spacious house for many years.

Some fifteen years ago, the house was the home of Mr. James Beecher, the wife of one fo the members of the famous Beecher family, who kept a young ladies school there for some time. 

The house was made notable by a large oak tree which stood just in front ____. The tree had been _____ , _____ the normal prehistoric, the old resident said. It measured thirty or forty feet around and its large branches spread over a wide area. In ____ _______ ____ many branches, been ---- the trunk, which was ____ ___ the base and so was the _____ . It was known ____ _______, far and wide, and was _______  ________ with wonder and ______.

In a very few years ago, the trunk ________ fell over, ____ ______ of the great old tree _____ in the ground under which the roots probably remain. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Historic Mead Burying Grounds, Inc. Founded & Established

 

Mead Family Cemetery, 2 Taconic Road, Greenwich, Connecticut. 

We are pleased to announce that Historic Mead Burying Grounds, Inc., has been founded and established. 

It succeeds the Historic Mead Family Burying Grounds Association, Inc., that was founded in 1989. 

Historic Mead Burying Grounds, Inc., was established to act as an educational and cemetery association dedicated to the preservation, stewardship, perpetual care, collection and dissemination of information of three Mead Family burying grounds and cemeteries in the Town of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. 

In addition, the Association collects and disseminates information on the burials of Mead Family ancestors interred in other cemeteries and burying grounds in the Town of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. 

Contact: MeadBuryingGrounds@gmail.com. 

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 184, Greenwich CT 06836.

The Beecher Family School for Young Girls, Cos Cob at William H. Mead House, Cos Cob.

 

It turns out that William H. Mead's house -where Cos Cob Elementary School is located today- was the home of a school for girls. The house was rented out by Caroline Smith Mead to the school for dormitory space and classrooms.

The school was operated by members of the famous Beecher family -as in Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

The list of references is impressive. Names include Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher; Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe; Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain); Rev. Yarrington of Christ Episcopal Church, Greenwich, and so on. (See the third page in the link below). 

Above is an image of the cover page of a brochure promoting the school. To see more visit this link to Harvard Library. 

Cos Cob Elementary School.

Greenwich Life As It Is-And Was: Edward Mead and His Beautiful Home-Other Prominent Men (1923)

Edward Mead House (1832). Known as 'Boxwoods,' it is at the 
intersection of East Putnam Avenue and Indian Field Road. 

Source: Greenwich News and Graphic: Friday, June 8, 1923. L.B. Edwards. Page 7, Column 1. 

In the article of a few weeks ago, relative to the strong men, mentally and physically, living in Greenwich about the time the Greenwich Graphic was first issued, the statement was made that there may have been others.

Interred in New Burial Grounds Assoc. Cemetery,
next to the Second Congregational Church of Greenwich. 

One in mind was Edward Mead. He passed away a few years previous to that time, but for the greater part of his life was contemporaneous with them. He was a man so universally respected, and of such admirable qualities of character that some mention should be made of his life in the community.

He lived on what may be called the ancestral estate, a large farm located on the Boston Post Road, the land being situated on both sides of that now greatly traveled thoroughfare, in the vicinity of what is now Indian Field Road and in the fine white frame two-story and a half house on the north side of the road, having been a conspicuous landmark for years.

The farm has been in the possession of this branch of the Mead family for a longer period of time than any other farm has been owned by any one family in the Town of Greenwich, it is safe to say, members of Edward Mead's family still owning most of the farm and living in the attractive house.

Until a few years ago there was a number of farms that had been owned by one family in each instance, since pre-Revolutionary days, but they have now become the costly estates for which Greenwich is noted.

Mr. Mead's son, Daniel Merritt Mead was the first Captain of Company I, Tenth Connecticut Volunteers. Benjamin Wright, father of Wilbur S. Wright, was made lieutenant when the company was organized, and when Daniel Merritt Mead was promoted to Major of the regiment, soon after the Greenwich company had gone to the front Benjamin Wright was made captain. Robert M. Wilcox, vice-president and secretary of the Putnam Trust Company, is a grandson of Edward Mead. 

Previous to 1832 the house in which the Mead family lived was situated on the opposite side of the street from the present residence. In 1832 the present house on the north side was built and when completed was considered in every way one of the finest houses in Greenwich. 

This is the rear side of the Edward Mead House (1832). 

Stage coaches were making regular trips between New York and Boston then and the attention of the passengers in them almost always was called to the house as one worthy of especial notice on the stagecoach route.

But the chief feature of interest was the front door entrance; that is probably the most beautiful one architecturally of any house in the Town of Greenwich. There are those much more costly, but none of more artistic appearance. 

