My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Benjamin Griswold and Elizabeth Eastman

My fourth great grandfather, Benjamin Griswold, was born in Canaan, Connecticut, on December 3, 1756, likely the son of Benjamin Griswold and Susanna Spaulding. Nothing is known of his youth, until the stirrings of rebellion harkened this 19 year-old to battle.

His "Affidavit in Support of An Application for a Pension," in 1818, reads:

"In June 1775 at Crown Point in the State of New York he enlisted in the Company commanded by Capt. James Noble in the Regiment of Col. Easton in the Continental troops for the northern expedition, that he continued to serve in said corps which was principally commanded by Major Solomon Brewer until the retreat of the army from Quebec on the sixth day of May 1776; that his term of service had expired in April 1776, but that he served until May and was sent on ... to Crown Point and was there dismissed but had no written discharge ...

The Company that Benjamin joined in June of 1775

 came to be known as the

 Green Mountain Boys.

In the fall of 1780 he enlisted at Sheffield in Massachusetts and was placed in a company commanded by Capt. James Wade, Regiment of Col. Michael Jackson in General Patterson's Brigade in the Massachusetts line of Continental troops; that he continued to serve in said corps in service of the United States until, in the fall of 1783, when, having served his term of three years, he was honorably discharged, and his discharge was signed by Gen. Knox ... that he was in the storming of Quebec, that he is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the assistance of his country for support ..."

Two years later, in 1820, his "Certification of Pensioner's Estate and Income" reads:

"... I was discharged in the fall or winter of 1783 at West Point; that I was in an engagement near to Kingsbridge on the North River... " (This would have been in present-day Bronx, New York.)

Sometime after Benjamin was discharged, he met and married Elizabeth Eastman. She was the widow of Josiah Terrill, who had died sometime in 1782. Elizabeth was born around 1751 or 1752, the daughter of Jonathan Eastman and Elizabeth Wood. Jonathan Eastman was a prominent citizen of Bennington, Vermont (then part of New Hampshire). Four children were born to the couple, all in Bristol, Vermont:

Horace, b. 1787

Huldah, b. 1788

Robert, b. 1790^*
 Benjamin, Jr., b. 1792

*my 3rd great grandfather

who married Amanda Prior

Shortly before 1800, Benjamin moved his family to Cambridge, Vermont, and about thirty years later sold that property. Perhaps the sale signals the passing of Elizabeth. By the 1820 Certification, he had stated:

"I further state that I am 63 years old, my wife Elizabeth is aged Sixty Eight years. I am by occupation a farmer and have a heart which renders me unable to labour much..."

In any event, no records have been found for the deaths of Benjamin and Elizabeth, and no graves discovered in Vermont.

Benjamin is Ancestor # A048653 in the Daughters of the American Revolution GRS. Perhaps someday I will send in a supplemental application under his name.

Green Mountain Boys Memorial, Rutland, Vermont
Courtesy: Tom E Canavan

In the meantime, there is a Griswold Family Association, which also has a Facebook page. I am greatly indebted to my new 5th cousin, Sara L. French, whose mother's DAR application I purchased, and who is a past president of the GFA. Sara's parents, Robert and Esther (Griswold) French co-authored the book, "The Griswold Family : The First Five Generations in America," (Elmira, N.Y., 1990), available (with corrections and additions) on CD at www.griswoldfamily.org.

Photo credit:

Green Mountain Boys Memorial

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/vtscapes/264528217)

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Membership application, Esther Griswold French, no. 521253, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D.C.

Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008. (From microfilmed records. Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013.).

Ancestry.com. Vermont, Vital Records, 1720-1908 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

French, Robert L. and Esther G., The Griswold family : The first five generations in America. (Elmira, NY (1990)., biography of Benjamin Griswold.

Lossing, Benson John. The pictorial field-book of the Revolution, Vol. 1. (New York : Harper and Brothers, 1851), p.155.

Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFVH-44H : accessed 27 Oct 2014), Robert Griswald and Amanda Prior, 28 Aug 1822, Marriage; citing State Capitol Building, Montpelier; FHL microfilm 0027567.

“Revolutionary War Pensions,” database and images, Fold3 (www.fold3.com/image/23010189/ : accessed 13 April 2016); S.38773 of Benjamin Griswold (Massachusetts); citing Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900, Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

St. Albans Daily Messenger, St. Albans, Vermont, online images (www.genealogybank.com)., Revolutionary Soldiers. A list of the names of the men who fought for independence and who are buried in Vermont. Saturday, August 19, 1905.

