(Historian of the Family Central Organization and the wife of Everett Hess Mecham, 2nd great grandson of Samuel and Phebe Main Meacham.)

The history of the Meacham Family and the ancestral lines which have flowed together to form the families of Mecham through succeeding generations, incorporate many nationalities, occupation, professions and religious faiths. It is a source of special interest that the branches of the family have established their pedigree back through the ages to father Adam. True, all branches of any family join the great earth family tree founded by Adam in the direct unbroken linkage, but those who have established the relationships and links to follow through step by step to our common father Adam are comparatively few.

While the Ancestral line found on page 13 traces our lineage to Adam through Judah, we know that other lines, when we can establish the links, will take us through the lineage of Ephraim, son of Joseph, favorite son of Jacob, who was sold by his brother to the Egyptians. As our vision is increased by the ever-broadening expanse of our horizons, permitting a penetrating view of the vast panorama of life and history that has paraded throughout the Centuries to make us what we are, we are overwhelmed with the magnitude and vastness of our intellectual, cultural, physical and spiritual inheritance.

From mythology, literature, history and sacred and inspired records, we may piece together the major people and events that led to the ultimate personalities and environment that have shaped our lives. The Book of Genesis provides the story of our first parents from Adam down through Abraham to Judah and Joseph. One mythical story tells us that Histion, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah, had four sons,-Francus, Romanus, Alemannus, and Britto, from whom descended the French, Roman, German, and British people.

As many of our ancestors came from Britain, we are interested in the sources of its people. Supported by Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, written in the twelfth Century, and purported to be a translation of a history of Britain brought over from the opposite shore of France, which under the name of Brittany, was peopled by natives of Britain, John Milton, poet-historian, gives regard to the story of Brutus, the Trojan as being the most likely source of the early inhabitants of Britain. This would have been about 1100 years before the invasion of the island by Julius Caesar. Of Brutus' vision which directed him to the Isles now called Britain, Milton writes:

"Brutus! far to the west, in the ocean wide,

Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,

Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt of old;

Now, void it fits thy people: thither bend

Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat;

There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,

And kings be born of thee whose dreaded might

Shall save the world, and conquer nations bold."

Of the southwest shires of England-Devon, Wilts and Somerset-from whence came our emigrant ancestor Jeremiah Meacham, Ernest Brenneck Jr. says: "Here hoary legendary British kings ruled their rude people with passion and caprice. Relentless legions of the Roman Caesars next left the imprint of their steel-shod heels over the country. Efficiency invaded the wilderness for the ????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? or enslaved or carried off to Italy. Camps were laid out. ???????????????????

???????????????????. Bridges spanned the streams. Roads, hard as metal, white as marble, straight as spearshafts, pierced through virgin woodlands.

"Justice was administered, business methods were applied to human intercourse. Regulated amusements provided controllable outlets for spirits that naturally and periodically craved excitement and stimulation. Amphitheaters were dug out of the verdant hillsides.-A few hundred years passed-and then there remained but little more indication of this brazed impact than one can discover in the warm but indifferent embraces of the untamable soil. Pavements of tiles were overgrown with sod. Sheep grazed within Maumbry Rings; the slopes that had rung with triumphal shouts now protected freecy backs from the gelid November winds. Hadrians' soldiery lay buried in shallow graves, their knees drawn up to their chins; herdsmen gaped dumbly at the curious upturned 'skellintons."

"From the east came Germanic marauders. The Celtic warriors were driven further and further back-over into Wales, up into the hills of Scotland. Some of the chieftains held out their stony strongholds, miraculously parrying all onslaughts until they were exterminated, and thus the Arthurian legends were born. Blood Saxons, prevailing by numbers and savagery, built their settlements. Their Teutonic language resounded through the raftered halls and the cultivated fields, to remain there practically unchanged by the vicissitudes of many centuries; also their pagan Nordic superstitions, but thinly overlaid, eventually, with Christian celestial machinery. Wyrd, the inscrutable personification of Destiny, transplanted from Scandinavia, found its new habitation much to its liking.

