Re: Thomas Meador Sr. in Virginia

Yours is an intriguing theory, but I have problems with it.Familysearch.org, to which you refer, has 31 listings for a Thomas Meador born in 1612.All except the one you cite show England as his birthplace.I have to admit that some of these are questionable, since they show "Bristol, Suffolk" as his place of birth, and Bristol isn't in Suffolk.Nevertheless, the preponderance of opinion (not necessarily the evidence -- this is much harder to come by) holds that Thomas was English.

As you know, Thomas didn't spell his name as you and I do.It was spelled Meads, or Meades, or Meader.So far as I can tell, the first member of the clan to spell it "Meador" was his grandson, John Meador, and even he wasn't consistent.A search of English parish records on Ancestry.com shows that there was a family of Meaders in Dorset in the 16th and 17th centuries.I can't say that this was Thomas' family, but it does show that the name was English.Mead, Meade, and Meades are also definitely English.

If Thomas was born in the Netherlands, it seems more than likely to me that his parents were English.Some have suggestged that Thomas was a Puritan (based mainly on speculative and circumstantial evidence, in my opinion). Some English dissenters fled to the Netherlands to avoid religious persecution, and it may be that Thomas' family was among these.I find it highly improbable that Thomas was a Dutchman who went to England as part of his military service.The 30 Years War, and the Dutch Revolt against Spain, were fought on the continent, not in England.If he did go to England, it is more probable that he was trying to avoid military service, rather than to fulfill it.

Finally, you mention that the crest is in English (except, I assume, for the Latin motto).If this is indeed the Meador family crest, then this fact adds weight to the argument that the family was English.

Unless I see good hard evidence to the contrary (meaning something derived fromearly 17th Century records), I must conclude that Thomas (Meades, Meader) Meador was English.It is possible that he was born in the Netherlands, but if so, I would wager that he was born of English parents.