The MEADE home page is dedicated to Mary Quesnel's father, Roland Price Meade (1837-1879). Born Roland Price Mead (no "e") in Vermont, USA to Franklin and Rachel (Price) Mead.  (He is also documented at times as "Rollin" or "Rawlin" Price Meade)

His parents moved the family to Ontario, Canada and are recorded in the 1851 Census Canada West (Woodhouse, Norfolk County, Ontario).

Roland was an adventurer who eventually settled in Manitoba. 

The Hudson's Bay Company Archives indicate in 1866, Roland ventured as far as Fort Dunvegan in Alberta's Peace River Country and have in their possession his sketch of the Fort. 

On July 31st, 1866 Roland married Mary Rachel Ashford, daughter of British Army pensioner James Ashford, at St. John's Anglican Church,Winnipeg, Manitoba (marriage record: Archives of the Diocese of Rupert's Land in Winnipeg).

Roland  was secretary pro tem of the Red River Famine Relief committee in 1868-69 (source: Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J.M. Bumsted, Published by the University of Manitoba Press, 1999).

In 1869, at the time of Louis Riel's Rebellion in Manitoba, Roland was an artist and the editor of the Nor' Wester Newspaper .  As a result, in December of that year, Roland, together with Dr. Schultz (owner of the paper), was imprisoned in Upper Fort Garry by Riel and Associates in an attempt to stop any word of the rebellion from leaking out to Canada.  During his imprisonment, Roland witnessed and sketched the historic shooting execution of another prisoner, Thomas Scott on March 4, 1870. 

Roland, his wife Mary Rachel (Ashford) and son, Franklin moved to Fort Alexander for a short time following his imprisonment in Fort Garry, where they lived in a little house facing water falls.  Roland named this spot Pine Falls which was in the vicinity of present day Pine Falls, Manitoba.

Roland, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, also spent some time in Cumberland House and The Pas, Manitoba.

Roland returned to Winnipeg with his family and resided on Meade Street which bears his name.

Roland became Winnipeg's first professional house painter.

Roland painted the first canvas curtain at the historic Walker Theatre in Winnipeg.  It was a background scene portraying the Rocky Mountains and the buffalo.

Unfortunately, Roland's life was cut short after he contracted lead poisoning from oil based paints.  He left behind his wife, Mary Rachel (Ashford) and children, Franklin, Mary, William, Allan and George.

Roland's ancestors include:  his great, great grandfather Colonel James Mead (American Revolutionary War), the first white man to settle in Rutland, Vermont; direct descendant John Mead who was one of the original seven proprietors of Greenwich, Connecticut; John's sister, Martha Mead, the subject of a documented, controversial legal case in 17th Century New England; and John Mead's father,  direct descendant William Mead, of Stamford, Connecticut, believed to have sailed to America in 1635.  The Mead family's genealogy has been well documented in the USA.

For more information on Roland and his interesting family, please check out the Person Sheets (soon to be published to this website).

Art by Roland Price Meade (left: Death of Thomas Scott, March 4, 1870; right: Fort Dunvegan 1866), Prisoner List & HBC Record for James Ashford (Roland Price Meade's Father-in-Law):  Source -  HBC Archives 

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