Mead, Benjamin

Benjamin Mead was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1745. Mead was the seventh and youngest son of Samuel Mead and Mary Downey. The Mead family was affiliated with the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania. Mead moved to Loudoun County—home to a large Quaker population—between 1745 and 1759, apparently due to his father Samuel’s “[appearing] to some degree a Friend, [but] his conduct [having] been inconsistent with Friends’ Principles.”  

The Meads must have acquired some land in Loudoun County, as either Benjamin’s father or brother (both were named Samuel) attempted to sell approximately 2,180 acres of land spread over two plantations near Leesburg in 1765. Samuel Mead posted an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette marketing “A Large and valuable Plantation, containing about 2000 Acres…situate about 12 Miles from Leesburg” and “another Plantation…situate about 4 Miles from Leesburg, containing about 180 Acres,” both to be sold “for ready Money or short Credit.” The elder Samuel Mead may have moved to Salem, New Jersey, by 1766, but Benjamin and at least two other Mead siblings remained in Loudoun County. In 1770, Benjamin Mead’s father gifted him 195 acres of land in Loudoun County. Mead acquired another ninety acres from William Sudith and James Moore in 1797 and 1799, respectively. However, Mead owned no enslaved people, consistent with Quaker antislavery beliefs.  

On 29 February 1772, Mead married Hannah Clews in Loudoun County, and was subsequently disowned by the Society of Friends in April, likely due to the fact that his new wife was a non-Quaker. They had four children together before Hannah died between 1779 and January 1781, when Mead “condemned” his previous marriage in a letter to the Society of Friends in Fairfax and was reinstated as a member. He later married Ann Patteson—probably a fellow Quaker—on 31 March 1785 at the Goose Creek Quaker Meeting House. They had three children together. In 1803, Mead sold twenty-four acres of his property to Henry Brown; he sold another 221 acres to Josiah Hall in 1807. After these sales, Mead was left with approximately forty acres of land. 

Mead died in March 1810. His will, dated 17 January 1810, left his wife, Ann, the use of his remaining plantation for the duration of her natural life. Following her death, his property was to be sold “at what credit [his] Executors may think proper and Equally divided between” his surviving children and grandchildren. Although the graves of Benjamin Mead and his wife, Ann, have not been located, many of their children and grandchildren are buried in the Goose Creek Burial Ground in Loudoun County. 

by Hayley Madl