The earliest mention of the surname Mead or atte Mede dates back to about 1250. There may have been people with this name before that, but very few records survive from before 1200.

At this early date this was not a hereditary surname, just a nickname indicating someone who lived at a meadow. At the same time in the early records there were people called de prato or ad pratum, the Latin equivalent of atte Mede. This was not a surname, just a descriptive name, like faber (smith) or filio Ricardi (Richard's son).

By about 1300 there are indications that the name had become hereditary, particularly in Somerset and in the counties north of London, especially in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Interestingly, this pattern continued at least until 1881. Some of these families can be traced for several generations during the 14th and 15th centuries, but they are not related to each other. The surname Mead originated in several locations, so there are several unrelated families with the same name.

My own family's earliest known member was Richard Mead, the grandfather of William Mead of Stamford, Connecticut. Richard Mead was born in about 1515 and lived in Watford, Hertfordshire, about 15 miles northwest of the center of London. This research appeared in an article by Gordon Remington in the January 1998 issue of The American Genealogist.

So far this is the end of the line. At the beginning of the 16th century there were a number of Meads living within 10 or 15 miles of Watford, but no evidence yet to link them to Richard Mead.

In the past it has been thought that Gabriel Mead of Massachusetts and William Mead of Stamford, Connecticut were brothers. This was not the case. Gabriel was born Gabriel Meades in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. This is the result of work I did in England in June 2002.

I am descended from William's son John, through five Ebenezers in a row, then Enoch and James Mead.

I am also working on the following families in
England:
            Goldhurst Knapp Kellogg
            Pontifex Mott Boltwood

This is a work in progress. The author reserves the right to make changes without prior notice. My own research covers the Mead family in England between 1250 and 1600. It is based, as far as possible, on wills, parish records, patent rolls and other contemporary sources, and is as accurate as I can make it. No doubt I have made mistakes. Caveat emptor.

In order to decrease my intake of Spam, I no longer have a clickable email address on this site. If you want to get in touch, copy the address below and replace the word (at) with the appropriate symbol. Sorry for the inconvenience.

                vance.mead(at)welho.com