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Spouse: Sancho. Sancho and Urraca GOMEZ were married. Children were: Muniadoña.
Fernan GONZALEZ was born in 910. He died in 970. He held the royal title of Count of Castile. He held the royal title of Count of Leon. Parents: Muniadoña.
Spouse: Sancha. Fernan GONZALEZ and Sancha were married. Children were: Urraca, Garcia I, Muniadoña.
Anne GOODE was born on 27 Oct 1568 in Worcester, England. She died on 29 Jan 1621 in Worcester, England. She has Ancestral File Number 8KLJ-XB. Parents: Henry GOODE.
Spouse: Francis WAKEMAN. Francis WAKEMAN and Anne GOODE were married on 6 Oct 1589 in Worcester, England. Children were: Hester WAKEMAN.
Henry GOODE was born in 1540 in Worcester, England. He died in England. He has Ancestral File Number 8J3Z-36. Parents: Richard GOODE and Isabelle PENDWILLE.
Children were: Anne GOODE.
Richard GOODE was born about 1312 in Cornwall, England. He has Ancestral File Number KPBF-LX.
Children were: William GOODE.
Richard GOODE was born in 1514 in Staffordshire, England. He died in England. He has Ancestral File Number GXNH-1P. Parents: Walter GOODE and Joan WHITSTON.
Spouse: Isabelle PENDWILLE. Richard GOODE and Isabelle PENDWILLE were married before 1540 in England. Children were: Henry GOODE.
Walter GOODE was born about 1440 in Cornwall, England. He has Ancestral File Number 8J5D-N0. Parents: William GOODE.
Children were: William GOODE.
Walter GOODE was born about 1500 in Cornwall, England. He died in England. He has Ancestral File Number 8J3R-3C. Parents: William GOODE and Millicent.
Spouse: Joan WHITSTON. Walter GOODE and Joan WHITSTON were married before 1514. Children were: Richard GOODE.
William GOODE was born about 1343 in Cornwall, England. He has Ancestral File Number KPBF-PG. Parents: Richard GOODE.
Children were: William GOODE.
William GOODE was born about 1374 in Cornwall, England. He has Ancestral File Number KPBF-S0. Parents: William GOODE.
Children were: William GOODE.
William GOODE was born about 1410 in Cornwall, England. He has Ancestral File Number KPBF-WH. Parents: William GOODE.
Children were: Walter GOODE.
William GOODE was born in 1470 in England. He died about 1520 in England. He has Ancestral File Number 8J3R-5P. Parents: Walter GOODE.
Spouse: Millicent. William GOODE and Millicent were married before 1500 in England. Children were: Walter GOODE.
CAptaain Edmund GOODENOW was born on 11 Apr 1611 in Shasburg, Wiltshire, England. He immigrated on 24 Apr 1638 to Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. He arrived 24 April 1638 on the Confidence from Northampton to Boston with his wife Ann and his sons John and Thomas. Also on board were his brother Thomas Goodenow, aged 30, his wife Jane and his son Thomas and his sister Ursula; his brother Edmund, aged 27, his wife Ann, and sons John and Thomas. He died on 5 Apr 1688 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts. He has Ancestral File Number 1LP5-50. Sudbury. Freeman 1640. The first lieutenant of the military band of Sudbury and later captain (in King Philip's War). Representative in 1645 and 1650. (Farmer, p. 124)
Edmund Goodenow, (???) -1688 (Mass.) Deputy from Sudbury to Massachusetts General Court, 1645, 1649, 1650, 1660, 1673, 1674, 1679, 1680. Ensign, August 12, 1645. Captain of Foot Company at Sudbury, May 27, 1674. (Register of the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America)
Parents: Thomas GOODENOW and Ursula HAYNES.
Spouse: Anne BARRY. CAptaain Edmund GOODENOW and Anne BARRY were married in 1630 in Wiltshire, England. Children were: Hannah GOODENOW.
Hannah GOODENOW was born on 28 Nov 1639 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She died on 5 Apr 1688 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut. She has Ancestral File Number 1LP5-L7. Parents: CAptaain Edmund GOODENOW and Anne BARRY.
Spouse: James PENDLETON. James PENDLETON and Hannah GOODENOW were married on 29 Apr 1656 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Children were: Ann (Mary) PENDLETON.
John GOODENOW was born about 1535 in Dunhead, Wiltshire, England. He died on 7 Jan 1592/93 in Ebsborne Wake, Wiltshire, England. He has Ancestral File Number WC7C-VD.
