Person:Benoni Grover (1)

Thomas S Fiske, a descendant of Benoni & Hannah has written the following on his blog. (To see a copy of the picture see his blog or Bononi's scrapbook in my file)

http://plantingtrees.blogspot.com/2005/12/freedom-as-catalyst.html Tuesday, December 20, 2005 Freedom as a Catalyst

In my old files is a photograph of ancestors named Grover. I know who most of them are, too. The one in the back row a bit to the right of center with a beard was a U.S. Congressman in 1865. The folks in the picture are his brothers and sisters and a couple wives. They were all born about the turn of the century?the nineteenth century, that is.

What is remarkable about these people cannot be told from the photo. It is that they were all dirt-poor as kids. Their father was a farmer who lost a leg and who had to find another means of support for his twelve kids. He became a shoemaker in a small town in western New York State and supported everyone that way. It was through diligence and effort that he did a good job. What you see in the picture are fairly successful people in middle age, however grim they might appear. The seated man is a successful doctor while the congressman is a lawyer, politician, banker, farmer and land owner.

Dirt-poor no longer, theirs is a typical American story of personal growth in a nation that was growing.

The Grovers were religious. But people in other nations are religious. What seems to have made a difference with the Grovers and countless others is that they were optimistic, religious and free. Freedom was the catalyst, but the peculiar mixture of optimism and religion with the freedom made their lives and even ours possible. It is what separates us from the rest of the world, certainly from Europe.

There is an American culture. It has been in development for over two centuries and it is thrusting us forward toward unrivaled wealth and power. We do not want to give it up to satisfy the people who have their eyes fixed on European styles of civilization. Most of our ancestors came here to get away from European ways. They knew something some of us seem to have forgotten.

I am republishing a 1903 Grover genealogy. Included in the old details of the family will be corrections and additions and a few family stories. The Internet has allowed much more information to be discovered since 1903. My mother was one of the last to be recorded in the old book, so I can add a few more generations. It will not be a big seller, but for those of us in the Grover clan, it will be a very important book, almost as important as the family Bible.

Culture Freedom Genealogy history Conservatives posted by Thomas Fiske at 3:13 PM

Ontario Co Land records - http://raims.com/Deedg.html Grantee Grantor 1833 Glover Charles Grover Benoni 54 61 1833 Glover George Grover Benoni 54 61 1816 Grover Benoni Pullen Nicholas 25 47 1826 Grover Benoni Stebbins Carlos 44 631 1831 Grover Benson Young Nancy 50 473 1800 Grover Joseph McCrumb George 6 657 1802 Grover Joseph Spencer Abyah 8 603 1804 Groveror Israel Pullen Nicholas 9 526 1818 Grover Zadock Johnstone Sir John 30 322

Orleans Co Probate records Grover, Benoni Ridgeway 1834 administration 18-653

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Knowlesville Cem transcription, http:/www.rootsweb.com/~nyorlean/cemknow2.htm.
2. ↑ My Family tree @rootsweb.
3. ↑ Thomas Sabastian Fiske (1).
4. ↑ http:/archive.hws.edu/Archives/Newspapers/Gazette/1811/GAZ JANUARY 2 1811.pdf.
5. ↑ http:/www.rootsweb.com/~nyorlean/surrg.htm.