Elijah Lewis Grant (1785 - 1852)

Born 10 Mar 1785 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut, USA

Descendants

Died 7 Jan 1852 at age 66 in Rockland County, New York, USA [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: DM Finch [send private message]

Biography

Elijah was born 10 March 1785 (Source: Dodge Bible) in Stonington, New London, Connecticut, the son of John Grant and Thankful Lewis (Grant's Genealogy of the Grant Family):

JOHN GRANT BIRTH 7 JUL 1754 • North Stonington, New London, Connecticut, United States DEATH 23 AUG 1824 • Middletown, Orange, New York, United States

THANKFUL LEWIS BIRTH 16 OCT 1753 • Charlestown, Washington, Rhode Island, USA DEATH 13 FEB 1836 • Hopkinton, Washington, Rhode Island, USA

Elijah married Sarah “Sally” Finch in about 1807 to 1809, a few years after her mother Mary (Finney) Finch’s death in 1805.

Grant's Genealogy of the Grant Family names Sarah's parents as John Finch and Mary Lewis without sources, dates, or locations. The 882-page Finch genealogy by Claude B. Thummel (1965) titled, Descendants of John Finch of Connecticut, also identified Elijah Lewis Grant as the husband of Sarah Finch, but Thummel described Sarah’s parents as James Finch and Mary Finney. An approved Daughters of the American Revolution application for a descendant of James Finch (DAR Natl # 976728, available by purchase) shows Elijah Grant as the husband of James Finch's' daughter Sarah Finch. In the Rev. War pension application submitted by Sarah's father James Finch, Elijah Grant was cited as "someone who knew him well". Further sources identifying Sarah as the daughter of James Finch and Mary Finney are VanKin's Finch Family History (a proof record in D.A.R.), Paul R. Finch's Genealogy Report - Descendants of John Finch, FamilySearch.org's biography of Sarah Finch, and the Find the Grave Memorial for Sarah's brother Isaac Seeley Finch (see Sarah Finch's profile for these sources).

No marriage certificate has been found for Elija's marriage to Sarah yet, so the marriage date is based on when the first children were born. Elijah was about six years younger than Sally, and in the 1810 Middletown, Delaware, NY census, he was 25 years old.

In the 1810 U.S. census, the home of Elijah L. Grant included an unnamed adult female who would logically be his wife Sarah (Finch) Grant. Elijah’s father John Grant lived nearby with his family. In Sarah (Sally) and Elijah’s home were two boys under 10 [Nathaniel L. and an unknown child], a male ten to fifteen who was born between 1795-1800 [Elijah in the wrong column] and a woman sixteen to twenty five born 1785-1794 [Sarah/Sally also in the wrong column].

Eijah lived in Rockland, Sullivan Co., NY, 27 in 1820 with his wife Sarah. In a land indenture on 12 April 1828, Elijah L. Grant of town of Rockland, Sullivan Co. (one of the sons and heirs of late John Grant of Middletown, Delaware Co., NY deceased), and Sally his wife and Asa Grant of Middletown and Avery Grant of same place, “both sons and heirs of John Grant, on second part…Elijah L. Grant and Sally his wife for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred dollars paid by parties of the second part, Elijah L and Sally Grant quit claim… fifty acres of land ..indentured by William Spaulding of Middletown, Ulster Co. to said John Grant 24 June 1795 and one hundred sixty five and a half acres in 39th Division of the Hardenburg Patent Lot 34 sold by Gillian Verplank of NYC to William Spaulding May 1795, conveyed to John Grant 29 Jan 1799 and forty acres 39th division north of lot 33.” John Grant died intestate.

in 1840 in Colchester, Delaware, NY, Elijah L. Grant was in his fifties and his household had two men in their twenties (one may have been son Lemuel Jackson Grant), and a woman in her fifties [Sarah “Sally’]. They lived next to Nathaniel L. Grant [their son] in his thirties who had a boy and girl under 5 years old, and a female 15 to 20 years of age who lived with them. Elijah and Sarah lived next door to Abigail (Finch) Hitt, Sarah's aunt and sister of Sarah's father James, and Abigail's husband Dennis Hitt. On the same census page was Sarah's brother Jesse Finch in his forties born 1791-1800 with his wife and children. Jesse has been proven by D.A.R. to be a son of James Finch and Mary (Finney) Finch.