Spouse: Margaret. John GOODENOW and Margaret were married in England. Children were: Thomas GOODENOW.
Thomas GOODENOW was born in 1570 in Semley, Dunhead, Wiltshire, England. He died on 20 Dec 1617 in Dunhead, Wiltshire, England. He has Ancestral File Number B62Z-3G. Parents: John GOODENOW and Margaret.
Spouse: Ursula HAYNES. Thomas GOODENOW and Ursula HAYNES were married in 1593 in Dunhead, Wiltshire, England. Children were: CAptaain Edmund GOODENOW.
Ed GOODLAKE.
Spouse: Lilla Selanas FERGUSON. Ed GOODLAKE and Lilla Selanas FERGUSON were married on 10 Feb 1922.
Elizabeth GOODRICH was born about 1663. IGI Work is done.
Spouse: Thomas SCRANTON. Thomas SCRANTON and Elizabeth GOODRICH were married about 1680 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Children were: Elizabeth SCRANTON.
Mary GOODRICH was born on 28 Oct 1683 in Roxbury, Litchfield, Connecticut. She died on 15 Jan 1722. She has Ancestral File Number 9J7R-Q3. [Why is her surname different???? - Was she married 1st bef 1707????] Parents: William BARTHOLOMEW and Mary JOHNSON.
Spouse: Samuel KIRKHAM. Samuel KIRKHAM and Mary GOODRICH were married on 28 May 1707 in Roxbury, Litchfield, Connecticut. Children were: John KIRKHAM.
Egbert GOODWIN.
Spouse: Ellen Eliza MARKLEE. Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE were
married on 1 Dec 1847 in Hazel Green, Grant Co., Wisconson. The information
on this marriage was presented in a letter dated May
31, 1982, from Erla May Adams of Summit, MO. 64603, to "Mary" in Fort
Worth, Texas (probably). From the dialogue of the letter, it appears
Erla May is in the Marklee line, and Mary is a granddaughter of Lube
and Lucinda (Pennington) Nichols. Children were: Mary E. GOODWIN, John Albert
GOODWIN, William Egbert GOODWIN,
Eliza J. GOODWIN, Will GOODWIN.
Eliza J. GOODWIN was born about 1859 in Wisconsin. Parents: Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE.
John Albert GOODWIN was born on 24 May 1853 in Plattsville, Wisconson. Parents: Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE.
Mary E. GOODWIN was born about 1852 in Wisconsin. Parents: Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE.
Will GOODWIN was born about 1860 in Wisconsin. Parents: Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE.
William Egbert GOODWIN was born about 1857 in Wisconsin. He died in 1859 in Wisconsin. Died of scarlet fever, according to Erla May Adams, a relative in a
letter dated May 31, 1982. Parents: Egbert GOODWIN and Ellen Eliza MARKLEE.
Avelina GOTH was born about 1065. Date is estimated.
Spouse: Adrian DE LUCY. Adrian DE LUCY and Avelina GOTH were married about 1084. Children were: Richard DE LUCY.
Elizabeth GOURNEY was born about 1236 in Beverston, England. Parents: Lord John GOURNEY.
Spouse: Sir John "Ap Adam Of Charlton". Sir John "Ap Adam Of Charlton" and Elizabeth GOURNEY were married. Children were: John "Ap Adam Of Charlton".
Lord John GOURNEY was born about 1204 in Beverston, England. This pedigree is from the Original Visitation of Devon 1564. No pedigree of this family was recorded in the Visitation of Devon 1620, and it has been found impossible to extend it with accuracy
Children were: Elizabeth GOURNEY.
Mattie GRAHAM.
Spouse: Nathan Andrew FERGUSON. Children were: Graham FERGUSON, Joel FERGUSON.
Isabell GRANGE was born about 1360. Date is estimated. She has Ancestral File Number HMZB-GL.
Spouse: William vel Thomas GRESWOLD. William vel Thomas GRESWOLD and Isabell GRANGE were married before 1390. Children were: John GRESWOLD.
Ann GRAVE was born on 29 Aug 1692 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE.
Anne GRAVE was born on 12 Apr 1715 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. She died on 29 May 1801 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Place is assumed. She has Ancestral File Number 1WR6-0WN. Surname shown as Grave and Graves on different records. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth STEVENS.
Spouse: Thomas GRISWOLD III. Thomas GRISWOLD III and Anne GRAVE were married on 19 Feb 1735 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Children were: Miles GRISWOLD, Thomas GRISWOLD IV, John GRISWOLD, Ezra GRISWOLD.
