Launcelot Granger, of Newbury & Suffield

He was not the son of Launcelot Granger, of Shellington nor of Grace Membertou.

Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62250305/launcelot-granger

Parents unknown. Married Joanna Adams, daughter of Robert Adams.

Lancelet and Joanna lived in Newbury Mass & Suffield, Connecticut

Their children were:

• 1. John married Martha Poor
• 2. Thomas married Mindwell Taylor
• 3. George married Lydia Younglove
• 4. Robert did not marry
• 5. Mary married John Burbank Jr
• 6. Elizabeth married Vicary Sikes
• 7. Dorothy married Dr. Robert Old
• 8. Rebecca married Joseph Woolcot
• 9. Samuel married Esther Hanchett
• 10. Hannah married Thomas Taylor
• 11. Abraham married 1) Hannah Hanchett 2) Hannah ___

notes

This is a short version of the story which was passed down through the generations. He was born in England, but may have been of Scottish descent. After his father died, he was kidnapped and taken on a ship bound for Plymouth, MA. where he was made cabin boy. When he arrived in the USA he was sold (apprenticed) for 2 years to pay for his passage. He was about 12 - 14 years old when he was taken.

Once he was released from his service, he made a trip back to England to try to reclaim his inheriatance as he was firstborn. Walking on his way from the ship to his home, he met with theives who attempted to steal what little he had with him. They both had swords. He told them if they intended to rob him they would have to kill him first. He fought them off with his quarter-staff. He killed one and the other ran away. In the next town he confessed to the magistrate, and they released him.

When he arrived at his home he found his younger brother had already claimed his inheritance for himself, and he was not pleased to see Launcelot. He must have returned with some of the fortune though, since when he came back to the USA he was living quite comfortably.

He married a Puritan named Joanna Adams, daughter of Robert Adams. Puritans frowned upon anyone marrying someone like Launcelot who was of a different faith, so he must have been very well to do. They overlooked the fact that a person was not a Puritan if they had riches.

After marrying, Launcelot leased a very desirable property - Kents Island . They had a very nice home there. They lived there for 20 years, from 1654 to 1674, and raised their children there.

Around that time Rev Parker was making life in Newburyport very uncomfortable for anyone who was not a "freeman". Launcelot is believed not to have been a " freeman" since he was not a Puritan, and only Puritans were allowed to be " freemen". That's when they made the move to Suffield, CT, where he was the given the position of Land Measurer.

"Launcelot was a man of great resolution; was of full medium height and stockily built."

Source : Launcelot Granger of Newbury, MA and Suffield, CT, by James Nathaniel Granger (Lockwood and Brainard, 1893).

He was one of the first settlers of Suffield, Ct. and all the Grangers that lived there in the early years were his descendants. One of those descendants was Gideon Granger , who was Postmaster General.

Disproved origins

Comment at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Granger-426

As this profile is mainly concerned with the Lancelot in New England, and as it's been demonstrated that Shillington is a red herring (the elder Lancelot died in Shillington in 1688 before the Lancelot in Connecticut died in 1689; and the Lancelot baptised in Shillington in 1637 is too young to have been the emigrant (in any event the 1637 Lancelot married in adjoining Meppershall, Bedfordshire in 1658/9, after the emigrant had married in 1654 in Massachusetts, and he was buried in Meppershall on 26 January 1671/2 ) I propose that Lancelot be detached from his alleged parents, who clearly aren't. The 1688 will of the Shillington Lancelot that I found provides supporting evidence. The profiles of the Shillington family can then be expanded but staying in England. His birth can also be changed to an estimated date more iin keeping for someone bringing a legal action in 1647. ie before 1626.

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References

• Find A Grave Memorial# 62250305 "Husband of Joanna Adams. Father of multitudes ..."
• "Whence Came Lancelot Granger?"
• Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Contemporaneous Documents. Charles Henry Pope.  Heritage Books, 1965 - History - 549 pages.  Adams (cont'd).  Page 11. 
• The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Contemporaneous Documents. Charles Henry Pope.  Heritage Books, 1965 - History - 549 pages.  Page 196.  GRANGER:  Launcelot, Ipswich, res. 1648; removed to Newbury. Leased farm of Stephen Kent.  He m 4 Jan 1653-4 Joanna, dau of Robert Adams; ch John b 15 Jan 1655, George b 28 Nov 1658, Elizabeth b 28 March 1662, Dorothy b 15 Feb 1663, a dau b May 15 1666, Samuel b Aug 2, 1668, Abraham b 17 April, 1673.
• Granger of Newbury, Mass., and Suffield, Conn.: A Genealogical History. by James Nathaniel Granger.  Published 1893.  Page 20-21.  "The first Grangers in America"
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 10 2016, 23:50:58 UTC
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Granger-426 cites

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