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About Matthew Grant
The emigrant Matthew Grant, born in England, Oct. 27th, 1601, died in Windsor, Conn., Dec 16th, 1681. He married Priscilla, Nov. 16th, 1625, who died Apr. 27th, 1644. He married 2nd, Mrs. Susanna Rockwell, daughter of Bernard Capon. His children were by his first wife.
On March 20th, 1630, he embarked with his family on the "Mary and John" and reached Boston May 30th, 1630. Settled at Dorchester and was admitted a freeman May 18th, 1631. In Oct. 1635, he went overland to the Connecticut River and assisted in the founding of Windsor, Conn., the family following in the spring of 1636.
He took a very active part in the public life in Windsor, deacon of the first church and recorder (town clerk) from 1652 to 1677. Selectman for many years, he frequently received the highest number of votes. Dr. Stiles says of him in his "History of Ancient Windsor", "Few men indeed filled so large a place in the early history of Windsor, or filled it so well, as honest Matthew Grant; his name figures in about every place of trust and his early records of the town show that his duties were conscientiously performed." He was compiler of "Old Church Ways in Windor" and the "Old Church Record", which furnished the basis for the histories of most of the families of ancient Windos. He was a type of the best settlers of new England, and left to his descendants an untarnished name and the example of an unswerving fidelity to the public trust committed to him, for he quaintly comments on his own work, "I have been careful to do nothing on one man's desire."
Came over on the "Mary & John" with Maverick and Warham from Plymouth, England to Boston. He emigrated on May 30, 1630. was a Puritan
Ancestor of Future 18th President Ulysses S. Grant
No Children with wife Susanna Capen Rockwell Grant
On March 20, 1630 he embarked with his family on the "Mary and John" at Plymouth, England, and reached Boston harbor May 30, 1630. He settled at Dorchester, Mass., and was admitted a freeman May 18, 1631; but, with many others, he disliked the close union of church and state that characterized the colony of Massachusetts Bay, as well as the growing tendency to establish the government in the hands of a privileged class and to minimize the voice of the people in the conduct of their own affairs. Accordingly, in Oct. 1635 , he went overland to the Connecticut River, with the party that prepared for the settlement of Windsor, although his family probably did not remove to Windsor until the following April. There, freed from the trammels of a royal charter, he assisted in forming a true democracy, the germ from which American political institutions have grown. His lot was in the Palisado, next the town lot. This he gave to his son John, with whom he spent his declining years. It is said that he was a carpenter. He was the first, and for many years the principal, surveyor; deacon of the first church; recorder (town clerk) 1652-77; townsman (selectman) many years, frequently receiving the highest number of votes; on the committees to lay out the bounds between Windsor and Hartford in 1651 and 1660, and to view the state of the town in 1651 and 1654. "Genealogical History of the Descendants of Matthew Grant 1898" by Arthur Hastings Grant.
On March 20, 1630 the John and Mary set sail from Plymouth, England on its journey which lasted 70 days during which the company had preaching and expounded the bible every day. Captain Squeb, Master of the vessel was supposed to land the travelers on the Charles river where a place for them had been suggested, consonant with Rev. White's request. But on their arrival May 30, 1630 at the barren, uninhabited Nantasket Point, Squeb put them and their cattle and goods ashore, much to their complaint and displeasure, claiming that his unfamiliarity with the coast line there abouts made any other plan unsafe. This left the 140 emigrants at least 12 miles across the bay from where they had expected to land, and nearly 8 miles where Boston later stood. One of the passengers, Roger Clapp, referred to this a forlorn place in the wilderness. He says "we got a boat from some planters" (probably from Salem and Charlestown and they were the only English settlements at this time)" and loaded her with goods, and some able men, well armed, went in her unto Charlestown where we found some wigwams and one house." He says, they "unloaded their goods where Watertown was presently settled, starting to build a shelter and exchanged biscuits with the Indians for fish," Ref. Dawes and Allied Families, Vol. 1, page 295 Sturgis Library, Yarmouthport, Mass. Matthew Grant, also a passenger also removed to Dorchester and then to Windsor, Connecticut. This material has been compiled as accurately as possible. The fact that parts of Watertown were given to Weston in 1713, Waltham in 1738, Cambridge in the part where Christopher Grant lived in 1754 and Belmont in 1859, presented a few problems. Whether the ship bringing the Grants and others here in 1630 was named the "John and Mary" or "the Mary and John" is not important. Records show that it was called both. In Dawes and Families, "a history of some of the passengers on the "John and Mary, " "Early Settlers of Watertown" by Bond, and an article in the Boston Globe in 1927 the ship ws referred to as the "John and Mary", Grants in Scotland and England. This ancient Scottish clan name is of Norman and French Origin. It is derived from LeGrand, meaning the great, distinguished person. When Richard Grant became archbishop of Canterbury, they latinized to Richardus Magnus, thus Richard the Great. While little effort has been made by me to trace in England or Scotland the Grant ancestry, we have learned from Robert Baine's The Clan Grant is one of the Clans claiming to belong to Siol Alpine and to be descended from Kenneth MacAlpine, King of Scotland in the 9th Century. In the 13th century the Grants appear as Sheriffs of Inverness, and they exerted considerable influence in the north-east of Scotland, and supported Wallace in his struggle. John (Grant) chief of the clan, married the daughter of Gilbert of Glencairnie, and from his elder son sprung the Grants of Freuchie. His younger son was progenitor of the Tullochgorm branch of the Clan. From John Grant of Freuchie are descended the Earls of Seafield, the Grants of Corrimony and the Grants of Glenmoriston. The Grants were consistenly Royalists and took part in the notable battle on the haughs of Cromdale which gave its name to the pipe tune made famous by being played by Piper Findlater of the Gordon Highlanders at the balltle of Dargai in 1897. In the Jacobie Risings the Clan supported the Hanoverian side, but the Grants of Glenmoriston supported the Jacobite cause. Ludovic Grant, of Grant, the then Chief, married for his second wife Lady Margaret Ogilvie, daughter of the Earl of Findlater and Seafield, and his grandson succeeded to the Seafield peerage. The 8th Earl died without issue and the titles passed to his Uncle James, 9th Earl of Seafield. The 11th Earl of seafield was killed in World War I (1914-1918) and the Ogilvie honours passed to his only child, Nina, Countess of Seafield. The Chiefship of Clan Grant remains in Lords Strathapey." Pipe Music; Stand fast Craigillachie Crest Badge: A Mountain inflamed, Proper War Cry; Stand Fast Gaelic Name; Grannd, orgin of name, French Grand Plant Badge: Pine the 42nd or Black Watch Tartan is Worn......Howard Alexander
Went to Windsor with the Dorchester Company. Compiled a Book of Records in Windsor. Samuel Richardson and Josiah Ellsworth
Matthew was a Puritan. The Emigrant Ancestor of this Great Family. The original name for Windsor, CT was Matianuck.
From HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, County of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900, by Richard Anson Wheeler, New London, CT, 1900, p. 400:
MATHEW GRANT, the progenitor and emigrant ancestor of the Grant family of New England, was b. in England on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1601. He came to this country May 30, 1630, in the good "Ship Mary and John," with his family, and landed at Dorchester, Mass.
He was admitted a freeman in the Massachusetts Colony in 1631, but did not long remain in Dorchester, for as early as 1635, he took an active part in forming the company that migrated to Windsor, Conn., and went with them to that place, and was elected first town clerk thereof, which office he held for a good many years. He also held the position of town surveyor, and took a prominent part in the organization, and also in transplanting the Congregational Church there, which had been previously formed in Plymouth, England, and first transplanted in Dorchester, Conn. Mathew Grant and Priscilla , b. Feb. 27, 1600, m. Nov. 16, 1625 ; she d. April 27, 1644, aged 43 years. He m. 2d, Susannah (Chapen) Rockwell, widow of Dea. William Rockwell, May 29, 1645 ; she d. Nov. 14, 1666; he d. Dec. 16, 1681.
Matthew Grant left Plymouth, England on March 20, 1630. He settled at Dorchester, MA. In Oct 1635 he went with a party up the CT River and helped to found the town of Windsor.
links
1/5/2015 Keep in mind that I had no idea at the time that I came across Matthew Grant that he was an ancestor of Ulysses S. Grant. I came across HIM only by following the whole Capen Family finding out that Susannah Capen Rockwell Grant was married to him through research and graves that followed the whole Capen family right up to her parents. I have yet to follow Grants line yet, as of this date. I had a hunch he might be an ancestor, but no way, did I follow that hunch or even follow him. I proceeded with my research on her ONLY as it led me further. It was my intent to come back down the line when I reached it's furthest end. I will not work on various siblings, etc and work my way back to present day again branching out multiple times for the siblings. CTC
1/4/2015 Had a smart match on Geni that I followed which led to a new site called Wiki-tree. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Grant-201 On there I found the following information of which there seemed to be possibly several issues concerning his ancestry and one of his wife's. I am listing it here and once again. ALL INFORMATION has to have other confirmation. Most information I gathered came from following line after line after relative after relative on findagrave.com to get back this far. The following information now brings in a new site with additional information that also NEEDS FURTHER FOLLOW UP CONFIRMATION OF ACCURACY, but I will list it here for further research:
Matthew Grant
Born October 27, 1601 [location unknown]
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
Husband of Priscilla (Unknown) Grant — married November 16, 1625 in Englandmap
Husband of Susannah Capin — married May 29, 1645 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticutmap
Father of Priscilla (Grant) Humphrey, Samuel Grant, Tahan Grant and John Grant
Died December 16, 1681 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticutmap
Profile managers: Sue Fitzpatrick private message [send private message], Tom Bredehoft private message [send private message], Geoff Grant private message [send private message], Katherine Patterson private message [send private message], Anonymous S private message [send private message], Lyman Carpenter private message [send private message], Alan Butchino private message [send private message], and Carolyn Boze private message [send private message]
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Categories: Puritan Great Migration | Mary & John, sailed March 20, 1630 | Family Brickwall | Grant Name Study.
’’’PARENTS IN DISPUTE’’’ Matthew's parents are unknown, see ORIGINS below.
The Puritan Great Migration. This person was part of the Puritan Great Migration.
If you are interested in this profile, please check out the Puritan Great Migration Project!
NOTE: This is a Project Protected Profile. All significant or controversial changes need to be discussed prior to changes actually being made. Adding parents qualifies as significant. Please do not add them until it has been agreed on by the project members. Langholf-2 09:48, 19 November 2013 (EST)
Contents [hide]•1 Origins •2 Biography[6] •3 Last Will & Testament[12] •4 Children •5 Note •6 Sources •7 Footnotes
Origins On 29 May 1640, "mother Mathew Grant died" at Windsor. This is all we know for certin of the ancestry of Matthew Grant. One possible origin which has been proposed in the past for both Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla was seriously questioned by J. Gardner Bartlett,[1] and in 1949 Marie Tylee McHugh thoroughly disproved the ancestry claimed for Priscilla.[2] In 1975 George E. McCracken discussed the matter further, summarizing the efforts of others who had also rejected the Grant ancestry.[3] "The best treatment of Matthew Grant was prepared by Frank Farnsworth Starr, and includes a transcript of a personal record of vital events, which has been used frequently above.[4] ... Mary Walton Ferris also treated Matthew Grant (Dawes-Gates 2:370-79).[5]
Biography[6]
Matthew was born 27 Oct 1601.[7]
He emigrated in 1630, residing initially in Dorchester, then removing to Windsor by 1635.
