Simeon Granderson (1751 - 1835)

Born 23 Jun 1751 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 23 May 1835 at age 83 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Wayne Tucker [send private message]

Biography

Simeon Granderson is a part of US Black heritage.

Simeon was born in 1743.^[1] Simeon's parents, Cuffee and Flora, were African American people enslaved by Scituate residents Deacon Joseph Clapp and Thomas Clapp respectively.

Simeon and his brother Charles Granderson moved to Adams in Western Massachusetts and enlisted in the Revolutionary Army there. They resided in a neighborhood called "New Providence" and Simeon appears there after the war in the 1790 U.S. Census.^[2] Later, the brothers returned to Scituate, settling in the part of town that became Norwell on land that may have been property deeded to the brothers' parents after they gained their freedom.

Revolutionary War Service

Here is a transcription of Simeon's service in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War:

GRANDISON, SIMEON, New Providence (also given Adams). Private, Col. Seth Warner's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Feb. 14, 1777, to Feb. 14, 1780; residence, New Providence (also given Adams); also, return dated Fort George, June 11, 1780, of officers and men belonging to Massachusetts in Col. Seth Warner's regt.; enlisted Feb. 14, 1777; enlistment, 3 years; reported discharged Feb. 14, 1780.^[3]

Simeon's Wife Mary

When Simeon returned after the war, locals noted that he returned with a white wife. A local history written in 1928 recounts:

It was rumored that [Granderson and his wife] came from the western part of the State and the man had served in the Continental army from the town of Adams. Paying no heed to their neighbors they proceeded to set up an establishment. The land was cleared and gradually people ceased to wonder about them and they lived their lives and ended their days in their little place in the woods. ^[4]

Death

Simeon died in Scituate 1835. There is only one Simeon Grandison in the "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors" books and only one Simeon Grandison in the Revolutionary War pension rolls. The death date of May 23, 1835, in Simeon's pension record matches the death date of Simeon Granderson in the Vital Records of Scituate, therefore Simeon of Scituate/Norwell is the Simeon who resided in Adams and fought for the Revolutionary Army.^[1][5]

Documentary

An independent documentary was made about how Simeon's family was the inspiration for the names of two landmarks in town and provided many of the genealogical sources leads for this profile: WATCH: The Cuffee Origin.

Disambiguating Cuff(e), Charles, and Simeon

Cuff(e) and Charles Granderson/Grandison appear to be the same person. He is not to be confused with his father, also named Cuffee, or Simeon's son, also named Charles. It seems that Charles is used in Granderson's military records and Cuffe is used in Scituate's records.

Brothers Charles and Simeon Granderson appear in Merrit's "Old Time Anecdotes of the North River and the South Shore," but Merrit apparently conflated the two men and attributes some of Simeon's biography to Cuffee. Merrit quotes that "Cuff Grandison died in 1810," but Simeon's death record shows him dying in 1835.^[1][4]Therefore Charles must be Cuffe Granderson.

UPDATE 12 Feb 2023: I now believe that both Charles and Simeon were referred to as some version of Cuff/Cuffee in Scituate records and historians. - WT

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Scituate (Mass.: Town). (1909). "Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: to the year 1850". Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, at the charge of the Eddy town-record fund.
2. ↑ United States. "Census, 1790", database with images, FamilySearch: accessed 29 December 2021, Simeon Grandison, Adams, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 25, NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 4; FHL microfilm 568,144.
3. ↑ Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. (1896-1908). "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War: A compilation from the archives, Vol 6". Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Merritt, J. Foster. (1928). "Old Time Anecdotes of the North River and the South Shore". Rockland, Mass.: Rockland Standard Pub. Co.
5. ↑ United States. "Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872", database with images, FamilySearch: 22 September 2016, 4-vol D Revolutionary War pensioners > image 88 of 459; citing NARA microfilm publication T718 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1962).

• Maine. (1833). [ https://digitalmaine.com/revolutionary_war_mass/156/ Land Grant Application- Grandison, Simeon (Scituate)].
• Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution. Chief Justice Cushing Chapter. (1921). "Old Scituate". [Scituate, Mass.]
• Norwell Historical Society, et. al. (2021). "Norwell History: The Cuffee Origin" [Video]. Vimeo.
• Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881. CASE NUMBER:8688.
• Raynor, E. M., Petitclerc, E. L. (1885). "History of the town of Cheshire, Berkshire County, Mass.".
• Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 32776, Simeon Grandison, Continental (Mass).
• United States. "Census, 1820", database with images, FamilySearch: 16 July 2015, Massachusetts > Plymouth > Scituate > image 10 of 25; citing NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• United States. "Census, 1830" database with images, FamilySearch: 14 August 2015, Massachusetts > Plymouth > Scituate > image 7 of 50; citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Williams, John A. (John Andrew). (1988). "The Battle of Hubbardton: The American Rebels Stem the Tide". Vermont. Division for Historic Preservation
• FamilySearch: Sources. "Simeon Granderson". familysearch.org