Joseph Granger 1765-1847

Happy birthday to my 2nd great grandfather born in 1765, Dec. 7, in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts.

I still have trouble figuring out what a 2nd great grandfather might be.  It's not a great great grandfather.  Because Joseph Granger is actually my grandmother's grandmother's father.  I have 5 "greats" in front of his name.  So those Ancestry people figure things out in squares rather than linear time, I guess.  My great, great, great, great, great grandfather was born on this day in MA.

There, now I feel connected through the centuries.
He was a little boy during the American Revolution.  He had 6 siblings (or maybe more because new ones seem to get added as more research is done into ancestors.)

His parents were Jacob (1735-1795) and Sarah Farnam Granger (1730-1806) whose grave markers still may be found in Old North Parish Burying Ground, North Andover, MA.  A brief post was on my blog Here for Jacob's birthday in August.




Back to Joseph.  He married at age 28 in 1794, in Newburyport, Essex, MA.  The writing of the record is almost illegible, so it's either Jan 20, or 29, or June 20.  His wife was Sarah Tyler (1768 – 1831).

They had seven children, and George Tyler Granger (1806-?) was to be my 'great times 4' grandfather, (see post here.)

Upper left notation is "Children of Joseph and Sarah Grainger" which shows his son and my ancestor, George Tyler, born in 1806 rather than the 1804 date which all the other records on Ancestry show.  Oh my.  This is how records are messed up.

Jacob lived to be 81, which is outstanding in and of itself.  He died Mar 21, 1847.  He had outlived his wife, and at least 2 of his children.  

The 1840 Newburyport, MA census has him in a household (age 75) with one female age 30-40.  None of his own daughters would have been that young still, so someone else was caring for him in his last years, perhaps a relative or not.  It doesn't really matter.  Someone made sure his family continued, and I am glad of that.