Unknown Grant (abt. 1675)

Born about 1675 in Connecticut [uncertain]

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lora Koch [send private message]

Biography

The illegitimate son of Marcy Billings, specifically christened as such, was named Bariah or Beriah Grant at Stonington, Connecticut, and was baptized on the 24th of July, 1698^[1]. (While the typewritten, transcribed church record indicates that the surname Grant was given at the time of the baptism, another published, printed record does not show the surname. The former record is assumed, for purposes of this profile, to be accurate.) The given name of the father (or stepfather; see Research Notes below) was not recorded, and is not known; it is assumed that the biological father may perhaps have been born close to 1675, but this is merely an educated guess based on the assumption that he was relatively young, but of an age at least close to that of Marcy, who was christened in 1675.

Disputed Given Name

Although this profile's subject was originally shown as "Noah", which remains one possibility for the given name of Beriah's father or stepfather, no primary, specific record has been located to date (July 2023) showing a Noah Grant born in or near 1675 in Colonial New England (or old England, or elsewhere). The clearly documented Noah Grants are out of time for being married or partnered to Marcy/Mercy Billings, or being the parent/adoptive parent of Beriah Grant. There is however a single known record indicating the presence of a senior Noah Grant at Tolland, Connecticut, in 1727: a younger Noah, born at Windsor in 1693, died at Tolland in 1727 and is shown in his death record as "Noah Grant Jun.r"... plainly implying that an older Noah Grant was present in the town by that year^[2][3]. The claim is also made in the 1893 Descendants of John Porter of Windsor that a Noah Grant was the second child, and second son, of Samuel Grant and Mary (Porter) Grant, and was born at Windsor on 18 April 1661^[4]... but no source is offered, and none is known to date (July 2023). While such an elder Noah might conceivably seem to have been either father or stepfather to Beriah, only the latter possibility seems viable: DNA testing of Beriah's descendants proves that Beriah was not of the lineage of Matthew Grant, the Great Migration immigrant who was the direct forebear of the known Grants in Connecticut Colony^[5], and Beriah thus most likely acquired the Grant surname via adoption. Until additional evidence can be marshaled, however, to show the elder Noah Grant allegedly born in 1661, and/or present at Tolland in 1727, as Beriah's stepfather in 1698, that stepfather's name must be regarded as unknown.

In addition to the above, there is no known record of any marriage of a Noah Grant to any Marcy/Mercy Billings. The only vaguely-connected marriage found to date anywhere in the broad time period is shown in an Ancestry family tree, and is for a Mercy Billings who married a Robert Royal(l) of Massachusetts Bay at Boston in 1718^[6]; however, that Mercy Billings is most likely the daughter of Ebenezer Billings (possibly of Boston, certainly of Massachusetts Bay), not the daughter of William Billings of Stonington, in Connecticut Colony.

The given name of this profile's subject has now been changed from "Noah" to "Unknown" based on the above facts. Between the time of Beriah's birth and the time of his grandfather William Billings's 1712 will (shown in William's profile), in which he is again listed as Beriah Grant, it is certainly possible – even likely – that the boy may have been adopted by a Grant stepfather – whether Noah or another man of the surname; the absence of any record or report showing such an adoption, however, calls for alternative proof.

Sources

1. ↑ Connecticut Church Records Index. Stonington Vol 111. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Accessed at Ancestry ($) p. 186. Ancestry free sharing link: [1]
2. ↑ "Connecticut, Deaths, 1640-1955", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7KJ-C22 : 11 June 2020), Noah Grant, Jun.r, 1727.
3. ↑ "GRANT... Noah, Jr., d. Oct 10, 1727" -- Tolland VRs, p. 61; Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/13220/61/234916857 (by subscription)
4. ↑ The Descendants of John Porter of Windsor, Conn. 1635-9, compiled by Henry Porter Andrews, G.W. Ball, printer, 1893, Vol. 1, p. 5; https://books.google.com/books?id=sJpIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=
5. ↑ Email from Grant DNA Project Co-Administrator Geoff Grant to researcher Christopher Childs, 6 July 2023
6. ↑ Glenda Capehart Osborne Family Tree, detail for Robert Royall (1669-1724); https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/12063114/person/12014644957/facts?_phsrc=QPt2059&_phstart=successSource

• Carolyn Boze, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Carolyn and others.

• Message recommending given name change from "Noah" to "Unknown" sent to profile manager by T Counce on 30 Mar 2020, 9:56 pm (edt)

• Recommended name change and accompanying edits made by Christopher Childs on 6 April 2023