I didn't see the additions to this thread until today. The William Mead who was in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and whose descendants were in Northern Virginia is usually said to be the son of Mathew Mead, born in Stepney, but there is no solid connection between the two.
I have transcribed Mathew Mead's will, of 1699, last one on this page:
https://sites.google.com/site/meadfamilyhistory/home/wills/bucks/wills?authuser=0He doesn't mention a son named William. There could be a few reasons for this. First, William might have died already, but then he couldn't be the one in America. Maybe he had been disowned, or had already received his inheritance. Maybe "out of sight, out of mind", except that Mathew mentioned "my daughter Rebecca Shrimpton now in New England".
There are several people named Mead in Early Maryland Settlers, but none named William:
https://earlysettlers.msa.maryland.gov/ You can also search the Maryland Archives.
https://query.msa.maryland.gov/texis/search/There was a William Mead or Meade who appears in several records in the 1680s and 90s in Somerset County, Maryland (on the Delmarva Peninsula, bordering Virginia). I don't know if this is the man you are looking for, but I didn't look through all the records.
Here are some probate records from Maryland Archives.
1719/1725 William Mead, Anne Arundel
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se4/000000/000013/html/05365.html1720 William Meades, Calvert
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se4/000000/000013/html/05357.html1721 William Meades, Calvert
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se4/000000/000013/html/05359.html1735 William Mead, Anne Arundel
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se4/000000/000013/html/05364.html1742 William Mead, Kent
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se4/000000/000013/html/05366.htmlThese are only the Williams, there are others.
