Mead Burying Ground at Lot & Drake's Corner

The family burying ground featured today is the smallest of the three the Association preserves. It is located near the intersection of North Street and Taconic Road within sight of one of the family homesteads. In 1971 Edgar T. Mead, Jr., a direct descendant of those interred here, published a book entitled The House on Lot and Drake's Corner, that we highly recommend.

The three final pictures featured at the link below were taken during the last week of June, 2010 by my cousin Robert Keeler, who is maintaining the cemetery off Relay Place at Cos Cob's historic Mill Pond and the cemetery off Cliffdale Road in North Greenwich.

Go to this link to the Association's web-based albums to view the pictures.

The Silleck House, a Mead House, Built Circa 1827

As I sit writing from my home in Honolulu I have read that temperatures at Yankee Stadium in New York City stand at 110F. It seems that the horrid winter experienced by some many in the Northeast is to be followed by one equally hot. You have my sympathies! If we in Hawaii were experiencing some trade winds I'd gladly send them your way.

This news reminded me of how in any historical age people will do what they can to seek comfort. The above picture was taken by me on a ride to and from Island Beach off the Greenwich coast in Long Island Sound in 2008. The building is located adjacent to the Indian Harbor Yacht Club off Greenwich Harbor. For many years it was known as the Silleck House, one of the earliest shore hotels in the region. I've long wondered if any of our family ancestors built the place.

I contacted Anne Young, archivist of the Greenwich Historical Society with a request for some information. After inspection of the materials I received my curiosity appears justified.

From the Greenwich News & Graphic story dated March 14, 1919 entitled 'Silleck House To Be Sold' is the following excerpt (original spellings and typographic errors retained):

The Silleck house is the oldest hotel on either shore of Long Island Sound between Sands Point, which is located opposite City Island, New York, and Stonington, Conn. It was build by the late Jared Mead in 1827, the frame construction being erected on dirt cellars which had been on the property a number of years prior to that date. Mr. Mead was a great-grandfather of W.P. White of Field Point Road. During the first few years it was run by Mr. Mead as a boarding hotel under the name of 'The White House,' the project did not prove successful and in the spring of 1849 Mr. Mead sold the building and grounds to Mrs. Fannie Runyon and Mrs. Mary Dennis, who in turn resold it to Thomas Funston on February 9, 1850. Thaddeus Silleck, grandfather of Elbert A. Silleck, became the owner on May 25, 1855, and later it fell into the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert A. Silleck and Edward T. Foote. Mr. Silleck for many years conducted a most successful fashionable summer hotel there.

Why was Jared Mead unsuccessful? Businesses thrive or fail for any number of reasons. I wondered about this. I found out why in one of my favorite Greenwich history books, 'Other Days in Greenwich,' by the late Judge Frederick Hubbard. On Page 262 Hubbard wrote:

"Situated near the shore with a dense forest on three sides, it was an ideal spot for a quiet summer retreat. The trouble with the "White House," as Mr. Mead called it, was due to the fact that table supplies were difficult to obtain. At that time there was no market in Greenwich. To supply the table with meat it was Jared Mead's custom to purchase lambs and calves of the farmers and butcher them on the premises. Vegetables were secured at market sloops. Butter was difficult to buy as the farmers preferred to send it to New York. The cows were pastured on Field Point, assuring a good supply of milk and cream. The water was brought from one of the Field Point springs, there being no well near the hotel. Apples were free to anyone who would gather them.

"Mr. Mead had a good class of boarders at what then thought to be remunerative prices, but he found it quite a struggle to maintain a satisfactory table. His fried fish, broiled lobsters, succulent oysters and scallops were considered most palatable, but there always came a time when the appetite demanded fresh meat."

The above-mentioned Greenwich News & Graphic story lists the names of some of the luminaries who stayed at the Silleck House. The include William B. Taylor, former postmaster of New York City; Horace Greeley, John Hoey, Robert M. Bruce, Charles A. Whitney, the New York banker; and a "Professor King" of Columbia University. Yet perhaps the most famous -or infamous- was none other than William M. Tweed, better known as "Boss Tweed" of New York.

"From a small building it was enlarged from time to time until it becamse one of the finest and most up-to-date hotels outside of New York and hundreds of prominent people from all parts of the country used to spend their summers at this popular hostelry, " continued the Greenwich News & Graphic. "In the early days boarding rates were $2.50 a week while of more recent date enormous prices have been charged not only at this but other similar hotels in Greenwich. Summer sojourners will now pay most any prices to get a breath of real country air and enjoy the many privileges afforded at these resorts."

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