John Mead

Born Abt in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He married July 10, 1657, in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut. He died February 5, 1698, in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut.

A Founder of Greenwich

John Mead was born around 1634 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, and settled in Greenwich, Connecticut, before 1656, when he and his brother Joseph moved briefly to Hempstead, Long Island, returning to Greenwich by 1660. He built a substantial landholding in the Horseneck section of Greenwich, purchasing land from Richard Crab and Thomas Studwell and receiving further grants through the 1660s and '70s, and in 1672 was one of twenty-seven proprietors who purchased land from the local Indigenous people to create new home lots. In 1664 John was one of seven proprietors who successfully petitioned to have Greenwich separated from Stamford as its own town, and he became a freeman in 1670. He was remembered as “a prosperous and self-possessed man with a strong character.” John wrote his will in March 1696 and died in Greenwich on February 5, 1698.