Jesse Townsend Mead

Among the earliest settlers of Shunk in Henry County, Ohio, were Jesse Townsend Mead, his wife Carolyn and their two year old daughter Juliaette (Juliette) Nash Mead who migrated from a place near Tiffin, Ohio, in 1846. That was the year Mr. Mead bought forty acres of land at $1.25 an acre near the place already owned by Asa Senter. Jesse was a native of Chenango County, New York, his wife of Maine. They came from their Adams County, Ohio, home in their covered wagon, the cover for which Carolyn had made from the heavy linen she wove from flax they grew and spun into threads. Pieces of that cloth are still cherished by Mead descendents. The wagon was their home until enough land could be cleared for a cabin site, and the cabin built. That took some time, for so dense was the forest that a hundred trees had to be felled and tons of undergrowth removed.

For seventeen years Skunk remained the Meads' home. They sold their farm in 1863 for $1500 and moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, where they bought eighty acres of land between Middlebury and Goshen. The family increased by five more children while at Shunk: twin boys, Elmer and Elwood, daughters Ella and Cordelia; son Clarence. The eldest, Juliette later married William Mead of Englishville, near Grand Rapids Michigan, and they lived and are buried at Grelton, Ohio. Elmer migrated to Nebraska, Elwood to California. Ella married Abjiah Cornell and both lived and died around Goshen, Indiana. Clarence and Cordelia died while youths.

Besides the usual tasks necessary to keep alive in the Shunk wilderness, the Meads each had a specialty. Jesse did considerable carpenter work for friends and neighbors, especially coffins, for which he preferred black walnut or tulip wood. His account book shows that he was paid between $5.00 and $8.50 for these. Caroline taught school, earning $1.25 a week for a sixteen week term. The money was used to purchase tools, cloth, and supplies not easily procured.

Much about the pioneer life of the Shunk people is recorded in a booklet Stories Told to Arthur Raymond Mead by His Grandfather, Jesse Townsend Mead, the materials having been edited and assembled by Arthur Raymond's daughter Jessie Mead Pitting- ton. When a lad of ten, A.R. spent a year with his ailing, aging grandparents to help with the "chores" at the Indiana place. It was there that he learned much about Shunk, as well as from his mother Juliette who grew up at Shunk.

The "grandfather" stories include one about a two day hunting trip Jesse took with Samuel Edwards, a popular hunter, going along the Turkeyfoot Creek. The men took home two large turkeys and three deer. It took but two bullets to slay the three deer, and those were shot simultaneously by the two men. One bullet had taken two deer.

There was a tulip tree so large that Jesse's saws would not go through it. Some men from Napoleon, with adequate equipment, felled it, and after it came crashing to the ground, the men counted 800 growth rings in the trunk. It would have had to begin to grow before the Norman Conquest in England.

Sailor was the Meads' dog, a sturdy, alert animal who proved a great asset in the Shunk wilderness. From the description he resembles a large collie. Sailor helped find hogs and cattle lost in the woods. He chased away many a tramp. He guarded chickens against their several enemies. He guarded children too, for they were subjected to many dangers, as were men on a hunt, and the game they caught. Sailor would signal the approach of quail, grouse or pigeons. He fought wild boars, wolves and bobcats. He killed mink, weasel, panther, and fox. But the climax of Sailor's story is his encounter with a "wild bull," one who too often embarrassed his owner and irked others by knocking down rail fences and flattening crops. Once when the bull was on a fence-downing rampage, Sailor was sent after him. First the dog tried to bite his tail, then his legs or neck. Finally in one sly leap he sunk his teeth into the bull's nose, and there he hung through the bull's frenzied shakings and running about. It was when the bull lay down and rolled over and over that they became separated and the bull ran away, leaping over the fences he had downed.

Submitted by Mrs. Stewart Smith (Berniece Mead)