He apparently came to New England about 1647, just before the execution of King Charles I and the Interregnum in England. Two principal groups had formed there during the power struggle of the 1640s: The Royalists, loyal to the King, and the Cavaliers, or Roundheads, who opposed him. When Charles I fell, and was beheaded in 1649, many common citizens who had signed the Proclamation Returns of 1641/2 or otherwise professed their loyalty to the King fled to America. John Meader must at that time have been about 22 years of age. He was certainly a Protestant, since he had signed the Proclamation Return that contained these words:

He would have come into his inheritance of five shillings from his grandfather Thomas when he reached 21, perhaps in 1646, and he might have had additional funds from his father. Raised as a farmer, his father cut off without the proverbial shilling from Thomas Meader, and perhaps in difficulties with the authorities for a minor (mis-pasturing a heifer) or major (loyalty to the king) reason, it is possible he took ship for the New World. The voyage would have cost upwards of five pounds [Abbott Emerson Smith, Colonists in Bondage, p. 35], and he might have had to borrow part of the sum and repay it with services in New England.

He undoubtedly did not come to this country as an indentured servant. There were almost no indentured servants in New England, as "The Puritan communities, scanty in their agriculture, chary of favors, hostile to newcomers as they were, received few." [Smith, op.cit., p.4]. In about 1650, of 6,000 persons living in Massachusetts only 240 were listed as servants or laborers [Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts, p.524]. And Edward Randolph [C.S.P. Colonial, 1675-1676] wrote:

It is quite possible that John Meader received "hired wages” for at least part of the period from 1647 to 1653, when he was married, or 1656, when he received a grant of land. According to one source, he "knew" Robert Huckins' land in 1647 or 1648.The verb "to know" can mean "to care for, look after, protect,” and thus the source may be indicating that he was taking care of Robert Huckins’ land. The same source mentions that by about 1650 John Meader "lived with" Mr. Valentine Hill, perhaps also maintaining his farm.

In 1656 John Meader had a 100-acre grant of land with William Sheffield, and in 1660 he bought more land from Valentine Hill, near the mouth of the Oyster River where he lived. Certainly by this time, if not earlier, he must have had all the rights of a citizen.

He served on a jury in 1659-1660 and on grand juries in 1661-1662, 1665, 1670, 1678 and 1693.

According to the Dover Town Records, John Meader was taxed on July 21, 1657 and also in 1661-1667. He with others petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts in 1669 to make Oyster River a separate township. In 1685 he was one of a group of petitioners from Exeter, Hampton, Portsmouth and Dover who appointed Nathaniel Weare of Hampton as their agent to go to England to protest to the King (James II) about the arbitrary methods of Governor Cranfield. At a court session on October 19, 1709 to settle the ownership of some land disputed by Nathaniel Hill, presumably related to Valentine Hill, and a Stephenson, Joseph Meader [0005] and John Meader [0001], the latter then claiming the age of 80, both testified for Hill. Again, John Meader [0001], claiming to be 82, testified on January 30, 1712 that Charles Adams had owned land at the mouth of the Oyster River about 1650, further evidence if any were needed that John Meader had been there at that time.

Besides five Puritan colonies in New England when John Meader arrived, there were two proprietary colonies. New Hampshire and Maine. New Hampshire had begun as the personal estate of Captain Richard Mason, and it consisted on a few hundred people in Portsmouth, Exeter and other settlements on tidewater. In 1684 John Meader with others was dispossessed of his land by suits at law which had been brought by Robert T. Mason, who was the grandson of Captain John Mason, on the ground of Captain Mason's grant. Executions were levied, but officers could neither retain possession nor find purchasers. The property soon returned to the actual settlers. Mason sold out to the British Crown. That same year, 1685, King James II gave Joseph Dudley, son of an old Puritan governor, a commission to rule Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, then renamed the Dominion of New England. In 1691 William and Mary created the Royal Province of Massachusetts Bay, with Sir William Phips as Governor. The Dominion included the Bay and Plymouth colonies, together with Maine. Rhode Island and Connecticut were not included. New Hampshire became a separate royal province.

John Meader’s grant of land was on a beautiful peninsula between the Piscataqua and Oyster Rivers above Portsmouth, NH. There a settlement, called "Oyster River," was established with at least fifteen garrison houses grouped in the area before 1694. The families were; 1. Charles Adams, 2. Beard, 3. Bickford, 4. James Bunker, 5. Burnham, 6. Lt. (later Colonel) James Davis and his brother Joseph. Abigail Meader appears to have married into this family [see 0006], 7. John Dean, 8. William Drew, ancestor of Ruth Hill, who married Samuel Meader [0049], 9. Edgerly, 10. Goddard, 11. Robert Huckins, whose land John Meader first tilled, 12. Lt. Stephen Jones, 13. John Meader, 14. Joseph Smith, and 15. John Woodman. Of these fifteen names, only three – Burnham, Bickford and Goddard – do not occur later in this genealogy.

Ten of the garrison houses formed a line of defense on each side of the river itself below the tidewater; that is, below the falls in the present village of Durham. The Meader garrison house was at the mouth of the Oyster River, overlooking the Piscataqua. John Meader was taxed there as early as 1656, and his house was built before September 20, 1660, on which date Valentine Hill conveyed to him a "cornfield and orchard adjacent to his now dwelling house."

In the Indian attack of 1694 apparently a number of homes, including that of John Meader, were consumed by fire. Accounts differ, however, as to the number of garrisons burned, and it is not even positive that John Meader lost his home at the time, although from the accounts that much is highly probable.

If the Meader garrison was destroyed in 1694 it must have been immediately rebuilt, for one soldier was quartered there from July 18, 1694 until November 24, and other soldiers were stationed there from November 2, 1695 until March 6, 1696.