Elizabeth GRAVE was born on 17 Jul 1686 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. She died on 28 May 1687. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE.
Deacon John GRAVE was born about 1633 in England. He lived in Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut between 1636 and 1657. He immigrated about 1639 to Connecticut. He came to America with his father He lived in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut between 1657 and 1695. John and Elizabeth moved in 1657 from Hartford (Colony of Connecticut) to Guilford, Conn. (under the New Haven Jurisdiction), where John was Town Clerk from 1673 to 1685. He was deputy to the General Court most of the time from 1670 to 1695, representing Guilford 23 times. He was confirmed as Ensign of the train band of Guilford 10 Oct. 1667, was one of the grantees in the Town Patent in 1685, and owned several parcels of land in the town.
John was a freeman of Guilford before 1659, and became a proprietor inhabitant,. "John naturally [having lived in Hartford until his marriage] sided with the Rossiter or Hartford party in the troubles connected with the absorption of New Haven Jurisdiction by Connecticut." In 1669 he was one of 3 townsmen on a committee, ordered by the court, to draw up a list of freemen of Guilford. John was eleventh on the list of 36 freemen.
In addition to a home lot of 5-1/4 acres, he owned one parcel of upland in the Great Plaine, 10 acres and 2-1/2 acres of upland marsh in the same plain. In 1667 he bought from Robert Kitchel, for 27 pounds, the latter's lot in the Little Plain, and 6 acres of upland on the north side of the country highway,. The General Court granted him farm land (part of Guilford Farms) in the southwest part of town which fell within the bounds of Durham when that town was formed.
He built in Guilford (in that part that is now Madison, CT) in 1659 the historic old "Graves House" which was still standing in the early 1900's and occupied by his descendants. (It was built on two lots of land north of Jasper Stillwell's stone house on the east side of South Lane, later called Harbour Street. A painting of the restored house and a map of its location in present-day Madison are on the next page. It is called the "Deacon John Grave House at Tuxis Farm.") At that time, it was probably one of the best preserved of the early houses built in this country. The following history and description of this house was prepared by one of the descendants of John Graves, Mrs. Anne Kelsey Maher, wife of William H. Maher of Toledo, Ohio, after five years of research for the Colonial Dames. It was published in the Hartford Courant of April 14, 1903
"Very early in the history of Guilford, attempts were made to survey and allot the eastern part of the town, then called East Guilford, now Madison, and to encourage removal to it by offering a certain portion of land to every settler. The work went on slowly till 1672, when a third survey and division were made, and the allotments offered to the planters in proportion to their rate account, under three conditions. The first class, 'those who will take up their properties of land to farme and dwell upon it in three years,' were to have first choice and five acres of upland more than their proportion upon rate account would come to. If, however, anyone did not build 'a convenient house' in three years, he should forfeit 10 shillings a year thereafter.
Evidently John Graves of Guilford availed himself of this offer, for in 1675 he owned a tract of land in East Guilford and built on it a house, certainly a 'convenient' one, which has stood there more than two centuries and a quarter, and is known as the old Graves house.
It was built after the solid and generous fashion of those times, with heavy oak beams in the corners and across the ceilings, and in the center a rough stone chimney, twelve feet square, whose wide fireplaces opened into all the living rooms. The roof was covered with cedar shingles. In front it was two stories high, but the long slope of the back roof reached to within six or eight feet of the ground. The chambers were finished in native wood, probably butternut, which has darkened almost beyond recognition. The present owners, who have devoted themselves to the loving task of restoring, as far as possible, the original features of their ancestral home, have rescued much of this wood from the wall-paper under which it had been hidden. Doubtless the same wood was used in the parlors, but years ago it was covered with many coats of white paint.
In the front rooms were triangular corner cupboards, the pride of the successive mistresses of the old house. Here were kept the glass-stoppered decanters and dainty wine glasses, and on these shelves rested the pewter plates and platters, shining like silver; they are still shining there today.
Our forefathers did their work well in those last years of the seventeenth century, and John Graves builded better than he knew; for after more than two hundred years the old house is still standing solidly, and seemingly abundantly able to brave the storms of two centuries more.
It is owned and occupied by the sixth generation of his descendants, and from attic to parlor is a museum of antiquities; of treasures of old glass, pewter, and china; of rare embroideries and antique furniture; of yellow documents bearing dates in the 1600's; of muskets and cocked hats, regimental coats and swords, with revolutionary memories hanging round them.