In 1850, Elijah lived in Tompkins, Delaware, NY with his son Nathaniel Grant and Nathaniel's family. His wife was absent, having died on 5 APRIL 1848 in Hamden, Delaware County, NY,

Elijah L. Grant died on 7 Jan 1852. A Find a Grave Memorial 98768624 lists a burial of an Elijah Lewis Grant on 8 Jan 1852 at Sanford Cemetery, Margaretville, Delaware County, New York. This memorial lists the birth year as 1825 (wrong), but the inscription is listed as "Age 66 Yr 10 Mo" which matches with Elijah's birth date.

In the 1865 Tompkins, Delaware, NY census, Elijah's and Sarah's son Nathaniel L. Grant household had Nathaniel’s “Uncle John” residing with them. John Finch, 81 years old, was a brother of Nathaniel’s mother Sarah (Finch) Grant and son of James Finch and Mary Finney.

Sarah and Elijah's daughter Mary Finney Grant married Austin Dodge. She was named after her grandmother (Sarah's mother), Mary Finney. The Dodge Bible recorded Mary Finney Grant’s parents, her spouse’s birth, their marriage, her spouse’s family and four of her siblings. Note that Jackson Grant who is found in census records appears to be Lemuel J. Grant, the middle initial J. standing for the name Jackson which is what he went by based on census data.

From Dodge Bible: Father: Elijah L. Grant was born March 10, 1785. Mother: Sally Grant “ “ March 2, 1779. Children:

• Nathaniel L. Grant 2 “ July 2 1809.
• Hannah M. Grant “ January 13, 1812.
• Lemuel J. Grant “ May 6, 1814.
• Mary F. Grant “ February 17, 1816.

More information about Elijah and Sarah's children were found in Ancestry.com and FamilySeach.org:

• 1. Nathaniel Lewis Grant, b. 2 Jul 1809; married 22 Dec 1836 in Hamden, Delaware, NY, to Matilda Knowles. He died 28 DEC 1898 • Granton, Delaware County, New York, USA.

• 2. Hannah Grant Lewis, b. 13 Jan 1812; married in Westfield Flats, NY, to Ammon Hitt. She died 31 JULY 1865 • Colchester, Delaware County, NY. Ammon Hitt was the grandson of Sarah's Aunt Abigail Finch and Abigail's husband Dennis Hitt (source: Maurice R. Hitt, Jr., 1993, "Descendants of Henry Hitt of Woodbury, Arriving in...")

• 3. Lemuel Jackson Grant, b. 6 May 1814 in Middleton, Orange, NY, d. 17 MAY 1889, Delhi, Delaware, NY. 1865 Tompkins census and Alms House census suggest he had been married, but no wife or marriage record has been found. In the 1860 Fallsburg, Sullivan, NY census, “Jackson” Grant age 46, birth year 1814, was identified as a lumberman living with Edward Finch, age 40, another lumberman who was the son of Sarah's brother John Finch. The 1875 NY State census showed him living with his brother Nathaniel Grant in Tompkins. Jackson led a difficult life, ending up being admitted to an alms house in 1877 due to old age and destitution.

• 4. Mary Finney Grant, b. 17 Feb 1816; married in Westfield Flats, NY, to Austin Dodge; d. 23 Apr 1898.

Sources

• Thummel, Caude B. 1965. Descendants of John Finch of Connecticut. Self-published. Available from FamilySearch.org. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/141845?availability=Family%20History%20Library

• Genealogical Records Committee, Daughters of the American Revolution of NY.

