In the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant writes of his being a descendant of Mathew Grant (below). Mathew resided in Windsor, Connecticut in the 17th century and is my paternal 10th great-grandfather (one of my 4,096 10th great-grandparents). No matter how very distant, I share a genealogical relationship with the 18th President of the United States and General-in-Chief of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant – Personal Memoirs 1885–86
Mathew (Matthew) Grant, the founder of the branch in America, of which I am a descendant, reached Dorchester, Massachusetts [now part of Boston], in May 1630. In 1635 he moved to what is now Windsor, Connecticut, and was the surveyor for that colony for more than forty years. He was also, for many years of the time, town clerk. He was a married man when he arrived at Dorchester, but his children were all born in this country. His eldest son, Samuel, took lands on the east side of the Connecticut River, opposite Windsor, which have been held and occupied by descendants of his to this day. I am of the eighth generation from Mathew Grant, and seventh from Samuel. Mathew Grant’s first wife died a few years after their settlement in Windsor, and he soon after married the widow Rockwell, who, with her first husband, had been fellow-passengers with him and his first wife, on the ship Mary and John, from Dorchester, England, in 1630. Mrs. Rockwell had several children by her first marriage and others by her second. By intermarriage, two or three generations later, I am descended from both the wives of Mathew Grant.
In the fifth descending generation my great grandfather, Noah Grant, and his younger brother, Solomon, held commissions in the English army, in 1756, in the war against the French and Indians. Both were killed that year.
My grandfather, also named Noah, was then but nine years old. At the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, after the battles of Concord and Lexington, he went with a Connecticut company to join the Continental army, and was present at the battle of Bunker Hill. He served until the fall of Yorktown, or through the entire Revolutionary war. – –
My Notes:
Noah Grant was killed on 20 September 1756 while participating in a 40-day scouting mission with British soldiers and Mohawk warriors out of Ft. William Henry in upstate NY during the French-Indian War).
Ulysses S. Grant Papers – The papers of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), army officer and eighteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 50,000 items dating from 1819-1974, with the bulk falling in the period 1843-1885. (Library of Congress)
Questions, Comments and Corrections are Appreciated
I Swear, I Did Fight in the Revolution
My 5th great grandfather, Samuel Eggleston (1747-1837), served in the Continental Light Dragoons during the American Revolutionary War. In the pension application transcribed below, Samuel details his service, including having seen General George Washington at Newark, New Jersey. Submitted when Samuel was 88 years old, the pension was rejected on the grounds that he was unable to prove six months of service. The Second Continental Light Dragoons are recognized as having conducted the first cavalry charge on American soil and served as couriers relaying messages along a string of express stations between Washington’s headquarters and the northern colonies.
The act provided that every officer or enlisted man who had served at least two years in the Continental Line or State troops, volunteers or militia, was eligible for a pension of full pay for life. Naval and marine officers and enlisted men were also included. Veterans who had served less than two years, but not less than six months, were eligible for pensions of less than full pay.
Pension Act of 1832
Transcribed Below
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
County of Hartford
On this 7th day of May 1835 before the probate court for the District of Hartford in the County of Hartford and the State of Connecticut being a Court of Record, having a Clerk and Seal personally appeared Samuel Eggleston a resident of Windsor in the County of Hartford in the State of Connecticut aged eighty-eight years, who being first duly sworn, according to law, doth on this oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain benefit, of the Act of Congress, passed June 7, 1832.
That he entered the service of the United States as a private in a company of dragoons commanded by Captain Thomas Seymour, Lt. Rueben Ellsworth and Colonel Edward Griswold at Windsor in the County of Hartford in the State of Connecticut. On or about the 10th day of May 1776; that said company belonged to a regiment commanded by Colonel don’t know Lt. Colonel don’t know and Major don’t know. That the company was ordered out to go to New York and the aforementioned deponent served in the said corps until on or about the 10th of July 1776 (as near as he can remember) when the company returned from New York to Hartford and was dismissed.
That when he entered service, he resided in Windsor in the County of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut and was marched from Hartford to New York and there performed military service in the line of his duty until the company returned and he was dismissed having been absent on this tour of service (at least) one month and perhaps longer. That the deponent knows of no person now alive who served with him.
