Kenneth Vance Graves has written a book on our line of the Graves
family, beginning with Samuel Graves who settled in Lynn, MA,
in 1630. The largest part of the information for the first through
fifth generations was taken from his book. (For more information,
see end note.)
First Generation-- Samuel Graves,
born in England, settled in Lynn, Essex Co., MA, ca. 1630. Probably
a Puritan with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, possibly came with
Endicott in 1628, or with Winthrop in 1630. The neighborhood
in which he lived was called "Gravesend" ("Graves
End") for 200 years. It is now called Glenmere. He was a
farmer, and well-to-do. In 1635 he gave 300 pounds for the support
of the Colonial Government.
1. Thomas Graves,
born ca. 1620 in England; died Jan. 1697; about 77 years old. Married
Hannah.
2. Mark Graves,
born ca. 1623, in England; died 1709, in Lynn, MA; about 86 years old.
Married Amy. They had 13 children. Second marriage, (Nov. 14, 1667) Elizabeth
Knights. Lived in Lynn, Andover, Ipswich, and Manchester.
3. Samuel Graves,
born 1628, in England. Married Grace Beamsley, born 1632; died Nov. 26,
1730; 98 years old. They moved to Ipswich about 1651 where they lived
until his death. He was a hat weaver and felt maker. They had 7 children.
Second Generation-- Thomas Graves, born ca. 1620 in England; died Jan. 1697, in Lynn,
MA; about 77 years old. Married Hannah. Came to America with
his father ca. 1628-1630. He and Hannah lived in Lynn, MA until
his death. He was a mariner as well as a farmer. He and his brother
Mark testified at a session of the Court in 1653 to making several
voyages in the boats of the Iron Works at Saugus to Boston, and
other places. In 1658 he testified that his boat carried seven
tons of bar iron and delivered it to Mr. Hutchins. The iron works
were in operation in 1643, the first in America. In his will,
dated Jan. 22, 1697, Samuel reminded his children to "be
tender a, and was buried in who hath been tender and industrious." All
their children were born in Lynn.
1. Mark Graves,
born ca. 1650; died 1730; about 80 years old. Married Rebecca. They had
three children.
2. Samuel Graves,
born 1655; died Dec. 1723; 68 years old. Married Sarah Brewer.
3. Thomas Graves,
4. Amy Graves,
married (June 20, 1665) Richard Richardson.
5. Hannah Graves,
married (Jan. 28, 1665) William Smith, a yoeman.
6. Sarah Graves,
died March 24, 1724. Married (Feb. 14, 1680) Samuel Leighton.
7. Elizabeth Graves,
born ca. 1662. Married (Dec. 4, 1682) Thomas Brewer, brother of Sarah
Brewer (see #2 above, and Brewer family, below). They had seven children,
all born in Lynn, MA.
8. Ann Graves,
died Feb. 21, 1736. Married (June 12, 1678) Joshua Rhodes.
Third Generation-- Samuel Graves, born 1655; in Lynn, Essex Co., MA; died Dec. 1723,
in Lynn; 68 years old. Married (Mar. 12, 1677) Sarah Brewer,
born Sept. 13, 1659 in Boston.
Samuel Graves was a member of Capt. Joseph Gardner’s Co. of Salem,
MA, in the Indian Wars of 1675, sometimes called King Philip’s War.
All their children were born in Lynn, MA.
1. Crispus Graves,
born Aug. 3, 1679; died 1758; 79 years old. Married Rebecca Alley, died
may 21, 1765. He was a carpenter. They had three children, all born in
Lynn, MA.
2. Samuel Graves,
born Aug. 2, 1684; died Dec. 1752; 68 years old. Married (Feb. 8, 1709)
Elizabeth Lewis. They had two children. Second marriage (Dec. 23, 1740)
Mary Merrey.
3. Thomas Graves,
born Dec. 16, 1686. Married Ruth Taylor.
4. Mark Graves,
born Nov. 3, 1689; died 1729; 40 years old. Married (Dec. 11, 1718) Ruth
Phillips. They had one daughter.
5. William Graves,
born June 1, 1692; died Jan. 1756; 63 years old. Married (March 20, 1721,
in Salisbury, MA) Hannah Todd Doel, a widow. William was baptized into
the church at Salisbury, June 27, 1742. They had two children.
6. Rebekah Graves,
born April 29, 1698; died June 4, 1739; 64 years old. Married (May 12,
1721) Ezekiel Collins. They moved to Southboro, MA, where their four
children were born.
