The War of 1812 widow’s pension application for Jemima Meads (widow of Elisha) in Harford County, Maryland, includes testimony from Thomas Tredway. Elisha served as a private in Captain James Rampley’s Company of the Maryland Militia in the War of 1812.
Tredway was an 83-year old resident of Baltimore County, Maryland, at the time of the affidavit. This would suggest that Tredway was born in approximately 1795 and that he would have been approximately twenty-two at the time of the marriage of Elisha Meads and Jemima DeMoss.
Tredway’s 1878 affidavit referenced a marriage in 1817. A fair amount of time has elapsed between the date of the marriage and the date of the affidavit. Tredway indicated that he remembered the date because he “waited on” the said Elisha Meads when Meads married Jemima DeMoss “at her father’s house” on 9 November 1817.
“Waited on?”
I’m thinking that’s something like a best man.
Amy Cote says:
From a post on Archaic Words, from the Oxford Dictionaries website:
wait on/upon pay a respectful visit to
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/archaic-words/
Amy Cote says:
Ah, OK, I think you are correct:
wait on
vb (intr, preposition)
1. (Commerce) to serve at the table of
2. to act as an attendant or servant to [i.e., a wedding attendant]
3. archaic to visit
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/wait+on
Michael Wilson says:
The Meads, Tredway and Demoss families were related in various ways. Elisha Meads and Thomas Tredway were about the same age, and were distant cousins. They were raised in the same area near Blackhorse in Harford Co., MD. Thomas eventually settled in nearby Baltimore Co., but evidently remained a family friend.
mjnrootdig says:
Yes they were. Crispin Tredway, the family of Christianna (Demoss) Rampley, and John Demoss all went to Coshocton County, Ohio, in 1817.
Rebecca says:
I am descended from Elisha and Jemima. Is this your genealogy or someone else’s?
mjnrootdig says:
Yes, I am related to this couple.