Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Mr. Mason's home, at No. 29 Fairview ave- nue, Danbury, is a pleasant one within and with- out. Of his three children by his first marriage the eldest, Charles Edmund, is now a successful business man of Danbury. John Holmes, born October 30, 1867, died February 26, 1892; Ben- nett Howard, born September 30, 1874, died April 7, 1893. By his second marriage he has one son, Lovell Waldo, born August 27, 1891. Charles Edmund Mason, the eldest son, was born at Danbury December 14, 1863, and re- ceived his education in the public schools of that city. At the age of fifteen he began clerking in the jewelry store of A. A. Trowbridge, and a year later entered Mrs. V. E. Hawley's drug store as clerk, remaining one year. He then went to New York City, and spent two years with I. M. Seltzer, a druggist on Hudson street. On re- turning to Danbury he was employed in E. M. Baldwin's pharmacy for about seven years, and then he took charge of a drug store belonging to his father, continuing three years. On August 22, 1898, after a competitive e.xamination, he was- appointed money order and register clerk at the Danbury post office, which position he now holds. He is enterprising and capable, and has already won a high reputation in business circles. On September 1, 1886, Mr. Mason married Miss Katherine Flint, daughter of Harrison and Kate (Fairbanks) Flint. He and his accom- plished wife are prominent socially, and re- ligiously they are members of St. James Episco- pal Church. He belongs also to the Masonic Order, and is an active worker in Union Lodge No. 40, F. & A. M., in which he is master; Eureka Chapter No. 23, R. A. M.; Wooster Council, R. & S. M. ; Crusader Commandery No. 10, K. T. , in which he is generalissimo; Lafayette Consistory, S. P. R. S., thirty-second degree; and Pyramid Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In political faith he is independent. Katherine (Flint) Mason was born in Dan- bury April 9, 1864, and is the eldest daughter of Harrison and Kate (Fairbanks) Flint. On her father's side she is descended from the earlier settlers of Salem, Mass. Her great-grandmother was a sister of Fisher Ames, the great Massa- chusetts jurist and orator. Her father, Harri- son Flint, established the first regular machine shop in Danbury, and afterward, associating with Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, founded the United States Bunting Company, of Lowell, and manufactured the first bunting woven in the United States. On her mother's side Mrs. Mason traces her descent from Jonathan Fair- bank, who settled at Dedham, Mass., in 1636, and was the founder of the family in America. Her great-grandfather, Zaccheus Fairbanks, served with honor in the war of the Revolution, being on the roll of minute-men, and taking part in the battles of Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill; he afterward served at different times to the close of the war. E\ BELCHER MEAD is related to many of '/ the prominent families of Fairfield county. Conn., including the Howe and Waterbury fam- ilies, and is a descendant in the eighth genera- 236 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. tion from William Mead [other authorities say John], the noted pioneer, who came from Eng- land in 1635 [other authorities say about 1642]. The "Mead Family" of Greenwich, Fair- field Co., Conn., was originally from England, and from researches that have been made there it would seem that they are from Greenwich, County of Ivent. In the "History of Lexing- ton, Mass.," we find that Gabriel Mead was among the first settlers of that place, as also David. The dates of their arrival and of Will- iam at Horse Neck (or rather Stamford) agree with one another, leading to the conclusion that all three were near relatives; furthermore, the " Coat of Arms" of the three is identical. The first record of any Mead in Fairfield county is the following in Stamford Town Records: " De- cember 7, 1 64 1, William Mayd received from the Town of Stamford, a homelot and five acres of land." This William, recent researches show, was undoubtedly the ancestor of the Fairiield county Meads. Very little concerning him, ex- cept that already mentioned, can be found. He, however, appears as a petitioner in behalf of his son Joseph in 1654. His wife died in Stam- ford in 1657. No record of his death has, as yet, been found. We have record of three chil- dren (but there probably were four, a son who died in 1657-58): (i) Joseph, born in 1630, married, December. 1654, Mary Brown, of Stam- ford, died May 3, 1690. He was the ancestor of the Ridgefield and North Fairfield county Meads, and had Zachariah, Joseph, Daniel, Elisha, Richard and Mary. (2) Martha, born about 1632, married John Richardson, of Stamford. No further traces have been found. (3) John, born about 1634, married Hannah Potter, of Stamford, probably in 1657, died February 5, 1699. He was the ancestor of the Greenwich Meads. The Family in Greenwich. — The two sons, Joseph and John (i), seem to have migrated (though it afterward proved only a temporary stay) to Hempstead. L. I., where they resided un- til about 1660. Joseph, during that time, in 1658, was assistant justice of Hemptead. John (i) removed to Greenwich from Hempstead, L. I., in 1660. He had eight sons and three daugh- ters, as follows: John (2), Joseph, Jonathan, Ebenezer (i), David, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Sam- uel, Hannah, Abigail and Mary Elizabeth. Thus it will be seen that John (i) was the ancestor of the Greenwich Meads, and in his day he was one of the leading citizens in the town, where he owned large tracts of land. His descendants are now numerous, as will be seen by various records preserved in this volume, and much of the real estate acquired by him is still in their possession. In the third generation the line of descent is traced through Ebenezer (i), a son of John (i). Lieut. Caleb Mead, next in the line of descent, served during the Revolutionary war as a ser- geant with Capt. Joseph Hobby's "company of householders," attached to Captain Mead's mil- itary district of Col. John Mead's regiment, the Ninth Connecticut Militia. Elkanah Mead, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born March 6, 1748, at the old homestead in North Street, Greenwich, and was a farmer by occupation. He took an active part in the struggle for independence, and in August, 1776, he accompanied an exposition to New York under the command of Lieut. Charles Smith. Later he served as a member of Capt. David Hoyt's company in the Ninth Connecticut Mili- tia under Col. John Mead. He married Hannah Mead, who was born March 6, 1753, and died November 12, 1785, and his death occurred June 20, 1 8 16. They had three children, of whom Amos was the youngest; Hannah B., born March 4, 1777, married a Mr. Husted, and died in New York July 2, 1826; Sally, born August 18, 1779, married Benjamin Smith, and died February 19, 1854. Amos Mead, the grandfather of E. Belcher Mead, was born July 7, 1781, at the farm in North Street, in the town of Greenwich, and be- came one of the leading agriculturists of that lo- cality, his real-estate holdings being extensive. He was also influential in local affairs in his day. He died August 24, 1850, in his seventieth year. His first wife, Alice (Belcher), to whom he was married May 24, 1803, died February 17, 181 5, leaving no children. On November 14, 18 16, he married Mary Frudy, who died March i, 1832. The following children came to the second union: Elkanah, who is mentioned more fully below; Catherine, born November 13, 1819, who mar- ried Capt. William L. Lyon, of New York, and died at Marcellus, N. Y.. in 1895; Stephen, born August 15, 1 82 I, who was engaged in farming in North Street, Greenwich, and died February 23, 1852, leaving one child; Elisha B., born August 20, 1823, who became a physician, and died April 5, 1849, at the beginning of a promising career; Sarah P., born June 15, 1825, married Amos M. Bush, and died September 4, 1859; Evelina, born November 8, 1828, married Stephen G. Howe, of Salem, N. Y., where she died May 20, 1855; Edgar, born in 1830, died in infancy; and Mary P., born February 8, 1832, married John G. Clark, and died at Bedford, N. Y., July 25. 1853. Capt. Elkanah Mead was born March 16, COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 237 iSi8, at the old homestead, and was reared a farmer boy. His father, who gave all his sons a liberal start in life, intended to educate him. well, and sent him to a boarding school at Wilton, this county, during his boyhood; but at the death of his mother he was called to the old home- stead. As the other sons grew to a helpful aj;e he was permitted to leave, home, and haviniif some inclination for a mercantile life he went to New York City to take the place of clerk in a clothing store in Greenwich street, kept by Mr. Close. He was there during the great tire oi 1836. A few years later he returned to his na- tive town to engage in farming. On March 4, 1839, he married Miss Jane Mead, and he soon afterward settled upon a farm in North Street. Later he resided upon a farm in Stamford town- ship for two and one-half years; but returning to Greenwich he purchased the "Augustus L. Rey- nolds farm " in Cos Cob District, where his last years were spent, his death occurring April 12, 1894.