LEVI CADWELL GRANT

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 680

LEVI CADWELL GRANT, now living retired in East Hartford, was one of the very successful farmers of the town of Vernon, Tolland county. He is a descendant of Matthew and Priscilla Grant, the founders of the Grant family in America.

Laban Grant, second son and third child of Matthew Grant, was but a babe when his parents removed from Dorchester, where he was born Feb. 3, 1633-34, to Windsor, Conn., at the first settlement. He married Hannah Palmer.

Laban Grant (2), son of Laban, married Hannah Bissell.

Thomas Grant, son of Laban (2), married Elizabeth Rockwell.

Samuel Rockwell Grant, son of Thomas, and the great-grandfather of Levi Cadwell, married Mabel Loomis.

Sylvester Grant, son of Samuel Rockwell, and grandfather of Levi Cadwell, married a Miss Gilbert.

Luther Grant, son of Sylvester, married Huldah Hamilton.

The Hamilton family, of which Levi Cadwell Grant is a member in maternal lines, is an old established one in Ellington, and its history in this
country begins with the coming of three brothers from Scotland about 1650, who settled in Massachusetts in that year. Daniel Hamilton, who settled in Ellington in 1782, was the third generation of this family. Daniel Hamilton had four brothers, all of whom were noted men in the troubled times of the American Revolution.

Luther Grant, mentioned above as the son of Sylvester, was born in East Windsor, and there attended school until he was about eighteen years of age. Married in Broadbrook, he soon after moved to Harts Grove, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, where he took up a claim on government land. After some two years’ residence he met with severe losses by fire, and returned to Connecticut. A second experiment in Ohio settlement was also followed by disastrous fire losses, and he again returned to Connecticut, and settled at East Windsor, where his wife’s father, Theodore Hamilton, gave him the rental of a large farm, and there he remained for a number of years. Luther Grant was a man of much ability, and though with limited advantages, he made the most of them. After a time he took up the sale of “Yankee notions” through Connecticut, making a specialty of brooms. He was a man who was not afraid of hard work, and could accomplish anything he undertook. For a time he
worked on rafts that were floated down the Connecticut river, but ill health hindered him from successful effort in this line. In 1848 the family moved to New Hampshire, and purchased a large lumber tract in Grafton county, where Mr. Grant engaged in lumbering and farming, but the climate proved too severe for him, making many visits to Connecticut a necessity for him. His health became more and more impaired and he died in Grafton county of consumption. Before his death his wife and his son, Levi C., had taken entire charge of the farm. Luther Grant was a Democrat, a man of high moral character, and closely associated with the church, where he sang for many years in the choir.

To Luther and Huldah (Hamilton) Grant were born: (1) Hamilton, a farmer in East Windsor, where he died in 1898, was twice married, first to Eliza Moody and second to Eliza Allen, both of East Windsor. (2) Frances married D. Wilson, and died in Arkansas. (3) Huldah Ann died young. (4) Levi Cadwell is mentioned in full further on. (5) Ianthea married Charles N. Young and moved to Deer Park, La Salle Co., Ill., where he died soon after their arrival. She then married Caleb Young, and is now located near Rantoul, Ill. She is the mother of twins, Charles M. and Roestine. (6) Charles R. served in the Civil war from 1862 to 1865. At his first enlistment he was rejected as being under the prescribed age. When he returned from the war he located in Boston, where he was long express agent for the Boston & Albany Railroad, later becoming general baggage master. Frequently he acts as conductor of the Raymond excursions to the Pacific Coast and other points. He is married and has three daughters, Daisy, Amy and Grace. His home is at Malden, Mass. (7) Roestine has been twice married, and is now
residing at Orford, New Hampshire.

