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The Grant-Burr Families

The Grants

The Children of Joel Grant (1756-1796) and Zilpah Cowles (1762-1824)

  • Elijah Grant (1782-1867). Deacon of the Congregational Church and "filled nearly every office in town." At age fourteen, Elijah took a leading role in educating his siblings, especially Zilpah, after his father died. He married (1807) Elizabeth Phelps (1784-1866).

  • Jerusha Grant (1785-1867). She married first (1801) Cyrus Walter, second (1808) Roswell Griswold a farmer in New Marlborough. Jerusha and Cyrus had one child, Laura. Jerusha and Roswell had eight children.

  • Nancy Grant (1788-1833). She married (1811) Deacon Amos Pettibone (1786-1864), deacon of the Congregational church in Norfolk from 1825-1845 and .candidate. in the underground railroad in Norfolk.

  • James Grant (1790-1826) a farmer. He married (1812) Jerusha Phelps (1790-1867) and had one daughter, Harriet (1813-1894), who married William Kennett Parker and moved to Fox Lake, Wisconsin.

  • Zilpah Polly Grant (1794-1874) married (1841) the Honorable William Bostwich Banister (1773-1853). She was one of the most influential pioneers in the higher education of women in the United States. She opened the Adams Female Academy in Derry, New Hampshire in 1824 and the Ipswich Female Seminary in 1827. During her 15 years in Derry and Ipswich sixteen hundred young women had come under her care and one hundred and fifty-six graduated. Mary Lyon, her assistant, left to found the Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1837. Zilpah's influence on her brother Elijah's family cannot be understated, as several of her nieces and nephews would go on to work as missionaries and educators under her influence. For the life of Zilpah Grant see Guilford, L.T. The Use of A Life. American Tract Society, New York. 1885.

 

Children of Elijah Grant (1782-1867) and Elizabeth Phelps (1784-1866)

  • Elijah Phelps Grant (1809-1875) Yale 1830. Participated in cooperative communities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Some of his papers may be found at the Yale University Library. He was a lawyer and banker in Nebraska. Elijah Phelps Grant was called Phelps by the family and prepared for college under his father Elijah and aunt Zilpah. He married (1836) Susan Jenkins Boyd (1815-1887) and moved to Canton, Ohio. Elijah was involved in labor reform and socialism. While Elijah only wrote on the issue of labor reform, he lectured on socialism and participated in two experimental socialist communities, notably the Phoenix in Wheeling, West Virginia. Elijah was a staunch Republican and outspoken Unionist during the Civil War. Their children:

    • Elizabeth Grant (1838- ). She married (1858) Thomas Jefferson Hurford (1828- ), a hardware merchant. Their children:

      • Charles Grant Hurford (1861-1886). Dubuque College. Physician.

      • Alice Martha Hurford (1863- ). Dresden (Germany) Art School. Artist.

      • Mary Crusen Hurford (1866- ). She married (1888) George Lewis Nichols (1858- ). Lawyer

      • Edward Clarke Hurford (1867- ). Railroader. He married ( ) Della E. Wills

      • Ralph Stanley Hurford (1872- ). Chemist

      • Phelps Grant Hurford (1874- ). Bookkeeper and stenographer.

      • Helen Elizabeth Hurford (1879-1879).

    • Susan Boyd Grant (1841-1841).

    • Mary Grant (1842- ). She married (1866) William Wallace (1841- ), a member of the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served from 1861-1864 and achieved the rank of captain. Employed by the Omaha National Bank after working for several years as a bookkeeper, he eventually attained the position of vice president. He also joined with others to found the Omaha Tinware Manufacturing Company. William served on the first Omaha Public Library Board from 1877-1896. He and Mary were founders of the Omaha Colony at Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Their children:

      • Ellen Raynolds Wallace (1867-1867).

      • Janet (Jennie) Monroe Wallace (1868- ). She married Curtis ( ). She and her sisters were last family owners of the Deacon Grant Farm.

      • Ruth Wallace (1869-1872).

      • Mary (May) Raynolds Wallace (1870- ). Owned Deacon Grant Farm with her sister Jennie.

      • William Grant Wallace (1873-1874).

      • James Grant Wallace (1876- ). Williams College. Banker.

      • Martha Alice Grant (1849-1859).

      • James Boyd Grant (1853- ). Yale. Banker.

  • Mary Zilpah Grant (1811-1842). Student under her Aunt Zilpah G. Banister and Mary Lyon. Mary studied under Mary Lyon at Mount Holyoke and then taught at her aunt Zilpah's Ipswich Female Academy. She married (1839) Rev. Ebenezer Burgess (1805-1887) and traveled to Ahmednuggur, India, where they served as missionaries. Ebenezer taught Hebrew and Greek at Union Theological School, lectured on Indian archaeology and the antiquity of man at the Lowell Institute of Boston, was a member of the American Oriental Society, and wrote on Indian history and languages. Mary died of cholera in India as did their son, Edwin (1840-1842).

  • Elizabeth Grant (1813-1885). She married (1836) William Burton (1789-1858). Elizabeth graduated from Mount Holyoke after a childhood steeped in the rich intellectual environment provided by her father and aunt Zilpah. After being selected as principal of a seminary at Granville, Ohio, she returned to New England to teach at Ipswich and Mount Holyoke. William Burton was a graduate of Dartmouth College and a minister in Presbyterian and Congregational churches. William died shortly after taking an extended trip to Mississippi to purchase land. Their children:

    • Mary Elizabeth Burton (1838-1924). She married (1864) Giles Waldo Shurtleff (1831- 1904). She was Assistant Registrar at Oberlin College. He was an investment banker and Professor of Greek and Latin at Oberlin and later Treasurer of the College. During the Civil War he became a General of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops. Their family papers are held at the Oberlin College Library. Their children:

      • Laura Elizabeth Shurtleff (1871- ). Oberlin College 1893, teacher.

