Hi. I just wanted to let you know that I (although mostly my father who is still alive at 93) have done a lot of research on the Bucks Meads. My dad did all his research before computers were around and went to church records and the Bucks Archives. He got back to Whiteleaf around 1600 and when I read his research it blew me away. For someone who was not at all interested in History at school (I am an Engineer) reading what he had put together changed my life and I am totally fascinated by history now - not just family history.
I am really fascinated by family history though, and about 20 to 25 years ago I started looking into other areas of the that dad hadn't looked at so much, and used the internet too. But I have hot and cold periods of research and haven't done much for quite some time. The one area that I was never comfortable with on his research was Richard Mead and Catherine Ives (my 9 x great grandparents) and I spend a lot of time trying to fathom where they came from and I was not convinced there was a link to the Whiteleaf Meads.
I actually handled that will you referred to (with gloves) and all the other researcher in the records office basement in Aylesbury were astounded when it appeared as none of their researches had gone back quite that far. Dad already had it transcribed but I was intrigued and could understand much of it at all, but the staff there were very willing to help. None of this really helped any further with the Richard and Catherine link which to me put an end to going much further back.
A few years back I spotted that someone had found the link with Richard to the Soulbury, Essex and Somerset Meads and without too much detailed analysis myself I was intrigued by it all and actually visited many of those areas, Elmdon, Clavering, Wendon Lofts and ended up in Wedmore in Somerset too. I share a birthday with my dad (Alan Mead) and two weeks ago we celebrated it by doing a family history tour of Wendover, looking at some of the homes my direct ancestors lived in . Dad wrote the Book Of Wendover (with three other people) about 30 year ago, so he was in his element and so that trip inspired me a little.
Other projects take up a great deal of my time and so I only dabble in family history from time to time, but last night a friend sent me an email talking about a famous person in her family tree whom she has written a piece about, in relation to an affair with Charles II. That triggered something off for me and I decided I ought to finally update my own Family Tree, that I very rarely look at, on Genes Reunited. I decided to put that Richard and Catherine link in there and go all the way back to 1166.
I started, but ended up going down other routes on both Wikitree and Geni. I went down what was shown as Richard's mother's ancestors (Bridget Brograve) and looking down so many different branches I ended up at first finding a link to General Robert E Lee (it worked out that I was his 15th cousin 7 time removed) and then eventually it went down one specific path to before the Norman Conquest and over into France with a direct ancestor in the Prince of Monaco and further back still to Rollo the first Duke of Normandy. I was just so hooked on it all last night and stayed up very late to get all the information down. I did keep thinking that most of us in this country are probably related to Rollo.
With a day off today I continued and then tried to get back to Richard again and find out exactly what the link was with the famous Meads, William and Matthew, from the 17th century. I have been doing a lot of research on William Penn lately so it all seemed justified. But I just couldn't see the link, and the date of death for my Richard being shown as October 1634 in Soulbury and the other Richard's death being exactly the same just didn't make sense as they were obviously not the same person. I then searched for Meads of Soulbury and found this thread, confirming it is all nonsense.
So I am all a little bit disillusioned about it all at the moment, and need to have another break form it. But realising there are people out there going through the same as me and finding the exact same problems that I did 20 years ago with Richard Mead and Catherine Ives and the Monks Risborough Meads, is quite heartwarming. So I just felt I ought to make contact with you, and as I live in Bucks and within striking distance of these places, I may be able to help out if it is not too time consuming. I am still working, but do get across to Aylesbury to see my new granddaughter fairly frequently. It is refreshing to have the nice and different name of "Vienna" in the Family Tree now - though not followed by Mead. Anyway, it might be possible to get into the records office there, though I'm not sure of their opening times.
Best regards
Dave Mead.