He m1 16 Nov 1625 Priscilla _____[8] She died at Windsor 27 Apr 1644, age 43y 2m[9] Priscilla's ancestry was disproved in the New England Historical Society Record, 102:153. [For historical accuracy's sake, rumor has it that during President U. S. Grant's administration, some over-enthusiastic genealogist traced his (Grant's) ancestry back, found a brick wall at Priscilla Grey's parents and either purposely invented or erroneously assumed a descendancy from the Tudor kings of England. This was soundly disproved about 1916, and for the last 95 years the error has continued. It's hard to stop a wrong attribution. THB] He m2 in Windsor 29 May 1645 Susanna (Capen) Rockwell, dau of Bernard Capen and widow of William Rockwell. She was born 5 Apr 1602 and d Windsor 13 Nov 1666. (All of Matthew's children were born to his first wife Priscilla)[10]
Info on Windsor's first church, of which Matthew was the clerk.
On March 20, 1630 Matthew sailed from England with his wife Priscilla and daughter Priscilla. They probably sailed on the "Mary and John" in the Company of Maverick and Warham bound up the Charles River the Master of the boat left them off at the mouth of the Charles River on May 30, 1630 and they were told they would have to make their own way up river. The community they founded at the mouth of the river was named Dorchester, in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. from "The Pilgrims Ships List," and "The Histories and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington 1635-1891 by Henry Stiles, A. M., M. D." and Personal research of the Windsor area Records by Al Butchino
Matthew along with others became a Freeman of Massachusetts Bay Colony 18 May 1631 and resided in Dorchester until 1635. In 1635 it was desided to seek a location where they could seperate Church and State. A suitable place having been located Matthew's family and about half of the members of the Community of Dorchester relocated in 1636 to Windsor, CT (the area was called Mattianuck by the Indians.)It is not known if Matthew was part of the party that found the new location and stayed to survey the lots. from "The Histories and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington 1635-1891 by Henry Stiles, A. M., M. D." and Personal research of the Windsor area Records by Al Butchino
The fact he was made Freeman of Massachusetts Bay Colony 18 May 1631 adds to the probability that he came on the "Mary and John." Typical of the time a tradesman would serve a 1 year indenture to the company that supplied transport to the New England Colony/Americas. Personal obsevation by Al Butchino.
Matthew is listed on the Town Records of Windsor in 1640. "The Histories and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington 1635-1891 by Henry Stiles, A. M., M. D." and Personal research of the Windsor area Records by Al Butchino
On 7 Oct 1669 Matthew was voted a Freeman of Windsor and took the oath. List of Freemen of Windsor, CT. "Submitted by Samuel Wolcott, 1 Mar 1850 from the Connecticut Index for Windsor, Hartford, CT"
Matthew was a surveyor and established the priciples that are still in practice. In 1652 he became the 2nd Town Recorder of Windsor, CT. The above information was assembled from "The Histories and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington 1635-1891 by Henry Stiles, A. M., M. D." and Personal research of the Windsor area Records by Al Butchino==
He died in Windsor, CT 16 Dec 1681.[11]
Last Will & Testament[12]
Dated 9 Dec 1681, proved 2 Mar 1681/2
Taken 10 January, 1681-2, by Thomas Dible sen., John Loomis. "I Matthew Grant of Windsor, beinge aged and under present weakness, yet of Competency of understandinge, doe by this declare my Last Will concerning the dispose of my Estate as followeth: 1st, I doe declare that my son Samuel, my eldest son, is already satisfied with the portion I made over to him in Lands already recorded to him, and that is my will concerning him. 2dly, Concerninge my son Tahan, my will is that he shall have as a legassy, payd to hime in Country paye by my son John, the full some of five pounds, and this to bee payd two yeers after my decease. Alsoe I doe appoynt hime to gather upp all the debts oweinge to me in this towne or elsewhere, and my will is hee my son Tahan shall have them for his owne. 3dly, my will is that my son John, with whome I have lived some time, I doe give to hime all my meadow land in the great meadow; also I give to hime my pasture land lyeinge belowe the hill agaynst Thomas Dibles home lott and my owne. Alsoe, I doe give hime, the sayd John, my home lott and orchard with the ould houseinge which I built before hee came to dwell in itt. Alsoe I doe give to hime my wood lott lyeing in the quarter lotts. Alsoe I give to my son John all the rest of my estate exceptinge my wearinge cloathes. My son John shall paye to my son Tahan five pounds as is already expressed in my will concerninge hime, at the time and manner afforesayd, and alsoe unto my Daughter Humphreys five pounds in Country pay, two yeers after my decease. Alsoe my will is and I doe give my Daughter Humphrey as a Legassy five pownds, to bee payde in country paye two yeers after my decease. Alsoe I doe make my son John sole Executor of this my last Will & Testament. As Witness my Hand: Witness: John Loomys senr, Thomas X Dibble. Matthew Grant. Ls. Court Record, Page 51--2 March 1682: Will proven.[13]
Children
With first wife: 1. Priscilla, b 14 Sept 1626; m Windsor 14 Oct 1647 Michael Humphrey 2. Samuel, b Dorchester 12 Nov 1631; m Windsor 27 May 1658 Mary Porter 3. Tahan, b Dorchester 3 Feb 1633/4; m Windsor 22 Jan 1662/3 Anna Palmer 4. Mathew, d Windsor 10 Sept 1639 5. John b Windsor 30 Ap 1642; m Windsor 2 Aug 1666 Mary Hull
Note Grant Family Genealogy Forum: Matthew Grant....No Connection?! Posted by: Sandy, Date: August 08, 2000 I will pass this information on, as it was passed to me. From the"Search for the Passengers of The Mary and John" Vols 1 & 5. In 1914, the Grant Association presented an ancestry for Matthew Grant/Priscilla Grey, claiming Matthew was the son of John Grant & Alice Tuberville of Woodbridge. John Grant was allegedly born 6 May 1573, son of George Grant of Roxby, Yorkshire (300 miles north of Woodbridge) who married there Julian Clargennet. It was further claimed the father of Priscilla Grey was Reverand Anthoney Grey, Rector of Burbach, Leicestershire (150 miles north of Woodbridge) These ancestries were disputed in The Genealogical Magazine Vol. 3 (1915-1916), and Priscilla's ancestry was disproved in the New England Historical Society Record, 102:153. Ancestry.com Database" The Great Migration Begins: Immigrations to New England, 1620-1633. MATTHEW GRANT COMMENTS: On 29 May 1640 "mother of Matthew Grant died" at Windsor. This is all we know for certain of the ancestry of Matthew Grant. One possible origin,which has been proposed in the past for both Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla was seriously questioned by J. Gardner Bartlett and in 1948 Marie Tylee McHugh thoroughly disproved the ancestry claimed for Priscilla. In 1975 George E. McCracken discussed the matter further, summarizing the efforts of others who had also rejected the Grant Ancestry. I have learned the hard way to do a little research before accepting anything as fact... form your own opinion from this. I have yet to do my own research., but better to find a true line, than a President from the wrong line... Just thought I'd pass this on... Sandy Matthew's terminal DNA SNP has been confirmed as Z159 through testing of 5 known descendents (all of which are matches to each other). The DNA results can be viewed at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/GRANT.
Sources • Matthew Grant's history. • Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Descendants of George Abbott, of Rowley, Mass. : of his joint descendants with George Abbott, sr., of Andover, Mass., of the descendants of Daniel Abbott, of Providence, R.I., of some of the descendants of Capt. Thomas Abbott, of Andover, Mass., of George Abbott, of Norwalk Ct., of Robert Abbott, of Branford Ct., with brief notes of many others of the name, original settlers in the United States, Boston: Abbott, 1906. • Jessie Hale Tuttle, The Capen Family: Descendants of Bernard Capen of Dorchester, Mass., Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 2012. • Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vol. 1-3. Boston, MA, USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. • Welles, Albert. History of the Buell Family in England (Society Library, New York, 1881) Page 54
Footnotes 1.↑ Gen Mag 3:63-64 2.↑ NEHGR 102:153 3.↑ TAG 51:236, 239 4.↑ Goodwin Ancestry, pp 99-110 5.↑ RCA, GMB, p 804 6.↑ extracted from Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, pp 801-804 7.↑ Goodwin Ancestry, p 106 8.↑ Goodwin Ancestry, p 106 9.↑ Goodwin Ancestry, p 106 10.↑ Ct. VR, p 22 11.↑ Connective Vital Records, p 55 12.↑ A DIGEST OF THE EARLY CONNECTICUT PROBATE RECORDS.1677 to 1687. Page 88. 13.↑ Information provided by Alan Butchino, 4 Mar 2013, entered by Tom Bredehoft, 4/3/2013
Found yet another site when I google searched the Puritan Migation Matthew Grant and it led me to this site http://www.mocavo.com/family-tree/Pat-Ratcliff/Genealogy-of-Pat-Rat... with the following information: Matthew GRANT's Family Relations
Father
John GRANT6 May 1573 –
Mother
Alice TURBERVILLE1574 –
Spouse
Priscilla GREY27 Feb 1601 – 27 Apr 1644
Marriage
November 16, 1625England
Children
Tahan GRANT3 Feb 1634 – 30 May 1693
Spouse
Susanna Capen5 Apr 1602 – 14 Nov 1666
Marriage
May 29, 1645Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Children
Josiah Grant1646 –
More Results for Matthew GRANT
Announcement, U.S. Grant University, 1891-92 (Volume 1891-92) - Page 31
Text:
Students, 29 ELOCUTION DEPARTMENT. Ash, Wm, Wesley...............................Dardanelle, Ark. Brown, Nellie.................................Chattanooga. Brown, Grace..................................Chattanooga. Gettys, Myrtle Ethel..........................Sherman Heights. Grant, Peter..................................Buffalo, N. Y. Grani, Alsie Rollin...........................Hanceville, Ala. Gillespie, Jessie Hicks.......................Leicester, N. C. Henson, S. V..................................Chattanooga. Henson, Walter................................Chattanooga. Jones, Lelia Mary.............................Guntersville, Ala. Mason, James Monroe...........................Evergreen, Ala. Morse, Geo. Ehvyn.............................Smithville, Can. McGaha, Chas. Brown*..........................Wedonie. ONeal, Jennie Mabel..........................Chattanooga. Parker, Luna Adelia...........................Mentone, Ala. Powell, Margurite.............................Chattanooga. Parker, Arthur Ormsby.........................Montreal, Can. Pioz, Buss....................................Chattanooga. Shelton, Sallie...............................Chattanooga. Stephenson, Wm. David.........................Shelbyville. Tomhagen, John Andrew.........................Sloans Valley, Ky. Weeks, Clara..................................Chattanooga. ^'Deceased. MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. Eighty-six students were matriculated in this department, but as it publishes a separate Catalogue we do not repeat the names here.