I marched from Hartford Connecticut to the Peekskill in State of New York and in a few days crossed the Hudson River and proceeded to Hackensack and afterward Newark, then to Elizabethtown, then to New Brunswick and when in New York he went with the company many places that the names of which he has entirely forgotten, – and returned in a different route to the Hudson River above Peekskill where they crossed the river where deponent was discharged in a place near Peekskill in the State of New York by General Charles Lee and returned home sometime (he is pretty certain) the later part of December 1776. Having faithfully served on this tour a little more (as he believes) than five months – the deponent says that he received a written discharge (on account of a weakening and ____?____ of his heart, so that he could not ride for many years – he presumes that is has been destroyed or lost a long-time ago.
That while at New York on his first tour, he saw several field officers, he saw General Putnam and he saw other Generals on his second tour of service. He saw General Washington at Newark and the deponent with his company, attended the General in an excursion around ___?__ hills westerly of town – and that the deponent also saw many other generals and field officers, whose names he then knew but due to the imperfection of his memory he is not able at this time to state them, that his services on both tours amount in the whole to at least six months and he thinks seven months.
And in reply to certain interrogatories prescribed by the War Department and propounded by the Court, the deponent further declares,
1st. That he was born at Windsor in the County of Hartford and the State of Connecticut on the 16th day of December 1747.
2nd. That the day of his birth was recorded in his father’s family bible and transcribed in the family bible of the deponent.
3rd and 4th. That when he was called to service, he resided at the place and town as herein before stated; and served in a manner set forth in the preceding declaration.
5th. That the general circumstances of his service are detailed in the preceding declaration, and also the names of such officers are as he distinctly recollects.
6th That he received a written discharge from the service but has lost it many years ago.
7th. That he is personally know by Asabel Clark, Mrs. Mabel Skinner and Enoch ____?__ who are respectable persons in the neighborhood where he now resides, and can testify as to his character for veracity, and also their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution.
And the said Samuel Eggleston hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present, and declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of any Agency of any State.
Sworn to and subscribed, the day and year aforesaid. Samuel Eggleston (Signature)
And the said Court do herby declare in their opinion after investigation of the matter, and putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier, and served as he states. And the Court further certifies that it appears to them that Asabel Clark, Mrs. Mable Skinner and Enoch ___?____whose affidavits are hereto affixed are credible persons and that their statements are entitled to credit.
I, Jonathan Edwards, Judge of the Probate Court for the District of Hartford do herby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceeding of the said Court in the matter of the application of Samuel Eggleston for a pension.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office the 7th day of May 1835.
St. Gabriel’s Church, later renamed Grace Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Parish of St. Gabriel was organized December 14 1842. Its original members were Isaac Underhill, George Spalding, Fitch Bissell, John Spencer (my 2nd great-grandfather), Alonzo M. Smith, Quarles Bedorthy, Samuel Loomis and Henry A. Bliss. The corner stone for the church edifice was laid on the 6th of November 1843 and it was consecrated January 15, 1845. The building is about 48 feet long by 28 feet wide with transepts on each side. The posts are 20 feet high and the body of the church is entirely free from any cross timbers except short hammer beams the roof is very steep and high and its internal finish corresponds therewith being lathed and plastered so as to bow the plates principal rafters arches curves etc., which are of a mahogany color in bold relief and with a very pleasing effect. The cost of the church exclusive of the organ was about $2000 and is said to be unsurpassed for ease of speaking and singing. Source: (p.58) The History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut: including East Windsor, South Windsor: By Henry Reed Stiles.
Bygod (Bigod, Begat, Baggot) Eggleston was baptized on 20 February 1586/7 in All Saints Church at Settrington, England. In 1630, he sailed to America with his family on the Mary and John, a 440 ton ship with 140 passengers aboard. The ship departed Plymouth, England, on the 20th of March and arrived 70 days later on May 30th at Nantasket, Massachusetts. Those on board are referred to as the Dorset Pilgrims. The Eggleston’s were followers of a Puritan leader, Reverend John Warham, who disagreed with the leadership of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop believed that government should be run by only a few people, whereas the Reverend John Warham thought it should be run by the people via a freely elected leader. In 1635, Warham’s Dorchester group of about 140 people relocated to the frontier of Windsor, Connecticut.
Bygod Eggleston and his son James were admitted as freemen
of Connecticut Colony in May 1657. A copy of Bygod’s will and final testament
are attached to this document. The Eggleston family is linked to the French
family line as a result of the marriage of Anna Eggleston to John William
Spencer, whose granddaughter, Gladys Spencer married George French.
Bygod Eggleston is my 9th great paternal grandfather.
An expert in population studies has estimated that Bygod Eggleston was the progenitor of no less than twelve million American-born descendants.
Notable ancestors from the Eggleston-Spencer line include President U.S. Grant, President Rutherford B. Hayes and abolitionist John Brown.
