Wednesday, May 7, 2014

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #19 : John GRUMMAN

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 19th installment, for John GRUMMAN/GROMAN, my 8th great-grandfather on my mother's lines. He is a very early settler in Connecticut, apparently arriving about 1649. 

John GRUMMAN, was b. 24 Feb 1627 in Cranfield, Bedford, England (abt 50 miles north of London); parents were John GRUMMAN and Elizabeth WHEELER.  The surname GRUMMAN may also be found spelled in various ways as Grumant, Grumand, Groman, Gromman, and so forth.  John arrived in the New England Colony before 1650, settling in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is not clear if he came with any siblings, or any family members.   (Photo from Wikipedia)

In 1651, in Connecticut, he married his first wife, Sarah TRY who was born about 1630 in Long Island, New York, of early settlers to that area, Michael TRY, and [Unknown] PHILLIPS.  John and Sarah had 6 children (4 boys, then 2 girls), of whom the youngest, our direct ancestor, was Sarah GRUMMAN, b. 1675 in Fairfield, as were all the children.  

Children of John and Sarah:
  • John, b. 1652
  • Samuel, b. 1667
  • Thomas, b. 1669
  • Michael, b. 1671
  • Elizabeth, b. 1673
  • *Sarah [ancestor], b. 1675, m. Samuel JENNINGS in 1691; 10 children (3 boys)
  • ?possibly Abigail, b. 1685.  -- mentioned in his will, unclear of relationship.
The gap between the first and second child has not been explained; possibly it has been discussed in various books or articles I have yet to find and read.  Normally I would expect that showed the death of a wife, and subsequent marriage.  However it has not shown up in the usual early records of marriages in early New England.  Of course, the date itself may be in error... Research to do.

In 1664, John GRUMMAN was made a Freeman of Fairfield Connecticut, according to a history of Fairfield. 

Many of the details I have about my ancestor John GRUMMAN has come from two sources: Jennings Family Association, and a particular book, "The descendants of John Grumman(t) of Cranfield, Bedfordshire, and Fairfield, Connecticut, and his wife Sarah Try"  by Marion G. Phillips;  New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass. : Newbury Street Press, 2007.  Histories of early settlers in Fairfield also contain details and summary information.  

John died after 2 Jun 1685 in Fairfield Connecticut; Sarah, his wife, died died a few years later on 8 Apr 1691, same place.  There is apparently a will dated 2nd June 1685, mentioned in several trees and sources, but never detailed.  Perhaps it may be found on the NEHGS site in their databases.  In his will, he lists children John, Samuel, Thomas, Michael, Sarah who had married Samuel Jennings, and Abigail. I have yet to see the will.  There may well be additional tidbits of information and confirmation of some details of this early settler of Fairfield Connecticut. 

Addition, August 29, 2019:  WikiTree has the transcribed will of John GRUMMAN, taken from "The American Genealogist" vol.32.  Thank you to a friendly reader for providing me with this helpful detail. 

If you have any further information or any questions, do please contact me via email calewis at telus dot net, or in comments below. Thank you so much for reading about this early New England settler.

5 comments:

Irene Grumman said...

Hi, Celia. I ran across Twigs and Trees today while answering questions from a Sam Young, who inherited a musket from Seth Grumman and has caught the genealogy bug. He's headed to Fairfield, CT for more research.

I'm from the male line of Grummans, and from the Hawleys, another set of early arrivals with a startling number of descendants.

I live in San Diego, California. I have three siblings. We were all born and raised in New York City.

Wishing you well with writing and teaching,

Irene Grumman

Celia Lewis said...

Thanks for commenting, Irene! My line goes through his daughter Sarah who married into the JENNINGS family... another very early line in Connecticut. Cheers - I'm further up the west coast in Canada. Thanks so much for commenting - I rarely find anyone directly related to a long-ago ancestor of mine!

Catherine Garvin said...

Hello Celia, I am a descendant of Michael Try, father of Sarah Grumman. I live in Portland, Oregon U.S.A. Great to find your website and I suppose we are related. How exciting...Many blessings, Catherine

Catherine Garvin said...

Hello Celia, Sarah Try was born 1632 England to parents Micheal Try and Margery Phillips. They arrived 1633 to the Windsor, Connecticut. Ancestor Michael Try is founding father of old ancient town of Windsor, CT. They traveled with Captain William Holmes and 30 others to the sight above. Windsor, Connecticut has the original documents with Michael Try's name as founding father. Father Try sold his property to Thomas Dewey in 1640 then moved with family to Fairfield, CT. Margery Phillips Try (Sarah's mother died in 1648) However, in a book of Windsor it states otherwise Michael Try sold property to Richard Sexton probably had more than one piece of land. I would love to hear more from you. I believe we're related through Sarah Try Grumman. Thank you and many blessings, Catherine

Celia Lewis said...

I am not able to REPLY to these comments - however, if you email me using the address at the bottom of the post(s), then I could reply in an email...

Thanks so much Catherine for commenting again with more details. I do believe that Sarah Try's mother's name is not Margery - Michael married a 2nd time after his first wife [nee Phillips] died May 19, 1646 in Windsor CT. He secondly married a widow by the name of Margery [unknown maiden name] Root, in CT. So that is where the name Margery came from, and she would be Sarah Try's step-mother. Before 1653, he moved to Fairfield CT - I'll need to check land warrants again to be sure of when exactly the family moved to Fairfield - I don't see records in my folders with dates, and I suspect I don't have all the land patents/sales, as well. Documents seem to be thin on the ground here, and I'm not able to search in person in some of the CT archives! Wouldn't that be lovely, eh? Hit the Town Clerks, then the State Archives, dig around in Deed books, Will/Probate books...
Sarah is my 8th great-grandmother.
I've just realized that Henry WHEELER [b.abt 1575], the father of John GRUMMAN's mother Elizabeth WHEELER [bap.Jan1/1600] may well be directly related to the Obadiah WHEELER whose son, also named Obadiah, married Elizabeth WHITE, 1st generation Mayflower descendant - daughter of Resolved WHITE & Judith VASSALL. Hmmm. More research!! Happy research, Catherine.

Welcome!

Family, friends, and others - I hope you enjoy these pages about our ancestors and their lives. Genealogy has become somewhat of an obsession, more than a hobby, and definitely a wonderful mystery to dig into and discover. Enjoy my writing, and contact me at celia.winky at gmail dot com if you have anything to add to the stories. ... Celia Lewis