On the Trail of Grant and Lee; A Narrative History of the Boyhood and Manhood of Two Great Americans - Page 95
Text:
GRANT S DIFFICULTIES last discovered, the war was a thing of the past. This silent rebuff was enough to discourage any sensitive man and Grant felt it keenly, but he did not entirely despair of accomplish- ing his end. He tried to gain an interview with General Fremont who was stationed in a neighboring state and, failing in this, sought out McClellan, his comrade in the Mexican War, who had been made a major-general and was then in the vicinity of Covington, Ken- tucky, where Grant had gone to visit his par- ents. But McClellan either would not or could not see him. Indeed, he had about reached the conclusion that his quest was hopeless, when he happened to meet a friend who offered to tell the Governor of Ohio that he wished to re- enter the army, with the result that before long he was tendered the colonelcy of an Ohio regiment. In the meantime, however, he had unexpectedly received a telegram from the Governor of Illinois, appointing him to the command of the 21st Illinois regiment, and this he had instantly accepted. Had he known the exact circumstances under which this post was offered him, perhaps he might not have acted so promptly, but he knew enough 71
Grant and His Campaigns: a Military Biography - Page 250
Text:
228 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. at night, and a clearer atmosphere displayed the long line of our camp-fires, marking the position from which our troops were to spring the next day, in glorious triumph, upon the enemy. It was a sight beyond the power of the painters art, but which may well inspire the pen of the epic poet. Sherman was on Missionary Ridge, in front of Tunnel Hill, forming the left of our line ; Thomas in the centre, at Orchard Knob, and occupying the lines to the right and left; and Hooker was coming up on the right, to take part in the grand charge. Communications were open between these bodies, from Look- out Mountain to the end of Missionary Eidge ;that between Sherman and Thomas being secured by the Eleventh Corps, under Howard; and that between Thomas and Hooker having been effected by Carlin, with one brigade, who joined Hooker from Chattanooga, not without some resistance from the enemy at the crossing of Chattanooga Creek. On the night of the 23d, and during a part of the 24th, General Grants headquarters were at Fort Wood. The rest of the time he was at Orchard Knob or Indian Hill, from which he saw the …
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About Matthew GRANT
Matthew GRANT is a member of the GRANT Family.
Author Notes
Settled in Windsor in 1635 in the first colony. Emigrated from Plymouth, Devonshire, and landed Nantasket May 30, 1630 on the will and landed Nantasket May 30, 1630, settling at Dorechester, MA.
Puritan. Landed at Mantusket
Occupation: Surveyor, recorder
Deacon - Congregational Church, Windsor, CT
V. Matthew Grant came to America on the MARY & JOHN in 1630.
He went to Windsor, Conn. with the Dorchester Company. Town
Cler; Surveyor; prominent man in the church; carpenter by
trade; compiled a Book of Records in Windsor. Just and
exceedingly conscientious in all his dealings. Married 1st
Priscilla Grey b February 27, 1601; d April 1644; 2nd 1645
Susanna (Capen) Rockwell, wid of William and dau of Bernard
Capen. Matthew d 1681. His home site in Windsor is marked.
Priscilla Grey, wife of Matthew Grant has been proved not to
be the daughter of Rev. Anthony Grey, Earl of Kent.
Ch: 1. Priscilla b in England September 14, 1625; d
October 29, 1669; m October 14, 1647 Michael
Humphrey 1628-1669
2. Matthew b 1628 in England; d 1639
3. Samuel b November 12, 1631; d September 10, 1718;
m May 27 Mary Porter dau John & Anna (White)
Porter. (President Uylesses S. Grant was descended
from both wives of Matthew)
x 4. Tahan b 1633; m 1st January 22, 1662 Hannah Palmer;
2nd ca 1690 Hannah Bissell
5. John b April 20, 1642; d July 22, 1684; m August 2,
1720 Mary Hull dau George
The Kinnears and Their Kin
Page 318
1034. MATTHEW Grant, the emigrant ancestor, was one of the original company who came, in 1630, to Dorchester, Mass., in the Mary and John, with Maverick and Warham. He was admitted a freeman 18 May, 1631, and continued in Dorchester till the removal of the company which settled Windsor, of which he was a prominent member. His name appears on the Dorchester records as late as Nov. 2, 1635, and though he was without doubt, among those who went, in 1635 to prepare their new homes at Matinauck, now Windsor, it is not likely that his wife and children left Dorchester
before April 18, 1636. He was the second town clerk in Windsor, also the first and for many years the principal surveyor; was a prominent man in the church; evidently was just and exceedingly conscientious in all his public and private transactions and duties, and as recorder, he often added notes explanatory, or in correction, to the records which have considerable value to the investigator of the present day--Stiles. He was compiler of the "Old Church Records" so often quoted by Dr. Stiles in the History of Windsor, "which in the absence of some of the earliest records of the town of Windsor (1635-50), assume a value which can scarcely be over-estimated; in short he was a pious, hard-working, conscientious Christian man, and a model town clerk. He was born Oct. 27, 1601; married Nov. 16, 1625, Priscilla (???), she died April 27, 1644, aged 43 years and two months, he married (second, May 29, 1645, Susanna, daughter of Bernard Chapin and widow of William Rockwell, she died Nov. 14, 1661. "Matthew Grant Recorder" died at Windsor, 16 Dec., 1681.
Children of Matthew and Priscilla ((???)) Grant:
1035. i. PRISCILLA Grant2; b. Sept. 14, 1626, in
Eng.; m. Oct. 14, 1647, at W. Michael Humphreys,
see Gene. of Huhphreys' family in America,
by Dr. Frederick Humphreys.
1036. ii. MATTHEW Grant2; d. Sept. 10, 39.
1037.* iii. SAMUEL Grant2; b. Nov. 12, 1631, at Dorchester,
Mass.; d. Sept. 10, 1718; m. May 27,
1658, at Windsor.
Mary, dau. of John Porter.
1038. iv. TAHAN Grant2; b. Feb. 3, 1633-4; d. May
30, 1693, in E. W.; m. Jan., 22, 1662-3.
Hannah Palmer (dau. of Nicholas and Joan ((???))
Palmer; bap. W., Oct. 11, 1640.
Connecticut Puritan Settlers, 1633-1845
Grant, Matthew, (in No. 1)--died in 1681, when he had become aged. He had resided with his son John for some years previous to his death. His children were, Samuel, Tahan, John, and a daughter Humphrey. Samuel Grant, of Windsor, was born at Dorchester in 1631. Samuel Grant married Anne Fyler in '83, and had a daughter Anne in '84. Tahan Grant was born in Dorchester in '33. He married Hannah Palmer in '62, and had Matthew, Tahan, Hannah, Thomas and Joseph, and a daughter and son afterwards--the son as late as '80. John, the son of Samuel, sen'r., was born in '42. He married Mary Hull in '66, and had John, Mary, Elizabeth, and others.
Database: Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33
Combined Matches: 1
The Great Migration Begins
Sketches
PRESERVED PURITAN
MATTHEW GRANT
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester
REMOVES: Windsor 1635
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Matthew Grant included himself in his list of those who had been members of the church at Dorchester and remained members of the church after the remove to Windsor [Grant 10].
FREEMAN: 18 May 1631 [MBCR 1:366]. Connecticut freeman at Windsor, 11 October 1669 [CCCR 2:519].
EDUCATION: His inventory included "books and other small things" valued at ?1 1s. He kept the Windsor land records from 11 January 1659[/60] (or earlier) [WiLR 1:13], and left behind a number of manuscripts recording Windsor events.
OFFICES: Fenceviewer for West Field in Dorchester, 24 May 1634 [DTR 6]; committee to lay out Great Lots, 17 April 1635 [DTR 10]; committee to lay out lot to Israel Stoughton, 2 November 1635 [DTR 12].
Connecticut grand jury, 7 December 1654 [RPCC 132]. Juryman, 5 March 1644[/5], 2 March 1647[/8], December 1651, 7 September 1652, 2 June 1653, May 1656 [CCCR 1:122; RPCC 31, 50, 106, 111, 118, 173]. Petit jury, 7 March 1649/50 [RPCC 77]. Coroner's jury, 7 June 1655 [RPCC 143]. Committee to a sow's ear, 4 March 1657[/8] [RPCC 188].
ESTATE: Ordered to build 40 rods of fence in Dorchester, for two cows, 3 April 1633 [DTR 1]. In a 1643 exchange of land between Christopher Gibson and Nicholas Upsall, one of the parcels transferred to Upsall was "that great lot that was granted Mathew Grant" [DTR 52].
At Windsor, upon being given the responsibility of keeping the town land records, he discovered that the page containing his grants had been "rent out and lost by the former register" and on 11 January 1659[/60?] he set about relisting his holdings "adding some more expressions then is to be seen in the country book, yet not to vary from the true quality and quantity": a home lot of six acres "but in time of danger by the Pequet War neighbors desired to join nearer together so as to be capable to make some fortification then he resigned up his home lot for to be divided into small parcels to build upon only reserved a parcel for himself where he had begun building," leaving him one acre. He also was granted three acres swamp or meadow adjoining to the homelot; five acres in the Great Meadow; on the east side of the Great River twenty-three rods in breadth by three miles in length; twenty-three acres for a woodlot in the Norwest Field; and fifty acres of land [WiLR 1:13].
On 15 May 1673 Connecticut court granted "unto Mathew Grant, of Windsor, one hundred acres of land, with the same limitations as land is granted to other persons" [CCCR 2:198, 225].
In his will, dated 9 December 1681 and proved 2 March 1681/2, Mathew Grant of Windsor "being aged and under present weakness" indicated that "my son Sammuell my eldest son is already satisfied with the portion I made over to him in land already recorded"; to "my son Tehan" to be paid by "my son John" ?5 and any debts "owing to me" that he collects; to "my son John with whom I have lived some time ... all my meadow land in the great meadow, also ... my pasture land lying below the hill against Thomas Dible's home lot and my own, also ... my home lot and orchard with the old housing which I built before he came to dwell on it ... also my wood lot ... in the quarter lots ... also all the rest of my estate, excepting my wearing cloths, my son John shall pay to my son Tehan ?5 as is already expressed in my will"; to "my daughter Humferryes as a legacy ?5 ... also I give her all my wearing clothes"; "my son John" sole executor [Hartford PD Case #2357].
The inventory of the estate of Mathew Grant, taken 10 January 1681/2, totalled ?118 18s. 6d., of which ?96 was real estate: "an old house and homestead with a small orchard," ?25; "5 acres of meadow and 3 acres of pasture at ?6 per acre," ?48; and "23 acres of woodland in the norwest field," ?23 [Hartford PD Case #2357].
BIRTH: 27 October 1601 [Goodwin Anc 106].
DEATH: Windsor 16 December 1681 [CTVR 55].
MARRIAGE: (1) 16 November 1625 Priscilla _____ [Goodwin Anc 106]; she died at Windsor 27 April 1644, aged 43 years 2 months [Goodwin Anc 106].
(2) Windsor 29 May 1645 Susanna (Capen) Rockwell, daughter of BERNARD CAPEN and widow of WILLIAM ROCKWELL [Goodwin Anc 106]. She was born 5 April 1602 [Goodwin Anc 106] and died at Windsor 13 November 1666 [CTVR 22].
