May 3, 1836 - March 31, 1910

James R. Mead was born in New Haven, Vermont, on May 3, 1836 to Rev. Enoch and Mary E. (James) Mead and had one younger sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie). He attended college at Iowa College in Davenport from 1849-50, before traveling westward to the Kansas Territory. In the fall of 1859 he arrived in Burlingame, Kansas, having ridden from his home in Iowa on horseback, and he fell in love with the Kansas countryside. He established a trading post 20 miles above the Saline River, trading with Indian tribes in the area. Mead named several of the creeks that led into the Saline River during his expedition in 1859, at which time the river had been unexplored. Beaver Creek was named due to the many beaver damns that inhabited the creek, Battle Creek was named after finding evidence of a small Cheyenne Indian war in the area, and Wolf Creek was named due to a large number of wolves that had been killed there. He also named Spillman Creek, Twelve-Mile Creek and Paradise Creek. Mead resided at his trading post until 1862, then moved to Salina in 1863 with his first wife, Agnes Barcoule. They opened another trading post in Towanda in 1863, as well as another branch at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River in 1864, the first building of which is now known as the city of Wichita. The trading post along the Ninnescah was establish in 1865, and at the Round Pond Creek in 1866. He was known as being an honest man and upright trader, allowing him much influence with the Indian tribes of the area.
Throughout his life, James R. Mead was involved in many business ventures and Kansas politics. He was noted to be in the cattle business, real estate, farming and as well as some mining in Colorado. In 1864, Mead was elected to the state legislature representing Butler county and in 1868 was elected to the state senate for the district comprised of the counties of Morris, Chase, Marion and Butler, as well as the unorganized territory west of the Kansas state line. In 1868, Mead was a great influence in incorporating the town of Wichita, which he chose to name after the Wichita indians who had occupied the territory for so long. In 1869, Mead's wife died and he relocated to land just outside of Wichita and began to build up the city. In 1871, he organized the Wichita & Southwestern Railroad, helping to make Wichita one of the fastest growing cities in Kansas, and assuring it would become the metropolis it is today.
James R. Mead loved biology and ethnology and was a member of the Kansas Academy of Science for thirty years. He also served as president of the Kansas State Historical Society, working to preserve pioneer annals and was a leader in the National Geographic Society, we well. Mead wrote many articles for the Kansas Academy of Science and the Kansas State Historical Society which can be found in the Kansas annals today.
James R. Mead loved biology and ethnology and was a member of the Kansas Academy of Science for thirty years. He also served as president of the Kansas State Historical Society, working to preserve pioneer annals and was a leader in the National Geographic Society, we well. Mead wrote many articles for the Kansas Academy of Science and the Kansas State Historical Society which can be found in the Kansas annals today.

James R. Mead's first wife, Agnes Barcome was born in Montreal, Canada and they married in Burlingame, Kansas in 1861. Together they had four children, James L. (Bunnie), Elizabeth Agnes (Lizzie, after Mead's sister), Mary E. (Mamie) and J. William, who died as an infant. Agnes died on December 1, 1861, in Towanda, Kansas. In 1873, Mead married Lucy Inman, who was his housekeeper, only to again lose his wife to death in 1894. His third and final marriage occured in 1896 to Fern Hoover and together they had two children, Ignace and Loreta.
James R. Mead loved biology and ethnology and was a member of the Kansas Academy of Science for thirty years. He also served as president of the Kansas State Historical Society, working to preserve pioneer annals. Mead wrote many articles for the Kansas Academy of Science and the Kansas State Historical Society which can be found in the Kansas annals today.
(parts of biography taken from KS-Cyclopedia - 1912)
http://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/mead/index.html
James R. Mead loved biology and ethnology and was a member of the Kansas Academy of Science for thirty years. He also served as president of the Kansas State Historical Society, working to preserve pioneer annals. Mead wrote many articles for the Kansas Academy of Science and the Kansas State Historical Society which can be found in the Kansas annals today.
(parts of biography taken from KS-Cyclopedia - 1912)
http://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/mead/index.html
James R. Mead died in March of 1910 after contracting a cold that turned to pneumonia, which the doctors of the time were unable to treat. James R. Mead's papers and photographs are collected, preserved and available for research in the Ignace Mead Jones Collection of James R. Mead Papers, at the Special Collections and University Archives in the Wichita Sate University Library. |
The Lincoln Republican printed on May 9, 1907, where James R. Mead details his expedition on naming of the Saline River Creeks. Posted online by the Lincoln County Historical Society.