Hannah Mead, 10th Great-Grandmother

November 11, 2014 — ancestry, Colonial America, Hannah Mead, midwife

King’s Colors

My 10th great-grandmother was a midwife who outlived two husbands before she arrived in America.  I am a descendant of her first husband, John Potter who died in England.  Her immigration to America was tragic, and she survived to the  age of 75.  The reason the colonists gave her the land belonging to her dead husband was her profession as a midwife.  Since they needed her services they wanted her to stay.

John BEECHER was born on 28 Mar 1594 in Kent, England. He died in 1637/38 in New Haven, Connecticut. He immigrated on 26 Jun 1637 to Boston Harbor. Arrived April 26, 1637 from Steldhurst County, Kent, England. In Governor Eaton’s Company. The first Beecher to reach New England was John Beecher, who came from Kent, England in 1637. He was in the company led by Rev. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton who had been the Ambassador to Denmark and Deputy-Governor of India. The company crossed the ocean on the “Hector” and another sister-ship. These two ships, after a two month voyage, dropped anchor in Boston harbor. The company consisted of 50 men and 200 women and children and was the most prosperous that ever arrived in New England. Unfortunately, they landed in the midst of a quarrel about Anne Hutchinson who had set herself up as a preacher, irregardless of her sex. Not wishing to become involved, they sent out a scouting party to find another location to settle. They decided upon Quinnipiack on the Long Island Sound, the site of present day New Haven, Conn. The party built a hut and left seven of their men to hold the post for the winter and to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the company in the spring. John Beecher was one of the seven and he failed to survive the winter. Hannah arrived in the spring with her son Isaac and found her husband in an unmarked grave. Since she was the only midwife among them, and thus relied upon by the others in the company, she was given her husband’s allotment of land for herself and her son Isaac. One hundred and twelve years later, in 1750, when David Beecher was a boy of twelve, workmen who were digging a cellar for a house at the corner of George and Meadow Streets in New Haven came upon human bones, believed to be those of John Beecher.  Hannah Mead  was born in 1600 in Spaldhurt, Kent, England. She died on 5 Apr 1658/59 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Hannah Beecher sailed from England with her son Isaac and was a widow at the time she left England. Husband John Beecher, one of the seven whom Eaton sent to New Haven in advance of the colony ,died before the colony arrived. He did not survive the first winter. It is established that this ship load of people was rather wealthy landowners from Steldhurst County, Kent, England. Since the company was rather young, it was felt that Hannah’s services of midwife would be greatly needed. She therefore was offered her husband’s land right in the new world if she would agree to go and fulfill this need, which she did.

The will of Hannah Beecher was proved April 5, 1659 and is recorded in first part, vol i., p 80 of New Haven Probate Records as follows: “I Hannah Beecher of New Haven, expectying my great change do make this my last will and testament, I bequeath my soul unto the hands of my Lord Jesus Christ by whose meritt I hope to be saved and my body to be burried at the discretion of my Son William Potter my Executor. And for my worldly goods I give unto John Potter my Grand child twenty shillings and to Hannah Blackly, my Grand child twenty shillings to be paid to them within three months after my decease. And for the rest of my estate I give one third part to my son Isaac Beecher and two thirds to my eldest son William Potter, making him my Executor, desiring him to be as a father to his younger brother and his children. And in dividing my goods my will is that my son William should have my feather bed with that belongeth to it, unto his part and that the rest be divided at the discretion of my Overseers with the assistance of Sister Wakeman and sister Rutherford and I desire my loving friends Mr Mathew Gilbert and Job Wakeman to be overseers of this my last will whereunto I have set my hand this 13th day of June, Anno 1657. Witnesses, the mark of Mathew Gilbert, Hannah Becher John Wakeman, Sarah Rutherford. This source also indicates that the inventory of Hannah’s estate following her death in 1659 amounted to 55 pounds, 5 shillings, and 6d.

Hannah (Potter) Beecher appears in early New Haven as a widow with sons: John Potter, William Potter, and Isaac Beecher. She has been considered to be the mother of Isaac Beecher, for she calls him her son in her will and gave him one third of her property, but recent investigations (source unproven ) suggest that Isaac was a step son, the son of her second husband by a former wife.

Note: There was in New Haven, says G.F. Tuttle, as early as 1641, a widow Hannah Potter, known as widow Potter the midwife. In 1643 she had two persons in the family, thirty pounds estate and twenty and one quarter acres of land. She is called “sister Potter the midwife,” in seating the meeting house in 1646. She is supposed to have been akin to the other Potters, but there is no record to show it. She has often been confounded with the widow Hannah Beecher, but the records clearly show that they were two different persons. -Per “Families of Ancient New Haven”

Hannah Mead (1584 – 1659)
is my 10th great grandmother
William Potter (1608 – 1684)
son of Hannah Mead
Hannah Potter (1636 – 1700)
daughter of William Potter
Benjamin Daniel Mead (1667 – 1746)
son of Hannah Potter
Mary Mead (1724 – 1787)
daughter of Benjamin Daniel Mead
Abner Mead (1749 – 1810)
son of Mary Mead
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Abner Mead
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

I am descended from Hannah two different ways.  She is also my 11th great-grandmother.  Two of her second great grandsons, Ebenezer and Benjamin Daniel, have contributed to my DNA.

Hannah Mead (1582 – 1659)
is my 11th great grandmother
William POTTER (1608 – 1684)
son of Hannah Mead
Hannah Potter (1636 – 1700)
daughter of William POTTER
Ebenezer Mead (1663 – 1728)
son of Hannah Potter
Ebenezer Mead (1692 – 1775)
son of Ebenezer Mead
Amos Mead (1730 – 1807)
son of Ebenezer Mead
Abner Mead (1749 – 1810)
son of Amos Mead
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Abner Mead
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

This is always tricky and requires a lot of switching and updating to make the tree accurate.  The Meads and the Potters married each other, and so did the Meads and the Meads.  It is too late now to worry about inbreeding.  This happens more than once in my ancestry.