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MAJOR JOSEPH GRAFTON
From the portrait by GilbertStuart in the possession of
Joseph Grafton Minot of Boston,
The
GRAFTON
FAMILY
SALEM
of
By HENRY WYCKOFF BELKNAP
THE ESSEX INSTITUTE
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
1928
[Reprinted from the Historical Collections oftheEssexInstitute,
Volume LXIV.]
. J. tf)r f
C
Copyright 1928
.By.The.Essex Institute
, _ , , , . ,
NEWCOMB & GAUSS CO.. Printers
Salem,Massachusetts
19 2.8
THE GKAETOX FAMIT.Y OF SALEM.
By IIexky Wyckoff Belknap.
The following notes on the Grafton family wwe col-
lected many years ago, chiefly while engaged in research
upon other families. Lack of time since then has caused
them to be laid aside until now, but in view of the promi-
nence of the family in the early days of Salem and its
connection with other well-known names it seems worth
while to print them.
It is a remarkable fact that, even though the family
was never a large one and was for the most part in Salem,
a search of the vital records of all the towns in Essex
County down to the year 1850 reveals but two references
to the name. The line appears to have practically died
out and in the entire record which follows there are but
eight male lines which might possibly be carried down
to a later date and of these it is probable that the majority
of these sons were never married.
It is not known from what part of England Joseph
Grafton came, but in Emmerton and Waters ^‘Gleanings
from English Records’’ appears the will of Thomas Gard-
ner. citizen and grocer of London; August 23, 1590,
proved October 24-. 1590 in which are mentioned “wife
;
Katherine, cosen John Gardner, sons Thomas, Christopher
and Jeremy, cosen Richard Grafton, Henry Pickering”
and others. (Drury 7^G9.) The association of the names
Pickering, Gardner and Grafton is at least suggestive and
note their recurrence in connection with Priscilla (Graf-
ton) Gardner (Ko. 3).
Joseph Grafton was in Salem at least as early as 1636,
as the baptism of a child is recorded in January of that
year. He was a mariner and merchant and evidently a
man of considerable importance and large affairs and at
the time of his death he left what was a large estate for
those days, including much real estate. His first wife
was Mary, daughter of Thomas and Ann Moore of South-
wold, England, Avhose mother was certainly living here,
for “goodwife Grafton requesteth a pcell of land for hir
(1)
2 THE GRAFTON FAMILY OF SALEIM
mother at y® ende of hir husbands lott & it is granted to
be laid out at y® discretion of the sureiors,” August 28th
1637. Thomas Moore died before 1636.
,
Tt is also evident that, beside the daughter Mary, there
was also in Salem a son Thomas, for ^^llth 5th mo. 1636
Thomas Moore sonne to widow Moore & his wife are re-
ceived for Inhabitants and may haue one fishing lot on
the neck.’’ (Salem Town Records.)
Other grants of land, both to the widow and her son,
are recorded. Her death does not appear nor was her
estate settled in the Essex County Court, but she was
living in 1668 when ^^Hana alias Ann More, widow, hav-
ing sold a house, land and orchard adjoining, containing
about an acre and a quarter, lying in Salem between the
land of Mr. Joseph Grafton, sr. and Hathaniell Grafton,
came into court and declared that she sold the premises
for her necessary use, and the court allowed it.” (Quar-
terly Court Records, June 1668.)
“On August IT. 1668, Ann More, of Salem, widow,
executed another deed to John Turner, mariner, for a
messuage or tenement at Salem, a dwelling house, with
all the gTound adjoining, containing one acre and three-
fourths, partly an orchard, and part arable, lying on the
south by the highway that ran between the premises and
the south harbor, and westerly with the house and land
of Joseph Grafton, senior, northerly with the land of
Edward Wollen, and easterly with the land and house
of Hathaniel Grafton, formerly hot of Ann More. The
whole including that sold to H. Grafton, containing about
two acres.” The deed was acknowledged on February 9,
1668/9 (12 mo. 9), and recorded at Salem, Lib. 3 of
Deeds, p. 49.
This enables the site of her house and land to be yet
traced, as well as Turner’s wharf at the foot of Turner
street, now having another name. And it is satisfactory
evidence that she, the widow, was living in 1668. By
tradition her son Thomas helped her build the house, and
perhaps he lived in it, while he lived in Salem.
“It was a curious imitation of the manor law in Eng-
land, that she had to appear in court at Salem to have
