| Notes |
- Ambrose Meador immigrated from England to Warrisquicke (later Isle of Wight) County, Virginia before 1636, and moved about 1649 to Lancaster County, Virginia. Descendants lived in Virginia and elsewhere.
http://www.geocities.com/janet_ariciu/Meador.html
Not much is found in the records about Ambrose Meador, but we do know that he, his wife (name unknown), and servant arrived in Virginia in late may of 1636. It is presumed that his son Thomas arrived on the same ship; however Thomas would have been an adult and possibly married at that time. He traded part of his head right property for the cost of his wife's and slaves' passages. That was a very common practice at the time of the colonization of the "new world". A head right was 160 acres, and was granted to the head-of-house upon arrival. They had to work the land and make it productive for 15 years before they could "patent" the land. Their names were kept on a "rent" roster until the end of the 15 year period. If they bargained for more than one head rights, then they served 15 years for each and they could not serve them consecutively. They had to be served one after the other and all land was held until the end of all the 15 year periods. Ambrose surrendered 150 acres to Peter Johnson on June 1, 1636 for the passages previously mentioned. We also know that Ambrose designated his "sonn" Thomas as his "true ans lawfull attorney" in his "place and stead" to appear for him in court and awarded Thomas 300 acres out of one thousand acres sold to him by a Mr. James Williamson as payment for his work. Ambrose used a large "m" as his mark for all legal purposes. Thomas apparently was literate as it is recorded on legal documents that he signed his own name. We also know that Thomas then signed over 150 acres of that land to a Mr. Richard Tomlynson. All legal documents state the following concerning land transfers: "give grant bargain and sell unto..(name of person) ...(amount of land) lying and being on ...(location of land) with all the houses privileges thereunto belonging according to the tennour of by the rents and services unto ..(person) his heirs and assigns for ever against all persons claiming by from or under ..(orginial owner) ... (spelling errors are copies of actual documents, not typo errors.) These transactions took place between late 1657 and September 1658.
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As it appears on the website at mccormack.cherrytreewv.com:
Ambrose Meador:
Every immigrant to the colony in the 17th century was granted 50 acres as a "headright" to get them started. But often these grants were assigned to a benefactor who had paid for their passage from England to the colony. There, we find that Ambrose Meador had on 1 Jun 1636, surrendered to a Peter Johnson in Warrisquicke County. (later Isle of Wight County.) 150 acres of headright land due for the immigration of Ambrose, his wife and a servant. It should be noted that in many cases delays of several years occurred in the official recording of such documents, therefore, the actual date of Ambrose's arrival could have been a few years previous to 1636.
Soon after the recording of this headright, other records show that Ambrose Meador in partnership with John White purchased 50 acres of land from Thomas Davis. Then, in 1649, he bought 300 acres from Ambrose Bennett on the south side of the Pajan River. These purchases were in what became Isle of Wight in the Virginia colony, south of the James River. It is evident that other purchases were made for when records no longer exist, on the basis of reference to land that Ambrose owned at "Ambrose Meador's Point", cited as a landmark. Adjoining these lands of Ambrose Meador on the Pajan River were grants of 300 acres and 600 acres to Richard Bennett, and 1100 acres to Ambrose Bennett. Much can be learned from these associations. All of the above mentioned men with whom Ambrose Meador dealt and whose lands adjoined his own were prominent members of the early Puritan Church.
The Puritan movement had originated in England in the late 16th century as part of the Protestant reformation directed against the Catholic Church. It continued its reformation efforts against the Church of England (Anglican) which had been created when Henry VIII severed all ties with the Catholic Church. In particular, the Puritan adherents felt that Henry VIII had not gone far enough in merely separating from the Catholic Church. The designation "Puritan" derived from their determined efforts to "purify" the Church of England with regard to: 1) forms of worship and the clerical vestments; 2) the organization of the church; and 3) certain theological doctrines.
The Puritan movement was not treated favorably by James I, King of England, and migration began into Holland. By 1610 the Puritans had begun to settle in Virginia on both sides of the Pajan River in Warrisquicke County (now Isle of Wight). Many settlers succumbed to hardships, disease and recurrent Indian attacks. After the Indian massacre of 1622 throughout the Virginia settlements, only 33 European persons were left in the Warrisquicke County. area.
Sometime after the tragedy but certainly before the recording of his headright in 1633, Ambrose Meador came to the Virginia colony. Because the records show he was married when he arrived but had no children, the passage must have taken place before 1633, the year in which his first son, John, was born.
It is not known if Ambrose Meador came to Virginia from Holland or England. Some indications point to Suffolk in agricultural East Anglia, northeast of London, as the possible origin of the Meadors.
As we attempt to recreate Ambrose Meador's background, it is quite significant that in Virginia he settled near and dealt with Ambrose Bennett, a relative of Edward Bennett, who was one of the Elders of the "Ancient Church" faction of the Puritan movement. Edward owned a fleet of ships that transported and supplied many of the Puritan colonials. Edward married into the wealthy Bourne family and was granted thousands of acres for transporting hundreds of colonists and their servants. His relative Richard Bennett was overseer of his plantations and later became Governor of Virginia.
A neighbor of Ambrose Meador's was Thomas Jordan, a prominent member of the Puritan movement.
Perhaps as early as 1632, construction was begun on a church, just a few miles south of the lands of Ambrose Meador. Durably built of hand-fired brick, the building still stands today.
The last record of Ambrose Meador in Isle of Wight County. is in 1649, when he sold land to Ralph Warrener on 9 April 1649. Ambrose soon followed the Puritan colonists to Lancaster County. on the Rappahannock River. He is first found there on a list of tithers on 24 Oct 1653. He settled on the northeast side of the river in the Totuskey Creek area. On 3 Sep 1656 he purchased from James Williamson the lower 1,000 acres at the 1800 grant on Willing Creek (Totuskey Creek). The neighbors here besides Williamson included Bryer, William Underwood, Abraham Moore, Thomas Robinson, and William Denby from the Isle of Wight colony.
The 1,000 acres purchased by Ambrose Meador included Accokeek Point of the mouth of Totuskey Creek, across the river and a few miles downstream from present Tappahannock. Of this 1,000 acres, he soon sold 300 acres to Thomas Robinson and 300 acres to his son, Thomas Meador. He retained 300 acres for himself as a home plantation, probably near the present site of Wellford, which he appears to have named "Accokeek". This 400 acres was then inherited by his son, John Meador, and later traded by John to Robert Tomlin on 3 May 1663 for 500 acres of land on Peumansend Creek in what is now Caroline County. Evidently Ambrose Meador was dead by this date. His last reference in the records is 24 Dec 1661 when he shared a purchase with his son, Thomas. His wife was mentioned (but not by name) in the deed to Thomas Robinson in 1656, but may have preceded him in death. If Ambrose Meador left a will, as is likely, it has not survived the loss of Lancaster County. records, nor is his last resting place known.
It appears probable that Ambrose Meador's son, Thomas Meador, met with an early death. He left no property of record to be divided and no deeds or wills have been found.
Source: Our Meador Families in Colonial America - as found in the records of Isle of Wight, Lancaster (old) Rappahannock, Richmond, Essex and Caroline Counties, Virginia; 1983; Victor Paul Meador & Bernal M. Meador
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Abt 1594 - 1661 (~ 67 years)
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