I have attached here two memories of my great-grandfather, Hudson Dexter Mead I. Thanks again to Beth Denny for sending me these documents which are quite readable and included as PDF files. One is a transcribed copy of notes made by Hudson himself on a trip he took to Yellowstone in 1893. The other document is a written memory of Hudson by his daughter Kate Jean (my great aunt).
Hudson Mead
Mead Family Additions
My next project is to put together a bibliography of my Grandparents Hudson Dexter Mead II and Mary Esther (Magill) Mead. In my gathering of information I have discovered two new people to add the the family tree that I am sure my mom had no knowledge of, and perhaps even her dad Hudson had no knowledge of. We will never know, but now we know. We meaning whoever reads this and myself.
The information came from a search of the Greenwood Cemetery online database which uncovered the result shown directly below:
Greenwood Cemetery, Chadron, Nebraska
https://chadron-nebraska.com/201/Greenwood-Cemetery
H D Mead would be my great grandfather Hudson Dexter Mead, born 26 Aug 1868 in Niles, Michigan and died 19 Feb 1950 in Chadron, Nebraska. His wife was our great grandmother Nora (Blake) Mead. Both are shown above in spaces 2 and 3.
What first caught my interest was that the list included two John G Mead’s. Hudson’s father (by great great grandfather) is John Groot Mead born 7 Apr 1838 in New York and buried 4 May 1920 in Chadron. His wife Mary Eliza (Dexter) Mead was born 5 May 1840 in New York and buried 15 Jan 1928 in Chadron. Both are shown above in spaces 10 and 12.
The other John G Mead record in space 1 is shown below:
My great grandparents Hudson and Nora Mead were married in 1902 and my grandfather Hudson Mead was born in 1906 and as far as we knew he had two sisters, Mary and Kate. Now we know he was preceded by a brother John who passed away before Grandpa was born. I have no other pictures or information that he even existed, but he did and would have been a great uncle to me if the Lord hadn’t taken him home as an infant.
The second thing that caught my attention was the listing of Arthur J Mead and A J Mead. I have posted previously about Arthur J Mead who is a half brother of my great grandfather Hudson who was born in 1862 in Michigan and died at his own hand in 1910 in Chadron, a sad story. Along with a wife who left him with four children sometime before 1910, and a previous wife who died about a year after they were married in 1885, now I discover a child who died as a baby 6 days old.
This is not really surprising information as many of us have similar events in our lives that many that come after us would know nothing about. These events don’t really affect us, at least not directly from our perspective. But the Lord has plans for each of us. Some events are sad and some are joyful, but all are meant to grab our attention and get us to focus on Him.
It was no mere coincidence that I was also born in Chadron, Nebraska. Small world after all.
Hudson Dexter Mead I – Handmade Train
The story, as I recollect as told by my Grandpa Hudson Dexter Mead II, is that the train set shown below was made by his dad for him as a child. Grandpa was born in 1906 so this would have been made around 1910 or so. From the looks of trains in the 1910’s that I could find versus trains in the 1870’s (which would have been in my great grandfathers childhood) I am not sure if it was made by my great grandfather (b. 1868) or my great-great grandfather John Groot Mead (b. 1838).
But my grandfather gave me this train to make sure it was passed on down through the family and I now have a place to actually put it up so others can see (of course, they would have to come visit me to see it!). It included some train tracks which seemed to be missing a few sections so I made a couple more sections so the whole train can be set on the train tracks.
Below is a full length photo, then a front half and back half photo. Following these pictures will be individual pictures of the cars:
Everything on the cars is hand made, even the wheels. Some of the components are household items, like the crane car which uses an open face fishing reel for the bucket lift line and what looks like gears to turn the boom lift chain and to rotate the crane. The engine has some light bulb fixtures and the brakes actually actuate. Enjoy the pictures:
retravelment.com 