"Hardy Danes, fiery and volatile people, charged over from the southeast coast; their raids harried the land. Aethelstan, Aelfred, Aetherlred, sober kings and true, spent their lives pruning their spear-hedges in continuous campaigns of defense. Mounds that had served the Stone Age men, the Britons, and the Romans in turn, were again used as barriers against the invading marauders. Peace approached on belated pinions.

"Missionaries had arrived from Rome; the Barbarians were gradually won over to baptism and to lip-service os the Lord, His Risen Son, the Virgin Mother and the Holy Saints. Church towers bore aloft the Sign of the Cross. Ecclesiastical architecture of the Perpendicular type dominated the towns. But Wyrd, unconquered, brooding, nursing its monsters in the hearts of the landfolk, smiled grimly through it all. The Dukes of Normandy, having vanquished the last of the Saxon monarchs, imposed their feudal lordship over the country."

("The Life of Thomas Hardy," by Ernest Brennecke, Jr.)

Robert Duke of Normandy, who died 1035 A.D., can be easily found on the Chart of the Ancestral Line, page 13 number 92. His son, William the Conqueror, invaded England 1066 A.D. and the history of Britain was altered by many of our ancestors. Less than six centuries after William, our emigrant ancestor JEREMIAH MEACHAM I was born in Seomersetshire, near Bristol, England, about 1613 or '14. New worlds had been discovered, and a century of exploration had elapsed. England claimed North America by virtue of Cabot's discovery. English colonization of America was a thriving enterprise, fostered by religious refugees, courageous adventurers and estate seekers. "The seemingly authentic tradition exists that he (Jeremiah Meacham) left England between the years 1630 and 1642 with the great fleet of Governors Wentworth ??????????????????????

????????????????????????????????.

Two examples of the royal lines with which many may connect in their climb up the genealogical tree are here presented as it was adapted to blend in with the Meacham family from the historical line up arranged by Brother Archibald F. Bennett, Secretary and Librarian of the Genealogical Society of Utah, and published in the Improvement Era, November of 1936.

In the year 936 A.D. in Saxony, England, Edmund (I) a grandson of "Alfred the Great," was Heir to the throne, a lad of 13 years. He succeeded in the 941, only to be assassinated in the year 946 in his Dining Hall by "Leof a Notorious Robber," whom he had ordered into banishment. His grandson, Etherlred II, caused a wholesale massacre of Danes living in England. In revenge King Sweyn of Denmark invaded England and drove Ethelred from the throne and into exile in Normandy.

Malcom (I) was reigning in Scotland in 936, but not over a united kingdom. Since the days of the Roman occupation different races had warred in that land for supremacy. Malcom entered into treaty with King Edmund of England to defend the northern part of England from Danish inroads. With the Danes his grandson Malcolm (II) was in constant strife for thirty years of his reign. Malcolm (II's) eldest daughter and heir was Beatrix, the mother of that Duncan (I) who was killed by Macbeth; she was also the mother of Maldred of Malcolm who married Ealdgith, granddaughter Ethelred (II), thus uniting the lines of Saxon Alfred and Malcolm of Scotland. Down through the centuries succeeding generations transmitted this blood from one powerful and noble family to another, until it was brought to America by the Reverend Peter Buckley, born January 13, 1582 at Odell, Bedfordshire, England, and died at Concord, Massachusetts March 4, 1658. his granddaughter, Sarah Buckly Brown, became the grandmother of Gersham Todd, father of Elizabeth (Todd) Clinton, whose son Jesse Clinton married his cousin Patience Todd, niece of the above Elizabeth. Their Daughter Sarah Mariah Clinton married Edward Tuttle, and are the parents of Sarah Tuttle Mecham, wife of Joseph, who are the grandparents of Janet "Nettie" Sim and Everett II. Mecham of The Family Central Organization. Matilda Ann Tuttle Mecham, mother of N. Ray Mecham of the Family Central Organization is the daughter of Norton Ray and Helen Eliz. Utley Tuttle.