Levi Cadwell Grant was born in East Windsor, Conn., July 4, 1837, and began to earn his living when a very small lad. When his parents removed to New Hampshire he accompanied them, and as his father’s health failed much of the burden of the farm labor fell on him. Mr. Grant had but limited opportunities for schooling, but what he lacked in the work of the schoolroom he had more than made up by close observation and wide reading. Early in his life he showed native ability and business foresight, and his career has been very successful. In every situation in which he has been placed he has showed himself equal to the demands made upon him. At the age of sixteen he went to Vernon, where he worked for a time in the farming circles, and was then received into the working force of the paper mill at Talcottville. When he was nineteen he spent some months in Ohio, and then making a second westward trip from Connecticut, went to Minnesota, stopping
in Dane county, Wis., where he took up a farm near Lodi, but thinking it would not give him ready returns, he returned to Connecticut. After his marriage his wife did not favor his western ambitions, and they decided to remain in Connecticut. For several years he was employed at farm work in Columbia, his wife’s native town, and was also engaged in East Windsor town. Mr. Grant says of his early life, that he was always a good hand to earn money, but his wife a better hand to save it.

In 1862 he bought a farm property in the town of Columbia, which was flooded by the building of the Willimantic Linen Company’s reservoir. In 1864 he bought a farm of 168 acres in the town of Vernon, on the Hockanum river. From that time he has bought and sold considerable property, and now has quite extensive real estate interests in East Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass. In 1865 he raised his first crop of tobacco, and has developed extensive interests in this line. Aside from his very successful general farming, Mr. Grant has acted for thirty-two years as the local agent for the fertilizer firm of E. Frank Coe Co., of New York. In 1881 he built the substantial and elegant home where he lived until April 1, 1902, when, after disposing of his farm above, he removed to East Hartford, where he now lives. Mr. Grant is a staunch Republican, and cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, and he has always voted “no license.” He could never be induced to accept a position in the official service of his community, though he has often been asked to do so. Mr. Grant does not belong to any secret societies, and attends the Methodist Church.

Mr. Grant was married March 16, 1856, to Mary Elizabeth, a daughter of Gerard Abel and Eunice (Brown) Bascom, of Columbia, Conn., and a
granddaughter of Bealey Bascom. To Gerard A. Bascom and his wife were born two children: Mary E., born Sept. 28, 1831, is the wife of Mr. Grant; and Fannie W. is the wife of C.E. Brown, of Columbia, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Grant have had the following children: (1) Olin A., born Aug. 1, 1857, died at the age of two months. (2) One born Feb. 24, 1859, died unnamed. (3) Herbert W., born Jan. 3, 1861, married Annie Hale, of Middletown, Conn., and resides in East Hartford, where he is engaged in the livery business. They have two children, Hazel Wildwood and James Levi. (4) George H., born May 18, 1863, married Ella Tuttle, and lives in East Hartford. They have one son, Olin. (5) M. Rosa, born Jan. 31, 1866, married William Trask, of Springfield, Mass., and is the mother of two children, Bernice Iola and Donald Cadwell. Mr. Trask was employed as an operator for twenty years in the Smith and Wesson Works, and is now engaged with the Morgan Envelope
Company. (6) F. Iola, born Feb. 23, 1867, married, Nov. 27, 1885, Harry A. Adams, a practical mechanic, now the superintendent and part owner of the Fox Typewriter Co., at Grand Rapids, Mich. Their home is at East Hartford. They have had two children, Ethel Rosaline, who died at the age of nine years; and Ruth Viola.

The career of Mr. Grant is a singularly happy illustration of what push and energy, when conjoined with moral ideals and a noble ambition, can accomplish. Beginning with nothing, and fighting his own way, he has come to the front, and well deserves a prominent place in a list of the representative and successful men of Tolland county. Despite his years and wonderful energy, he is active in mind and body. Few men have gone through life as he, with the years of hard labor, who remain physically his equal at his age. His success has been of the kind that enables him to retain the respect and esteem of all, and he was fortunate in the selection of a wife who shares the credit of his success.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel – great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct.