Roswell Grant papers

This collection consists for the most part of papers accumulated by Roswell Grant (1745/6-1834) of East Windsor in his capacity of Justice of the Peace. It also includes materials relating to the town of East Windsor, to the school district, of which he was treasurer, and to the business carried on in East Windsor by his father, Ebenezer Grant (1708-1797), merchant, and other family members.

Series 1, Listed Papers, 1740-1899, contains papers that at some point were organized by subject and described at the item level. A list of documents is at the beginning of the series. Subjects represented include justice files, 1753-1840; land, 1740-1806; society accounts, 1791-1798; town accounts, 1793-1837; school accounts, 1743-1798, 1899; highways and bridges, 1796-1828; town poor, 1826-1838; strays, 1765-1816; church papers, 1761-1839; miscellany, 1782-1795; U.S. Revenue Collector accounts, 1800; West Indian trade and other shipping, 1736-1775; miscellaneous private accounts, 1741-1833; newspapers and Colebrook taxes, 1820-1842; probate, 1752-1862; letters and photographs, 1786-1874. Of the four photographs, one is identified as Sarah Spurr. The others are unidentified.

Series 2, Business and Legal Accounts, 1735-1886, includes account books of Ebenezer and Roswell Grant, 1743-1842; invoices, 1749-1831; bills and receipts, 1735-1886; and lists of materials ordered or shipped and other papers pertaining to the business affairs of Ebenezer Grant and Roswell Grant, 1740-1837. The account books consist of four volumes of accounts and day books probably kept by Ebenezer Grant. These provide an excellent overview of the trade carried on by a country merchant in the mid-eighteenth century. Volumes 1-2 hold accounts of Ebenezer Grant covering the years 1743-1754 and 1765-1768. Many people from East Windsor and environs are representing, including numerous Grants and several representatives of the powerful Wolcott clan. The entries are divided into two columns, the left listing goods purchased from Grant and the right holding the forms of payment. Volume 3, daybook, covers the years 1766-69 and consists of daily accounts of goods purchased in his store. The information sometimes corresponds directly with that found in Account Book 2. The items purchased consist of food and drink and a wide variety of dry goods. The goods for just three days in July 1767 include chocolate, cloth, coffee, a felt hat, glass, gloves, indigo, knives and forks, molasses, needles and pins, nutmegs, paper, pork, pepper, ribbon, rum, salt, and sugar (Box 3, Volume 3, 138-39). The extensive trade carried on by Grant is indicated by the fact that on July 17, 1767 he served eighteen different customers. Volume 4 consists of accounts of trade to the West Indies, Boston, and New York for the years 1768-1774, the goods consisting primarily of horses, other livestock, barreled fish and meat, and tobacco shipped on the sloop Ranger, brigantine Hartford, sloop Sally, and sloop Nancy. The bulk refer to the Ranger and the Nancy. Also included are some Revolutionary War accounts, including some to supply American troops.

Series 3, Justice of the Peace Papers, 1743-1842, include writs, executions and other papers concerned with actions handled by the Grants as Justices of the Peace. The majority are debt cases.

Series 4, Personal and Political Papers, 1754-1868, contains letters received by Roswell Grant and by other family members, 1785-1832, 1858-1868; East Windsor town papers including orders to pay for town expenses, 1821-1828, correspondence concerning paupers, 1829-1830, miscellaneous notes and receipts, 1796-1828, and voting records, 1797-1823; school district orders to pay, 1775-1800; First Society papers including list of parish notes, 1800, minutes of meetings, 1754-1767, and orders to pay, 1790-1828; drafts of documents and letters, 1805-1818; business papers of Peter and William Verstille, 1754-1802, that include notes, invoices, correspondence. Roswell Grant was executor of the estate of Peter Verstille, a Wethersfield merchant who died about 1779; a glossary of legal terms, circa 1815; and fragments and unidentified documents.