Sarah (Buckley) Brown mentioned above is a direct descendant of Robb or Tollo (Rolf) a Norwegian Prince, who, banished from his own country ravaged the coasts of France and wrested from the French king a territory renamed Normandy. He became the first Duke of Normandy. His son William Longsword ruled as the second Duke. During the rule of his son and grandson, both named Richard, the power of Normandy was increased. In 1066 their successor, William the Conqueror led a great army to England and changed the course of history there. His son, Henry (I), married a daughter of the royal house of Scotland Matilda, their daughter, fought for the throne of England against Stephen. Her son, Henry II, who succeeded, left a natural son, William de Longspee. an interesting pedigree had been verified tracing this lineage down from the Longspees to the LaZouches (derived from the ancient Counts and Dukes of Britainy), from them to the Charltons, the Grosvenors and the Reverend Peter Buckley, immigrant to America.

Picking up another line from here. Anne Charlton, Great grandmother of Peter Buckley, numbers among her ancestry in England the prominent DeQuincy and De Vermandois lines. Isobel De Vermandois is descended from the Royal House of Charlemagne of France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Flandrs, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Isobel's father was the son of King Henry I of France and Anne of Kief in Russia, the great grandson of Hugh Capet, born in 939, who by merit and courage was raised to the French throne in 987. His father Hugh the Great, as Count of Paris, wielded the real power in France in the year 936. His father, Robert I, had reigned only one brief year. The latter's mother was granddaughter of the great Charlemagne.

The President of the Family Central Organization, J.. Arthur Meacham, records that "It is suggested by one historian that the progenitor of progenitors of the English family which came to be known as Meacham came to England with William the Conqueror from French Normandy in 1066 A.D. and that the name was then Meachampe. I have not yet been able to verify this story, but it is reasonable and the name in the original spelling still persists among descendants of early immigrants to America, both from France and England, who settled in our Southern States."

History has brought many changes and our Ancestors have made much History, whether presiding over states and armies, over earldoms, or countries, over local courts or congregations or only their own families. Each generation must be judged according to the standards of that period.

A worthy descendant of Samuel and Phebe (Main) Meacham, Smual Copp Worthen, whose "In Defense of Genealogy" appears as a preface to this history, strikes an important keynote to our thinking: "We seek inspiration in a past which embodied elements of heroism and greatness. We know that it belongs to us and we wish to feel our oneness with it. we seek to find the links which bind us to it, and identify ourselves with its achievements, not in a spirit of vain glory but with the humble hope that we may understand and at least measurably live up to it. This attitude of mind does not impeded progress but directs it in the right channels, since all real advancement must be guided by the light of experience,-Good blood is clean blood, free from the taint of vice and disease. One should rejoice less in descent from a hundred earls than from one humble citizen who had fought the good fight and kept the faith. "Kind hearts are more than coronets and simple faith than Norman blood'."

In all of our understandable pride of noble ancestry we must not forget the admonition of John the Baptist as recorded in Luke 3:8-"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."

THE MEACHAM FAMILY COMES TO AMERICA

Idah Meacham Strobrikge in her manuscripts designates the various family groups who settled in America into four general classifications.

First: Descendants of Jeremiah Meacham who came to America between the years 1630 and 1642, who have, with one notable exception shown below, maintained the original spelling of the surname as Meacham.

Second: Two other branches who came from England later than Jeremiah, including the Quaker Branch who come in 1702, all spell their surname Mechem.

Third: Later emigrants spell the surname Meachem.

Fourth: Descendants of Samuel Mecham and Phebe Main, who later joined the "Mormon Church." (This Samuel was the great grandson of Jeremiah the first emigrant.)

This "Mormon" group have all spelled their name MECHAM. There is one big EXCEPTION to this rule and that is the descendants of Dr. Thomas Meacham, (a son of Samuel and Phebe Main Meacham) who even in the "Mormon" factions have continued to spell the surname MEACHAM.

Ida Meachan Strobridge make this comment in this regard. (speaking and describing the sixteen children of Samuel and Phebe Main Meacham) "The three sons, who joined the "Mormon" church and removed to Nauvoo, thence on the Utah, Joshua, Elam and Joseph, changed the spelling and the pronunciation of the name and have almost created or originated a new family."