CHILDREN:
With first wife
i PRISCILLA, b. 14 September 1626 [Goodwin Anc 106]; m. Windsor 14 October 1647 Michael Humphrey [Grant 47; Goodwin Anc 106].
ii SAMUEL, b. Dorchester 12 November 1631 [CTVR 23; Grant 37; Goodwin Anc 106]; m. Windsor 27 May 1658 Mary Porter [Grant 37].
iii TAHAN, b. Dorchester 3 February 1633[/4] [CTVR 23; Grant 38; Goodwin Anc 106]; m. Windsor 22 January 1662[/3] Anna Palmer [CTVR 9; Grant 38].
iv MATHEW, d. Windsor 10 September 1639 [Grant 78].
v JOHN, b. Windsor 30 April 1642 [CTVR 23; Grant 38; Goodwin Anc 106]; m. Windsor 2 August 1666 Mary Hull [Grant 38].
COMMENTS: On 29 May 1640 "mother Mathew Grant died" at Windsor [Grant 79]. This is all we know for certain of the ancestry of Matthew Grant. One possible origin which has been proposed in the past for both Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla was seriously questioned by J. Gardner Bartlett [Gen Mag 3:63-64], and in 1948 Marie Tylee McHugh thoroughly disproved the ancestry claimed for Priscilla [NEHGR 102:153]. In 1975 George E. McCracken discussed the matter further, summarizing the efforts of others who had also rejected the Grant ancestry [TAG 51:236, 239].
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: The best treatment of Matthew Grant was prepared by Frank Farnsworth Starr, and includes a transcript of a personal record of vital events, which has been used frequently above [Goodwin Anc 99-110]. (This personal record was also published by Stiles [Windsor Hist 2:303-04].) Mary Walton Ferris also treated Matthew Grant [Dawes-Gates 2:370-79].
Arrival in New England
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=2e7bf4c6-5447-45ff-8d6...
Matthew Grant Family History Book
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=62b69668-1853-4834-a4e...
John's Son
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=079f2012-4621-48ee-b95...
The Mary and John - excerpt
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=a7108e3c-c544-4d54-be6...
1/4/2015 Found ships log from Mary & John Ship where Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla with daughter Priscilla came over on the ship. Note that the "Rockwells" were also on this ship...they were on this person's "A" list which was certain or Highly probable, while Matthew & family were on their "B" list which was probable. "B" List
Our "B" List of those who were PROBABLE passengers aboard the ship the Mary and John 1630. •Our "A" List - Certain or highly probable
•Our "B" List - Probable
•Our "C" List - Possible
Name Approx. Age From (in England)
BARTOLE, JOHN
29
Crewkerne, Somerset
Parnell Hodder, wife
a.
27
Crewkerne, Somerset
CHUBB, WILLIAM
a. 23
Crewkerne, Somerset
FRENCH, STEPHEN
a.
29
probably Misterton, Somerset
Mary ____, wife
a. 27
probably Misterton, Somerset
Sara French, daughter
a.
7
probably Misterton, Somerset
GALLOP, HUMPHREY
a.
24
probably Dorset
GRANT, MATTHEW
28
probably Dorset or Somerset
Priscilla ____, wife
28
probably Dorset or Somerset
Priscilla Grant, daughter
3
probably Dorset or Somerset
HOLCOMBE, THOMAS
a. 25
probably Dorset or Somerset
HULBERT, WILLIAM
a. 20
probably Chippenham, Wilts
HULL, GEORGE
a. 40
Crewkerne, Somerset
LOVELL, WILLIAM
a.
25
probably Dorset or Somerset
Wyborough ____, wife
a.
23
probably Dorset or Somerset
MOORE, JOHN
a.
20
probably Dorset or Somerset
PARKMAN, ELIAS
a.
20
Sidmouth, Devon
PEACH, JOHN SR.
a. 22
probably Symondsbury, Dorset
PEACH, JOHN JR.
a. 17
probably Symondsbury, Dorset
PHELPS, GEORGE
a. 20
probably Dorset or Somerset
PHELPS, RICHARD
a. 11
probably Dorset or Somerset
SAMWAYS, RICHARD
a. 15
probably Dorset
SMITH, LUCY (w/ Frances Sanford?)
a. 10
probably Dorset
SILVESTER, RICHARD
a. 22
probably Dorset or Somerset
STRONG, JOHN
a. 20
Chardstock, Devon
WILLIAMS, ROGER
a. 24
probably Dorset or Somerset
__, Elizabeth, m. Thomas Holcombe
a.
20
probably West Country
1/5/2015 Further found yet another website that questions whether Matthew and Priscilla came over on the Mary & John ship, but doesn't confirm or deny it either. It is the CT library that has a journal of Matthew Grant. I am putting the excerpts here for further research, but note they only allow it for research purposes...it has a copyright http://www.cslib.org/matthewgrant.htm Matthew Grant’s "Diary" or Notebook
Matthew Grant | The "Diary’s" History | A Description of the "Diary" When Was The "Diary" Written? | Transcription, Preservation, and Microfilming The Online Presentation | Bibliography
Photo of Matthew Grant's "Diary"
Matthew Grant
Matthew Grant, Windsor Connecticut’s first surveyor, second town clerk, and ancestor of President Ulysses S. Grant, was born on October 27, 1601, probably in England, and died December 16, 1681 in Windsor. Although older genealogies indicate he came on the Mary & John with the Rev. John Warham, Windsor’s first minister, this has not been established definitively and Robert Charles Anderson does not include Grant on his "Provisional Synthetic Passenger List for the Mary & John."
Grant became Windsor’s town clerk after the first town clerk, Dr. Bray Rossiter, moved to Guilford in 1651. Today, Matthew Grant is best remembered for creating three sets of records: •Reports to the Colony, particularly the births, marriages, and deaths entered into Volumes 1 and 2 of the Colony Land Records to comply with Connecticut’s Code of 1650. These vital records were published by Edwin Stanley Welles as Births, Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor and Fairfield (see Bibliography) and are indexed in the State Library’s Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records as "Volume COL." •The "Old Church Record" – more accurately a catalog of church members and their baptized children, begun about 1668 at a time when there were divisions within the Windsor church concerning the "Half-Way Covenant." Although Grant was not the church clerk and what has become commonly known as the "Old Church Record" was not actually an official record of the church, Grant’s volume fills in gaps in the early official town and church records. The original is at the Connecticut Historical Society. The State Library holds a typescript (indexed in Barbour Collection, where it is cited as "Volume MG"). •The "Matthew Grant Diary," more accurately a personal notebook or journal, which is discussed here.
The "Diary’s" History
The early provenance of Grant’s notebook is unclear. By the mid nineteenth century it was perhaps in the possession of George Brinley, an influential and wealthy book collector, as an 1885 article on Connecticut witchcraft trials by Charles H. Levermore refers to "a diary, belonging to the library of the late George Brinley of Hartford" as bearing "witness to the hanging of the unfortunates."
James Hammond Trumbull (1821-1897), Connecticut’s first State Librarian (writing as "J.H.T.") published an abridgement of Thomas Hooker’s "Thanksgiving Sermon" on page one of the November 28, 1860 issue of The Hartford Evening Press. The accompanying article reports that "within the last week" a
"memorial of Hooker has come to light, -- a Thanksgiving Sermon, preached at Hartford on Thursday, October 4th, 1638, carefully transcribed (from the author’s own manuscript, probably,) by Matthew Grant of Windsor. The chirography of the little volume in which it is preserved has so forbidding a look to modern eyes, that it is doubtful whether it has found a reader in the last hundred years…."
Trumbull subsequently shared some portions of the notebook with other historians and genealogists. The covenant of the First Congregational Church of Windsor, transcribed from the notebook, was published in the April, 1862 issue of Congregational Quarterly and reprinted on page 16 of A Supplement to the History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn. published in 1863. A footnote by Rev. H. Dexter indicates that
"For this interesting document we are indebted to the kindness of Hon. J. H. Trumbull of Hartford. Mr. T. says, "I found it a few weeks since in the MS. Note Book [sic.]of one of the Deacons of that church (Matthew Grant), along with full notes of a sermon by Mr. Warham, Aug. 15, 1647 (two months before this was adopted), on the matter and form of a church and of baptizing children.’" Edward Chauncey Marshall’s The Ancestry of General Grant…, published in 1869, included "Matthew Grant’s Family Record" and "Matthew Grant’s Rules for Measuring Land" "from Matthew Grant’s Note Book, contributed by Hon. J. H. Trumbull."
A transcription of the Family Record "made 7 Feb., 1870. by permission of the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, from the original in his possession" was included in a genealogy of Matthew Grant’s descendants prepared by D. William Paterson and published in Volume II of the second edition of Henry Stiles’ History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor. In addition, in volume I , page 447 of that edition, Stiles notes that
"I have heard that, upon the inside of the cover of a diary kept by Matthew Grant, and in his own handwriting, is an entry to the effect that, on a certain day in 1647, ‘Achsah [sic.] Youngs was hanged for being a witch’" and that the date "corresponds with about what would be the date intimated" by a reference in Winthrop’s Journal to one "of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch."
However, the existence of the "Diary" and its importance in establishing the identity of the first individual executed as a witch in New England was not widely known until after J. Hammond Trumbull’s death. His daughter, Annie Eliot Trumbull (1857-1949) published an article entitled "'One Blank’ of Windsor" in the December 3, 1904 issue of the Hartford Courant. There, Miss Trumbull wrote that she had "come into … possession of a little old volume which with its shabby binding of worn sheepskin promises to be one of the many didactic or theological or historical treatises…" and identifies it as "the manuscript diary of … Matthew Grant, resident from 1635 to 1681 of the town of Windsor, Connecticut…." In describing the "Diary" and its contents in a major newspaper, she disseminated to a wide audience the connection between Grant’s entry that "Alse Young was Hanged" on May 26, 1647 with the first execution of one accused of witchcraft in New England.
Miss Trumbull deposited the "Diary" at the Connecticut State Library on June 1, 1927 and "permanently deposited" it on May 20, 1932. On December 8, 1938, State Librarian James Brewster wrote to Miss Trumbull acknowledging her letter of December 7, 1938 "stating that you are giving the State Library as a permanent gift in your father’s name the "Grant Diary" containing manuscript notes of one of Thomas Hooker’s sermons, which has been on temporary deposit for some years."
A Description of the "Diary"
The Matthew Grant "Diary" is only 3 ½ inches wide by 5 ¾ inches high by 1 1/8 inches thick, reflective of the high price of paper in the seventeenth century. Another indication of paper’s cost is the fact that Grant seems to have attempted to utilize all available space on each page. Grant wrote front to back, but also turned the volume over and wrote from the "back" toward the "front ."
