The names of this branch are paternal ancestors of Charlie Mead. His grandparent surnames are Mead & Peppiatt. The trees currently available are Mead, Sear & Peppiatt.
The families come from the low agricultural lands to the north-west of the Chiltern Hills and were mainly farm labourers, straw dealers & plaiters. The influence of the Non-Conformist Churches were strong and some emigrated to Utah after missionaries from of the Church of Latter-Day Saints from the USA visited in the 1850's. Others moved into the towns of Dunstable and Luton for manufacturing work.
A number of DNA matches are known among the descendants of Thomas Mead and his wife Ann Peppiatt even though not all hs descendants have been sorted out. These include Mary A Osborn, Jessica Wooding, Jacqueline Parrott, and a daughter and granddaughter of Eileen Jane Johnson.
It is becoming clear that it is very difficult to separate the Mead, Cook, Hamp, Peppiatt, Stanbridge and other lines because of intermarriage in a relatively small area. There is considerable overlap in some of the trees.
Revised July 2023.