Again quoting from Mrs. Strobridge, "In the old records, though, where there was much lack of education among the scribes, I have found it (the surname) spelled in the most impossible ways you can imagine, namely: Macham, Machem, Meacham, Meachem, Meatchem, Meakin, Measham, Mesham, Mechem, Meachin, Meachen, Mecham, Mechan, Mechum, Mitcham, Mitchum etc., all of whom originated from the same family group either in America or in the old country."

HOW THE NAME ORIGINATED

In her research Idah Meacham Stobridge came across an old card with the following printed on it; (which no doubt has a legendary background)

"Long long ago an Irish judge at a county fair in Limerick was naming the people. Turning to one whom he called 'O'Brien!' he asked, 'Who's that man wid ye, O'Brien?' and O'Brien answered, 'That's me chum, yer honor.' 'Now luk at that!' exclaimed the judge, 'Luk at the sinse av the man, namin' himself widout watin' f'r me! Sure, he desarves another wan, an' I'll give ut to um as a marruk av distinction-Mister Me-Chum." In that way was the first title bestowed on the first Mechum. Though the name has remained the same to this day, the spelling has been altered by adding or dropping one letter or another until today we have many versions.

Pronunciation of Surname

In general, there are two distinct ways of pronouncing the name Meacham regardless of how the surname may be spelled.

First: The first syllable is made to rhyme with peach, making it pronounced "Meach-um." This is the original method and maintained mainly by the same group who kept the original way of spelling the name as "Meacham. (The Dr. Thomas Meacham line).

Second: The name is pronounced as if it were spelt "Me-Kum" or better still "Me-Come." Again its the "Mormon" faction of the family who spell the surname "Mecham" who use this pronunciation. However there are quite a large number of families who spell the name this way who pronounce it the first and original way.

Today the family organization has virtually given up the hope of bringing all the factions back to one way of spelling and pronouncing of the surname.

The Family Coat Of Arms

The coat of arms anciently borne by the English family of Meacham is described in heraldic terms as follows:

Arms.--"Azure, on a fesse or, between three lions' heads, erased argent, as many escallops of the field."

Crest.--"A falcon with wings expanded proper, belled of."

The source of this information taken from Burke's, Encyclopedia of Heraldry, 1844. A cut of the family coat of arms can be found on page 16, also on page 79 you can find a full page cut in color.

President J. Arthur Meacham states: "The Meacham coat of arms is among the oldest recorded in the College of Heraldry in London, England. Thus placing the family among the old and honorable family of the British Isles."

Coats Of Arms

You will find in this book beginning on page 16 and continuing on through to page 32 numerous engravings of family coat of arms. In every case they represent family surnames which are connected with our direct ancestral lines.

We are indebted to Ellen Anderson Mechan, (genealogist for the Leonidas Clinton Mechan Branch of the family) for the greater part of the heraldry published in this book.

"Out of the Middle Ages and down through the centuries to the world of today comes the proud custom and the romantic tradition of the ancestral coat of arms.

"Devised in remote days of chivalry, borne by armed knights in tournaments and on ancient battlefields, cherished by illustrious forebears of ages past, and handed down from generation to generation as a sacred emblem of family honor, the coat of arms is an object of pride and distinction for its possessor today and an heirloom which generations of his descendants will treasure."

The Origin of Heraldry

"The origin of heraldry may be traced back to the dawn of history. . . .(see the coat of arms for each of the twelve tribes of Israel found on page 12, if you read the 49th chapter of Genesis in the Old Testament, you will find a basis for each of these symbols.) In colonial America, armorial bearing were handed down from generation to generation and the custom was by no means discarded when political ties with England were severed. Regarded as an emblem of family rather than of nationality, arms continued in common use during the Revolution. There are innumerable instances of officials high in America public life of the time who used their ancestral arms, seals, and signet rings. President George Washington displayed his family arms on his carriage, on his bookplate, and on the seal which he affixed to letters and papers, as did many others. These illustrious precedents sanction the use of coats of arms by Americans who are entitled to them.

