GRANT, Penuel

   User ID: Q119

  General Notes:

"Not long after her husband left the farm his wife, Penuel, heard that her two elder boys, Alexander and Sweton, although still in their early 'teens, were also commissioned in the King's American Regiment as loyalist soldiers, and she decided that it would be preferable to risk taking them through about 170 miles of country held by the 'Patriots' to join her husband in New York.

Sometimes walking, and at other on horseback without saddles, Penuel and her boys pursued their way until, near the ferry crossing of the Hackinsach river, they were observed and hailed by enemy scouts. They continued until a sentinel presented his piece at Mrs. Grant, and it subsequently misfired three times. Penuel and her two boys then felt obliged to surrender and were placed under restraint. They managed to escape and succeeded in covering the [72] remaining 49 miles to Long Island. During this hazardous journey, Mrs. Grant had in her possession the silver token that passed between the British commanders and was thus the means of conveying it safely into the hands of Sir Henry Clinton.

The younger children were left at the farm in charge of the servants and committed to the care of the Congress and Colonel Ten Broek. They were subsequently sent to their mother 'by orders of General Washington and with all the comfort which his benevolent nature could provide for them'.

Penuel Grant, James's widow, remained in New York for a period after his death (in fact, she gave birth to her youngest child in New York on the same day). She expressed the desire to be sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Colonel Edmund Fanning (who had commanded the King's American Regiment) was now Lieutenant-Governor. She had five sons and three daughters and three servants, together with 'furniture for two rooms and a kitchen, one horse and a chair, if they could be carried with convenience'. The family were taken to Halifax and later the two elder boys went to be be planters in Antigua, while the rest of the family were repatriated to London. Penuel died there in her 81st year, on 21 February 1824."Family Tree by Rear-Admiral John Grant

from Family Tree by Rear-Admiral John Grant

Penuel married James GRANT Adjutant in the 87th Highlanders, then in the King's American Regiment, son of Sweton GRANT of Lynchburn and Elizabeth JACKSON, in 1763. (James GRANT Adjutant in the 87th Highlanders, then in the King's American Regiment was born in 1723 and died on 31 July 1782 in Charleston, Siuth Carolina, USA.). The cause of his death was fatigue and hardships of military service.

  Marriage Notes:

"After re-joining the Black Watch for a period, James (Grant) was, on 26 April 1762, commissioned adjutant of the 87th Regiment, or 'Murray Keith's Highlanders'. He married Penuel Grant in 1763, who was the elder daughter of Alexander Grant of Auchterblair of the Clan Alan, and grand-daughter of William Grant of Lurg.

In 1774 James Grant and his wife decided to emigrate to America with their six children. They bought, or rented, a farm from a Colonel Abraham Ten Broek of Albany. James was then 51 and his wife 31, and, after his many years of war service, their intention was, no doubt, to lead a reasonably quiet and uneventful life. In 1775, the American Revolution broke out, and James Grant, having only recently retired from the 87th Highlanders, no doubt felt that his only course of action was to proceed to New York to join the king's forces, leaving his wife and family on the farm in the care of the Ten Broeks."

from Family Tree by Rear-Admiral John Grant

Note:

This source states, also, what is said elsewhere but difficult to substantiate, or accomodate, with the information established at present, that Margaret Grant, a younger sister of James Grant's wife, Penuel, married, as his second wife, Sir Alexander Grant, (1705-1772), Baronet of Dalvey.