A Genealogical Breakthrough...

I have indicated in this blog previously that I am fascinated by my family history and occasionally perform research to push the envelope of knowledge further into the past.  My first interest in tracing my ancestry came from my Aunt Ethel, my father's sister.  She had to trace the family's lineage to a Revolutionary War soldier in order to be accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution.  After she had succeeded in this effort with the help of many librarians and archivists (There was no Internet in the 1940's.), she provided my family with copies of her research.  I became the keeper of the archives by default -- No one else in the family was particularly interested in these useless facts.

The revolutionary soldier that Aunt Ethel had traced as a direct ancestor was David Mead, who lived from 1762 until 1836.  Her notes described him as, "David  Mead, born 1762, died March 22, 1836. A soldier of the revolution: Fourth Regiment of the New York troops, under Colonel James Holmes; later served in the Second Regiment, Dutchess county militia, under Colonel Abraham Brinkerhoff, and in the Fourth Westchester militia, under Colonel Thaddeus Crane. Later lived in Coeymans, Albany County, New York. He married, abt. 1787, Sarah Williams."

Her notes indicated that David had been born in Stanwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut.  The town of Stanwich was eventually absorbed into what we now call Greenwich, CT.  My attempts to find information on David's birth and baptism failed when I was informed many years ago that any records that might still exist are in Connecticut state records that I could only access by going to Hartford.  I simply moved on to other parts of my genealogy.  As a result, this branch of my family tree lay dormant for many years.

Last week, I decided to revisit my Revolutionary War hero.  Aunt Ethel had theorized that we were descendants of a Mead (Perhaps Oliver?) who had arrived from England in 1698.  I always remembered that date because it coincided with the year that the Iroquois massacred the occupants of my home town, Schenectady, when it was little more than a frontier outpost in the Mohawk Valley.

I entered "David Mead Sarah Williams, Coeymans" in Google and searched.  One thing that popped up was the text of a speech that had been delivered in 1903 before the Tarrytown [New York] Historical Society by a Mr. Marcus D. Raymond, entitled "David Williams and the Capture of Andre."  It sounded kind of interesting, but seemed to be unrelated to my search until I read this, "Then David Williams had a sister, Sarah, who married David Mead..."  Could this possibly be my David Mead?  I have learned that when doing genealogical research, it's dangerous to make any assumptions, so I filed this little anecdotal evidence away.

Another statement in this speech inclined me away from believing that this person was my ancestor.  The speaker described that David Williams had a son, Moses, who was baptized in 1769, for whom Sarah Williams was a sponsor.  The Sarah Williams who is my great-great-great grandmother would only have been 9 years old at the time.  It seemed somewhat strange to me that a 9-year-old child would be a baptismal sponsor.  Again, I simply filed this information away.

My Google search yielded another treasure, and this one is significant.  In the New York Genealogical and Biographical Records, Volumes 31-32, is contained the records of the Church of Christ in Salem, Westchester County, New York.  On December 21, 1786, is recorded the marriage of David Mead to Sarah Williams.  My David Mead would have been 24 years old and Sarah 26 years old.  They were both probably living in Westchester County.  I felt that this marriage record probably involved my two relatives of interest.

Then my search hit upon a mother lode of relevant information -- one of those "breakthrough" moments that genealogists wait for.  It is part of the Schenectady Digital History Archive.  The foreword to the document reads as follows, "This information is from Vol. II, pp. 617-618 of Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, edited by Cuyler Reynolds (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911). It is in the Reference collection of the Schenectady County Public Library at R 929.1 R45. Some of the formatting of the original, especially in lists of descendants, may have been altered slightly for ease of reading."  

The opening paragraphs certainly elicited my interest:
"The earliest traces of the Mead family are to be found in a history of "The Norman people and their existing descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America," published in London, England, 1874. From that volume, it appears that the name Mead is the English form of the Norman "de Poato," which, translated into the English, is Mead, Meade, Mede and Meads. In 1635 there arrived in Massachusetts many ships from England, and among those arrivals is found the name of "Goodman" Mead (called Gabriel Mead). He is the ancestor of the Massachusetts branch. The most recent discoveries strongly indicate that he was accompanied by his brother, William Mead, ancestor of the Greenwich, Connecticut, Meads, from whom the family in Troy descend.