The Significance of Heraldry Today

"At the present time cultured Americans are reveling greater interest than ever before in family history, genealogical research, and the intimately related subject of heraldry. Genealogy and deraldry are now ignored only by those who have no ancestors of whom they can be proud. Love of ancestry is an instinct deep-rooted in man's nature. Pride of ancestry is an admirable trait, contributing to healthy self-respect and stirring ambition to add new honor to the family name. The thoughtful American of today takes sincere pride in a long line of distinguished descent and in the heraldic emblems which testify to the bravery, and achievement, and the honor of his forebears."

Proud was he of his name and race,

Of old Sir William and Sir Hugh,

And in the parlor, full in view,

His Coat-of-Arms, well framed and glazed,

Upon the wall in color blazed.

--Longfellow

The Family Genealogy

The first official record of the Meacham family in America occurs in 1650 at which time Jeremiah Meacham was living at Southhold, L.I., and in 1653 settled at East Hampton, L.I., "to do the town's weaving."

Jeremiah Meacham returned to Salem in 1666. His first wife's name was Margaret, to this union were born the following:

CHILDREN BIRTH MARRIED

Isaac Abt. 1642 Deborah Browning

Jeremiah Abt. 1644 (1) Mary Trask

(2) Deborah Browne

John (See Mary L. Holman's statement pages 83-84)

Sarah Married 4 Feb 1667 Joseph Boyce

Hannah Married 16 Feb 1667 William Gill

Bethia b. abt. 1650 George Hacker

(2) John Darling

Rebecca Married Jan 1675 John Mecarter

Rhoda b. abt. 1661 Samuel West

Margaret died during the year 1679 at Salem Mass. Then Jeremiah married a widow Alice (nee Douch) Dane. Her father was Osman Douch and her first husband was Dr. John Dane. She died in May 1704 at Salem, Mass.

Jeremiah is believed to have been born in Somersetshire England 1613 or '14. He died November 11, 1696 at Salem, Mass. (The source of this information is from the New York Gen, and Biog, Mag. Vol. 65). This had been supplemented with later findings. (See statement of Mary Lovering Holman, page 83-84).

Although the first official record of Jeremiah occurs in 1650, the seemingly authentic tradition exists that he left England between the years 1630 and 1642 with the great fleet of Governors Wentworth and Dudley, under an assumed name, and with two companies of the Hawkins family.

Jeremiah was a weaver by trade through his life time, and may have been the "Weaver" who is listed among the passengers of the Fleet particularly at the said "Weaver" has no subsequent record and is not mentioned in any of the published genealogies of the Weaver families of Mass. or of New York.

The Family Tradition

The tradition if clearly traceable as have been told by Rebecca hawkins Meacham, wife of Jeremiah Meacham (b. 1698) who was the son of John Meacham, who was the son of Jeremiah Meacham (b. 1644), who was the son of Jeremiah Meacham. (Our first ancestor in America)

Rebecca Hawkins Meacham told her son Captain William Meacham, who was killed at the battle of Bunkerhill in 1776. Captain Meacham told his wife Sarah Cook Meacham, (later married Everest), who in turn, after many years repeated it from memory and with some errors, to her son William, who ultimately incorporated it in a letter to one of the sons of John Meacham a younger brother of his father, as follows:

Port Henry, New York, Nov. 2, 1657

"The Meacham family came from the West of England sometime about the year 1630. Governor Wentworth, Gov. Dudley, Sir Richard Saltonstall, succeeded each other in the Government of a Colony who settled at a place called by the Indians Naumkeag, now Salem, Mass. Two families of Meacham came out with one of these Governors, some one of the years between 1630-1642, with many other families and settled at Naumkeag (Salem) Mass.

"Whether these young men were married men at the time I know not. A family of Hawkins came out from England, County of Somerset, at the same time as the Meachams all from near the City of Bristol of the borders of Wales.

"My grandmothers name was Rebecca Hawkins, whether born in England or America, I do not know; but her parents were Welsh. My mothers name was Sarah Cook before her marriage, a decent out of the New Haven colony so called.

"The Meacham family now residing on the borders of Wales are amongst the ancient and honorable families in the West of England.

"In 1815 Robert Meacham Esq. was on the old Homestead. Had two sons in the Royal Guard, one a Captain William Meacham. The other Lieut. Jeremiah Meacham. And they were at the Battle of Plattenburg. From them I got this information after the Peace.

