Ceremony to rededicate General Mead grave
The National Accelerator Laboratory, on Sunday, September 24th, will join in a tribute to its Illinois heritage. The occasion will be the rededication by the Kane County Council of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the Pioneer cemetery located on the NAL site, on former Batavia Road, a short distance from the entrance to DUSAF headquarters. In arranging the ceremony, the VFW honors the grave of Thompson Mead, a general in the War of 1812, one of the 18 identifiable burials in the cemetery. NAL officials have agreed to cooperate with the VFW in perpetual care of the cemetery. "The feeling was that this soldier's grave should be preserved just as other soldiers' graves are in military cemeteries throughout our country," according to Harold V. Johnson of Geneva, chairman of the event.
Thompson Mead was born February 26, 1774 in Dutchess County, New York, the son of a Revolutionary War soldier. Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, he answered a call to military service on September 1, 1812 and was ordered into active duty as Lieutenant Colonel of the 17th Regiment of the New York State militia. On September 20th, he was chosen commander of the regiment, and he had marched his 400 troops to Queenston Heights on the American side of the Niagara River by early October. An intense battle was fought on both sides of the river during the next fortnight, the British troops reinforced by Indians, ending in capitulation by the Americans. The records indicate Colonel Mead "behaved in battle with great coolness and determination." Some time later he was given the title of General in the New York State Militia.
In his latter years, because of ill health, the general and his wife moved to Batavia, Illinois where their youngest son. Dr. Thompson Mead, Jr., had located. The general purchased about 29 acres of land in 1845 at a location known most recently as the Phillips Farm, where he lived until he died in 1851. He and his wife and three of their grandchildren are buried in the cemetery which was a part of their farm. A descendant, Miss Ora Mead, resides in Batavia at the present time.
Various newspaper stories since 1960 report that the tiny cemetery was at one time completely abandoned. Through the efforts of Ernest Lundine and August Meier of Batavia, the Kane County VFW, in 1958, began to unearth the stones, including that of the general. The earliest burial was found to be 1839; the latest recorded burial in the plot was in 1871.
The program on September 24th will include raising of a flag that has flown over The White House, secured for the VFW through the efforts of Congressman Cliffard Carlson of Geneva, Illinois. Robert McMann, VFW Vice Department Commander of the State of Illinois, will be the main speaker of the day, and other VFW officials will also participate. Donald R. Getz, Assistant Director of the National Accelerator Laboratory, will represent the Laboratory.
Also on the program will be the Fox Valley Raiders, a drum and bugle corps of 65 youngsters from the DuKane area, recently named Class III champions in the Mid-America Drum and Bugle Corps competition at Kankakee, Illinois. John Burdette of the National Accelerator Laboratory Purchasing Department has worked actively with this group, which is only two years old and already winning honors.
NAL employees and the general public are invited to the ceremony which will start at 2 p.m. at the cemetery.