A note by State Librarian George Goddard describes the volume as a "unique and most interesting and valuable little manuscript diary of Matthew Grant of Windsor, (written largely in cipher)…" and adds that "the contents in the front and back of the volume are in the writing of J. Hammond Trumbull, first regular State Librarian of Connecticut and later Librarian of the Watkinson Library and President of the Connecticut Historical Society." Mr. Goddard continues:
"Note-book or Diary kept by Matthew Grant, one of the original company who came in 1630 to Dorchester, Mass. and removed to Windsor with the first settlers of that town in 1635. He was the second town clerk, the first surveyor and a prominent member of the Windsor Congregational church. The Old Church Record of Windsor, 1635-1650, was compiled by him and is the source of much of the genealogical data of that period.
This note-book contains among other interesting material, two sermons by Thomas Hooker, one a Thanksgiving sermon preached October 4, 1638 and the other preached at Windsor June 20, 1647, shortly before Hooker’s death. Besides the sermons we note Grant’s Rules for Measuring Land and his family record, both of which are printed in Stiles’ History of Ancient Windsor, 1891-92, vol. 2, p. 303-4. On the fly leaf of the Note-book occur three entries recording the death by hanging of Alse Young, 1647, of John Newbery, 1647 and of the Carringtons, 1651. Alse Young and the Carringtons paid the penalty for the alleged crime of witchcraft according to John M. Taylor’s The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, p. 145-147."
When Was The "Diary" Written?
Although some have suggested (perhaps based on the fact that the notebook includes the October 4, 1638 "Thanksgiving Sermon" by the Reverend Thomas Hooker) that Matthew Grant began making entries soon after arriving in Windsor, it seems more probable that it dates from 1645 or later. Matthew Grant’s "Family Record," beginning with the May 29, 1645 record of Grant’s marriage to his second wife Susanna, recorded on the first page of the "back" of the volume, may, in fact, be one of the earliest entries.
The tumultuous events of 1647 – the hanging of Alse Youngs on May 26, 1647; Thomas Hooker’s sermon of June 29, 1647 when Windsor’s minister, the Rev. John Warham, was "absint in the baye," [i.e., away on business in the Massachusetts Bay Colony]; Thomas Hooker’s death in July; John Warham’s August 15, 1647, sermon on "the matter and form of a church;" and the Windsor church’s establishment of a covenant on October 23, 1647 also appear to be among the earliest entries in the notebook. Hooker’s choice of 1 Romans 18, "for the wrath of God is revlled from heaven against all ungodlynesse and unrighteousnesse of men which hold to truth in unrighteousnesse," as the text for his sermon and oblique references such as "if a man parseueres in opposing the trueth it argues he is under the power of corruption," and "of examnation and triall that we may heare discovver whether a hart standes to the trueth and carries to the trueth … but if he be a profest oposer of the trueth he is a man that never had the tueth of God in his hart…." and passages from John Warham’s sermon such as, "vissiable rebelles against Christ are satans subiects, and re not fit to be of the vissable kingdom of Christ" suggest divisions within the Windsor church that may have led both to the execution of Alse Youngs and the need for a new church covenant.
Transcription, Preservation, and Microfilming
In 1938, then State Librarian James Brewster wrote that he had given the volume "to Miss Parsons of our Archives Department, and have asked her to 'translate' it, as it were, making it easier for the average person to use, and at the same time, of course, making it unnecessary to handle this precious volume."
Jessie A. Parsons (1883-1968) completed her transcription about 1943. Her original typescript is in the State Archives and a photocopy is in the Library’s stacks. In the introduction to her transcription, Miss Parsons noted that, "The Note-Book of Matthew Grant consists principally of sermons and extracts from various religious books. It presented considerable difficulty in copying on account of peculiarities in handwriting, spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalization. An especial difficulty was the division of words at the end of the lines; for example, "in welcoming" might be written "inwel-coeming." The three hundred closely written pages of the original made one hundred and five typewritten pages."
In March 1993, the "Diary" was sent to the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts for evaluation and conservation. The Center noted that, "The full leather laced-in binding was worn and deteriorated. The boards were warped, and the endcaps were missing. The backboard was detached. The joint was partially broken." Following treatment, the volume was "housed in a drop-spine box." In July 1997, the "Diary" was returned to the Northeast Document Conservation Center for microfilming, and the microfilm, housed in the History and Genealogy Reading Room, has served as the use copy.
The Online Presentation and Transcript
For this online presentation, each image of a page on the microfilm was scanned and converted to a separate PDF file. The Parsons typescript was also scanned and then edited by Christine A. Pittsley of the State Library staff to make it as faithful as possible to the original "diary": •The text was reorganized to reflect the pagination and line breaks of the original manuscript, permitting images of the original diary and a corresponding transcription to be presented and compared side-by-side.
•While Parsons used modern conventions, her transcription has been changed to reflect Grant's original. For example, "ourselves," one word in Parsons' transcription, has been changed to "our selves." Parsons had capitalized all references to God, Christ, and Jesus, although it is not clear that Grant capitalized any of those. When it was abundantly clear that Grant intended a capital letter, the online transcription employs capital letters; otherwise, Grant's convention of using all lowercase letters is followed. Spelling and punctuation have similarly been edited to reflect the original "diary," as Miss Parsons had left out much of the punctuation and modernized spelling in places.
•Curly brackets { } have been added to indicate text that Grant had crossed out since strike through is not available in the software utilized for the online presentation. Brackets also indicate where text is illegible, although such instances are also indicated with words {text illegible}.
•Square brackets [ ] indicate letters that do not appear in Grant's text but which were intended by the use of tildes, contractions, etc. Examples are the pro/pre words in which the "r" or "ro/re" were omitted and shown by an embellished "p" (transcribed as 'p[ro]fess%29 or the "ed" ending in which the "e" is looped, written as "e[d]." An example of a tilde is "admissiõ" written as "admissio[n]." Examples of each of these changes can be found on pages 218 and 219, within Extracts, Notes and Sermons.
•As is the practice with modern transcription conventions, "ye" and "yt" were changed to "the" and "that" except in the cases where "ye" was clearly meant as a pronoun. Similarly, Grant used the letter "i" in place of the letter "j," and used "u" instead of "v." For example, "iuses" is how Grant spelled "Jesus" and "saued" is how Grant spelled "saved." In the transcription, "i" was changed to "j" and "u" was changed to "v" when appropriate.
Those unfamiliar with ancient handwriting or spelling conventions may also with to check suggested resources for reading and interpreting old handwriting.
When viewing the online presentation of the "Diary," remember that Matthew Grant made entries from both ends of the volume. Perhaps because of an interest in Thomas Hooker, J. Hammond Trumbull placed his Table of Contents at the end of the volume direction containing two Hooker sermons. Jessie Parsons followed that lead when preparing her transcript, as has State Library staff in preparing this online presentation. Still, the "back" end of the volume, including the list of hangings inscribed inside the cover, Matthew Grant’s Family Record, and the Windsor Church Covenant of 1647 could just as easily been considered the "front."
Bibliography:
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995 [CSL call number HistRef F 3 .A53 1995. See Volume II, pp. 801-4 for information on Matthew Grant.
_______________. "The Mary & John: Developing Objective Criteria for a Synthetic Passenger List." New England Historical and Genealogical Register CXLVII (April 1993), pp. 148-161 [CSL call number F 1 .N56 vol. 147].
"Clans of the Grants." The Hartford Courant, Oct. 28, 1899, p. 5. Online ProQuest Historical Newspapers Hartford Courant (1764-1922).
Ferris, Mary Walton. Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines…. [Milwaukee]: Priv. print. [Wisconsin Cuneo Press], 1931-43 [CSL call number CS 71 D269 1931]. See Volume II, pp. 371-9 for one line of Matthew Grant’s descendants. Grant’s "Rules for Measuring Land," transcribed from his "manuscript note book" appear on pp. 377-8.
Goddard, George Seymour. Letter to Miss Annie Eliot Trumbull "May twentieth 1932," Record Group 12, Box 35, folder "Trumbull, Miss Annie Eliot".
Levermore, Charles Herbert. "Witchcraft in Connecticut, 1647-1697." New Englander and Yale Review 8 (1885), pp. 788-917 [CSL call number Z 9999 .N472].
Marshall, Edward Chauncey. The Ancestry of General Grant, and Their Contemporaries. New York: Sheldon & Company, 1869 [CSL call number CS 71 .G762 1869]. See page 100 for a transcription of "Matthew Grant’s Family Record" and page 101 for a transcription of "Matthew Grant’s Rules for Measuring Land."
Matthew Grant’s Old Church Record. Barbour, Lucius Barnes Genealogical Collection, no. 68, RG 74:36, no. 68. Typescript of a transcript prepared by Albert C. Bates. Includes an every-name index.
Roberts, Richard C. "The Events of 1647 as Revealed in Matthew Grant's Notebook." Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor Newsletter XXV:I (Fall 2007), pp. 8-9 [CSL call number F 104 .W7 N48].
Starr, Frank Farnsworth. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford [New Haven, the Tuttle, Morehouse, & Taylor Press], 1915 [CSL call number CS 71 .G657 1915]. See Volume I, pp. 99-110 for "The Family of Mathew Grant."
Stiles, Henry R. The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut…. Hartford: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1891 [CSL Call Number F 104 .W7 S7 1891]. Reference to the hanging of "Achsah Youngs" as being recorded "inside of the cover of a diary kept by Matthew Grant" appears in Volume I, p. 447. Biographical and genealogical information on Matthew Grant is in Volume II, pp. 302ff, with the transcript of Grant’s family record included on pp. 303-4.
Stiles, Henry R. A Supplement to the History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn., Containing Corrections and Additions…. Albany: J. Munsell, 1863 [CSL call number F 104 .W7 S85 1859 suppl.].
Taylor, John M. The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, 1647-1697. The Grafton Press, 1908. Reprint Williamstown, Massachusetts: Corner House Publishers, 1974 [CSL call number BF 1576 .T25]. Pages 145-147 discuss the then relatively recent identification of Alse Young as the first person executed as a witch in Connecticut based on the information listed inside the cover of the Grant "Diary".
Trumbull, Annie Elliot. "’One Blank’ of Windsor." The Hartford Courant, Dec. 3, 1904, p. A11. Online Proquest Historical Newspapers, Hartford Courant (1764-1922).
Welles, Edwin Stanley, ed. Births, Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor and Fairfield and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut: Volumes I and II of Land Records and no. D of Colonial Deeds. Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1898. The information in this book was transcribed from State Archives Record Group 1, Early General Records volumes 46 and 47, otherwise known as "Connecticut Colonial Land Records" vol. 1 (1640-1653) and vol. 2 (1646-1763), and Early General Records volume 48, otherwise known as "Connecticut Colony Records of Deeds, etc.: The Publick Records of Her Majesties Colonie of Connecticut, Number D". It consists of one page of Fairfield records, two pages of Hartford records (listing 31 events), and fifty-five pages of Windsor records carried to Hartford and in some cases actually transcribed in the first volume of the colony’s Land Records by Matthew Grant (the abbreviation for this volume in the Barbour Collection is "Col".)
Prepared by History & Genealogy Unit, Sept. 2008. erwise and would need permission to publish it otherwise.
1/5/2015 Note: Really have to watch parents of Matthew Grant as it appears that other people above that have done extensive research keeps encountering someone that keeps adding the INCORRECT PARENTS of Matthew Grant a number of times. Here are some of the notes that are on their site:
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Grant-201 On August 31, 2014 at 18:46GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
i added a link today for the Grant One Name Study which i just started construction on this week.