Signed, William Meacham

(New York Gen. and Historical Mag. Vol. 65 Pages 211-241) (Vineland Historical Mag. Vol. 1-2-3, Page 47-48)

Error of Long Standing Corrected

One of the sources of information which Idah Meacham Stobridge had on the first Meacham's has been proven wrong. From her manuscripts she gave Jeremiah Meacham, the first, as marrying Margaret; Their son, Jeremiah the second, as marrying Mary Trask; Their son, Jeremiah the third, as marrying Deborah Browne.

The New York Genealogical and Biological Record Vol. 69 page 32 (year 1938), gives a detailed authentic account of the Jeremiah Meachams, proven by wills etc.

Report of Mary Lovering Holman

In the above account Mary Lovering Holman gives the following of especial interest to us: "The original will of Jeremiah Meacham is so time stained as to be illegible but the copy on the books is good. This copy varies in details from the one in the Meacham article (referring to the one in the Vol. 65 of the New York Gen. and Biographical Record) but it is sound genealogically so only an abstract need be quoted here:

Abstract of Will of Jeremiah I.

"In the name of God Amen this Twelfth day of April. . . . .one thousand, six hundred ninety four, I Jeremiah Meacham of the Towne of Salem. . . Clothier being very Ancient being about Eighty one years of age. . . do make. . . this my Last will and Testament. . . and this only to be taken for my last will and Testament and no other-

1-I give and commit my Soul to Almighty God. . . in whom and by the merits of Jesus Christ I trust and believe assuredly to be Saved. . . and for the Settling of my Temporal Estate . . .I so. . . dispose of the Same in manner and form following . . . I will that all those debts and dues as I owe in Right or Conscience to any manner of person or persons Whatsoever Shall be well and truly paid & contented or ordained to be paid be paid and Contented in Convenient time after my decease by my Executor hereafter named.

2-My wife Margaret being Deceased I do order . . . my son Jeremiah to take care of my now wife Alice and to provide for her in Sickness and in health . . . necessaries needful. . . for her Comfortable being in this world during her natural life according to her quality.

3-I give unto my son Isaac after my decease the Sum of Twenty Shillings.

4-My daughter Rhodia being deceased my will and desire is . . . her Son Samuel West Shall have. . . five pounds.

5-My will and desire is that none of my children or their Children shall diminish or take away without Leve from my Executor . . .any part or parcel of my Estate before it be settled and divided . . .which if any do it shall be accounted as double to that person so doing.

6-I give unto my Son Jeremiah Meacham his heirs and assigns: my fulling mill with all Lands housing and privileges . . . thereunto belonging and my Son Jeremiah Meacham is to pay the Rest of my Children in pay Equivalent as my Estate Shall be vallied at what the Said Mills Lands Housing shall be valued at more than his proportionable part Cometh to-

7-I give unto all my Children or their Children the parents being deceased all the remaining part of my Estate to be equally divided amongst them.

8-I Constitute and appoint my Son Jeremiah Meacham to be my whole Executor and he to have a diligent care of his mother in Law my now wife Alice and to provide for her Comfortable being in this world according to her age and Station and to deep an account of what he shall Legally. . . lay out upon her but neither her nor any of the Rest of my children are any waies . . .then for her Use to dispose of any of my Estate till after her decease-

In Witness . . .I Jeremiah Meacham have hereunto Sett my hand and Seal this Twelfth day of April . . .one thousand, Six hundred ninety four."

Jeremiah J. Meacham & Seal his mark

Wit: Daniel Webb

Christopher Phelps

his mark

Francis Neale

Proved 18 Nov. 1695. (Essex Co., Probate Records, 305:94)

His inventory amounted to L 254. 13s 8d.

"On the 24 June 1896, Jeremiah Meacham of Salem and his brother Isaac Meacham of Enfield Conn., made an agreement they having made a previous arrangement, with their mother-in-law (i.e. step-mother) to pay her ten pounds a year during her widowhood and the estate to be divided. Each brother was bonded for the other. Isaac's surety being Jeremiah Neale and Jeremiah Meacham's being John Trask.