• FamilySearch.org: Profile for Elijah Grant Lewis. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZKX-9N6

• Dodge Family Bible. NYS Library, Unpublished Bible Records with Enclosed Data compiled by (Mrs. John P.) Ethel Vance 11 Mosher, Chairman. Published by J.B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1859. FamilySearch.org. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSG6-Z567

• 1810 U.S. census Delaware Co., NY, town of Middletown, p. 487 (handwritten), 392 (stamped), line 7, Elijah L. Grant; image at Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7218/images/004239202_00376?pId=602325; images reproduced by FamilySearch; citing NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls, Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. John Grant is seven households below the entry for Elijah L. Grant.

• 1830 U.S. census, Delaware Co., NY, town of Hamden, p. 93 (handwritten), imaged by Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8058/images/4410811_00175?usePUB=true&_phsrc=mcs2420&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1510322, FHL form 0017149.

• 1840 U.S. census Delaware Co., NY town of Colchester, p. 286, line 2, Elijah L. Grant, line 3, Nathaniel L. Grant, line 4, Dennis (Abigail Finch) Hitt, line 2, Jesse Finch; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/ imageviewer/collections/8057/images/4409540_00584? usePUB=true&_phsrc=mcs2426&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=2353683,

• Year: 1850; Census Place: Tompkins, Delaware, New York; Roll: 495; Page: 335a. Township: Tompkins

• NY, Delaware Co. Clerk Office, Deeds Bk I, Asa Grant to Asa Grant et. al., 29 April 1828, quit claims establishes relationships between Elijah L. Grant and John Grant and Elijah’s siblings. Elijah’s wife’s name was given as “Sally” a nickname for “Sarah.” p 139-141.

• 1865 NYS census, Delaware Co., NY, population schedule, Tompkins, p.1 (handwritten), family 2, Nathaniel L. Grant; database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DRN3-5TW?i=48&cc=1491284&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQVNN-5VGL: 26 March 2021); citing multiple county Clerks; Warren and Lewis County Board of Supervisors; multiple counties in New York; Utica and East Hampton Public Libraries, New York.

• Arthur Hastings Grant, The Grant family: a genealogical history of the descendants of Matthew Grant, of Windsor, Connecticut 1601-1898 (Poughkeepsie, NY: A.V. Haight, 1898); digital book, Internet Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/grantfamilygenea00gran/page/90/mode,2up?q=Finch, p. 43-4 and 91.

• "United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975," NY, Delaware County Clerk Office, Deed Book I, Asa and John Grant, p. 139, Elijah L Grant and Sally to Asa and John Grant, p. 140-1, Asa to Mary L .Waterbury, Anna Grant, p. 142-3; digital image, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9WC-KVS1? i=347&cc=2078654&cat=124485: 11 July 2021).

• "United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975," NY, Delaware County Clerk Office, Book 47, Austin Dodge and his wife Mary F. Dodge to William W. Grant, quit claim 26 February 1853, digital image, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/124485?availability=Family%20History%20Library; p. 591-2.021), FHL film 0017183, NARA roll 274.

• "United States, New Yo1975," NY, Delaware County Clerk Office, Book 47, Nathaniel L. Grant and wife Matilda to John Grant, quit claim 26 February 1855, digital image, Familyrk Land Records, 1630- Search (https:// www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/124485?availability=Family%20History%20Library; p. 589-90.

• Maurice R. Hitt, Jr., Descendants of Henry Hitt of Woodbury, CT Arriving in America 1665, To include Thomas Hett of Massachusetts & Some Descendants of James Hitt of Rhode Island, (Windswept Press, Interlaken, NY: 1993), digital book, FamilySearch.org https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/701803- descendants-of-henry-hitt-of-woodbury-ct-arriving-in-america-1665-to-include-thomas-hett-of-massachusetts-somedescendants-of-james-hitt-of-rhode-island?offset=3 , p. 50-51.

• Find a Grave, database and images. (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98768624/elijah-l-grant : accessed 25 February 2022), memorial page for Elijah L Grant (1825–8 Jan 1852), Find a Grave Memorial ID 98768624, citing Sanford Cemetery, Margaretville, Delaware County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Steve McNeill (contributor 46855844) .* Thummel, 1965, Descendants of John Finch of Connecticut. 882 leaves. Self-published. Available at https://www.FamilySearch.org.