The English origin of Gabriel Mead of Dorchester and Joan his wife
This paper is the result of a suggestion made by Gordon Remington of Salt Lake City.
It is known that the wife of Gabriel Mead of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was named Joan, and it has been assumed that her maiden name was Bate or Bates, but without any proof. It has been suggested that he was born in about 1588 and the name of one of his daughters was Sarah.(1)
In fact, in the town of Henley upon Thames, Oxfordshire, Gabriel Meades was born in 1590, married Joan Frewin, and had Sarah, his eldest daughter, who was born in 1632.
Thomas Meades was born, say, 1550 and lived in the town of Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. The earliest parish records for this town are from 1558, so there is no record of his christening. There was a man named William Mede who paid rent on a tenement in Henley in 1487 and 1492(2), but there is no way of knowing if the two men were related.
Thomas Meades probably did not come originally from Henley or the nearby parishes. All of the people named Meades in the parish records of Henley until 1640 are descended from him, and there is no one named Meade or Meades in the 16th century records of the nearby parishes. There was a man named Thomas Meade in the muster rolls for Oxfordshire in 1569(3), but this was in the hundred of Bullingdon about 20 miles away, and there were probably dozens of Thomas Meades in England at that time.
On May 25, 1578 Thomas Meades married Emlin Carter and they had:
Oct 24, 1579 John Meades son of Thomas
About 1582 Andrew Meades
Dec 19, 1585 Edward Meades son of Thomas
Oct 4, 1590 Gabriel Meades son of Thomas
Thomas Meades was a weaver. He had a messuage and tenement in a place called Beggaridge in Henley and was a member of Saint Mary's church. In 1602 his name is found on an assessment list for the church(4). He paid 18d, an average contribution.
On November 15, 1612, Emlin Meades the wife of Thomas Meades was buried. A short time later, on Feb 1, 1612/3 Thomas Meades married Ellinor or Elianor Thomas.
The will(5) of Thomas Meades of Henley upon Thames, weaver, is dated March 23, 1623/4. In it he bequeaths a messuage or tenement in "Beggaridge in the parish of Henley" to his son John Meades, with the stipulation that "Elianor my nowe wife" have a one-third share. His wife also received various household stuff, such as bedding, linen, a bedstead, an iron pot and "all my pewter and brasse". To his second son, Andrew Meades, he left the sum of twelve pence. The name of Andrew Meades does not appear in the parish records of Henley. For the most part these are quite legible, though there are a few damaged portions, especially at the bottoms of the pages. Thomas left to his "third sonne Edward Meades the somme of Twenty and ffower pounde the wch hee nowe oweth unto mee." And finally, Thomas left the rest of his estate, including goods, money, cattle and chattels, "to Gabriell Meades my youngest sonne whome I make and ordaine my sole Executor."
Thomas Meades was buried on August 29, 1629. On January 16, 1630 "widdo Meades", probably his widow Elianor, was married to Thomas Haselwood.
On October 31, 1602, John Meades, the eldest son of Thomas Meades and Emlin Carter, married Katherine Goodspeed and they had:
Oct 30, 1603 Daniel Meades son of John
Feb 2, 1605/6 John Meades son of John (buried Sep 6, 1611)
Sep 11, 1608 Augustine Meades son of John
Mar 10, 1610/1 Richard Meades son of John
Oct 24, 1613 John Meades son of John
Jun 23, 1616 William Meades son of John
Dec 12, 1619 Stephen Meades son of John (buried Feb 15, 1628/9)
Feb 13, 1624/5 Bridget Meades daughter of John (buried Feb 15, 1628/9)
On December 26, 1613, Edward Meades, the third son of Thomas Meades and Emlin Carter, married Joan Williams and they had:
Sep 24, 1615 Joan Meades daughter of Edward (buried Mar 20, 1617/8)
Apr 3, 1617 An Meades daughter of Edward
Jan 1, 1618/9 Johana Meades daughter of Edward
Nov 15, 1620 Edward Meades son of Edward (buried Nov 16, 1620)
Joan Meades, the wife of Edward Meades, was buried on December 24, 1620. Soon afterwards, on May 27, 1621, Edward Meades married Agnes Johnson and they had:
Mar 15, 1622/3 Elizabeth Meades daughter of Edward (buried Mar 25, 1623)
Jan 1623/4 (no date) Unnamed child of Edward Meades buried
Aug 21, 1625 Elizabeth Meades daughter of Edward
Dec 3, 1626 Dorothy Meades daughter of Edward
Apr 27, 1628 Sara Meades daughter of Edward
Jul 25, 1630 Frances Meades daughter of Edward
Sep 28, 1633 Ruth Meades daughter of Edward
Jan 25, 1634/5 Edward Meades son of Edward
Jun 2, 1637 Child of Edward Meades stillborn
On, July 17,1628 Gabriel Meades, the youngest son of Thomas Meades, married Joan Frewin. There were several Joan Frewins or Fruins born at about the right time to have married Gabriel Meades in 1628. Joan Frewin the daughter of Henry was born in April 1592 but she was buried February 9, 1593/4. There was a Joan the daughter of Richard born May 29, 1595. Joan Frewin the daughter of Robert was born October 13 1605 but "Jana filia Roberti" was buried on September 27, 1625. And on September 13, 1607 was christened Joan the daughter of Richard Fruin and Alice Bond, who were married August 25, 1606. Thus there were two surviving Joans, born in 1595 and 1607. The younger Joan was more likely the one who married Gabriel in 1628, since the elder one would have married at the age of 33 and had her second child at 37. If Gabriel and Joan Meades of Henley are the same as Gabriel and Joan Mead of Dorchester, Massachusetts, the elder Joan, born in 1595, would have had children in America at well over the age of 40.
Gabriel Meades and Joan his wife had, in Henley:
Dec 16, 1629 Abell Meades son of Gabriell (buried Dec 20, 1629)
Aug 30, 1632 Sara daughter of Gabriel
After this, at least unto 1640, there are no further records of children born to Gabriell Meades in Henley.
Gabriel Mead came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1635 or 1636. He was made a freeman of the town on May 2, 1638.(6)
In February 1652, Gabriel Mead was a witness to a deed between Thomas Holbrooke and John Gill.
Johanna (or Joan) the wife of Gabriel Mead was mentioned in the will of James Bate in 1655, and Gabriel was a witness to the will.
Gabriel was the custodian of the meeting house in Dorchester. He cleaned the place and rang the bell, and was paid three pounds a year. In 1662 there wasn't enough money in the treasury to pay him, so Hopestill Foster and Nathaniel Patten paid him out of their own pockets and were reimbursed the next year. This could have been arranged as a retirement job - Gabriel was over 70 at this time. Three pounds a year was not a lot of money, barely enough to live on, but sweeping the meeting house and ringing the bell were not very onerous duties.
In 1664 Gabriel and his son Israel were on list of people who signed a petition.
His will is dated 1654, but he lived for another 12 years. It begins "I, Gabriell Mead of Dorchester, being aged & Infirme in body, yet of perfect Remembrance, doe make this my last will & testament." Gabriel left the house he lived in to his son Israel, who was born in 1637. He left his old house to his son David. His wife was Joan and his daughters were Sarah, who married Samuel Eddy in 1664; Lydia, who married James Burgess in 1652; Experience, who married Jabez Eaton in 1663; and Patience, who married Mathias Evans in 1669.
Gabriel owned land near the burial ground, and the church records say he lived near Mr. Foster's malt house. He died in 1666. In 1667, widow Mead was paid three pounds for ringing the bell of the meeting house.
(1) Spencer Mead in "The History and Genealogy of the Mead Family" surmised that the wife of Gabriel Mead was Johanna Bates. From Mr Remington's article in TAG Vol. 73 No. 1: Gabriel's wife, in his will of January 15 1654/5, is Johanna (Suffolk Co. Probates 1:526-27). Various dates are suggested in the IGI for the birth of Gabriel's daughter Sarah, anywhere from the 1620s to the 1640s.
(2) Henley Borough Records 1395-1543, Oxfordshire Record Society vol. 41.
P.M. Briers editor. Page 94: Item eadem die [6 Apr. 1487] Wil. Mede reddidit computum suum pro redditu tenementi sui de claro ad hunc die et concessum est coram custode et communitate quod debet de claro ad hunc diem ii s vii d. Page 104: 19 Sep. 1492. Et de Wil. Mede pro redditu tenementi sui a retro xii d.
(3) Oxfordshire Muster Rolls, Oxfordshire Record Society vol. 60, page 67.
(4) A History of Henley on Thames, John Southerden Burn, page 215
(5) Oxfordshire Record Office 44/2/8
(6) The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society.