"The rest of the children then made an agreement with Jeremiah and Isaac, about the division, the document being signed 26 June 1896, by:

Isaac Meacham

Jeremiah Meacham

Joseph Boyce

Sarah Boyce his wife

John Mecarter

Rebecca Mecarter

George Hacker

Bethia Hacker his wife

Hannah Gill

"It is apparent that Jeremiah gave to his son Jeremiah the Salem property because he had remained with him in Salem, while the eldest son, Isaac, had removed to Enfield. That Isaac was the elder of the two is indicated by all records that have been examined. He signed the agreement first which the eldest son should have done even if the rest of the children signed regardless of seniority, and he married three for four years before Jeremiah did. It is extremely probable that his father gave him property when he went to Enfield.

Children, born probably in England and Long Island:

1-Isaac b. abt. 1642, d. Apr. 1715 married Deborah Browning

2-JEREMIAH b. 1644, Md. Mary Trask (2) Deborah Browne

3-Sarah, b. abt. 1646, married Joseph Boyce

4-Hannah, b. abt. 1648 married William Gill

5-Bethia, b. abt. 1650, married George Hacker

6-Rebecca b. abt. 1653, married John Mecarter

7- Rhoda b. abt. 1661, married Samuel West, son of Thomas and Phebe West."

(The above all from Vol. 69-Mrs. Holman's account)

The careful observer will note that JOHN, born 1647, who is listed with the children of Jeremiah (I) in the account found in the New York Gen. and Biog. Mag. Vol. 65, is not included in the above list. Mrs. Holman explains this in her account in Vol. 69 of the same magazine as follows: "-It is necessary to call attention to that John Mashoone of Meechan who died in 1680 and whom the author of the Meacham article makes a son of Jeremiah (I) and to whom he gives children. In a will as carefully drawn as Jeremiah Meacham's it is not credible that he would have left out the children of a deceased son and, if he had, that the Court would have permitted a settlement to be made of the estate without due consideration of their claims.--If he were a Meacham, he died unmarried and without children. In his estate records he is called Mashoone, Mashon, Meechans and Meechan, never Meacham, and why the index should list him as Meacham is difficult to see."

Mrs. Holman also proves that the second Jeremiah married twice, and that his first wife was Mary Trask and that his second wife was Deborah Browne. Therefore the Second and Third Jeremiah's listed in the Strobridge manuscripts are one and the same person.

Perhaps the error came about through the vast difference of age between Jeremiah and Second and his second wife Deborah Browne, (about 29 years) Jeremiah the second at the time of his death 14 April 1743 at Windhal, Conn., was 99 years of age. Jeremiah II's official family is as follows:

CHILDREN BY MARY TRASK HIS FIRST WIFE:

1-Jeremiah, b. 21 Dec. 1673 married Freeloe Bliss

2-John, b. 1675 married Mary Cash

3-James, b. 1677 married Elizabeth Cue

4-Mary, b. 1680 probably died young

CHILDREN BY DEBORAH BROWNE HIS SECOND WIFE:

5-Hester, b. 28 Sept. 1694 md. Hope Rogers 14 Nov. 1715

6-Joseph, b. 7 Dec. 1696 md. Elizabeth Lilly, 16 Jan. 1722

7-Hannah, b. 18 Feb. 1698 md. Amos Woodward

8-Margaret, b. 6 Jan. 1700 md. Johathan Woodward

9-Daniel, b. 16 Apr. 1703 md. (I) Lydia Lille

(mentioned in his will)-(2) Elizabeth

10-Deborah, b. 21 Mar. 1704 md. Thomas Butler (Wid.)

11-Sarah, b. 1707 unmarried in 1743

12-Lydia, b. 28 Nov. 1709 md. Daniel Sheppard

13-SAMUEL, b. 12 July 1712 md. Bethia Pease

14-Benjamin, b. 16 May 1714

15-Rachel, b. 20 July 1716 md. Ebenezer Woodward

16-Seth, b. 5 Oct. 1718 md. Ruth Simons

Children numbered 1 to 10 were all born in Salem, Mass. and children numbered 11 to 16 were all born at Windham, Conn.

