Daniel Graves (1696 - 1756)

Born 28 Jan 1696 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Thankful (Smead) Graves — married 6 Nov 1724 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1756 at age 60 in Greenfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

This profile is part of the Graves Name Study.

Children: Ebenezer (1726, married Prudence Hastings), Jerusha (1728, married Ebenezer Allen), Thankful (1730), married Zebediah Stebbins), Daniel (1732, died 1755 on the “bloody morning scout” under Col. Ephraim Williams), Esther (1734, married Thomas Judd), Joel (1737), John (1739, married Sarah Judd), Job (1743-44).

DANIEL GRAVES (64), son of John,^ John,^ Thomas,' born Jan'y 28, 1697 ; md. Nov. 6, 1724, Thankful, dau. of Ebenezer Smead, of Deerfield. She died April 21, 1760. He removed from Hatfield to Greenfield, was taken captive by the Indians Aug. 23, 1756, and slain shortly after. He was very lame; his young son escaped by running. Children were all born in Hatfield except last two.

Daniel served in the Old French War along with his son Ebenezer. A number of battles were fought near Greenfield, and several parties of people from Greenfield were attacked and killed during the war, in 1746 - 1749. At this point Greenfield was still part of Deerfield.

In 1753 Greenfield was incorporated and men took various positions. Daniel Graves was on the committee to supply the people of Greenfield with preaching for the coming year (finding ministers to visit, etc.). They chose 8 ministers to consider calling; they eventually decided to call Mr. Edward Billing. Daniel was also one of 12 men of Greenfield who proposed forming a new church.

In 1756 [three years after Greenfield was incorporated] the people improved their land as far north as Country Farms, but lived in the village for safety. Five men--Benjamin Hastings, John Graves, Daniel Graves, Shubael Atherton, and Nathaniel Brooks--were at work on the farm where J. A. Picket now lives. They placed their guns against a stack of flax, and were busy in another part of the field. A party of Indians concealed near by slipped in between them and their guns, and fired upon them. Deprived of their weapons, they sought safety in flight, and proved themselves good runners at least. Hastings and John Graves fled across the river, and brought up at the Arms farm, where Mr. John Thayer now lives. Hastings said the ferns in the field over which he passed grew as high as his waist, but that he ran over the tops of them. A good story for the deacon to tell! We will at least give him credit for a good use of his legs. Atherton concealed himself near the river in some brushwood, but was discovered and shot. Daniel Graves, the father of John, and Brooks were taken captive. Graves was old and infirm, and unable to travel; he was killed soon after they left the spot, near the Glen Brook, just below the gorge. Brooks never returned, and nothing is known of his fate. He bears the same name that tradition assigns to the first settler of the town. From that time there is no record of any trouble with the Indians.

A 2nd account of the same event (from Deerfield history): Aug. 23d, Shubal Atherton, Nathaniel Brooks, Benjamin Hastings, Daniel Graves and his son John Graves, went up to the Country Farms to harvest grain. They had no guard and placed their guns together against a stack of flax when they began their labor. A party of Indians on an adjacent hill saw this condition of affairs and creeping down got be- tween the men and their arms. They then rose and fired upon them. None of the men were hit and they all ran for their lives. Hastings and John Graves dashed through Green river, ran across Irish Plain, westward, and came out at the Arms place in safety. Atherton plunged down a ra-vine near the river and lay still. He was seen and shot where he lay. Daniel Graves and Brooks were captured. Brooks was carried to Canada, where he was heard from in 1758, but not afterwards. Graves, fifty-eight years old, was lame, and not being able to travel fast enough, was killed near the foot of Leyden Glen. His son Daniel had been killed the year before on the " Bloody Morning Scout."

children: ^[1] Ebenezer Graves, b. 15 March 1726, m. Prudence Hastings, 1 Jan. 1753, d. 26 April 1814.

Jerusha Graves, b. 29 March 1728, m. Ebenezer Allen (of Greenfield, Mass.), 12 June 1748.

Thankful Graves, b. 8 June 1730, m. Zebediah Stebbins (of Northfield, Mass.).

Daniel Graves, b. 2 July 1732, d. 8 Sept. 1755. Killed on the "bloody morning scout" under Col. Ephraim Williams.

Esther Graves, b. 1734, m. Thomas Judd, 26 Oct. 1749, d. 20 May 1772.

Joel Graves, b. 27 April 1737, never married, d. 16 April 1760. He was a soldier at Fort Massachusetts in 1757.

John Graves, b. 28 Dec. 1739, m. Sarah Judd, 10 Nov. 1767, d. 24 Sept. 1826.

Job Graves, b. 27 Dec. 1743 (Greenfield, Mass.), d. 25 July 1744.

Sources

1. ↑ Graves Family Association Genealogy 168, https://graves-fa.org/gen-histories/gens/gen168.html

• Genealogy of the Graves Family in America, 1896. By John Card Graves.

• Greenfield – Indian Warfare, from History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume II by Louis H. Everts, 1879 [1]

• History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, 1904, by Thompson, Francis McGee, 1833-1916; Kellogg, Lucy Jane Cutler, 1866-; Severance, Charles Sidney as found at [2]

• A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled: 1895 - 1896, by Sheldon, George, 1818-1916 as found at [3]

• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29L-LZ55 : 10 November 2020), Daniel Graves, 1697.

• "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHT2-KJV : 28 July 2021), Daniel Graves, 1724.