Among its most carefully treasured heirlooms is a letter written by Ann Graves of London, dated February 12, 1675, to her nephews, George and John Graves. In it she tells them she has left them in her will 10 pounds each, and desires them to let her know whether they will have this money sent in money or in goods. A few years later (the date is not given) John charges his brother for 'money towards the payment of Mr. William Whiting for his charges in sending the goods from England, and more, 2s 6d, to be paid to Mr. Pirpkins for wrighting.' Probably these 'goods' represented the legacy of Mrs. Ann Graves, and one likes to think that they may be the very china and pewter platters now lying in the corner cupboard of the old house.
It is interesting to note some of the various matters that claimed his attention in Guilford. We find him in 1664 'auditating the Towne and minister's booke of accounts;' in 1666 laying out a fence for 'the common oxe-pasture at Sachem's Head.' The next year he turned his attention to military matters, and at the General Assembly held at Hartford, October 10, 1667, John Winthrop, Jr., Governor, the court 'confirmes John Graves ensign of the Traine Bande of Guilford.' In 1673 the Court 'grants to Ensign John Graves an hundred acres of land,' but we do not now know where that land was situated, nor for what special service it was given. In 1690 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and the Court 'approved for him to be commissionated accordingly.'
In the meantime the versatile man had been surveying and settling the boundaries of the town, including 'the line running from the sea tenn miles into the wilderness'; fixing the dimensions of the new school house, and 'engaging a man or men to build it'; ordering the fortifications when the town feared an attack during King Philip's war; and superintending the building of his new house in East Guilford, whose story we are now telling.
In 1685 he was on a committee 'to search the town records and find out what is needful in preparing the charter of the town.' From 1673 to 1685 the duties of town clerk were added to his other labors. Five days after the death of their pastor, Rev. Joseph Elliott, in 1694, he was one of a committee appointed to 'take care for sanctifying the Sabbath and for supply in the ministry.' This appears to have been the last of his public duties. In the following year his busy life of sixty-six years came to an end, and the builder of the old Graves house was gathered to his fathers. He died on 31 Dec 1695 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Dates are estimated. He was buried in Jan 1696 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He was buried in East Guilford (now Madison), on the green where the First Church stood at the time. He was a Blacksmith. He was Quaker. He was Deacon in the First Church. Parents: Deacon George GRAVES and Sarah.
Spouse: Elizabeth CRITTENDEN. Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth CRITTENDEN were married on 26 Nov 1657 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He married Elizabeth (Crittenden) Stillwell,, daughter of William and Mary Cruttenden (or Crittenden) of Guilford, on 26 Nov. 1657 in Guilford, Conn. She was the widow of Jasper Stillwell, and was born about 1639. Jasper was buried 8 Nov. 1656, and his widow decently waited a year before she married John Graves. Children were: Deacon John GRAVE.
Deacon John GRAVE was born on 27 Feb 1658 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He died in 1726 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. In December of 1680, John Grave, Sr. of Guilford, Connecticut deeded to his son John Grave, Jr. a piece of land in East Guilford, now Madison. Five years later John, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth Foote Grave moved into a house newly built for them by John, Sr. It was a modest two room house of native oak and chestnut. During the next ten years John and Elizabeth's family grew to include 10 children, two slaves and an assortment of temporary guests. At any one time there may have been up to 16 people living in these two rooms.
About 1710 John expanded his house adding a central chimney, a kitchen and an upper chamber. His tavern business was thriving, his family had grown and more space was needed. Around the time of the Revolutionary War the house was expanded again when the shed addition was added to the rear of the house creating the present salt-box configuration.
John and Elizabeth were the first in a succession of nine generations of the Grave family to live in the house. For 300 years until 1983, descendants of John Grave, Sr. were born, lived, laughed, cried, worked and died in the house that stands today as a symbol of this proud New England heritage
From the family book and from town records we gather that the second John was a worthy successor of his energetic father, though his activities were less varied. One historian states that John Graves was appointed to keep an 'ordinary', an important and honorable office in those times. From his frequent charges for meals and other comforts furnished to travelers it seems probable that the John Graves so appointed was the second of that name, and the old house, in his time, served in the capacity of a wayside inn. It stands on a highway which was the direct route between New York and Boston by way of Saybrook, and doubtless many travelers availed themselves of its shelter and accommodations.
The records of the years 1702-13 show that the Graves house was a busy place during the time of Queen Anne's wars. John not only continued to furnish food and lodging to travelers but also kept a store of military supplies. In his spacious chambers sick soldiers were nursed and friendly Indians were fed in Mistress Elizabeth's kitchen.
John not only furnished food and lodgings to sick soldiers and friendly Indians but was himself active in military service. In the account book he writes: 'I went up to hadley in the Queen's service on the 11th of August and taried there till the 27th (in the yeare) 1708, with my horse and all my accoutrements at my owne finding.'
In the Court records of October 1707, we find that 'this assembly do establish and confirm Mr. John Graves to be Lieutenant of the first company or train band in the town of Guilford.'
But in the midst of the alarms of war John did not neglect the arts of peace. One of his entries reads: 'I began to teach schoole the 16 of December, 1707.' Then follows a list of his pupils, nine boys, two of them being his own sons. Probably John taught a private school that winter in one of the rooms of the 'convenient' house at Tuxis Farms.
It behooved a man who was a schoolmaster and the father of ten children to keep in touch with the current events; accordingly we find this entry: Boston News Letters The time of our News Letters began the 23rd of Aprill or the 30th in the yeare 1711.
This was the first paper printed in America, with the exception of one that lived but three or four weeks. When we consider the distance between Boston and Tuxis Farms, and the scarcity of money in those times (a man's wages being 2s 6d per day), it speaks well for John's enterprise that he should subscribe for a weekly paper. Probably a newspaper was a very rare thing in the community and the arrival of the post bringing the Boston News Letter was quite an event. We can imagine the planters dropping in at Neighbor Graves's that evening, and sitting around him while he held a candle close to the paper and read aloud the news; the arrival of the last ship from England; her passenger list and the reports which she brought; the market price of corn and flax; the last battle with the Indians or French, and the gossip of Boston.
In a later entry John records that in the year 1713 he paid Ebenezer Stone 1 pound 7s for making a drum, and remembering his record with the militia we naturally connect the drum with training days. But from another entry we learn that it was designed for religious service, being used to summon the people to Sabbath worship. He writes: 'I had the care of beating the drum on Sabbath days the first day of July 1713.' The records show that he was paid 20 shillings a year for this service.
In those days the town gave much attention to the draining, or as they called it, the 'drowning' of swamp lands. As early as 1694 permission was given to John Graves and three others 'to drown a swamp above Tuxis Pond, and to have it set out to them when drowned, to prevent the harboring of varment.' His descendants still own a tract of marshy land in that neighborhood; perhaps the same swamp which their progenitor 'drowned' more than two centuries ago.
Books were rare in those days, but the Graves house could boast a very modest library, and it occurred to John to place a catalogue of it in the leather book. It is somewhat interesting as showing the rather depressing nature of the religious literature of the day. This is the catalogue:
An account of some books of divinitie belonging to me John Graves, with some of their titles.
first The Triumph of a True Christian
one a practicall exposition on the 130 psalme
one harts division the evill of our times
an interest in a book intitled the rare jewell of contentment
two psalme books
one the pious remains of Mrs. Henry William Ludolf on meditation
one the glory departing from New England
one a call to the unconverted
one my peace I give unto you my peace I leave with you
one war with the divell or the young man's conflict with the powers of darkness
one Zion in distress or the groans of the probistant church
one the familier explanation of the Assemblie of devines short cattechism
one old booke called pilgrims progress
one small booke Thirstie siners invited to Christ
one old Testament
one old Bible and part of old Bible
one the horers and terors that seze upon the unpardoned siners in the day of
judgement
one the old mens tears
three books of Mr. Wises works
one the quarell of the church espoused
two other paper books
one the dutie of all christians urged
one Mr. Whitmans election sermon
sundry other small paper books
Many of these books are still preserved in the old house.
Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth CRITTENDEN.
Spouse: Elizabeth FOOTE. Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE were married on 12 Jan 1685 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. In 1685 John Graves, son of the first John, married Elizabeth Foote and at once installed his household goods in the house which his father had built in East Guilford ten years before. It is not known by which member of the family it had been occupied meanwhile. In his will the elder John speaks of it as 'the house at Tuxis Farms'; this name is taken from Tuxis Pond, a small body of water in that vicinity, and may have been applied to the whole district or only to that particular homestead. Children were: Elizabeth GRAVE, Mehetabell GRAVE, Deacon John GRAVE, Ann GRAVE, Noadiah GRAVE.
Deacon John GRAVE was born on 1 Feb 1689 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He died in 1763 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He was Quaker. At the death of his father in 1726 the homestead at Tuxis Farms passed into the possession of the third John, who was thrice married.
This John seems to have been by nature a very merry and light-hearted fellow, and to have taken his grandfather's leather book at first much less seriously than did his predecessors. He often relieved the monotony of debit and credit by a joke, or by dropping into poetry, and sometimes by pious precepts and admonitions. On one occasion, in a fit of exuberance, he closes an account thus: 'June 22, 1749, then reconed with Elijah Evarts and all accounts balanced from the beginning of the world to this day.'
But family cares and public responsibilities gradually subdued his spirits. Like his father and grandfather he held various offices in church and state. In 1737 the General Assembly established and confirmed him to be Ensign of the train band. In 1753 he was chosen deacon of the church. In 1754 he was appointed Justice of the Peace, which office he held until his death in 1763.
As there was no public building in which his cases could be tried the old Graves house filled a new role and served as a court house. One of the books in which he recorded the cases tried before him (his docket) is still preserved. The cases are about equally divided between suits for debt and for Sabbath breaking.
A specimen of the latter shows the rigid Puritan idea of 'sanctifying the Sabbath.' Leaving out circumlocutions, Squire John records that 'On January 3d, 1758, Lydia Baily being presented and informed against by Richard Bristol, one of the tithing men in the town of Guilford, for the breach of the Law entitled an act for the better observation and keeping of the Sabbath or Lord's day, for that ye sd Lydia Baily on the Sabbath or Lord's day, December the 25th, 1757, in the meeting-house of East Guilford being assembled for Divine service did profain ye Sabbath by Laughing and other vile actions was sentenced to pay three shillings as a fine and costs allowed to be one shilling.'
The old house not only sheltered successive generations of the Graves family but also numbered several slaves among its inmates. In the accounts of the third John and his son Elias are frequent charges for work done by 'Stepney', 'Bille', and 'Tomme.' The present generation was always told that these were the names of negro slaves owned by the family. In one side of the great chimney is a flight of rough stone steps leading from a back chamber to the roof. These have always been called 'Stepney's stairs,' and there is a tradition that he used them as a means of leaving the house by night, when going on expeditions for his own amusement. If Stepney really used them for this purpose it was a very easy matter for him to creep down the long slope of the back roof and drop to the ground, and to return by the same route.
Squire John was nearing the limits of his three score years and ten when the breaking out of the French and Indian war brought fears and forebodings into the old house. There were heavy hearts under its roof one autumn day when he took down the leather book and wrote: 'Sept. the 8, 1755. Then Elias Graves was prest into the expedition to crownpoint.'
The succeeding records tell the rest of the story of the joy and sorrow, the hopes, fears, and sacrifice that followed each other under the old roof.
'Nov. ye 26, 1755. This day at night Elias Graves came home from the crownpoint expedition.'
Another entry reads: 'August the 8, 1757. Then Elias Graves was prest into the expedition to Lake George.'
This is followed later by this: 'April ye 10, 1758. Then Elias Graves listed into the expedition to Canada.'
This latter time it is evident he went as a volunteer, and his commission as an Ensign still hangs on the old walls.
This record is made of his return: 'December 11, 1758. Elias Graves came home from No. 4 this day at night.'
Between the time of Elias's return from Crown Point and the expedition to Lake George his father also saw military service. The official records in the State Library, at Hartford, show that 'April 24, 1756, John Graves enlisted in the regiments raised for service in the French and Indian war, and was discharged Nov. 23d of the same year.'
Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE.
Spouse: Elizabeth STEVENS. Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth STEVENS were married on 10 May 1714 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Children were: Anne GRAVE, John GRAVE, John GRAVE.
John GRAVE was born on 16 Apr 1717 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. He died on 23 Apr 1719. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth STEVENS.
John GRAVE was born on 28 Apr 1719 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth STEVENS.
Mehetabell GRAVE was born on 1 Feb 1687/88 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE.
Noadiah GRAVE was born on 4 Dec 1694 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut. Parents: Deacon John GRAVE and Elizabeth FOOTE.
Ann GRAVES. Parents: Thomas GRAVES and Sarah Ann DAVENPORT.
Ann GRAVES was born about 1620 in England. She died on 2 Mar 1683. Parents: Captain Thomas GRAVES Gentleman, Ancient Planter and Katherine CROSHER.
Catherine GRAVES. Parents: Thomas GRAVES and Sarah Ann DAVENPORT.
Daughter GRAVES. Parents: John GRAVES and PERRIN.
David GRAVES was born about 1730. He died in Jan 1808 or Feb 1808. Parents: Thomas GRAVES and Sarah Ann DAVENPORT.
Eleanor GRAVES was born about 1713 in Spottsylvania, Virginia. She died after 20 Sep 1777. Parents: Thomas GRAVES and Sarah Ann DAVENPORT.
Spouse: Thomas KIMBROUGH. Thomas KIMBROUGH and Eleanor GRAVES were married before 1730 in Spotsylvania Co., Virginia. Children were: John KIMBROUGH, William KIMBROUGH, Robert KIMBROUGH, Thomas KIMBROUGH, Suckey KIMBROUGH, Sarah KIMBROUGH, Mary KIMBROUGH, Betty KIMBROUGH, Nancy KIMBROUGH, Frankey KIMBROUGH, Graves KIMBROUGH.
Francis GRAVES was born about 1630 in Virginia. He died about 1691. Parents: Captain Thomas GRAVES Gentleman, Ancient Planter and Katherine CROSHER.
Deacon George GRAVES was born about 1600 in England. It is believed that George Graves was from either Hertford, Hertfordshire, or from Braintree, Essex, England.
He immigrated about 1636 to Connecticut. The first group of settlers, led by Thomas Hooker, left Newtown on Tuesday, May 31, 1636. Many were from Newtown, but others came from other Massachusetts towns, or soon after their arrival from England. The location of his house lot indicates that George Grave arrived in 1636, but it is not known where he came from or exactly when in 1636.
The settlers in 1636 did not make their way through an unmarked, trackless wilderness with only their compass to guide them, as has been stated by some writers. They followed a beaten path, already trodden that season by several other companies with cattle. The path led from Newtown on the north bank of the Charles River, through Watertown, Waltham, Weston, Wayland and Framingham, passing north of Cochituate Pond. Then it turned southward through the present borders of South Framingham, Ashland, Hopkinton and Westborough to Grafton. Then it crossed the Blackstone River, and went through the present town of Milbury, through Charlton to Sturbridge. From there it went through Fiskdale and Agawam, to Springfield. The route was then down the Connecticut River, crossing the river at the ferry at Windsor, finally arriving in Hartford.
At least many of the 1636 settlers were granted lands in the south-side plantation.
The original "writeing" in which Sequassen and his tribe conveyed the Suckiaug lands to Samuel Stone and William Goodwin in 1636 specified "all the land from Wethersfield bounds on the south to Windsor bounds on the north, and the whole bredth from Connecticutt river on the east six large miles into the wilderness on the west." The grant was later renewed and enlarged.
George Graves returned to England and came back to America in 1639 with his wife, Sarah, his sons George and John, and possibly his daughters, Sarah, Mary, and Priscilla. It is not certain whether the daughters were born in this country or in England.
He lived in Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut between 1636 and 1673. George Graves was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, Conn., where he settled about 1636, on the south side of Elm St. about opposite the Daniel's Mill. A sketch map showing the south-side plantation portion of Hartford in 1636 shows Deacon George Graves' house lot situated on the Little River between the lots of Governor Edward Hopkins and Stephen Post. He was a weaver, in comfortable circumstances, and was appointed to inspect linen and woolen goods for the Colony at Hartford 3 June 1644,. He was chosen "Townsman", as the Selectmen were then called, in 1650 and 1668,. He was Deputy to the General Court (Assembly) in 1657 and 1658,, and fence viewer in 1666. He died in Sep 1673 in Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut. He signed a will on 17 Sep 1673 in Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut. The inventory of the estate of George Graves indicated a value of 278 pounds, 13s, 2d,. His will dated at Hartford 17 Sept. 1673, specified that his lands should "pay their rates according to their proportion, to the maintenance of the ministree at the new meeting house". He mentions his wife Sarah, sons George and John, son-in-law Jonathan Deming, daughter Mary Dow, and granddaughter Priscilla Markham.
His will follows:
I, George Grave of Hartford, upon the River of Conecticutt, weaver, doe in this my Last Will & Testament give unto Sarah my wife all my houseing & Barne, orchards, Home Lott, Meadow Land, Swamp Land & upland, & whatever is in my house, for her to make use of during the time of her Life, and after her decease to be disposed of as followeth: I doe also hereby give unto my sonn John Grave one parcell of meadow Land Lying in the south meadow between Mr. Richards Land & Mr. Whitings Land, which peice of Land is by estimation allmost Three Acres. I doe also hereby give unto my son John Grave one parcell of Swamp Land Lying by the Land called the forty Acres, in the south meadow, Between Mr. Goodwins Land and Tho: Catlins Land, which parcell of Land is by estimation Two Acres & a halfe, both which parcells of Land are for him to injoy forever after the death of my wife. I doe also hereby give unto my sonn-in-law Jonathan Deming my Two Cowes, for him to injoy after my decease. I dow also give unto my daughter Mary Dow the sume of Tenn pounds, to be paid to her forty shillings in every yeare until the Ten pounds be discharged, next after my decease. I doe also hereby give unto my daughter Mary Dowe my great Brass pott & pott hooks, & also one feather Bed & Feather Bowlster, & one green Blankett, & one Pillow & two pillow beirs, for her to injoy after my wive’s decease. I doe allso hereby give unto my granddaughter Priscilla Markham my least brass pott & pott hooks, & my Iron Kettle, & two of my best platters, a bigger & a lesser. I doe allso hereby give unto priscilla Marcum one Flock bed & one Bowlster, for her to Injoy after the death of my wife. I dow allso hereby give unto my sonn George Grave my house, Barne & Home Lott, orchards & all other of my Lands both meadow, Swamp & upland, Except what is before given away, to him during the time of his life & to his heirs forever, for him to possess after the death of my wife. I doe allso hereby give unto my sonn George Grave (my debts & the Legacies being payd) my Cattell, my household stuffe & what ever els is mine or due to me from any one, for him to possess & injoy forever, after the death of my wife. My will also is that all my Land shall pay their rates, according to their proportion, to the Maintenance of the Ministree at the new meeting house. My will and desire is that my sonn George Grave should take my Estate into his hands & custodie, & the care of my wife, his mother-in-law, & see that shee bee Comfortably provided for during the time of her life, she now not being in a fitt capacittie to help her selfe in this way. Also, if more than ordinary charges should arise by reason of any Long sickness that should attend her, that then the whole estate should share in the Charge that ariseth. Allso my will is that all the Lining that shall remayn after my wifes decease, which is not given before, shall be equally divided between my son George’s wife & my daughter Dowe. I doe also hereby make my two sons George Grave & John Grave my Executors of this my last will & Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.
Witness: John Richards George Grave, Sen.
Steven Hopkins
Court Record, page 134, 25 Nov. 1673, Will proven.
He was buried on 27 Sep 1673 in Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut. It is believed that he and all the other "original proprietors" (so called because they received their land from "the crown") of Hartford were buried beneath a large monument (on which their names are inscribed) at the rear of the Centre Church in Hartford. He was a Weaver. He was ???. He was against the "withdrawers" from the First Church of Hartford in 1658, but afterwards on Feb. 22, 1670, when the Second Church was organized, he was one of the founders and the first Deacon of the new Church,. The Second Church was organized, as a result of baptismal and synodical controversy, by a group of 31 members of the First Church, under the leadership of the then senior minister, Rev. Whiting. George's wife, Sarah, was also an original member of the new Church.
The first meeting house at Hartford was only temporary. The construction of the second meeting house was begun in 1638 and was probably far enough along to be occupied during the winter of 1638-39. It was on "Old Meeting House Hill", near the dwelling of Capt. John Lawrence. It was probably 50 feet square, the same size as some later churches in Hartford.
Surnames is also shown as GRAVE. George was related to widow Ann Graves of Great Minores St., St. Botolph Parish, Aldgate (or Olgate), London, England, who by will proven 20 March 1676 gave annuities to the children of Deacon George in case of failure of issue to her grandson Joseph Hardey.
He was married first in England, and his two eldest children were born there and brought to America by their father. He secondly married widow Sarah Ventres,, mother-in-law of his son George.
The English home of the Graves family [although not necessarily this Graves family] was in the counties Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby and York. Here they enjoyed various honors, including a coat of arms, and a choice of some fourteen Latin mottoes, beginning with the worldly-wise maxim: 'Aquila non capit muscas,' and ending with the devout aspiration: 'Suprema quaero.' They also had a pedigree reaching back into France before the time of the Norman conquest.
Spouse: Sarah. Deacon George GRAVES and Sarah were married between 1625 and 1630 in England. Date and place are assumed. Children were: Deacon John GRAVE.
Isaac GRAVES. Parents: John GRAVES and Susanna.
Jane GRAVES. Parents: Thomas GRAVES and Sarah Ann DAVENPORT.
