Greenwich Farmers’ Marketplace – Week 3 – Next Farmer’s Market – May 3, 2014
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Your Greenwich Family History – Meads around Greenwich
From: Ron Mead
Your Greenwich Family History:
Meads around Greenwich:
Luther Mead and his wife Annis probably arrived in the Greenwich area from Connecticut in the early 1800’s. They had 4 boys and one girl. One of the boys was Thomas L. Mead, who married Allathea Finch. They had ten children (6 boys and 4 girls). One of the girls was Anna D Mead, who was a schoolteacher and held Saturday afternoon children’s story hours in the Greenwich City Council room for many years during the 1940’s. One of the boys was Edward Lawrence Mead, who married Eudora Sizer of Waterville, OH in 1893. They had five children (3 girls and 2 boys). Up to this point most of the Meads had remained in the Greenwich Twp area as farmers. Upon reaching adulthood the girls moved to the Cleveland area. The two boys , Royce and T.L., remained in the Greenwich area farming the family farm north of Greenwich on the Rome-Greenwich Road and serving as Greenwich’s rural mail carriers from the 1920’s into the 1960’s. Royce married Hazel King and moved to Ripley Twp in the mid-1930’s. Interestingly, after Royce and T.L. retired from the mail route, two of T. L.’s nephews, Arthur and Allan White picked up Greenwich’s two rural routes in the 1960’s. Royce and Hazel’s son Ronald married Carol Lee of Greenwich Twp. Ronald entered the Air Force and they left the Greenwich area in 1959, except for occasional visits.
Kings around Greenwich
John Golden King of North Royalton, OH married Sarah Bark of Cuyahoga County in 1859 and they probably arrived in Ripley Twp in the early 1860’s. They had 2 girls and 4 boys, who lived in the Greenwich area. One of the boys was John King, a farmer in Ripley Twp, who married Eva Sprinkle. They had 1 girl and 3 boys. Hazel King married Royce Mead and lived almost all of her life in Ripley Twp.
Watsons in the Greenwich Area
Samuel Watson married Abigail Burgess in 1855 in upstate New York, and they probably came to Greenwich Twp in the early 1860’s. They had 4 boys, one of whom was Clarence Watson who married Ella Mead of Greenwich. They had three boys and one girl, Myrtle Watson of Olena, OH, who married Carl Lee of Morrow Co, OH. They had two boys and one girl. One of the boys, Linley, was born in Wadsworth, OH, but was moved to the Greenwich area when very young. He grew up in Greenwich Twp and married Luella Gremling of Mansfield. They settled in Greenwch Twp and had 2 boys and 2 girls. One of the girls, Carol Lee married Ronald Mead.
First House in Greenwich – Hiram Townsend Farm House on Townsend Street
The 1870 village of West Greenwich occupied the Hiram Townsend Plot on this 1845 Plot Map.
The Hiram Townsend Farm is shown on the above 1845 Huron County plot map. A village map of 1873 is below.
6 Townsend Street – First House in Greenwich in 1896 (Picturesque Huron County)
Hiram Townsend’s Farm House – originally built in 1845 – 6 Townsend Street in 2012
The first settler was Henry Carpenter who came to the area in 1817. There was no one living in the area prior to Carpenter’s arrival. Henry died in 1818 from over exertion at a house raising. His child Abner was the first born in the township. E.F. Barker was the second family to arrive. His place of residence was on an 8.75 acre lot which is now (2012) owned by the village of Greenwich. It was located in the south west corner of the lagoons farm just north of the village. (p.81)
In 1821 Hiram Townsend bought 132 acres in what is now Greenwich. The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was chartered in 1836 and the process of purchased right-of-ways started in the early 1840s. Early landowners, such as the Kniffins, Hiram Townsend and others fought the coming railroad with several lawsuits for a time but in the late 1840’s Hiram Townsend sold ten acres to the Big Four Railroad for a roadbed, depot, and a park. This is the area bounded by North Railroad Street, South Railroad Street, the east boundary of section 6 (about 250 feet west of Maple Street) and the east-west section line road (now U.S. 224). This cut his farm buildings off from the rest of his farm. Hiram build a lovely house (now the Church of Christ parsonage) in 1845, the oldest house in section 6 (p.82) On February 21, 1851 the first train ran from Columbus to Cleveland, through Greenwich. By 1853 the railroad was in fairly flourishing condition and there was talk of a double track. (p.20)
West Greenwich – in the 1873 Huron County Plot Book
By 1870 houses were being built on a least two edges of his farm. Now people, eager to build near the depot, wanted his farm. Townsend died in 1871. The Greenwich Land and Building Association purchased the land in 1873 and Greenwich mushroomed. The Greenwich Land and building Association was incorporated for “the encouragement of local business interests and the development of the village.” The organization purchased the one hundred twenty acre farm and divided one-third of it into lots. The first building on one of these lots was constructed in 1874. The village grew rapidly from seventy residents in 1874 to more than five hundred in 1879. At first the new area was called Greenwich Station. Later the “Station” was dropped (p. 82).
Today Hiram Townsend’s house which he built in 1845 still stands. It is sturdy and in good repair. Some construction details, such as floor joists which are smooth on top but still have bark on the other sides, are reminders of its age. The house today serves as the parsonage for the Church of Christ and is located at 6 Townsend Street, a street named in honor of one of Greenwich’s most interesting pioneers(p.94)
Summarized from “History of the Greenwich Area” July 1979
Greenwich Farmers’ Market – Week One – 9/14/2013 – A success!!
The First Greenwich Farmers’ Market is a success! Same time next week!!
Oldest House in West Greenwich
West Greenwich Oldest House
Greenwich Mill, Ladies on Wagon in July 4th Parade
Mill, Parade, Parade
B&O Depot, Downtown looking East, West Main Street
Depot, East Main Street, West Main Street
The Star Inn
The Star Inn
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