7. Daniel Graves,
a twin, born Feb. 8, 1701. Married (Jan. 21, 1722, in Lynn, Essex Co.,
MA) Martha Coats. He was a miller. They moved to Reading, MA, were their
six children were born.
8. Nathaniel Graves,
a twin, born Feb. 8, 1701. Married (Jan. 26, 1726, in Lynn, Essex Co.,
MA) Lydia Wallis. They had one daughter. Second marriage (Nov. 22, 1742)
Elizabeth Nicholson. They lived in Marblehead, MA.
9. John Graves,
born June 24, 1695, in Lynn, Essex Co., MA Married (March 7, 1717) Eunice
Collins.
Fourth Generation-- Thomas Graves, born Dec. 16, 1686, in Lynn, MA; died Feb. 21, 1756,
in Southboro, MA; 70 years old. Married (Jan. 9, 1710) Ruth Collins,
daughter of Joseph Collins and Maria Smith, born Oct. 26, 1685.
Thomas and Ruth had a daughter.
Second marriage (Feb. 22, 1715, in Lynn, MA ) Ruth Taylor, of Andover,
Mass; died Feb. 20, 1756. They settled in the North Parish of Reading,
MA, as early as 1724, and were admitted to the church there in the same
year. Thomas sold his land in Reading on 18 April 1738, and moved to
Southboro. Ruth died Feb. 20, 1756, Thomas died the next day. They had
two children, both born in Lynn, MA
•First marriage:
1. Ruth Graves,
born Jan. 10, 1710, in Lynn, Essex Co., MA Married (Nov. 9, 1732) Ebenezer
Hawks.
•Second marriage:
2. Hannah Graves,
born Nov. 12, 1715. Married (Oct. 18, 1739) John Waite.
3. Joseph Graves,
born Feb. 3, 1717; died June 8, 1788; 71 years old. Married Lydia Newton.
Fifth Generation-- Joseph Graves, born Feb. 3, 1717, in Lynn, Mass; died June 8, 1788,
in Southboro, MA; 71 years old. Married (Feb. 19, 1745) Mary
Newton, daughter of Isaac Newton and Sarah Belknap. She died
Feb. 23, 1758. They had five children, born in Southboro.
Second marriage (Oct. 18, 1758, in Southboro, Worcester Co., MA) Lydia
Newton, daughter of Jonathan and Tabitha Newton. She was born June 25,
1732 in Southboro. They had seven children, all born in Southboro.
Third marriage (June 7, 1782) Zerviah Williams.
•First marriage:
1. Ruth Graves,
born June 20, 1746. Married (Oct. 15, 1767) Shadrach Hill.
2. Nathaniel Graves,
born March 9, 1747; died Jan. 19, 1810; 63 years old. Married (Nov. 1773)
Anna Freeland. They had eight children. They lived in Hopkinton, MA.
3. Mary Graves,
born Nov. 2, 1749. Married (May 28, 1777) Othniel Taylor, Jr.
4. Hannah Graves,
born Oct. 29, 1754. Married Walter Phillips.
5. Thomas Graves,
born July 10, 1757; died Sept. 1761; four years old.
•Second marriage:
6. Stephen Graves,
born May 4, 1759; died Sept. 1761; two years old.
7. Daniel Graves,
born March 4, 1761; died Jan. 30, 1836; 75 years old. Married (May 30,
1781) Rhoda Fay, born April 12, 1762; died Nov. 11, 1782; 20 years old.
They had no children.
Second marriage (Dec. 8, 1783) Tirzah Newton, born Dec. 8, 1756; died
May 22, 1815; 59 years old. They had eight children, the first five born
at Southboro, the last three born at North Leverett, MA.
Third marriage (Oct. 9, 1815) Beulah Grover.
Daniel served in the Revolutionary war, enlisting in Southboro on Dec.
20, 1776, when less than 16 years old. He was on the pension roll from
Franklin Co., MA.
8. Joseph Graves,
born Aug. 29, 1763. Married (April 3, 1787) Susanna Marrett; died Feb.
12, 1812. They had 10 children. The family lived in Montague, MA.
Second marriage (Jan. 23, 1813) Rebecca Bartlett; died spring 1857.
9. Lydia Graves,
born Oct. 8, 1765; died May 7, 1809; 44 years old.
10. Rebecca Graves,
born Sept. 1767.
11. Crispus Graves,
born May 18, 1769; died ca. 1795; about 26 years old. Married Sarah Muzzy.
12. Thomas Graves,
born Oct. 2, 1771; died Nov. 26, 1843; 72 years old. Married (Aug. 30,
1792) Persis Bellows. Thomas was a cooper, and palsied on one side for
30 years.
Sixth Generation-- Crispus Graves, born May 18, 1768, in Southboro, Worcester Co.,
MA; died ca. 1795; about 26 years old. Married (Dec. 8, 1790,
in Shrewsbury, Worcester Co., MA) Sarah Muzzy, "Sally",
born Dec. 29, 1771, in Shrewsbury, Worcester Co., Mass; died
Aug. 28, 1799; 27 years old. Charles H. Graves’ family Bible
says Joseph was the "eldest child of his family". Crispus
was lost at sea when son Joseph was only three years old.
1. Zachariah Graves,
baptized June 30, 1793. We find no other mention of this child--this
came from the town records. Charles Graves’, in his family Bible,
says that his grandfather Joseph was the oldest child of Crispus and
Sally. However, if Zachariah were younger, he could not have been baptized
June 30, 1793, when his older brother was not even two months old. I
begin to wonder if Joseph were baptized under the name Zachariah, and
his name was later changed to honor his grandfathers, Joseph Muzzy and
Joseph Graves. The other possibility is that the two boys were twins.
But if so, why were both boys not mentioned in the town records?
2. Joseph Muzzy Graves,
born May 7, 1793, in Chelsea, Suffolk Co., MA; died Jan. 15, 1870, in
Charlestown, MA; 76 years old. Baptized as a child, June 30, 1793, acc.
to Ken Graves’ book. He was epileptic, according to his granddaughter’s
medical records. He was raised by his aunt Annis Muzzy Parks, his mother's
sister, who lived in Franklin Co., MA. At 14 years of age, he was sent
away to trade school--he was a shoemaker by trade (according to a history
of Royalston, MA, where he was ordained). Converted in 1816, he was ordained
as a Baptist minister in 1821. In 1834 he received an honorary MA degree
from Middlebury College in Vermont. Married Susannah Watkins.
Seventh generation-- Joseph
Muzzy Graves, born May 7, 1793, in Shrewsbury [or Leominster],
Worcester Co., MA; died Jan. 15, 1870, in Charlestown, MA; 76
years old. Married Susannah Watkins, born Dec. 25, 1793; died
Nov. 8, 1882, in Charlestown, MA; 88 years old. Both were buried
in Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett (a suburb of Boston), MA. (The
family plot is #85 Choral Ave. in the cemetery.) His gravestone
reads, "For over forty years pastor of Baptist churches."
The 1847 Boston City Directory shows him as, "Rev., h., London,
E. Boston."
1. Hiram Atwell Graves,
born April 5, 1813, in Wendall, Franklin Co., MA; died Nov. 3, 1850 ["Sabbath
morning," wrote son Charley], in Bristol, RI; 37 years old. Was
a precocious child--he learned to read within three months of the time
he was allowed to use a book, and read the New Testament through by the
age of four! Also an ordained Baptist minister. But his health gave out
and cut his ministry time short. Married (Jan. 19, 1937, in New Haven,
CT) Mary Hinman, born May 24, 1812, in Woodbury, CT; died April 7, 1856,
in N. Adams, MA; 43 years old. Her father was Scoville Hinman, Esq.,
of New Haven, CT. Hiram and Mary were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, sharing
the same monument with Joseph and Susannah.
2. Sarah Ann Graves,
born July 7, 1816; died Oct. 26, 1829; 13 years old. She died during
the time her father was pastoring the Baptist church in Jericho, Chittenden
Co., VT. During our visit in New England, we searched three cemeteries
in Jericho and Jericho Center, and could not find her grave. There were
only a few graves dating back that far. Either her stone broke off and
was lost, or she may have been buried on the property near Joseph and
Susannah’s home. I have a handwritten inscription of her gravestone,
including (presumably) the name of the engraver. But there is no clue
as to who wrote the information down--perhaps Susannah (it’s not
Joseph’s handwriting), wanting to remember what it said after leaving
Jericho, or the engraver himself, to show what he proposed to do. I think
the latter to be probable, considering the handwriting is very artistic
and flowery.
3. Adoniram Judson Graves,
born Dec. 14, 1821, in Townsend, MA; died July 26, 1871, in Boston, of
lung hemorrhage; 49 years old. He was epileptic, according to his daughter
Sarah’s hospital records. Married (Sept. 4, 1845, in E. Boston,
MA) Abigail E. Stevens, "Abby," born Oct. 1821, in Claremont,
NH; died May 2, 1872, of tuberculosis; 51 years old. They lived in Boston
where he was a bookkeeper.
The 1846 Boston City Directory shows that Adoniram was in partnership
with H. A. Stevens (probably his father-in-law) in a dry goods store.
The address was given as 105 Hanover, house, London, E. Boston. In 1959,
he was listed alone, at 24 Cornhill, house, 2 Princeton, E. Boston. Brother
Andrew’s business was listed as being at the same address.
4. Andrew
F. Graves,
born May 10, 1825; died Feb. 17, 1894, in Winthrop, MA; 70 years old.
A diabetic, he had one foot amputated before he died of gangrene. Married
Julia Amanda Webster, "Amanda", born Oct. 28, 1834, in Methuen,
MA; died Nov. 5, 1910, in Santa Barbara, CA; 76 years old. Both were
buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, near parents Joseph and Susannah. They lived
in Boston. Andrew had his own business, publishing and selling Christian
books. Mother always thought the F. in his name stood for "Forest" as
in her father’s name (Andrew Forest Page), but another source believes
it stood for "Fuller"! I can’t find anything in the family
letters or papers to confirm either one! Andrew and Amanda had no children
I have found record of.
5. Stella Ann Susan Graves, born Sept. 6, 1829, in Jericho, Chittenden Co., VT; died Aug.
3, 1909, in Minneapolis, MN; 80 years old. Married Emery Harkness Page.
Eighth Generation-- Stella Ann Susan Graves,
born Sept. 6, 1829 in Jericho, Chittenden Co., VT; died Aug.
3, 1909; 80 years old. Married (May 15, 1854, in Boston by her
father) Emery Harkness Page, born Aug. 25, 1818, in Baltimore Township, Windsor
Co., VT; died May 5, 1888; 70 years old. They both died in Minneapolis,
MN, and were buried in Lakewood Cemetery.
One of the entries in Stella’s trip journal from her 1874 trip to
Boston was "Received from Andrew Rent--$124,45". Uncle Robert
told me that Emery had saved money from working the fur business in Vermont
with his brothers. After putting himself through university and seminary
he had enough to invest in real estate. Stella wrote in her family Bible
that their second child was born "at the summit of Bunker Hill," something
of which she was obviously proud. In 1876, Andrew lived at 6 Cedar Street,
which we found on our trip to Boston as being just one block north of
the Bunker Hill Monument. I believe Emery and Stella bought the house
at 6 Cedar Street, and after they moved on to another pastorate, rented
it to Andrew, who lived there until shortly before his death in 1894.
1. Joseph Emery Page,
born March 31, 1857; died April 14, 1857; 14 days old. Born and died
in Newtonville, Middlesex Co., MA, buried in Newton Cemetery.
2. Rollin Malcolm Page,
born Jan. 19, 1859 in Charlestown, at the summit of Bunker Hill, Suffolk
Co., MA, died March 15, 1862, at 6 am; 3 years old. Died in Brooklyn,
NY, buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Boston.
3. Leila Ada Page,
born Jan. 15, 1861, in Brooklyn, Kings Co., NY; died 1942; 81 years old.
Married (June 19, 1888, in Minn., MN) to Charles Wilcox. The family lived
in Seattle, WA, for many years.
4. Stella Althea Page,
"Alta," born June 13, 1864, in Brooklyn, Kings Co., NY; died
Sept. 7, 1945; 81 years old. Uncle Robert remembers that she married, and
soon divorced or separated from him, and then came to Calif. to live with
Cora. Mother thought that she was only engaged and never went through with
the marriage, and later lived with Leila in Washington! She is buried in
Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, next to her parents.
5. Andrew Forest Page,
"Forest," born Oct. 21, 1866, in Milford, Worcester Co., MA,
died Nov. 11, 1932; 66 years old. He was only 5’4" tall! Married
Ellen Atteberry.
6. Gracia Page,
"Grace," born Oct. 22, 1868, Ayer Junction, Middlesex Co., MA,
died Sept. 14, 1884; 16 years old. Died in Minneapolis, MN and buried in
Lakewood Cemetery.
7. Cora Lougene Page,
born April 4, 1871, in Madison, Dane Co., WI; died Sept. 24, 1965, in
Los Angeles, CA; 94 years old. Married (July 31st in Minn., MN) to Ralph
Everett Sunderland. They later divorced. She is buried in Lakewood Cemetery
in Minneapolis next to her parents.
Sources:
Samuel
Graves of Lynn, MA, by Kenneth Vance Graves (20
Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093, (508)384-8084) Kenneth
has organized a Graves Family Association for any Graves
descendants. For an annual $15 fee, you will receive
6 24-page newsletters per year, all about the research
and current events of the Graves clans.
The
Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His
deeds!
The Lord is near
to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth!
Psalm 145:17&18 (NASB)
