Andrew Meade emigrated from County Cork, Ireland, to New York and then to Nansemond County, Virginia, about 1685. This comprehensive family history covers sixteen generations of Meades, beginning with a short discourse of the Meade (also Miagh or Meagh) family in Ireland. Then, two detailed chapters about Meades in Virginia are followed by a numerical genealogical table of Meades. The allied families of Everard, Hardaway, Eggleston, Segar, Pettus and Overton are covered in separate chapters, as is the "Royal Descent" from Joan Barrington, the Cromwell family, the Mortimer family and the Plantagenets. The author's sources include many ancient texts and well-known works such as Burke's Peerage and Pepys Diary. Modern sources comprise church records, family histories, county histories, news clippings and personal papers. This work contains several illustrations of prominent Meades, family charts and the Meade coat of arms. There are three separate original indices: "Meade names," "Other names," and "Places, &c."