On April 28, 2014 at 21:47GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
(you're going to have to cut and paste the below link into a browser - sorry, no idea why it formatted that way)
On April 28, 2014 at 21:46GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
Still waiting on the DNA results from our Hampshire donor. I have found this recently and will share it with the group: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank1&new1&MSAV1&msT1&gs... click the link, it pulls up a baptism record ia ancestry.com and is the single best lead on Matthew's father I've found yet.
On February 21, 2014 at 19:05GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
great news - a member of an old Grant family living in Hampshire England is doing a DNA test. this could be the first connection we have to Grants in England (as of now all Matthew descendents who have done DNA tests match each other but do not match any Grants coming out of Scotland or England, leading me to believe the English family either died out or has never had a DNA tester).
On December 9, 2013 at 05:07GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
I removed them. Same incorrect parents that seem to show up every few months (ironically, the same person who did extensive damage to this page last month was the one who made the recent "edit"). I'm still going through English church records but have little hope of finding a reliable source for MG's parents.
On December 9, 2013 at 04:01GMT Tom Bredehoft wrote:
Matthew just got a father, John Grant. Is this confirmed? I didn't think he was known.
On October 13, 2013 at 03:50GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
Been looking into the supposed death of Matthew Grant's mother on May 29, 1640. I see it mentioned in various books, such as "The History of Ancient Windsor, CT, Vol. 2" and see that it is always mentioned that "we may be mistaken in this name" immediately afterwards. If we can't find an actual death of a female of age 58 years or older in Windsor on that day, then it will be time to disregard this info. I believe it s misleading to imply that Matthew's mother also made the trip to Dorchester and then Windsor as there simply is no reliable evidence of this. Thoughts??
On September 4, 2013 at 20:23GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
I just removed an unknown Peter Grant someone had listed as a son of Matthew's. Is there a way we can lock some of the info on this page to keep some of these inaccuracies from happening?
On May 13, 2013 at 21:59GMT Geoff Grant wrote:
I agree with wikitree's policy regarding place names. Plus, I would think that if one were interested in viewing Matthew's biography on here, they would have a firm grasp of English (to read it) and a working understanding of Connecticut's location. By adding USA on all of the bios we'd just be creating extra work for ourselves.
On May 13, 2013 at 21:54GMT Jillaine Smith wrote:
Alan, wikitree's policy on place name is to use the name used at the time of the event. Therefore USA should only be used for events that took place after 1776.
1/5/2015 When looking up the "Puritan Migration Matthew Grant", numerous sites come up with one being on the Phelps family...on a Wikipedia site on William Phelps, Matthew Grants name was mentioned as the register signing William's death. See the following:
Death and burial
Phelps died at age 78 on July 14, 1672, and was buried the next day. His wife died three years later on November 27, 1675. A Settlement Deed for his son Timothy's marriage to Mary, daughter of Edward Griswold, another pioneer founder of Windsor, was dated April 22, 1660. Phelps’ last will and testament was entered on the Windsor, Connecticut register, July 26, 1672, and signed by Matthew Grant, Register.[24]
1/5/2015 More information from a different site:
Matthew GRANT, Sr 1 2 •Born: 27 Oct 1601, , Devonshire, England •Married (1): 16 Nov 1625, , Devonshire, England •Married (2): 29 May 1645, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA •Died: 16 Dec 1681, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Ancestral File Number: 9J3R-88. User ID: 4626.
General Notes:
BOOK Genealogies of Connecticut Families, From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register Vol II Geer-Owen, Gary B Roberts, Genealogical Publishing Co, pp 77-81. GGGGGGrdFthr of Gen Ulysses S Grant (see 8JQR-3B Samuel GRANT):
"Matthew Grant was one of the original company who came in the Mary and John to Dorchester in 1630; was a freeman there in 1631; removed to Windsor among the very earliest; was second town clerk there, also the first and for many years the principal surveyor; was a prominent man in the church..."
A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, John Farmer, Genealogical Publishing Co, Lancaster MA 1829, p127: MATTHEW GRANT, Dorchester, came over in 1630, with Maverick and Warham, and was admitted freeman in 1631.
Directory of Descendants of Founders of WindsorCT, 350th Anniv Comm, Stephen E Simon, Kent CL Avery, 24 Sep 1983
pv: "Grant, Matthew (D = Dorchester MA) * Arrived in 1630 on the 'Mary and John'."
p21: "Earliest date mentioned in Windsor records 1635. Came with the Dorchester Group in 1635, Died 16 Dec 1681 Windsor. see 'The Grant Family A Genealogic History of the Descendants of Matthew Grant of Windsor CT' Arthur H Grant Poughkeepsie NY AV Haight Press 1898."
The Mary and John The Story of the Founding of Dorchester Massachusetts 1630, Maude Pinney Kuhns, Charles E Tuttle Co, Rutland VT, 1943, (CT Historical Society) p1:
"On the twentieth of March, 1630, a group of men and women, one hundred and forty in number, set sail from Plymouth, England, in the good ship, the 'Mary and John'. The company had been selected and assembled largely through the efforts of the Reverend John White, of Dorchester, England; with whom they spent the day before sailing, 'fasting, preaching, and praying.' These people had come from the western counties of England, mostly from Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somerset. They had chosen two ministers to accompany them: 'men who were interested in the idea of bringing the Indians to the knowledge of the gospel.' The Reverend John Maverick was an elderly man from Devon, a minister of the Established church. Reverend John Warham was also an ordained minister of the Church of England, in Exeter, eminent as a preacher. There is some evidence that both of these men were in some difficulties with the church on account of their sympathies with the Puritans.
"Edward Rossiter and Roger Ludlow, two men who were members of the government in England, were also chosen; and several gentlemen, middleaged, with adultfamilies were next joined to the association. Among these were Henry Wolcott, Thomas Ford, George Dyer, William Gaylord, William Rockwell, and William Phelps. But a large portion of the company were young men, eager for adventure, such as Israel Stoughton, Roger Clapp, George Minot, Richard Collicott, and Nathaniel Duncan.
"So we came, writes Roger Clapp in his Memoirs, by the good hand of the Lord, through the deep comfortably; having preaching or expounding of the word of Godevery day for ten weeks together by our ministers. When we came to Nantasket, Capt. Squeb, who was Captain of that great ship of four hundred tons, put us on shore and our goods on Nantasket Point, and left us to shift for ourselves in a forelorn place in this wilderness.
"It had been their original intent to land in the Charles River, but a dispute with Captain Squeb, the commander of the vessel, caused the whole company, on May 30, 1630, to be put ashore at Nantasket. The 'Mary and John' was the first of the Fleet of 1630 to arrive in the bay. At that time there could not have been pilots, or charts of the channel, and it does not seem unreasonable that the captain refused to undertake the passage, but Roger Clap has sent Captain Squeb down to posterity as a merciless man.
"According to tradition they landed upon the south side of Dorchester Neck, or South Boston, in Old Harbor. Ten of the men, under the command of Captain Southcote, found a small boat, and went up the river to Charlestown Neck, where they found an old planter, probably Thomas Walfourd, who fed them 'a dinner of fish without bread.' Later they continued their journey up the Charles River, as far as what is now Watertown,returning several days later to the company who had found pasture for their cattle at Mattapan. The settlement was later called Dorchester, in honor of the Reverend John White, of Dorchester, England.
"Roger Clap tells of the hardships that followed. They had little food, and were forced to live on clams and fish. The men built small boats, and the Indians came later with baskets of corn. 'The place was a wilderness,' writes Roger Clap. 'Fish was a good help to me and to others.Bread was so scarce that I thought the very crusts from my father's table would have been sweet; and when I could have meal and salt and water boiled together, I asked, 'who could ask for better?'
"Here they lived for five or six years. Other boats arrived and other towns were settled. But the life at Dorchester was not entirely congenial to the lovers of liberty of the 'Mary and John'. The group of settlements around Massachusetts Bay was dominated by clergymen and officials of aristocratic tendencies. Their Governor, John Winthrop, had little sympathy with the common people. 'The best part (of the people),' he declared, 'is always the least, and of that best part, the wiser is always is always the lesser.' And theReverend John Cotton put it more bluntly when he said, 'Never did God ordain democracy for the government of the church or the people.'
"These principles were repugnant to the people of the 'Mary and John', who had come to America to escape such restraint. They had no wish to interfere with the methods of worship of others, and they did not wish others to interfere with them. Too, they were land-hungry, after centuries of vassalage to the lords of the manors, leading hopeless lives without chance of independence. Perhaps they were influenced also, by the fact that a great smallpox epidemic had raged among the Indians, killing off so many that they wre not the menace that they had been at first. The settlers turned their attention toward the fertile meadows of the Connecticut Valley.
"A group under Roger Ludlow set out and reached the Plymouth Trading house that had been erected by William Holmes near the junction of the Connecticut and the Farmington Rivers, early in the summer of 1635. A little later sixty men, women and children, with their 'cows, heifers and swine', came overland from Dorchester. The winter was severe and the food scarce, and many returned to Massachusetts, but in the spring they came back to Connecticut with their friends, and by April, 1636, most of the members of the Dorchester Church were settled near the Farmington River, along the brow of the hill that overlooks the 'Great Meadow'. This in spite of the fact that the Plymouth people disputed their claim to the land. They built rude shelters, dug out of the rising ground along the edge of the river bank. The rear end and the two sides were simply the earth itself, with a front and a roof of beams. The town was later named Windsor.
"In the following year, 1637, danger from the Pequot Indians forced them to abandon their dugouts and to come together around the area known as the Palisado Green. Their new homes were at once enclosed with a strong palisado.
"In 1639 they began the construction of their first real meeting house. It stood in the center of the palisado, and was topped with a cupola and platform, where the sexton beat a drum to summon the people to attend services or public meetings. About the same time there was built and presented to the pastor, the Reverend John Warham, a corn mill, which is supposed to have been the first grist mill built in Connecticut. For many years it served all the settlements in the river valley, as far south as Middletown..."
p5: "The Passanger List (Compiled from various sources, and not official)
...67. Mathew Grant
68. Priscilla Grant
69. Mathew
70. Priscilla..."
p37: "...Mathew Grant was born in England 27 Oct 1601 and died in Windsor CT 16 Dec 1681. He was made a freeman at Dorchester MA 18 May 1631.
"He was a carpenter by trade, and was the first, and for many years, the principal surveyor of his section. He held the office of Deacon of the First Church for a number of years; was town clerk from 1652 until 1677; was select- man for several years and held other important offices. In 1654 he compiled a 'Book or Records of Town Ways in Windsor.' He was also the compiler of the 'Old Church Records,' which has furnished the basis for the history of most of the families of ancient Windsor.
"He married first 16 Nov 1625 Priscilla Grey (1602-27 Apr 1644); married second 29 May 1645 Susanna (Capen) Rockwell (5 Apr 1602-14 Nov 1666), widow of William Rockwell, and daughter of Bernard Capen.
"Children: 1. Priscilla, b 14 Sep 1626, m 1647 Michael Humphrey.
