Stage Name

                              MEADE    SKELTON 

                         

 A lot of folks ask me where I get the name "Meade Skelton".   They ask me "Are you related to Red Skelton?" Is that your real name? "Meade Skelton sounds like a  made up hipster name to me" , Etc. Well, no, I am no kin to Red. But yes its my real name!  Meade, of course is my first name, and Skelton is actually my middle name, but since I have a short first and last name, I decided to use my middle name for my stage name moniker. It just had a nicer ring to it. They come from my mother's side of the family.  Both Meade and Skelton are family names. Skelton is my grandmother's maiden name. My great great great grandmother was Marianne O. Meade.  She was born in 1823 in Powhatan, County, Virginia, and  married  Dr. John Gifford Skelton, also a  native  of Powhatan County. Both had  long established roots in the Richmond, Virginia area. In Virginia, especially amongst the old families, there is a long held tradition of carrying on family surnames and using them for the first names of children. 

  I am a direct descendant of Andrew Meade of Ireland who migrated to Virginia in the 17th Century. My mother's family has deep roots in Virginia for over 300 years.  There are also people that came from Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina. My Dad's side is also musical- and his family were Germans who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th Century. They settled primarily in the Midwestern states. Included on my mom's side are English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, French, some Spanish, and also Patawomeck and Cherokee Indian ancestry. All these flavors make me uniquely American! I feel blessed to know my roots and from where my people came.  And that's the story of my stage name Meade Skelton.