Personal Memoirs
Chapter One
My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its
branches, direct and collateral.
Mathew Grant, the founder of the branch in America, of which I am a
descendant, reached Dorchester, Massachusetts, 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 intermarria ... read full excerpt from Personal Memoirs ebook
