Rutland

MEAD, John Abner

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 268-271

John A. MEAD was born 20 April 1841 in Fairhaven [Rutland County, Vermont]. 
His ancestors were English and the family was an ancient and honorable one. 
There is in Westminster Abbey a monument erected to the memory of Richard 
MEAD, M. D., one of his ancestors, who was the friend and physician of the 
talented though not amicable George II, and of Queen Anne. Col. Richard K. 
MEAD, aid-de-camp to General WASHINGTON from 1777 to 1783 attained the rank 
of colonel and rendered valuable service throughout the war of the 
Revolution. He was with the commander-in-chief in all his principal battles 
and personally superintended the execution of Major ANDRE, a duty which he 
was accustomed to say, he was not able to perform without shedding tears. 
The Rt. Rev. William MEAD, Bishop of Virginia, was also of the same family. 
Richard W. MEAD, another ancestor, born in June 1778 in Chester County, 
Pennsylvania, was said to be the first importer of Merino sheep into the 
United States.

The great-grandfather of [the subject of] the present sketch, Col. James 
MEAD, was the first white settler in Rutland [Rutland County, Vermont] in the 
valley of the Otter Creek, and was a descendant from one of the two families 
of MEADs who emigrated from England about 1642. He [Col. James MEAD] was 
born 25 August 1730 at Horseneck, New York, and married Mercy HOLMES of the 
same place. [The State of New York was not created until 1788. "Horseneck" 
may mean the land known as "Horseneck Tract," which later became parts of 
both New York and New Jersey. Submitter was unable to clarify a specific 
place meant by "Horseneck, New York."] Having purchased seven thousand acres 
of land at six cents an acre [$420 total], situated on either side of Otter 
Creek and near the falls at Center Rutland [Rutland County, Vermont], Colonel 
[James] MEAD left Manchester [Bennington County], Vermont, on the morning of 
28 September 1769, and with his wife and eleven children and a son-in-law, 
and starting out into the unbroken wilderness, arriving at Central Falls on 
the evening of the thirtieth, having been en route three days and two nights. 
An extract from the inaugural address of Mayor MEAD on the organization of 
the city government graphically describes the experiences of the first 
settler:

"Go back with me for a moment for one hundred and twenty-four years, and 
picture, if you will, that man, the first settler [Col. James MEAD], with his 
wife and eleven children; one pair of oxen with the old-style sledge piled 
high with all their earthly belongings; the mother and girls riding 
alternately upon two small horses; the father and boys in turn driving the 
oxen, and closely behind, their two cows. At Manchester, Vermont, they leave 
all roads and strike out into the unbroken forest; they push their way, 
slowly but surely, along the sides of the mountains. There are no settlers 
along their route to point the way or shelter them by night. They move along 
that rocky crest and after three days and two nights, arrived at their 
destination, the Central Falls, as they were known upon the old survey, the 
falls at Center Rutland [Rutland County]. They stopped the first night near 
the present village of Dorset [Bennington County], the second night near that 
of Danby [Rutland County]; they passed through Tinmouth, West Clarendon, and 
finally arrived at the home of the Caugnawaga. One of the chiefs met him at 
the door of his wigwam, talked for a few minutes in an unknown tongue to his 
squaw, and papooses and other Indians, and then throwing his hands high in 
the air and wide apart, he exclaimed in English, "Welcome, Welcome!"

The father allowed the cattle to feed upon the leaves in the underbrush 
nearby, the boys arranged to sleep near the sled, while the mother and girls, 
kneeling in a circle, utter their feeble prayers in the Indian wigwam, thirty 
miles from the nearest white settler. If sickness threatens the parents or 
their children, there are no neighbors to help and to sympathize, there is no 
physician to consult or relieve their anguish, and should death overtake them 
in the wilderness, the parents must hew from the trees of the forest the 
coffin for the loved one, and bury their dead alone in the lonely wilderness; 
there are no friends, no bearers, no chapel, no church, and no pastor to 
soothe and minister and to ask divine sustenance in this hour of anguish; 
there are no stores, no shops, no mills of any kind, no fields of grass or 
grain, no roads or paths, except an occasional Indian trail."

At the organization of the town government on the second Tuesday of October 
1770, Col. James MEAD was made the first moderator, first selectman, and 
first town representative of Rutland, and the old farm cleared by Colonel 
MEAD still remains in the MEAD family, having been deeded from father to son 
for one hundred and twenty-five years, the original purchase having been from 
the Caugnawaga Indians.

Abner, son of Col. James MEAD, was the great grandfather of Mayor [John 
Abner] MEAD, from whom he derived a portion of his name. He [Col. James 
MEAD] married Amelia, daughter of Rev. Benjamin ROOTS, the first clergyman in 
Rutland. John A. [John Abner] was the only child of Roswell R. and Lydia A. 
(GORHAM) MEAD. His father [Roswell R. MEAD] was a successful farmer and 
merchant in West Rutland until his death in 1875. His mother [Lydia] died 
when he was but six months old. [By his birthdate given in this biography, 
John A. MEAD would have been six months old on 20 October 1841.] Her father 
[Mr. GORHAM] served in the War of 1812, and so maternal and paternal 
ancestors give him a loyal claim on the country.