Mary Trask was born August 14, 1652 at Salem, Mass., the daughter of Henry and Mary Southwick Trask. Married to Jeremiah II, March 11, 1672 at Salem Mass. Died in the same town during the year 1683.

Deborah Browne was born 14 August 1673 at Salem, Mass., the daughter of John and Esther Makepease Browne. John Browne was the son of Thomas and Mary Newhall Browne of Lynn, Mass. A 617 page Browne Genealogy to them and their descendant from 1628-1907, by Cyrus Henry Brown, contains much of historical and genealogical interest. There is also a second volume.

Deborah Browne married Jeremiah II Meacham, 25 May 1693 at Salem and died 3 December 1721 at Windham, Conn. Jeremiah Ii, evidently remained in Salem operating the fulling mill he had received from his father, until about 1708 when he removed to Windham, Conn., but he issued several deeds to clear the various inheritances before he left."

In Regards To Jeremiah II's Will

Jeremiah Meacham the second's will was made in 1729 when he was about eighty-five years of age. A copy is on record books in Willimantic, Conn. It carefully separates his first wife's children or their heirs from those by his second wife.

Jeremiah (2) Meacham's thirteenth child, (Deborah's ninth), SAMUEL (I) Meacham, born 12 July 1712 at Windham, Conn., married Bethia Pease of Enfield, at Enfield 19 April 1736. They became parents of SAMUEL (2) MEACHAM WHO MARRIED PHEBE MAIN, who are the ancestors featured in this record.

Samuel (I) Meacham was of Norwich, Conn., when he married Bethia Pease. He was still living at Norwick 21, Sept. 1743, when he and his brothers and sisters sold their shares of the Estate (that "Our Honored father Jeremiah Meacham" had left them), to their brother Joseph (b. 7 Dec. 1696 Salem, Mass.) The quit claim deed is signed, with the others, by Samuel Meacham of Norwich. (Windham Deeds 4:284). Samuel and Bethia (Pease) Meacham's first eight children: Mary Zebah, SAMUEL, Bethiah, Jeremiah, Deborah, Benjamin, Seth-born at Norwich, Conn. Their ninth child, Nehemiah was born at Colchester, Conn.

(Sources of information: Norwich, Conn. Vital Records, page 173 and Account of Samuel Meacham and his descendants contributed to the New York Gen. and Biog. Magazine Vol. 65 (Year 1934) by Samuel Copp Worthen, who is a great grandson of Samuel and Phebe Main Meacham.

The American Revolution

The following are a few of the names, available to the writer at this time, of those bearing the Meacham name who served with the Colonial forces during the American Revolution.

From Connecticut: Aaron, Abner, Asa, Barnabas, Elijah, Icabod, Jeremiah, Joel, Jonathan, Seth, Philip, SAMUEL, (This is Samuel (II) Meacham who served in Captain John Wells Company, Col. Chases Regiment, and is the ancestor of concern in this particular book), and Simeon Meacham.

From Massachusetts: Abraham, Asa, Eben, Ebenezer Jr., Ichabod, Sergeant Isaac, Isaac, Jacob, James Corporal, Jeremiah, Corporal John, several other Johns, Johnathan William, Wm. P. Meacham: Isaac, John, and Lieutenant John Meachem, and Jeremiah, John, Ensign John, and Sergeant Jonathan Meacham.

From Vermont: Abraham, Frederick, Isaac, Jacob, John, and William Meacham.

From Pennsylvania: Alexander and Frederick Mechum

From Virginia: Barnet, Colin, Elijah, George, Henry, Ichabod, James, another James, John, Lieutenant Lawrence, Thomas, and William Meacham.

From North Carolina: Paul Meacham.

This history of Ephraim Portman Pectol is a companion history to his father George Peter Pectol and mother Annian Conradina Peterson Pectol. Which were also submitted by Golda Pectol Busk, Elsinore, Utah.

Other history of E.P. Pectol is only additional to that first part which he wrote himself. A more detailed history of my Bishop Pectol is in my possession.

Golda P. Busk