2. Mathew, d 1639..."
17th Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century 1915-1975, Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Baltimore Genealogi- cal Publishing Co Inc, 1987, p107:
"Matthew Grant (1601-1681) CT, m. Priscilla Grey, Town Clerk, Surveyor."
Report of the First Reunion of the Grant Family Association at Windsor and Hartford CT, on Oct 27, 1899, The 298th Anniversary of the Birth of Matthew Grant, ed Arthur Hastings Grant Recorder, Poughkeepsie NY, AV Haight Press, 1899
p9: "Deacon Jabez H Hayden, of Windsor Locks, the antiquarian of the town, was then introduced. Although in his eighty-eighth year, his memory is unimpaired, and his assistance was invaluable in fixing the old landmarks. As he did not feel equalto the exertion, he requested Mrs Edith E Kibbe to read for him the
"Historical Address
"When the white man came to Connecticut on a voyage of discovery he found open river meadows where the natives raised maize, Indian corn. These meadows had been stripped of their forests by the Indians, who had neither axes nor saws, but had applied fire to the trees at the ground, removing the charcoal with their stone axes to facilitate the burning, then burning them down and burningthem up. They had neither plows nor teams to draw them, neither hoes nor spades of metal, but these were of wood, formed by fire, and the stone axes which are still to be found. With such rude implements the squaws cultivated Indian corn, pumpkins and beans, while their braves ranged the forests in pursuit of game, or chase Indians of other tribes to secure their scalps.
"But before the white man came the small-pox came, either through the French in Canada, or some trading vessel on the coast, against which the medicine man with his bag of charms had no power, `but almost all died,' and the Great Meadow, about 600 acres, and Plymouth Meadow, about 100 acres, were `void of inhabitants,' the few survivors having fled totheir friends who had survived at Poquonock, and to Wilson Station, at the head of Hartford meadow.
"Two years before the Plymouth people had commenced their settlement on Plymouth Meadow, the River Indians had been to the Bay and to Plymouth, and invited the white man to come up and occupy these open meadows. The crafty Indians had heard of the white man's guns, and hoped to find protection in them from their enemies, the Pequots, who `usurped upon them.'
"Two years afterthe Plymouth settlement began, Jonathan Brewster, who appears to have been chief man among them, writes home to Plymouth, under date of July 5, 1635, `The Massachusetts men are coming almost daily, some by water, and some by land, who are notyet determined where to settle, though some have a great mind to the place we are upon, which was last bought. I shall do what I can to withstand them. I hope they will hear to reason, as we were here first and had secured the Indian title before the arrival of the Dorchester men.' It was the Dorchester men, Ludlow and Matthew Grant and their company who had `a great mind' to occupy the Great Meadow, and at that time had men out `seeking above the falls' for some unoccupied meadow tosettle upon.
"But at this stage of the proceedings another party of pioneers appears on the scene, the pioneers of the Lords and Gentlemen in England, who come armed with the patent of Connecticut, in charge of Mr. Francis Stiles with 20men, and a commission from Sir Richard Saltonstal `to prepare a house against my coming, and inclose grounds for my cattle. Notwithstanding their patent, Brewster protested against their taking up the Great Meadow, as he had protested against Dorchester, but without avail; and when the Dorchester men saw that the Great Meadow was to be wrested from Plymouth, they claimed a better right to it than their Lordships had, and, being the stronger party of the two, were able to maintain it.They set apart ground for the two Stiles families at the Chief Justice Ellsworth place at the upper end of the meadow, where their vessel discharged her cargo of supplies, and returned to England with Mr. Stiles' report of the proceedings. "Now Ludlow and Grant bestir themselves to make preparation for the coming of their people (whom they had planned to bring on the next summer), to come on at once, to be in actual possession before their Lordships got Stiles' report and tookmeasures to eject them. Grant at once began `setting out lots,' the quota to which each family was entitled in meadow `suitable for cultivation' and upland adjoining, to build upon.
"In place of framed houses, there being no lumber yards or sawmills, they set about preparing `cellars,' dugouts, on the brow of the meadow hill, their sides of clove boards, the roof of thatch grass, and `on the 15th of October sixty men, women and children, with their horses, cattle and swine' setforth from Dorchester through the wilderness to occupy the places the pioneers had been able to provide for them.
"When they reached the Connecticut River on the 25th of November it was closed with ice, and their vessel sent round with their supplies had not arrived, but was supposed to be frozen in below. But I cannot here follow the greater part of that forlorn company, as they took their way down the river to meet their vessel with their supplies, a vessel which had been wrecked before it reached the river, of which they knew nothing, but fortunately found a vessel at its mouth, which took them on board, and they reached Boston `in five days, which was a great mercy of God, or they would have all died, as some did.'
"Those families which had remained here in the dwellings prepared for them had meager fare that winter, a part of their rations being acorns, which proves that winter which set in so early was yet an open one, or it would not have been possible to have found acorns. `Many of their cattle died.'
"Sir Henry Vane, in behalf of the Lords and Gentlemen, said that one of the three towns gone to Connecticut `must give away or another place must be found for their Lordships.' They had already built a fort and garrisoned it at the mouth of the river, and sent out the younger Winthrop `to be our governor there;' and Saltonstal, after receiving Stiles' report, sends a letter of instruction to `our Governor' how to proceedin the premises containing this clause, `the rest of the company [the Patentees], being sensible of the affront to me, would have signified their minds in a general [official] letter unto you. I told them, since it concern myself inparticularit might breed some healocies in the people and so distaste them with our government,' a government which the Patentees proposed to have cover all Connecticut.
"But neither Sir Henry's threat nor `our Governor's ' instructions persuaded the Windsor settlers to `give way' and go back to Massachusetts or to any other place. Before Stiles `gave way' and left the meadow `where he proposed to begin' Saltonstal says, `They resisted him, slighting me with many unbeseeming words.' Whatreply Stiles made in behalf of his Lordship we are not told, but we hear nothing farther of the controversy between the parties. The Stiles families are supposed to have been the first families of men, women and children, to arrive in Connecticut, though they had like families of Windsor for neighbors the winter following; and when the Lords had abandoned their design, the Stiles families became enrolled with the first settlers of Windsor and became accepted citizens of this commonwealth, with no `unbeseeming words' from either party.
"But Plymouth was much aggrieved at the loss of the Great Meadow, to which they had intended to bring their own people and occupy it. This led to a long correspondence. Ludlow in behalfof Windsor says, `Now albeit we at first judged the place so free that we might with God's good leave take it without just offence to any, it being the Lord's waste and for the present altogether void of inhabitants,' and reminds them that thePatentees would have taken it if `we' had not. Plymouth replies, `That if it was the Lord's waste it was ourselves that found it so, and not you, and have since bought it of the right owners, and why should you (because more ready and able at present) go and deprive us of that which we had with charge and hazzard prepared and intended to remove to, as soon as we could and were able; but they finally `fell to treaty' and we will let Matthew Grant tell us what the terms were. The agreement was not entered on the town records at the time, but thirty-six years after, when Matthew Grant was Town Clerk and an old man, he procured a certified copy from the colonial records, and recorded it. Then, as was his habit, to make the matter clear he adds from his own personal knowledge the following:
"`This bargain as it is above exprest and was written and assigned I can certainly testify does not mention or speak of every particular of the bargain as it was issued withMr. Prince, before it was put in writing. This should have been the frame of it. Dorchester men that came from the Massachusetts Bay up here to Connecticut to settle in the place now called Windsor. Plymouth men challenged propriety here, by apurchase of the land from the Indians, whereupon, in the latter end of the 35th year, some of our principal men, meeting with some of Plymouth men in Dorchester, [Mass.], labored to drive a bargain with them to buy out their claim which they challenged by purchase, and came to terms, and then May 37, as it avobe exprest, our company geing generally together (that intended to settle here) Mr. Prince being come up here in the behald of the Plymouth men that were partners in their purchase, issued the bargain with us. We were to pay them 36L 10s for their whole purchase, which Mr. Prince presented to us in writing, only they reserved the 16th part off for themselves, and their 16th part in meadowland came by measure of the meadows to forty-three acres, three-quarters, which was bounded out to Mr.Prince, he being present, by myself being appointed by our company, in Plymouth Meadow, so called by that account. Their sixteenth part in upland they took up near the bounds of Hartford, seventy rods in breath by the river, and so to continue to the end of the bounds. They were also to have one acre to build on upon the hill [island] against their meadow [It was on that `acre against their meadow' that the Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Chapter of the DAR recently laid a boulder to mark the place of the `first English Settlement in Connecticut'...
"`This I testify, Matthew Grant'
"In 1638 Plymouth sold out all her right, title and interest in Connecticut to Matthew Allen of Hartford...entitles Windsor to the distinction of being `the first English settlement in Connecticut.'
"Roger Ludlow and Matthew Grant were, as already said , here with that company of Dorchester pioneers in the summer of 1635, and are the only individuals whose names we know. Grant was the land surveyor, and...Matthew Grant became `the Model Town Clerk.' Also, forty years after `our first beginning here,' he, in giving his testimony concerning a land claim, tells us how (in his own estimation) he had performed his official duties.
"`If any question my uprightness and legal acting about our town affairs that I have been employed in, as measuringout land, and setting out of lots to men, which has been done by me from our first beginning here, come next September is forty years, I never set out land to any man util I knew he had a grant to it from the Townsmen and town approbation, or about recording after the Book [Land Record] was turned to me, which is near twenty-three years since, I can say with a clear conscience, I have been careful to do nothing on one man's desire.'
"Two years after his appointment as Town Clerk, in making up a record of the highways which had been opened to 1654, he adds, in reference to the place where you are assembled today, one of his unique footnotes, which could not have been improved had he known he was writing it for the information of his descendants this reunion, two hundred and forty-five years after:
"`And seeing I am entered into to Palizado, I will speak a little of the original of it. About 1637, when the English had war with the Pequot Indians, our inhabitants on Sandy Brow gathered themselves nearer together from their remote dwellings to provide for their safety, set upon fortifying and with palizo, which (house lots) some particular men [of whom Matthew Grant was one] resigned up out of their properties for that end, and was laid out in small parcels to build upon, some in four rods in breadth, some five, six, seven, and eight. It was set out after this manner. These building places were at first laid out of one length but differ in breadth as aforesaid. Also on all sides within the outmost fence there was left two rods in breadth for a common way to go round within side the Palizado. [ In rear of the building lots; this left anopen space in the center, on which themeeting-house stood, about twenty by thirty rods...
"`Note, that in the west corner of the aforesaid plat there is reserved for a common Burying Ground one particular parcel that is six rods in breadth, all the length on one side, and oneend, take it together it is eight rods in breadth, and eighteen rods in length.'
