The Jewetts are of English ancestry and are said to descend from Henri de Juatt, a knight of the First Crusades. In America the earliest Jewett record is of Maximilian, of Rowley, Massachusetts, born 1607, died 1684, who cane from England in 1638 with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and sixty others who settled at Rowley in April, 1639. Maximilian Jewett was a son of Edward Jewett, of Bradford, Yorkshire, England. From Rowley the family spread over New England and other states until they may be found in every state in the Union. The New York family are of record in many counties of the state. They were pioneers in many of them. They descend from the branch that first settled in New Jersey after leaving New England. They are now found in the Mohawk Valley, descendants of the pioneers of one hundred and fifty years ago.
(I) Henry W. Jewett, M. D., son of Elijah Jewett, grandson of Thomas Jewett, a revolutionary pensioner from New Jersey, was born near Rome, New York, March 24, 1823, died January 21, 1899. He received the usual district school education, but he was an ambitious lad and determined to have a better education and a profession. With this object in view he read such medical books as he could secure in Rome, and then placed himself under the preceptorship of Dr. Pope, a well known physician of Rome, New York. He read and studied with him for some years, then at the Geneva, New York, Medical School, finishing his studies and receiving from that institution his degree and diploma. He was still a young man when he began practice at Depauville, Jefferson county, New York; he later located at Chaumont, same county. There he practiced long and successfully. In 1868, he was one of the founders of the Jefferson County Medical Association, and in 1872 was elected president. Retiring from active practice, Dr. Jewett died while on a visit to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the home of a brother. He married, in Jefferson county, New York, Mary Allen (see Allen family), born December 29, 1828, died February 27, 1884. She bore him children:
- Ella Cornelia, born April 11, 1850, died March 28, 1890; married (first) Herbert Reed, by whom she had a daughter, Mollie, born 1875, died February 5, 1890; married (second) Albert Fish, who died without issue.
- Charles Allen, see forward.
- Mary E., born February 26, 1861, died May 12, 1895; married John F. George; he resides in Chaumont, Jefferson county, with their only son, Charles Jewett George, born July 9, 1893.
(II) Charles Allen, only son of Dr. Henry W. and Mary (Allen) Jewett, was born November 11, 1854. He has now retired from active business, resides in Amsterdam, New York, where he was for many years engaged in mercantile life. He was influential in the public affairs of the city, and served on the board of water commissioners. He is a member of the board of trade. He is connected with the Reformed church. He married, September 6, 1876, Georgiana Gray, born February 23, 1856. They have one child, Florence G., born November 30, 1877. She married George H. Churchill, a successful jeweler of Amsterdam. He is a member of the board of trade, the Antlers and Fort Johnson clubs.
(The Allen Line)
The Allen ancestry is traced to England and Wales. There are many sources of information that are closed by the fact that genealogists cannot agree on the common American ancestor. In fact there are several Allens who settled in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, at a date so early that it is impossible to prove whether they were emigrants or children of emigrants, names, dates and places of residence being the same.
(I) William Allen, from whom Mary (Allen) Jewett descended, was of Portsmouth, Rhode Island (Prudence Island), where he died in 1685. He is believed to have been born in Wales in 1640. In his will proved June 29, 1685, he names wife Elizabeth, sons William, John, Thomas, Matthew, daughters Mercy and Sarah.
(II) William (2), son of William (1) and Elizabeth Allen, was born at Portsmouth, Rhode Island (Prudence Island). December 13, 1687, he was fined for refusing to take oath as grand juryman. This may have been a matter of conscience as many of the family were members of the Society of Friends. In 1705 he was deputy to the general court. He married and had three sons, the elder being John.
(III) John, son of William (2) Allen, was born at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He was a soldier of the revolution. His name is on the list of non-commissioned officers of the Rhode Island regiment in February, 1781, as sergeant. He married Susan, daughter of Captain Goddard, a ship owner of Providence, Rhode Island.
(IV) James, son of John and Susan (Goddard) Allen, was born at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, February 25, 1744, died in Amsterdam, New York, April 12, 1811. He was also a soldier of the revolution in the Rhode Island regiment, enlisting from Portsmouth. With the money received from the government for military service, he removed to Montgomery county, New York, and purchased land in the town of Amsterdam. He married Martha Pease, of the well known Rhode Island family of that name.