Recommended Reading:

Anderson, Mark R. The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony: America's War of Liberation in Canada, 1774–1776. University Press of New England (2013). ISBN 1-61168-497-8.

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Taking Sides During the American Revolution

     When you grow up in New England, the American Revolution is all around you. Historic sites appear at left and right, field trips from school include museums and exhibits glorifying the struggles and battles of the war, and school assignments invariably include literature and histories depicting famous soldiers and generals.

     It never entered my consciousness, before I began my genealogical research, that my ancestors included individuals and families who sided with England and its King. My 4th great grandfathers, however, include both Patriots and Loyalists, It was, in fact, a deep and complex dilemma for many, often resulting in the uprooting of families, and their resettlement in distant lands. My 4th great grandfather Thomas Bustin migrated from North Carolina, fought with Burgoyne in New York, and was among those evacuated onto one of many ships bound for Saint John, in Canada. My 4th great grandfather Hugh Cowperthwaite, a Quaker, grew up in New Jersey, and also found himself compelled to move to Canada, in support of the Crown.

     Three of my 4th great grandfathers fought for independence in the Revolutionary War, Allison Libby II (15th Massachusetts Regiment), Benjamin Griswold (Massachusetts Continental Line), and William Prior (Connecticut Continental Line). Two more of my 4th great grandfathers supported the Patriot cause, however, without engaging in actual combat.

     Deacon Thomas Cross, living in Gorham, Maine, was a member of Gorham's Committee to Hire Soldiers.

     Moses Seavey, of Rye, New Hampshire, was a signatory of that colony's Association Test. His father-in-law, my 4th great grandmother Huldah Locke's father, Elijah Locke, signed as well. The Association Test, also known as the Patriot Test, was written by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety. In Rye, it began:

WE, the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage, and promise, that we will to the utmost of our Power, at Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with ARMS, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets, and Armies, against the United American COLONIES.

     The Test referred to a resolution passed by the Continental Congress on March 14, 1776, which called for two actions: the signatures of every adult male who was willing to take arms against the British, and the names of all who refused to sign. Their signature indicated their obligation to oppose the "hostile proceedings" of the British fleets and armies. The returns of such documents (there were others, like Maryland's List of Associators and New York's Signers of the Association) gave the signers of the Declaration of Independence assurance that their acts would be sanctioned and sustained by the citizens of the country. Town officers in New Hampshire were requested to obtain these signatures, who in turn sometimes selected a local "Committee of Safety," to carry out this order. Only white males above 21 years of age ("lunatics, idiots, and negroes excepted") were asked to sign this document. Not everyone qualified to sign agreed to do so, and not all of those who refused to sign were considered "Tories."

     There are numerous signers of Rye's Association Test with the surnames Seavey, Locke, Foss, and Philbrick, which I am sure figure in my family tree somewhere, so this document may lead me forward in my continuing genealogical research.

     Four of my 4th great grandfathers appear in the Daughters of the American Revolution's Genealogical Research System:

4th Great Grandfather     Ancestor Number

Moses Seavey                  A101196

Allison Libby II                  A070199

Thomas Cross                  A028166

Benjamin Griswold           A048653

A fifth 4th great grandfather, William Prior, is not in the DAR's GRS, but his complete Revolutionary War service record and pension file are available at Fold3.com

Sources:

Allen, Francis Olcott, History of Enfield Connecticut, Vol. 2 of 3. (Lancaster, Penn.: Lankersham Printing Co., 1900)

Daughters of the American Revolution. "GRC National Index." Database. DAR Library. (http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/default.cfm)

Genealogy & History of New Hampshire (http://www.nh.searchroots.com/glossary.html)

New Hampshire Revolutionary War Association Test, Town of Rye. (http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/new-hampshire-genealogy/association-test/rye.htm)

Parsons, Langdon B. History of the Town of Rye, New Hampshire, from its discovery and settlement to December 31, 1903. (Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Printing Co., 1905)

Revolutionary Soldiers. A List of the Names of the Men Who Fought for Independence, and Who Are Buried in Vermont. St Albans Daily Messenger (Saint Albans, Vermont), Saturday, August 19, 1905, p.2, (via Genealogybank.com)