Captain Andrew Grant

A Patriot of the American Revolution for MASSACHUSETTS with the rank of CAPTAIN. DAR Ancestor # A046991

Capt. Andrew Grant (1730-1809). His birth was not recorded at South Berwick, which does not have records back to the early 1700s. However, the Berwicks were not yet separate towns, so it might have been recorded at Berwick. He was christened in 1736 [NE 82:09.]

Andrew Grant was living at Jeremysquam (now Westport) in 1765 when his father's will was probated. In 1765 he and his wife Patience Grant were among the founders of the Congregational Church at Winslow, Maine. Patience "owned the covenant" and their children were christened there on 7 July that same year.

He was living at Montsweag (now Woolwich), Sagadoc County, Maine in 1770, when he sold his lands there.

On 11 September 1770, Andrew Grant of Jeremysquam bought 100 acres on the Penobscot River. In 1790 he received a final deed, having completed the terms of purchase: he had built a house not less than 16x24x7 and cleared five acres of land. On 15 October 1770 he sold one-half interest in a sawmill and in the Going Geer Dam (a machinery installation) on Montsweag Brook, which he had bought from his father, to his uncle Elijah and his cousin Solomon Walker. About the same time he sold the thatch beds at Pownalborough that he had purchased from his father to his uncle Elijah Grant, and signed a petition for the town of Woolwich to build a road to his father's mill.

He also appears in records at Frankfort in Waldo County.

In 1772 Andrew and his sons Gooden and Elisha were among the first settlers at Wheelersborough (now Hampden), Penobscot County, Maine.

On 1 July 1777 Andrew Grant appears as Captain on a list of officers to be commissioned for the American Revolution dated at Penobscot, it having been ordered in Council 20 July 1776 that the officers be commissioned and had been commissioned. He served as Captain of the 3rd Company of the Penobscot Regiment under the command of Col. Josiah Brewer. A detachment of this regiment, under the command of Capt. Andrew Grant, marched (the Penobscot Expedition) to the relief of Machias, Maine on 18 August 1777, and engaged the British at the Battle of Machias. The company served until 16 September 1777. An account of the military engagement can be found in Sprague's Journal of Maine History. On 5 November 1777 Andrew Grant and sons Elisha and Goodwin signed a petition dated at the Penobscot River requesting a change of militia from Col. Josiah Brewer to Col. Jonathan Buck.

In May 1784 Andrew Grant and sons Elisha and Gooden Grant were assessed £0 3s 6d each for lands in Penobscot County (History of Penobscot). On 16 December 1786, surveyor Jonathan Stone reported that Andrew Grant, [son] Elisha Grant, and [son] Goodin Grant had each been on his river lot for 14 years.

On 1 July 1785 Andrew Grant of Penobscott River was one of the appraisers of the estate of Benjamin Wheeler.

The 1790 census shows him with 4 males over the age of 16 and 3 females in his household. The 1800 census shows him with 1 male over 45 (himself), 1 male under 10, and 1 other free person in his household.

Reports of Grant's death were minimal, at best. This report of his passing appeared in a newspaper announcement: "Andrew Grant. Died. At Hampden, ME. Thursday night, it is supposed from the effects of Paris green, which he had been putting on potato vines." (Definition: Paris green - A green powder used for coloring and as an insect poison.) So, it seems that Captain Andrew Grant, Sr. died of lawn & garden chemical poisoning.

Sources

• Findagrave.com: Capt Andrew Grant.