      • Mary Grant Shurtleff (1876- ). Oberlin College.

    • Philander D. Burton (1840- ). He married first (1886) Rubie Ann Merriman (1840-1893), second (1894) Mrs. Kittie Elizabeth Hyatt Sears (1849- ). He was a farmer and Clerk of the Circuit and District Courts. He served in the 14th Ohio Battery (1861-1863).

    • Edward Burton (1842- ). He married (1867) Hannah Elvira Borden (1848- ). He was a wholesaler. Served as a "Squirrel Hunter" when Cincinnati was threatened in the Civil War.

    • William Burton (1844- ). He married (1881) Mary Pamelia Matthews (1853- ) A.B. 1875, A.M. 1878 Iowa College, Civil Engineer 1877 University of Michigan U.S. Deputy Surveyor, 15th Ohio Battery1862-1865.

    • Theodore Elijah Burton (1851-1929). A.B. Iowa College 1870, A.M. Oberlin College 1875. U.S. Congressman. See Harper's Weekly, Nov. 16, 1907 and Time, June 29, 1925.

  • Joel Grant (1816-1881) was a graduate of Yale University, 1838. He attended Andover Theological Seminary, 1842-43, and Yale Theological Seminary, 1843-1848. He taught at Berlin, Maryland, and was a professor of Mathematics with the United States Navy, sailing on the USS Potomac for three years. He was pastor of the Congregational churches at Lockport, Illinois; West Avon, Connecticut; Bristol, Illinois; Cambridge, Illinois and Downers Grove, Illinois. He served as Chaplain for the 12th Illinois Volunteer Infantry from 1861 to 1865 and the 113th United States Colored Infantry 1865-1866. He also served as Superintendent of the Colored Schools in Arkansas. He married (1845) Abigail Fidelia Cowles (1820-1881). Their children:

    • John Cowles Grant (1848- ). Yale A.B. 1869, A.M. 1872. He married (1878) Susan Rae Henry (1847-1883) and (1886) Anna Foote Coffin (1857- ). John was a teacher at Lake Forest Academy, dean of Kentwood Institute, trustee of Tuskegee Institute, and principal of the Harvard School in Chicago.

    • Mary Hannah Grant (1851-1853).

    • William Elijah Grant (1852-1869).

    • Robert Stuart Grant (1857-1858).

  • Daniel Grant (1818-1892). He married (1842) Caroline Benton Burr (1820-1892). They homesteaded in Wisconsin in 1841. He went overland to California in 1849 sending his family back to Norfolk, Connecticut. He returned in 1856 but continued to seek opportunities elsewhere. She was eventually examined for her knowledge of "branches especially taught in common school" and found competent in a document signed by Ralph Waldo Emerson. They finally resided in New Marlborough, Massachusetts. Their children:

    • Abigail Elizabeth Grant (1845-1920). She attended Mount Holyoke and Beloit College. She married (1869) Rev, Almon Whitney Burr Oberlin 1868, Oberlin Theological Seminary 1871, Andover Theological Seminary 1874. He was Principal of Hallowell Classical Academy and Professor at Beloit College. Their children:

      • Caroline Lynette Burr (1870-1963). Unmarried. Librarian at Beloit College.

      • Harold William Burr (1872-1950). Unmarried.

      • Arthur Edmonds Burr (1883- ). Married, four children.

    • Edward Burr Grant (1848-1896). He married (1881) Lucy Churchill Baldwin (1853-1936). He attended Oberlin College and was a farmer in Southfield (New Marlborough) Massachusetts.

  • Abigail Grant (1820-1835).

  • John Grant (1822-1878). A.B. Yale 1845, and teacher in Virginia, New York and New Jersey. John taught for a short time in Richmond after his graduation, was a teacher at the Academy in Woodbury, Connecticut, and tutor at Yale in 1850. He then served as principal of a classical school in Newark, which he maintained until 1869. For the next six years, he was employed at the New York Custom House. Deacon Congregational Church in Newark. He married (1857) Susan Gertrude Day (1837-1881). Their children:

    • Gertrude Elizabeth Grant (1858-1860).

    • William Marcus Grant (1860- ).

  • Martha Grant (1824-1847). She died, most likely from cancer, while attending Mount Holyoke.

  • James Marcus Grant (1827- ). He followed Daniel to the gold fields. He married (1868) Harriet Lucy Root (1835- ). He inherited the Deacon Grant Farm and resided there throughout the remainder of his life.

 

ALSO MENTIONED:

Levi Grant (1817-1864). Daniel's second cousin once removed was born in Norfolk, Connecticut. He was the great grandson of Daniel Grant's great grandparents Elijah Grant and Mary Andrews. Levi's grandfather was Moses Grant, the brother of Joel Grant (1756-1796). Levi's father, Harvey Grant (1794-1863) moved from Connecticut with his family to Ohio in 1834 and to Wisconsin in 1846. There he was a farmer and grain warehouseman. A deacon and elder of the Presbyterian Church, he was town clerk, mayor, member of the Wisconsin Assembly several terms and Senate for one term. His wife, Experience Norton, was said to have been noted for her beauty and mildness of her disposition. Levi married Lucinda Octavia Tryton. He was a farmer and carpenter, attended Oberlin College, and was a Justice of the Peace and deacon of the Baptist Church.

 

Note: pictures of many of the people/places mentioned are available under Images

 

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