"To show the perilous condition of those who occupied the Palizado during the time of the Pequot War, we quote from their `chief man,' Roger Lodlow's lettersto his `honored friend, the worshipful William Pynchon, at Agawan, be these delivered':
"`Sir, I have received your letters wherein you express that you are well fortified, but few hands. I would desire you to be careful and watchful that you be not betrayed by friendships. For my part my spirit is really many times even ready to sink within me when upon alarms which are daily I think of your condition, that if the case be ever so dangerous we can neither help you nor you us. [They were nearly twenty miles apart]...Whereas you say we were not willing to send you any hands, I pray you be not so uncharitable, for I can assure you it is great grief that we cannot, for our plantations are so gleaned by that small fleet wesent out that those who remain are not able to supply our watches, which are day and night, that our people are scarce able to stand upon their legs. And for planting we are in like condition with you, what we plant is before our own doors, little any where else...Our fleet went away tomorrow will be seven night...There went ninety Indians armed with them...For sending you word before [taking his vessel for a transport] we could not, the time was so sudden, and your men were there so soon as it was intended, and you may conceive to send out so many men so suddenly, and provide for them as you may conceive our case stands, is sure no little trouble and labor. Besides, for sending to you, I could wish you could invent a waywe might constantly do it, each to the other, for you scarce think how we are grieved to think of you many times. You think much to give a coat, I cannot get any to go on any terms. [The Indians had invited the whites to come here because `ThePequots usurped upon them,' and ninety of them had gone with Captain Mason to be avenged on their old enemies, and an Indian runner and mail carrier to Springfield would be in the same danger from some marauding band of Pequots as a white man.]
"`It way be that your Indians have often recouse hither. If you could take order with them to call on me, you shall have constant intelligence of things, and agree with them yourself. I could wish your women, children and cattle were with us awhile, which if you will send we will take the best care we can of.
"Windsor, May 17th, 1637. Roger Ludlo.'"
p14: "In 1565 the Recorder, Matthew Grant, enters an order of the town respecting the burying ground `in the west corner' of the palizado. `Oct 26th the town met and agreed to have the burying place made commodious. David Wilton doth hereby engage himself and his forever to maintain whatsoever fence belongs to the burying place of Windsor, now joining to his land, and also to make and maintain a commodious gate for passing to it. Also, to clear it of all stubs and boughs that grow upon it between this and next spring, and to sow it down with English grass, that it may be decent and comely and he andhis heirs are to have the benefit of the pasture forever.'
"This cemetery, made `decent and comely' two hundred and forty five years ago, now much enlarged, is today `better kept tan any cemetery in this vicinity' and will well repay the visit of any one whose ancestors sleep there. They will there find the oldest gravestone in New England. It is `chest form.' In my boyhood days it had fallen down, the parts laid together, the tablet with its inscription which had formed one side of the `chest' was laid face up, on the top, where it could be read. The support for the other side was missing, but fifty-seven years ago this church appointed a committee to put the monument of their Reverend Teacher into its original position, and procure a stone for `the other side' to commemorate Pastor Warham, who died twenty-six years after Mr. Huit. Under the inscription for Mr. Warham some fail to read, `Erected by his church 1842.'
"`HERE LYETH EPHRAIM HUIT SOMETIMESTEACHER TO YE CHURCH OF WINDSOR
WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 4, 1644
Who When hee Lived wee drew our vitall Breath
Who When hee Dyed his dying was our death
Who was ye Stay of State ye Churches Staff
Alas the time Forbidan EPITAPH.'
"There were few graves marked of that first generation; only eight have grave stones set at or about the time of their deaths...Of the name of Grant there is but one of any date. That is a small, low slab to
"`Mary Granttwife of I.G. [Joseph Grant, Tahan, Matthew]
Dyed Jan'y ye 2, 1718.19 aged about 37.
Gen xxxv.17-20
And Rachel dyed and Jacob set a Pillar on her grave.
Blessed are they who die in the Lord.'
"There is a plat of the Palizado with Matthew Grant's description of it, giving the location and names of the twelve residents, seventeen years after the Pequot War. Matthew Grant's house stands on the east side, with only the town house between him and the north line ofthe palizades...
"But I must hasten on to speak of the `Old Church Record' of Matthew Grant. Your secretary suggested that I tell what I have learned of the origin and preservation of that invaluable record. Matthew Grant was, as alreadysaid, Town Clerk and REgistrar, and kept a full and careful record of everything. He was also familiar with all church proceedings of this oldest Congregational church in America [The First Church of Plymouth is the oldest Congregational Churchin America; the First Church of Windsor in the oldest Trinitarian Congregational Church], having been a worthy member of it from its orgaization in 1630 to the day of his death, fifty-one years, and was well calculated to tell the story, whenan old man, from personal recollection and access to both town and church records.
"About sixty years ago there was a vague rumor of an old manuscript book which told all about old times in Windsor. The first tangible clew I got in my inquiries was from Mr. John Gaylord, an old man who had seen it and said that it told of a great flood. Then Mr Herlehigh Haskell told me that when the old Molly Birge house was pulled down, about 1800, Oliver Ellsworth, Jr., found among the debrisa somewhat mutilated manuscript book which he took to his father, the Chief Justice, who gave it to his pastor, Rev. Mr. Rowland; that Esq. Sargeant (a brother-in-law of Mr. Rowland) had it in his possession at the time the late Hon. John M. Niles was studying law with him; that Niles made an alphabet by which he could read it.
"Esq. Sargeant and Mr. Rowland were both dead, but I learned from Mr. Rowland's son-in-law, Dr. Theodore Sill, that it came into his possession, that heloaned it to Colonel Loomis, who claimed that it had never belonged to the church, and now belonged to himself as well as to anybody else, and declined to return it to the doctor. When I found it with the Colonel I offered, if he would give itto me, to make from it a copy for himself, shich offer he declined, but finally lent it to me to make a copy for myself, which includes every word, letter or part of a letter which could then be deciphered. When I returned the original to him,he borrowed my copy and had that copied by one of his clerks, and gave the original to the Connecticut Historical Society, where his copy also has recently been deposite, and where it can now be consulted. Several years ago I accidentally metwith evidence that Lieut. Wilton was living at northanpton, after my copy said `he was buried here in Windsor.' Asking at the Historical Rooms to see the original, I was told `Mr. Trumbull will not let any one take it into their hands, but willopen it to find the item they want, but I think he would make an exception in your case.' The original is in safe hands now.
"But where was this Record from the death of Matthew Grant in 1681 to its rescue from the rubbish about 1800? Thefirst clue we find is on what were once blank leaves of the Rocord itself. `The year 1717 I set down all that have died in Ellington to the year 1740.' Then follows a list of names, without dates, a majority of them children; eight are Grant children. The Record was evidently in Ellington in 1740, presumably in a Grant family.
"In 1767 Peletiah Birge married Mary Grant of Ellington (daughter of John, [Deacon Hayden here follows the erroneous statement of `Ancient Windsor'; the Mary Grant who married Peletiah Birge was the eldest daughter of Jonathan; this Jonathan had no sons, and all his Grant nephews were out of reach at Lyme NH, so this heirloom naturally passed out of the Family.] John, Samuel, Matthew) and brought his bride to the Birge home in Windsor a mile north of the Palizado and Matthew Grant's. There they lived a few years and then removed to the extreme northwest corner of Pinemeadow, Windsor Locks, with no neighbor nearer than half a mile, and less than a dozen houses within the present town limits. Assuming that Mary Grant Birge brought the Record to the Birge house in Windsor, what more probable, whether she appreciated its great value, or esteemed it not, than that it should have been left behind, and that it had little care from the sister, Molly Birge, and was at last found among the rubbish when the old house was pulled down?
"At the time when Matthew Grant made that Record there was an unfortunate division inhis church which continued several years and much of the valuable information he gives us concerning church affairs was given to show who with himself remained loyal to the original organization.
INTERNET http://members.aol.com/MREgleston/MnJ.html Mary and John Passenger Lists The Mary & John left England in March of 1630 and arrived seventy days later, on May 30, 1630, at the mouth of what is now Boston harbor. The ship's captain refused to sail up the Charles river as planned, because he feared running the ship aground in waters that he had no charts for. He instead left the passengers in a desolate locale miles from their intended destination. The settlors were forced to transport 150,000 pounds of livestock, provisions and equipment 20 miles overland to their final destination. These are two suggested passenger lists for the ship Mary & John that Bygod Eggleston and his sons probably traveled on to reach the New World in 1630. These lists were compiled by the authors from a variety of sources. No actual recorded passenger list from the Mary & John has come to light and there remain many questions as to who actually sailed on this ship and who came on subsequent ships. Some of the people on these lists have later been proven not to have traveled on the Mary & John. For more information see "Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630" Vols. 1 - 26, published by The Mary & John Clearing House and available in many library genealogy collections. Born Banks Kuhns Other Key Mathew Grant 1602* NL Yes Priscilla ______ (w) 1604* NL Yes Priscilla Grant (d) 1626 NL Yes
http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/ Holcombe Family Genealogy James and Randal Holcombe Descendants of Matthew Grant 1. Matthew1 Grant was born on 27 Oct 1601 at England. He married Priscilla (--?--) on 16 Nov 1625. He died on 16 Dec 1681 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 80. Matthew was one of the original company who came, in 1630, to Dorchester, Mass., in the Mary and John, with Maverick and Warham. He was admitted a freeman 18 May, 1631, and continued in Dorchester till the removal of the company which settled Windsor, of which he was a prominent member. His name appears on the Dorchester records as late as 2 Nov., 1635, and though he was, without doubt, among those who went, in 1635, to prepare their new homes at Matianuck, now Windsor, it is not likely that his wife and children left Dorchester before 18 April 1636. He was the second town clerk in Windsor, also the first and for man years the principal surveyor; was a prominent man in the church; evidently was just and exceedingly conscientious in all his public and private transactions and duties, and, as recorded, he often added notes, explanatory or in correction, to the records which have considerable value to present day investigators; if he had only used women's maiden names more often. Children of Matthew1 Grant and Priscilla (--?--) were as follows: 2. i. Priscilla2, born 14 Sep 1626 at England; married Michael Humphrey. ii. Matthew; born at England; died 10 Sep 1639. 3. iii. Samuel, born 12 Nov 1631 at Dorchester, MA; married Mary Porter. 4. iv. Tahan, born 3 Feb 1633/34; married Hannah Palmer. 5. v. John, born 30 Sep 1642 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT; married Mary Hull.
ANCESTRY.COM 1 Aug 2000 A DIGEST OF THE EARLY CONNECTICUT PROBATE RECORDS. 1677 to 1687. Page 88 Name: Matthew Grant Location: Windsor Invt. œ118-18-06. Taken 10 January, 1681-2, by Thomas Dible sen., John Loomis. Will dated 9 December, 1681. I Matthew Grant of Windsor, beinge aged and under present weakness, yet of Competency of understandinge, doe by this declare my Last Will concerning the dispose of my Estate as followeth: 1
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Matthew Grant's Timeline
| 1601 |
October 27, 1601
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Woolbridge, Dorset, England
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| 1604 |
1604
Age 2
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Lyme Regis,Dorset,England
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| 1626 |
September 14, 1626
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Lyme Regis, Dorset, England
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| 1628 |
1628
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Probably England, (Present UK)
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| 1631 |
November 12, 1631
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Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America
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| 1633 |
February 3, 1633
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Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony
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| 1635 |
1635
Age 33
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Windsor, Hartford, Colony of Connecticut, British Colonial America
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| 1638 |
1638
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Windsor, Connecticut
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| 1640 |
1640
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