Joseph Grant (abt. 1716 - abt. 1780)

Born about 1716 in Rhode Island

Descendants

Died about 1780 at about age 64 in Barrington, Bristol County, Rhode Island

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Biography

Joseph was born about 1716.^[1]

Joseph married Rosamond Garnsey probably in 1740 at Barrington, Rhode Island.^[2] Children:^[3]

• Joseph b. ~1742
• Shubael b. Barrington 23 June 1743
• Elizabeth m. Simeon Titus before 2 December 1792
• Ebenezer b. ~1750 m. (1) Mary Martin ~1793 (2) Ruth Martin 2 August 1809 d. 1822
• Benjamin b. Warren 7 May 1750 or 18 May 1752 m. (1) Esther Brown 1785 (2) Elizabeth Reed d. before 8 April 1842
• Abel b. ~1757 Barrington d. 1791 Barrington
• Simeon (died young)
• Thomas m. Lydia (Kelley) Cole by 26 April 1773 d. before 10 March 1811
• Abigail m. Benjamin Thurber by 2 December 1792 d. before 6 October 1814

He passed away about 1780.^[4] since on September 12 of that year an indenture was made^[5] between his children to divide the estate of their deceased father.

His children alive in 1780 at the time of the division of his estate were:

• sons Joseph, Shubael, Thomas, Benjamin, Ebenezer, and Abel
• daughters Elizabeth and Abigail

Research Notes

Card states that Joseph was the son of Joseph and Dorothy (Allen) Grant b. 7 June 1716 at Boston.^[6] However, she references a response to a query in the Boston Transcript genealogy pages^[7] which states that their granddaughter Mary (Polly) Barney, daughter of Benjamin, wrote in a sketchbook in 1856: "My grandfather Joseph Grant was brought from Scotland at the time of the insurrection, and went to Boston with his parents. The parents returned to England for their belonginings and left Joseph with Mr. Kent in Barrington, R.I. Ebenezer Garnsey lived near with six daughters. One was Rosamund, who married Joseph Grant in 1740. They bought land and built a home in the northeast part of Barrington."

So the account that Card gives of Joseph's ancestry differs from that in the quoted source.

Joseph appears as head of household in Barrington in the 1774 census of Rhode Island^[8]. His household distribution and inferred attributions are

• two white males over 16: Joseph and one of sons Benjamin, Ebenezer, or Abiel
• two white females over 16: Rosamond and one of daughters Elizabeth or Abigail

In the 1777 military census at Barrington, we find the following Grants listed together:

• Joseph aged 50-60
• Joseph Jr., Shubal, Thomas, Ebeneazer, and Abiel, all aged 16-50

Then Benjamin Grant appears a little farther down the list.

In a list of "Barrington soldiers" in Captain Viall's company from 1780, we find James, Shubael, Ebenezer, and Abiel Grant.

Shubael was definitely Joseph's son, and it seems likely that Joseph Jr. was too, but both of them were heads of their own households in the 1774 census. Thomas was as well. Perhaps the additional adult male in Joseph's house was Ebenezer or Abiel. (Ebenezer Garnsey is given by some sources as Rosamond's father, and we find an Ebenezer Grant over 45 years old living at Barrington in the 1800 US federal census.)

Sources

1. ↑ estimating his age at marriage as 24
2. ↑ Arnold: Vol. 6, Barrington Marriages, Page 10
3. ↑ Lainhart, page 253
4. ↑ Mayflower Families, John Howland volume 23 part 2, pages 233-234
5. ↑ entered in the Barrington town council book in August of 1792
6. ↑ Boston Record Commissioners: Vol. 24, Page 119
7. ↑ Boston Transcript, 23 March 1940, genealogy page
8. ↑ 1774 Census

• Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 (Narragansett Historical Pub. Co. , Providence, R.I., 1891)

• Lainhart, Ann S. "Grant Family of Barrington, Rhode Island, and Surrounding Towns" in The Mayflower Quarterly 71 no. 3 (2005) pp.252-270.

• Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700-1880. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017). From Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975-<2015>.

• Boston Record Commissioners. Boston Records Commissioners Reports (Rockwell and Churchill, Boston, 1875)

• 1774 Rhode Island Census, Barrington, Page 2, Entry 7 -- Joseph Grant; citing transcription by Annie Austin in Rhode Island Roots 33 p.91, June 2007.

• Boston Evening Transcript: Genealogy Pages, 1911-1940. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016.

• Savage Genealogy Book

• Ancestry.com. Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Arnold, James Newell. Rhode Island Vital Extracts, 1636–1850. 21 volumes. Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1891–1912. Digitized images from New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Volume 6, p. 10 (Marriage).