The Elizabeth

William and "Goodman" Mead sailed from Lydd county, Kent, England, in the ship "Elizabeth" in April, 1635. The Mead coat-of-arms, to which it is believed they were entitled, is thus described: Sable, a chevron between three pelicans, or vuln, gules crest; an eagle displayed; motto, "Semper peratus" — always ready. Goodman Mead remained in Massachusetts. William, however, followed the tide of emigration, which at that time was toward the Connecticut valley. The first English settlement was made at Windsor in 1633, and another settlement was made about the same time at Wethersfield, where William Mead settled first, and in 1641 he removed to Stamford with others from Wethersfield. December 7, 1641, "William Mayd (Mead) received from the town of Stamford a homelot and five acres of land." This William is the ancestor of the Fairfield county, Connecticut, family, although family tradition declares that John Mead was also one of those of eastern New York, western Vermont and Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was born about 1600. He married in 1625, and died in Stamford, Connecticut, about 1663. There is no record of his wife, but there is of his three children."

The format of the document beyond this point is a more traditional genealogical layout of generations following one another.  I began scanning down, looking for a David Mead who might coincide with my ancestor.  Then I saw this, "(VI) David (2), son of David (1) and Isabella (Knapp) Mead, was born in 1762, died March 22, 1836. He was a soldier of the revolution, enlisting in the Fourth Regiment of the New York troops, under Colonel James Holmes; also served in the Second Regiment, Dutchess county militia, Colonel Abraham Brinkerhoff, and in the Fourth Westchester militia, Colonel Thaddeus Crane. After the war he settled in the town of Coeymans, Albany county, New York. He married, in 1787, Sarah Williams, born 1760, died June 2, 1849. She was a sister of David Williams, one of the captors of Major Andre, the British spy, so closely connected with Benedict Arnold and his treasure. Five children."  (Emphasis mine)

In addition to the thrill of having extended my family tree back by several generations and knowing when and how my first Mead ancestors arrived -- in 1635, not 1698 as I had believed, I also wondered about that last sentence.  Who was this Major Andre, the British spy?  This had the makings of family lore.

It turns out that it was a HUGE deal.  Major Andre was in cahoots with Benedict Arnold to turn over the fortress at West Point to the British.  This likely would have enabled the British to divide the colonies, isolating New England from the rest of the colonies and would have ultimately led to the defeat of the Continental Army under George Washington.  Andre was caught by three members of the Continental Army while smuggling secret documents from Benedict Arnold to the British leadership on Long Island.  What followed is described in Wikipedia: "André rode on in safety until 9 a.m. on 23 September, when he came near Tarrytown, New York, where armed militiamen John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart, and David Williams stopped him.

A lithograph of the capture of Major John Andre

André thought that they were Tories because one was wearing a Hessian soldier's overcoat. "Gentlemen," he said, "I hope you belong to our party." "What party?" asked one of the men. "The lower party," replied André, meaning the British. "We do," was the answer. André then told them that he was a British officer who must not be detained, when, to his surprise, they said that they were Americans, and that he was their prisoner. He then told them that he was an American officer and showed them his passport, but the suspicions of his captors were now aroused. They searched him and found Arnold's papers in his stocking. Only Paulding could read and Arnold was not initially suspected. André offered them his horse and watch, if they would let him go, but they did not accept the bribe. André testified at his trial that the men searched his boots for the purpose of robbing him. Paulding realized that he was a spy and took him to Continental Army headquarters in Sands Hill."

Andre was later tried by a military court and found guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit" and ordered that "Major André, Adjutant-General to the British Army, ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy, and that agreeable to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion, he ought to suffer death."  He was hanged as a spy at Tappan, New York on 2 October 1780.

Major Andre's hanging

The three captors became instant national heroes.  A special medallion, known as the Fidelity Medallion, was authorized by the Continental Congress and awarded to each of them.  This is the first recognized military medal in the history of the United States.  It was never awarded again.  Congress also awarded each of them a lifetime pension of $200 per month.  This equates to about $6,500/mo. in current value.  David Williams is buried in the Old Stone Fort Cemetery in Schoharie, NY.  The inscription on his obelisk reads: "He with his compatriots John Paulding and Isaac VanWart on the 22nd of September 1780, arrested Major John Andre and found on his person treasonable papers in the handwriting of Gen. Benedict Arnold, who sought by treachery to surrender the military post of West Point into the hands of the enemy. In resisting the great bribes of their prisoner for his liberty, they showed their incorruptible patriotism; the American army was saved and our beloved Country became free." So with a single search and its results, I extended a branch of my family tree by 5 generations, learned the time and means by which my earliest Mead ancestors arrived on these shores, and discovered that I have a great-great-grand uncle who was a genuine national hero.  What a terrific weekend I had documenting these findings in my genealogical records.