(V) Caleb, son of James and Martha (Pease) Allen, was born in Rhode Island, 1776, died in Amsterdam, New York. It was at his house that the first town meeting was held in the town of Amsterdam. He married Sarah Fairbanks, of the New England Fairbanks family.
(VI) Cyrus, son of Caleb and Sarah (Fairbanks) Allen, was born in the town of Amsterdam, Montgomery county, New York, April 22, 1798, died October 3, 1879. He married Cornelia, daughter of Garrett Roseboom, of Albany, New York.
(VII) Mary, daughter of Cyrus and Cornelia (Roseboom) Allen, was born in Amsterdam, New York, December 29, 1828, died February 27, 1884. She married Dr. Henry W. Jewett, (see Jewett I).
(The Gray-Grey Line)
Most genealogists derive this ancient and noble family from Fulbert, Chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy, who held by his gift the castle of Croy in Picardy from which the name is assumed to have been borrowed. There is, however, no evidence for this for the pedigree is only traced to Henry de Grey to whom Richard Coeur de Lion gave the manor of Thurrock in Essex, which manor was subsequently known as Grey's Thurrock. From D'Ainsy it appears that the family came from Grai or Gray, a village near Caen. There were Grays in the train of William the Conqueror. In England the name is usually Grey, in Scotland Gray. They intermarried with royalty, sometimes to their sorrow as in the case of Lady Jane Grey. The Gray family in America is numerous, widespread, and of many diverse branches. They were among the Pilgrims of New England. The Quakers of Pennsylvania were early settlers in Virginia, as well as other southern states. From 1620 to 1720 at least twenty different families of Grays emigrated to this country and made their homes in the new world. It is a historic fact, worthy of mention, that Mrs. Desire Kent, daughter of Edward Gray, who came over on the "Mayflower," was the first woman to land at Plymouth Rock. The family to which Mrs. Georgiana (Gray) Jewett belongs was undoubtedly founded in America by John Gray, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who was born in England, a son of John Gray (1), a pensioner of the British navy in which he had lost an arm. John Gray (2) married at Beverly, Massachusetts, April 28, 1704, Ruth Hubbard. He had sons and from him the Montgomery county family descend.
(I) Major Samuel Gray was born in the town of Palatine, Montgomery county, New York, January 23, 1751, died March 19, 1832. He was a brave soldier of the revolution and commanded troops at the disastrous battle of Oriskany. He married, April 28, 1776, Catherine Suits, born August 31, 1753, died March 8, 1825. They had several children.
(II) Jacob, son of Major Samuel and Catherine (Suits) Gray, was born in Palatine, New York, 1792, died April 15, 1862. He married Hannah Everson, a native of Montgomery county. They had an only son.
(III) John Joseph, only son of Jacob and Hannah (Everson) Gray, was born at Palatine, New York, July 2, 1814, died January 1, 1899, in Amsterdam, New York. For many years he was a successful contractor of large undertakings in Vermont and New Hampshire. He came to Amsterdam, New York, and secured contracts, enlarging, deepening and widening a portion of the Erie Canal. In Amsterdam, July 21, 1842, he married Maria Curtiss, born there May 16, 1819, died October 10, 1890. They were the parents of Georgiana Gray who became the wife of Charles Allen Jewett and the mother of Florence G. Jewett (Mrs. George H. Churchill).
Another line of colonial and revolutionary ancestry is that of Maria Curtiss, mother of Mrs. Jewett. She was a daughter of Warren H. and Catherine (Pettingill) Curtiss. Catherine Pettingill's grandfather, Samuel Pettingill, was a soldier of the revolution. He was killed at the battle of Oriskany where the brave General Herkimer fell and Major Samuel Gray was engaged. Samuel Pettingill married Catherine Cline, who was born in Holland. Their son Samuel married Christiana, daughter of Captain William Snook, of Snooks Corners, Florida. Captain Snook was a descendant of the Emigrant Snook, who settled on a grant of six hundred and forty acres in Florida.