The entrance became so noted that the attention of Wallace Nutting the artist, whose pictures and colors have been sold in large numbers in all parts of the country, was attracted to it, with two young ladies of Greenwich dressed in colonial style, ascending the front steps, the title of the picture being, "A trip to the Squire's." (See above)

Other objects that are of interest at the front of the house are the box shrubs. There are three of them, gigantic specimens each side of the front steps having one and they are probably 92 years old, the same number of years as the house. The one in the garden just west of the front lawn is 114 years old, having been planted in 1809.

Another old resident who should receive special attention is the 'Sage of New Lebanon,' as he was called, Milo Mead, whose memory is revered by the older residents of the East Port Chester District, for which section he was always ready to spend his money and time to improve in every way possible, and although he did not succeed in having the name changed to New Lebanon, much to his regret, that did not deter him from working for the interest of that section. 

He gave away his land and money freely for public improvements. He was a fine old man, and it was certainly a great pleasure to talk with him. He lived in the little story and a half frame house on a knoll at Byram Shore facing Long Island Sound, from which there was an unmolested view of Long Island and the Sound. The house looked somewhat incongruous situated near the fine residences of Byram Shore, but certainly added a picturesqueness to the scenery thereabouts that it would not otherwise have had.

Mr. Mead's latch string was always out, and he welcomed stranger as well as friend to his home,And he welcomed stranger as well as friend to his home, and seemed delighted to talk about New Lebanon and the days that have passed during his long life in Greenwich.  

He had amassed a considerable fortune that he had acquired by the sale of a large part of his farm land for Byram Shore residences. He always lived the simple life, however, and was noted for his generosity and kindness of heart as well as his interest in New Lebanon.

Then there was Shadrach M. Brush. What a fine old gentleman he was too! Having deserved reputation for his over gentle disposition, yet, it was not always that way, according to a statement made by him in the presence of the writer. He had an ungovernable temper when a boy and young man, and only narrowly escaped injuring a companion by losing it. That taught him a lesson and ever after that time he controlled his temper and was known to be a man of the gentlest ways. 

Mr. Brush was a public spirited man. Besides the fine farm in Stanwich that is still owned and occupied by members of his family, Mr. Brush possessed large holdings of real estate located in the Borough, much of which he improved. He was engaged in retail business in the borough for a number of years, retiring after he had become advanced in years, his sons succeeding him. 

His home in the Borough was sold not long ago to the Knights of Columbus for their headquarters, which makes a central and desirable location for this prosperous organization which makes a central and desirable location for this prosperous organization, so well known for activities in the late war.

Greenwich Life As It Is-And Was: Mrs. Caroline Mead's Real Estate Promotion and Success (1923)

Source: Greenwich News & Graphic. Greenwich Life As It Is-And Was: Mrs. Caroline Mead's Real Estate Promotion and Success, By Lucian B. Edwards. Second Section, Page 1.

Caroline Mills Smith Mead.

The first of Greenwich farming land to be developed into residential sites was owned by a woman who promoted what proved to be one of the most successful real estate operations ever planned for Greenwich.

She was Mrs. Caroline M. Mead of Cos Cob, widow of William H. Mead, "White Oak Bill" he was called by almost everybody who was acquainted with him, to distinguish him from another William H. Mead who had a saddlery shop on old Church Road, and was known as "Saddlery Bill."

There were so many families living in the town half a century or longer ago, by the name of Mead, that the surname was seldom mentioned when the men of the families of that name for spoken of or two. It was always "Lyman," "Cornelius," "Henry," "William J.," or other of the given names.

"White Oak Bill" began to sell off some of his extensive farmland centrally located at Cos Cob, before the Belle Haven Land Company was organized, to purchase the Bush farm for development into "high-class"  residential sites.

The Mead home, now the site of Cos Cob Elementary School. 

William H. Mead's farm consisted of quite a large number of acres located on both sides of the Boston Post Road near Strickland Pond. 

The house in which the family lived was of the Colonial architecture, a large two story frame dwelling facing the southeast having a spacious piazza along the entire front. It was located on the site of the present Cos Cob school building, the street now called Orchard Street passing the front. 

Between the front fence and the street was a wide lawn, such as was customary to have a front of most of the houses in. 

When the Mead house was built long before the stage coaches stopped making trips over the highway, the residence and the enormous white oak tree, that stood on the lawn just in front of the gate opening to the premises, were conspicuous objects of interest to in the stagecoaches.

This white oak tree had more than local fame. It was a big tree at the time of the Revolutionary War, and when the Mead family lived on the farm it had a circumference of at least 30 feet at the base, and the diameter of the trunk was not less than 10 feet at the narrowest part. Its great branches spread across both highways and over the house. 

In a gale that occurred many of the branches were broken off and the remainder were removed where they grew out from the trunk. 

There was a big opening at the base, and the boys and girls of Cos Cob used to play around the old oak, hiding in the interior. 

Finally the old trunk became unsafe and it was taken down, thus removing the last vestige of one of the important landmarks of the vicinity.

William H. Mead really began the development of his farm land into residential sites. He opened Mead avenue through his land from the Boston Post Road to the River Road, making a fine wide street, and the lots very large. 

Fine houses were seen in process of building, the latest to be erected being that of Frank Lockwood, at the northeast corner of Mead Avenue at the River Road which was completed some fifteen or twenty years ago. It was called the "Fifth Avenue" of Cos Cob and was considered the select residential section of that part of the town. 

Mrs. Mead, who was a tall, slender woman of energy, progressive ideas and unusual executive ability, had an attractive cottage built on a lot on the south side of the Post Road, north of Mead Avenue, to which she moved from the old house which she leased to Mrs. James Beecher, sister-in-law of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, where Mrs. Beecher had a young women's and girls school where Mrs. Beecher for a number of years.

Then Mrs. Mead started on her successful real estate career. 

She opened a street some 300 feet or more west of Mead Avenue, extending to Strickland Pond on the south and west, calling it Relay Place, where lots were sold and houses erected. 

Across the street from her cottage between the Post Road what was in early days called the King's Highway, was a triangular plot extending from Orchard Street to Diamond Hill. This land was divided into small smaller lots and a number of cottages were soon built on lots.

Joseph Lockwood, "Joe" they called him, who had become proprietor of the Greenwich drug store, purchased one of these building lots and had a two story frame building put up, the lower part having two stores and the upper part two flats. 

In one of the stores he opened a drug store, selling it to Dr. Lockwood of Stanwich, who conducted the store for a number of years. 

A grocery business was located in the other store, and there were indications at that time that there would be quite a business section in that vicinity. 

Later however, a brick store building and garage were built at "The Hub," where the retail business of Cos Cob has since continued.

Mead Circle: Suburban Avenue and other streets in Cos Cob. 

Mrs. Mead opened a street just east of Strickland Brook, from the Post Road north and curving to the road east, where a large number of very desirable building lots, that were easily sold at large prices for that time, were developed. 

They were good-sized lots and attractive houses were built, Mrs. Mead always insisting that houses built on the lots she sold should be attractive and a credit to the locality. 

She called the section Mead Circle. In recent years Mead Circle which is so desirably situated for cottages in every way, accessible to trolley line, desirable neighborhood and attractive surroundings, has been rapidly "built up."

Formerly Strickland Pond, the tide mill pond that furnished power for the grist mill on the Cos Cob Landing, and a fine fishing pond for snappers, crab and smelts, would be nothing but an unsightly mud pond for part of the time each day, when the tide was out. 

Grist mill at Cos Cob Landing. Strickland Pond is to the left. Cos Cob's
Bush Holley House would be behind the photographer's vantage point. 

After the grist mill ceased to grind, the sluiceway was closed so that water remained in the Strickland Pond all the time, making the section more attractive that it had ever previously had been. 

But the water became stagnant and offensive so a plan was devised to open the sluiceway at frequent intervals and that objection was easily overcome.

Mrs. Mead was actively engaged in the selling of her lots for a number of years, accumulating a considerable fortune in addition to that she had previously processed, from the sale of her lots. She sold her lots on easy terms to desirable purchasers, and offered every inducement to such persons to buy and build houses. 

Advancing years and family health compelled her to give up business activities and she retired for a quiet life, always however, seemingly intensely interested when questioned about her real estate operations. 

For more information on Caroline Mill Smith Mead see the following:

ANNOUNCEMENT: Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden and Mead Family Cemetery at Cos Cob (Click Here)

Obituaries: Caroline Mills Mead (1910). (Click Here)

Obituary: Caroline Mills Mead (Greenwich News, 1910) (Click Here) 

Funeral of Mrs. Caroline M. Mead (1910). (Click Here) 

Caroline Mills Smith Mead's Real Estate Developments in Cos Cob (Click Here)

Portrait: Caroline Mills Smith (died 1910) (Click Here) 

Mrs. Caroline Mead Makes Many Bequests (1910) (Click Here) 

UPDATE: Caroline Mills Smith Mead Memorial Garden/Mead Cemetery, Cos Cob Mill Pond (Click Here) 

Re-introducing Ebenezer Smith (died 1873) and his wife, Rhoda Page and Charles E. Smith (Click Here) 

The Smith Family Cemetery in the Roxbury section of Stamford, Connecticut. This is where Caroline Mills Smith Mead's ancestors are interred -including her mother, Rhoda Smith. (Click Here)