52 Ancestors: #14 Joel Higley

Joel Higley 

1739 - 1825

Joel Higley, an American Revolutionary Soldier, was born in Hartford County, CT.  

HIGLEY, JOEL
Service: CONNECTICUT

Rank: CIVIL SERVICE
Service Description:  INSPECTOR OF PROVISIONS

Joel married Eunice Haskins who was also born in Hartford County.  They resided in this place until they moved west to Meigs County, Ohio.  This where I first learned that I had Higley ancestors.  My aunt had shared family group sheets with me back in the mid 1980s and when the Internet became available to the general public, I started searching for more information.  The www.usgenweb.org project was one of my first and favorite places to find information that had been transcribed by volunteers and placed online at no charge, that FREE to everyone.  When I began this search I had only a name, Sophia Stearns Williams.  She married the Reverend James Gibson Mitchell in Meigs County, Ohio.  When I searched for the Williams surname, up popped the name Electa Williams.  A bell rang loud and clear, since Sophia and James Mitchell had a daughter named Electa who married William Cushing Hoag, my 2nd great grandfather.  The link to Electa Williams took me to Rootsweb's World Connect Family Tree project.  The source for the information is listed as Larkin's Pioneer History of Meigs County.  I found the digital image of the book on Archive.org, one of my favorite places to find information.  All the pieces started coming together!  Since my first discovery I have since found enough evidence to prove Joel Higley was my ancestor and add him as a patriot to my NSDAR membership.   Archive had several digital books on Granby, CT.  I plan to do more research on Joel to learn who his parents were and when they came to America.

Love the hunt!