Joanna (Ingersoll) Grant (1644 - 1712)

Born 7 Mar 1644 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Wife of James Grant — married about 1662 in Kittery, York, Maine

Wife of Peter Grant — married 28 Nov 1664 in Kittery, York, Maine

Descendants

Died 3 Apr 1712 at age 68 in Berwick, York, Maine

Biography

Her marriage date is also given as 28 March 1664.

After her first husband James Grant disappeared in 1663/64, she continued to live with her brother-in-law Peter. On 10 July 1664 Peter and Joanna were taken to court for living together while unmarried. Joanna was pregnant at this time and it was believed that Peter had a wife living in Scotland. Peter claimed that the child was not his but promised to care for it, and Joanna claimed that the child was her missing husband's. The court decided otherwise and penalised Peter £10 or 10 lashes. In 28 November Joanna married her brother-in-law and her child was born. The child, named Elizabeth, was raised by Peter's kinsman James Grant and his wife Elizabeth Everell. The kinsman James left his foster daughter Elizabeth property in his will. Peter's will states that he has seven children and he names them, excluding Elizabeth. Peter's son James Grant, in his will called Elizabeth his half-sister, as she would have been through their mother.

Peter and Joanna had no children for a period of six years after their marriage and it is believed that after six years word came from Scotland that Peter's wife there was dead or remarried, or that after this time Joanna's first husband could be presumed legally dead.

Sources

• Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole, Old Kittery and Her Families (Lewiston, Maine: Press of Lewiston Journal Co., 1903).\
• Edmund West, Family Data Collection - Births, Provo, UT