John Abner MEAD was educated in the common schools of West Rutland and at 
Franklin Academy, Malone [Franklin County], New York, graduating from 
Middlebury College in 1864, and in 1868 received his diploma of M. D. from 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He immediately 
accepted a position as house physician in the Kings County Hospital, 
Brooklyn, New York, remaining there until December 1870, when he removed to 
Rutland, where he successfully practiced until 1888. At the time he was 
tendered a "chair" in the medical department of the University of Vermont and 
for some time he hesitated as to whether he should or not continue in his 
chosen profession, but he finally and reluctantly retired from professional 
pursuits in order to give his whole attention to his extensive business 
interests. During his career in medicine he was appointed surgeon general of 
the state on the staff of Gov. Redfield PROCTOR, was medical superintendent 
of the house of correction from the time it was established until he gave up 
his profession, was a member of the pension examining board for eight years, 
and was appointed surgeon general of the Vermont state encampment of the 
Grand Army of the Republic in 1890.

Dr. [John Abner] MEAD is now one of the largest real estate owners in 
Rutland, was director and cashier of the old National Bank of Rutland for 
several years, was treasurer of the Rutland Railroad and director and 
treasurer of the Addison Railroad for nearly five years, director of the 
Clement National Bank since it was organized, vice president of the State 
Trust Company since its organization, and continued as such until he was 
elected its president. He is president of the New England Fire Insurance 
Company, of the P. E. Chase Manufacturing Company, and the Rutland board of 
trustees, and trustee of Middlebury College of Middlebury.

In 1888 he reorganized the Howe Scale Company, and is now president and 
executive officer of that corporation. The history of this corporation had 
been unfortunate since its first organization in 1857, but in his new sphere 
Dr. MEAD proved more successful than ever before, as the wonderful growth of 
this company fully testifies. Within five years under his administration he 
made this company second to none other manufacturing a weighing machine. In 
addition to the production of the renowned Howe scales, he added the truck 
department, and in two years they developed over a thousand varieties and 
manufactured more trucks than any other company in America. Letter presses 
were added, and soon a large business in this line was established. A full 
line of lifting jacks was also added to their output, increasing their sales 
largely. In 1893 he contracted for the sole manufacture of the Cyclone 
coffee mills, formerly made in Portland, Maine, and all the patterns have 
been removed to Rutland and become a part of the business of the Howe Scale 
Company. The Harrison Conveyor Company was also added to the manufactured 
products of this company, and today they are melting more iron than any 
concern in the state, and are producing more scales than any corporation in 
the world.

In the administration of the financial and a supervision of the mechanical 
affairs of this company, Dr. MEAD has exhibited rare executive ability. His 
watchful care of every detail, and his judgment of human nature, enabling him 
to select competent assistants in the varied departments, and his untiring 
perseverance have contributed largely to the remarkable success of this 
industry. He has always shown a kindly interest in the welfare of his 
employees, and of the workingmen, and has never hesitated to champion their 
cause whenever their demands were reasonable and in his judgment just, and 
they in turn evinced their appreciation of his efforts in electing him to the 
state Senate in 1892 by a large majority, and again in 1893 by making him the 
first mayor of the city of Rutland by over three quarters of the total vote 
cast for the candidates for this office.

Dr. MEAD was most emphatically one of that large class of New Englanders who 
are the sole architects of their reputations and fortunes, having acquired 
his academic education by his own efforts in the school room and on the farm. 
He left his studies for a year to acquire the means to begin the study of 
his profession, and on his receiving his diploma in medicine, he found 
himself a debtor to quite an extent, and, in short, on leaving the hospital 
and starting in private practice in Rutland, it was an absolute necessity 
that financial success should attend his first efforts, or he could have 
maintained himself but a few weeks.

Impelled by patriotic duty, Dr. [John Abner] MEAD enlisted in Company K, 
Twelfth Vermont Volunteer Regiment, serving in the campaign of 1862 and 1863, 
and returning to college he graduated with his class in 1864. He is a member 
of Roberts Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and has always felt a warm 
interest in matters pertaining to the "Boys in Blue." He was a member of the 
staff of General ALGER and General VEAZEY when they were commanders-in-chief 
of the Grand Army. Dr. MEAD is a staunch adherent of the Republican party, 
and as state senator was chairman of the committee on claims, and of the 
World's Fair, also a member of the committees on manufactures and banks. He 
is a member of the Congregational church, and for many years has been one of 
the executive committee, and is vice president of the Congregational Club of 
Western Vermont. On 30 October 1872 he [John A. MEAD] married Mary N., 
daughter of Hon. William N. SHERMAN, a prominent citizen of Greenwich [Kent 
County], Rhode Island. Dr. and Mrs. [John Abner] MEAD have one child, a 
daughter, Mary Sherman.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly