Person Page - 79

     Martha Case was born on 21 May 1743 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Jacob Case and Abigail Barber. Martha Case died on 30 December 1748 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT, at age 5.

     Moses Case was born on 8 September 1746 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. He was the son of Jacob Case and Abigail Barber. Moses Case married Lucy Wilcox, daughter of Lt. William Wilcox and Lucy Case, circa 1770 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. Moses Case married Abigail Wilcox, daughter of Elisha Wilcox and Abigail (?), in 1781 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. Moses Case died on 18 December 1794 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT, at age 48. He was buried at Hopmeadow Cemetery, Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.

     Martha Case was born on 12 April 1749 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Jacob Case and Abigail Barber. Martha Case died on 5 April 1834 at age 84.

     David Phelps married Ruth Ward, daughter of William Gamaliel Ward and Damaris Holcombe. David Phelps was born in 1752.

     Peleg Phelps married Cynthia Case. Peleg Phelps was born in 1776. He was the son of David Phelps and Ruth Ward. Peleg Phelps died in 1840.

     Cynthia Case married Peleg Phelps, son of David Phelps and Ruth Ward. Cynthia Case was born in 1778. She died in 1853.

     Peleg Orlando Phelps was born in 1821. He was the son of Peleg Phelps and Cynthia Case. Peleg Orlando Phelps married Mary Jane Harvey. Peleg Orlando Phelps died in 1883.

     Mary Jane Harvey married Peleg Orlando Phelps, son of Peleg Phelps and Cynthia Case.

     Theodore Forrest Phelps was born in 1874. He was the son of Peleg Orlando Phelps and Mary Jane Harvey. Theodore Forrest Phelps married Gertrude Sadie Harvey circa 1897. Theodore Forrest Phelps died in 1950.

Theodore and Gertrude S. were enumerated in the 1990 Monroe, Franklin Co., MA, federal census. He was a day laborer, age 26, she was 19. The only child in the household was Howard F. 8 months.

Theodore and Gerturde were enumerated in the 1910 Readsboro, Bennington Co., VT, federal census. He was 35, she was 29. She had 7 children, 4 of whom were still living. Children in the household were Howard F. 10, Edith M. 8, Florence M. 7, and Isabel 3.

Theodore and Gerturde were enumerated in the 1920 Readsboro, Bennington Co., VT, federal census. He was 47 she was 39. Children in the household were Edith M. 18, Florence M. 17, Isabel G. 13, and Herbert V. 8.

     Gertrude Sadie Harvey was born in October 1880 at NY.¹ She married Theodore Forrest Phelps, son of Peleg Orlando Phelps and Mary Jane Harvey, circa 1897. Gertrude Sadie Harvey died in 1971.

     Viola Elizabeth Phelps died in 1898. She was born in 1898. She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Howard Forest Phelps was born in September 1899 at MA.¹ He was the son of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Edith May Phelps was born circa 1901 at MA.¹ She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Florence Mary Phelps was born circa 1902 at MA.¹ She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Isabelle Grace Phelps was born circa 1906 at VT.¹ She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Clarence Theodore Phelps died in 1904. He was born in 1904. He was the son of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Gracie May Phelps died in 1909. She was born in 1909. She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Herbert Vincent Phelps was born circa 1911 at VT.¹ He was the son of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey.

     Margaret Hazel Phelps was born in 1912. She was the daughter of Theodore Forrest Phelps and Gertrude Sadie Harvey. Margaret Hazel Phelps died in 1913.

     Richard Saxton was born on 24 February 1673 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. He was the son of Mary Hill. Richard Saxton married Hannah Buell, daughter of Sgt. Peter Buell and Martha Cogan, on 20 June 1706 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. Richard Saxton died on 27 March 1714 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT, at age 41.

     This child in not mentioned in the settlement of Richard's estate. John Saxton was born on 20 June 1706. He was the son of Richard Saxton and Hannah Buell.

     Samuel Buell Jr. was born on 26 February 1714/15 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.² He was the son of Samuel Buell and Hannah Holcombe. Samuel Buell Jr. married Irania Case, daughter of Samuel Case and Elizabeth Owen, on 28 May 1740 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.² Samuel Buell Jr. died probably in 1760 at Albany, Albany Co., NY.³

     Joseph Buell was born on 27 May 1716 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.¹ He was the son of Samuel Buell and Hannah Holcombe.

     Hannah Buell was born on 2 October 1718 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.² She was the daughter of Samuel Buell and Hannah Holcombe. Hannah Buell married Thomas Gleason Jr., son of Thomas Gleason and Elizabeth Demond, on 6 September 1742 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. Hannah Buell died circa 1775.

     Hepzibah Buell was born on 15 September 1720 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.¹ She was the daughter of Samuel Buell and Hannah Holcombe. Hepzibah Buell married Sgt. Thomas Orton on 18 February 1742.¹ Hepzibah Buell died in 1821 at Tyringham, Berkshire Co., MA.¹

     David Buell was born on 29 March 1725 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT.¹ He was the son of Samuel Buell and Hannah Holcombe. David Buell died on 17 February 1745/46 at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, at age 20.¹

McCracken shows that he died in Cape Breton, recorded in Simsbury, doubtless a casualty in King George's War at Louisbourg.

     Deborah Horton married Nathaniel Buell, son of Capt. Samuel Buell and Judith Stevens, on 14 November 1721.

     Grover Buell was born on 4 April 1732. He was the son of Nathaniel Buell and Deborah Horton. Grover Buell married Jerusha Buck on 15 February 1758. Grover Buell died on 14 September 1818 at Stockholm Depot, NY, at age 86.

     Anna Submit Colton married Joseph Buell, son of Capt. Samuel Buell and Judith Stevens, on 10 April 1733 at Killingworth, CT.¹

     Thomas Buell was born on 15 May 1756 at Sommers, Hartford (now Tolland) Co., CT.¹ He was the son of Joseph Buell and Anna Submit Colton. Thomas Buell married Irene Blodgett, daughter of Capt. John Blodgett and Irene Robinson, on 27 January 1780 at Stafford, Tolland Co., CT. Thomas Buell died on 1 October 1820 at Lebanon, Columbia Co., NY, at age 64.¹

William Buell was a carpenter and woodworker. He did much of the finishing work in Windsor Congregational Church, although that church was later destroyed by fire. Three examples of his work are identified at this time. His Bible box is in the Oneida County Historical Society in Utica, NY. Another chest (large Bible box) exists at the Yale University Art Museum in Stanford, CT and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY City.

     Gersham Hinkley married Mary Buell, daughter of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 29 October 1712 at Lebanon, New London Co., CT.¹ Gersham Hinkley died on 24 November 1774 at Lebanon, New London Co., CT.¹

     Supply Strong was born on 10 October 1697. He was the son of Jedediah Strong Jr. and Abiah (Abijah) Ingersoll. Supply Strong married Lois Buell, daughter of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 16 January 1723 at Litchfield, CT.² Supply Strong married Anne Strong. Supply Strong died on 26 November 1786 at age 89.

     Avis Collins was born on 1 April 1714.¹ She married Deacon Peter Buell, son of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 26 December 1734 at Litchfield, Hartford (now Litchfield) Co., CT.¹ Avis Collins died on 1 November 1754 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT, at age 40.¹

     Dorothy Gillett was born on 10 January 1710 at Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.^1,2 She was the daughter of Joseph Gillett and Mary Griswold.³ Dorothy Gillett married Ebenezer Buell, son of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 19 October 1736 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT.^1,2 Dorothy Gillett died on 24 June 1767 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT, at age 57.^1,2

     Eunice Griswold was born on 21 March 1721 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT. She was the daughter of Jacob Griswold and Comfort Buck. Eunice Griswold married Solomon Buell, son of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 19 January 1737/38 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT. Eunice Griswold died on 7 August 1771 at age 50.

     Lydia Landon was born in 1722. She married Capt. Jonathan Buell, son of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 10 December 1741 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT.¹ Lydia Landon died in June 1812.

     Ezra Plumb was born on 27 February 1708/9 at Milford, New Haven Co., CT.¹ He married Elizabeth Buell, daughter of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 29 March 1739 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT.¹ Ezra Plumb died on 17 October 1787 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT, at age 78.¹

     Thomas Grant Capt. was born on 5 October 1710 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. He was the son of Thomas Grant and Sarah Pinney. Thomas Grant Capt. married Rachel Buell, daughter of Deacon John Buell and Mary Loomis, on 6 December 1738 at Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT.² Thomas Grant Capt. died on 16 August 1753 at Lowell, MA, at age 42.

     Thomas Grant died at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. He was born on 20 February 1670 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. He was the son of Tahan Grant and Hannah Palmer. Thomas Grant married Sarah Pinney, daughter of Nathaniel Pinney and Sarah Griswold, on 13 February 1695/96.

     Sarah Pinney was born on 11 October 1673 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Pinney and Sarah Griswold. Sarah Pinney married Thomas Grant, son of Tahan Grant and Hannah Palmer, on 13 February 1695/96.

     Tahan Grant was born on 3 February 1633/34 at Dorchester, Suffolk Co., MA.^2,3 He was the son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?) Tahan Grant married Hannah Palmer, daughter of Nicholas Palmer and Joan (?), on 22 January 1662/63 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.⁴ Tahan Grant died on 30 May 1693 at East Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 59.²

     Hannah Palmer was baptized on 11 October 1640. She was the daughter of Nicholas Palmer and Joan (?) Hannah Palmer married Tahan Grant, son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?), on 22 January 1662/63 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.¹

     Matthew Grant was born on 27 October 1601 at England.³ He married Priscilla (?) on 16 November 1625 at England.⁴ Matthew Grant married Susanna Capen, daughter of Bernard Capen and Joan Purchase, on 29 May 1645.⁴ Matthew Grant died on 16 December 1681 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 80.³


Matthew was one of the original company who came, in 1630, to Dorchester, Mass., in the Mary and John, with Maverick and Warham.

He was admitted a freeman 18 May, 1631, and continued in Dorchester till the removal of the company which settled Windsor, of which he was a prominent member. His name appears on the Dorchester records as late as 2 Nov., 1635, and though he was, without doubt, among those who went, in 1635, to prepare their new homes at Matianuck, now Windsor, it is not likely that his wife and children left Dorchester before 18 April 1636.

With many others, he disliked the close union of church and state that characterized the colony of Massachusetts Bay, as well as the growing tendency to establish the government in the hands of a privileged class and to minimize the voice of the people in the conduct of their own affairs. In Windsor, freed from the trammels of a royal charter, he assisted in forming a true democracy, the germ from which American political institutions have grown. ⁵

He was the second town clerk in Windsor, also the first and for man years the principal surveyor; was a prominent man in the church; evidently was just and exceedingly conscientious in all his public and private transactions and duties, and, as recorded, he often added notes, explanatory or in correction, to the records which have considerable value to present day investigators; if he had only used women's maiden names more often.

In 1654 he compiled A Book of Records of Town Ways in Windsor. He was also the compiler of the Old Church Record, which has furnished the basis for the histories of most of the families of ancient Windsor. ⁵



From information prepared by the late Donna Holt Siemiatkoski as part of her planned book Foundations of Windsor Connecticut, published in the DFAW Newsletter, Spring 2009:

Every record which has survived in the official records kept by the Town of Windsor and the First Church in Windsor before 1682 comes from the pen of Matthew Grant. These records come from two of his three major extant writings. Copies of these records have been made, and those copies copied, and sometimes merged with other compilations, so that the contemporary researcher may find as many as a dozen different versions of the town and church records, some two or even three generations removed from the two original records. However, no matter which records are consulted, in whatever from or wherever found, only two documents form the basis of our knowledge of the virtually all the births, marriages, deaths, and church admissions in ancient Windsor before 1682. Those two documents are Matthew Grant’s personal record, often erroneously called “the Old Church Record” and Grant’s reports to the secretary of the colony. His third major work, the Matthew Grand Diary, was more of a personal notebook into which went such entries as notes on sermons and notes on surveying.

Matthew Grant first appears in New England in Dorchester where he applied to become a freeman in October 1631. Most authorities suggest that he was on the Mary and John, although no proof or disproof of his passage exists. He himself notes that he was a member of the church of Dorchester and was one of those who removed to Windsor with Rev. John Warham in the general removal in 1636, and that he was born on Tuesday, October 27, 1601. He was Windsor’s first surveyor but did not assume to the position of Town Clerk until 1652 after the first town clerk, Dr. Bray Rossiter removed to the Guilford. Grant was never the clerk of the church and had no known official duties in the church of which he was a member in full communion at the time of its removal to Windsor.

Grant appears to have been a born writer, making notes on his spare surroundings with scarce ink and paper. In his “Diary,” more accurately called a “Notebook,” he has recorded notes on sermons by the Revs. Warham, Huit, Hooker, Stone, and Moxon, as well as instructions for surveying and other notes for his own use. Very little of the “Diary” has information of genealogical value, other than as historic reference to the prominent people named.

When Windsor’s first town clerk, Dr. Bray Rossiter, removed to Guilford in 1652, the townsmen probably turned to Matthew Grand because of his probably well-known habit of writing things down. Grant faithfully fulfilled his annual duty by recording births, deaths, marriages, and land transactions and forwarding his list to the Secretary of the Colony in compliance with an early order of the General Court. Grant complied with this order more thoroughly than any other contemporary town clerk, as may be seen in the publication Births, Marriages, and Deaths returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, in which the returns from Windsor are by far the most extensive. The published reports are continuous from around 1660 to within a few months of his death on December 16, 1681. He also made a concerted effort to discover events before his tenure began and to record these as well. His contemporary recordings and his recordings of previous events were entered into two different volumes of the Colony Land Records, volumes 1 and 2, respectively.

Finally, Grant began to compile what is more accurately called the Record of Families, probably around 1668. An examination of the record suggests that Grant was compiling a list of church members and their baptized children in response to the question of the Half-Way Covenant, which was being debated in Windsor as well as in the rest of New England. His project appeared to grow from that base to being a compilation of the families of Windsor, a project too large for the more narrowly-defined task of town clerk. In 1677 Grant discovered an “ould book” in which were written notations of events from “our beginning” to May 31, 1640, including a day by day account of the flood of March 1639, an account which reads like a contemporary account of the flooding of the Farmington and Connecticut Rivers near “the Island,” now the site of the Loomis Chaffee School. These records, which pre-date the appointment of Rossiter as town clerk, are all that remain from the earliest days of Windsor, and have been preserved for us by Matthew Grant. After recording the text of that discovery, Grant appears to have put an even more intense effort into his catalogue of Windsor’s families. What began as the recording of vital events as town clerk expanded into a catalogue of church members and their families. Finally, Grant’s natural penchant for recording took over and inspired him to write down the details of the births, marriages, and deaths of each family, “as I could best determine.” Grant probably made many preliminary notes over the years, for a variety of purposes, as his reference to an “ould book” with “no room” suggests. In so doing Grant unwittingly became the first Windsor genealogist, as he recorded the families he had watched grow as his own life drew to a close.

Grant apparently completed his life’s work, the only surviving record of the births, marriages, deaths, and church admissions of the people of early Windsor, within weeks of his death at the age of eighty. The book was his own personal work and stayed with his family’s possessions. Although he lived with his son John at the time of his death, the book apparently came into the possession of his eldest son Samuel’s family. Both of these branches of the family had moved to the East side of the River at the close of the century. For awhile the book was in Ellington (“Ellenton”), where more historic material was added by a later owner. Stiles suggests that the book passed to Samuel’s granddaughter, Mary Grant, who married Peletiah Birge. The couple moved back to Windsor and into a house on what is not Palisado Avenue. They moved again to Pine Meadow, now Windsor Locks, leaving various items behind in the house. As Stiles notes, the Birge house was torn down around 1800. Oliver Ellsworth Jr., a Grant cousin on both sides of his family, poked through the remains of the house, found the ancient book, by now over 120o years old, realized what the manuscript was, and rescued it from the rubble. This promising young antiquarian, a Yale graduate who was his father’s secretary on his famous mission to Napoleon’s court, would have been his father’s biographer. If this second Oliver Ellsworth, who died in 1805 at the age of 24 of “slow decline”, accomplished nothing else with his short life, his finding and rescuing of his ancestor’s irreplaceable personal notebook has secured his place in the history of Windsor’s history.

The original of Matthew's Bible is located at the Connecitcut State Library and pdf copies are available at their web page. The Reports to the Colony were entered into the Colony Land Records and were published by Edwin Stanley Welles as Births, Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor and Fairfield. The "Old Church Record" original is at the Connecticut Historical Society and the State Library holds a typescript.

     Priscilla (?) was born in February 1601 at England.¹ She married Matthew Grant on 16 November 1625 at England.² Priscilla (?) died on 27 April 1644 at Windsor, CT, at age 43.²

     Priscilla Grant was born on 14 September 1626 at England.² She was the daughter of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?) Priscilla Grant married Michael Humphrey on 14 October 1647 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.

     Matthew Grant was born at England. He was the son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?) Matthew Grant died on 10 September 1639.¹

     Samuel Grant was born on 12 November 1631 at Dorchester, Suffolk Co., MA.³ He was the son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?) Samuel Grant married Mary Porter, daughter of John Porter Sr. and Anna White, on 27 May 1658 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. Samuel Grant died on 10 September 1718 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 86.

On 24 Jun 1658 Matthew Grant gave to his son Samuel a tract of land in what is now South Windsor originally granted to him by the town. samuel Grant's "now house" still stood on this lot in 1677. Samule apparently spent at least part of his time in the building trade, for in 1660 he was employed to "shingle the inside roof of the meeting house. Samuel's son, Samuel, Jr., was a carpenter. He built a house on this site in 1695.

     Mary Porter was baptized on 1 October 1637 at Felsted, England.¹ She was the daughter of John Porter Sr. and Anna White. Mary Porter married Samuel Grant, son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?), on 27 May 1658 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. Mary Porter died on 29 June 1720 at age 82.

     John Grant was born on 30 September 1642 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.^2,3 He was the son of Matthew Grant and Priscilla (?) John Grant married Mary Hull, daughter of Josiah Hull and Elizabeth Loomis, on 2 August 1666 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.^4,5 John Grant died on 22 July 1684 at Windsor, Hartford Co., CT, at age 41.²

John resided in the homestead, which he enlarged; perambulator, fence viewer, lister, constable, collector; in King Philip's Was he was ordered, Sep. 6, 1676, to take 20 men, and march to the relief of Westfield and Springfield, thus becoming the first military member of the family; they owned a covenant in the church. ⁶