I noticed the recent GREENMAN query. have been interested in a Greenman
family that was in the Towns of Stephentown and Nassau in southern Rensselaer
County, N.Y. I wonder if Lorinda Greenman born in Allegany County in 1825
was from the Rensselaer County Greenmans. I know there were Greenmans in
Rhode Island; the name was often spelled "Grinman."
According to original records, Joseph and Benjamin Greenman were
unwillingly "seduced" to join the British in Rhode Island in the
Revolutionary War by their own father, but about 1778 they "escaped" and came
to New York and took an oath of allegiance to the American side. Benjamin
Greenman settled near the boundary line between Nassau and Stephentown, and
Joseph Greenman opened a tavern near the village of Alps in the Town of
Nassau. The 1779 tax list for this area lists no Joseph Greenman, but the
list does have Silas Grinman (an early settler of Stephentown), Sylvanus
Grinman, William Grinman, and "Benjamin Grinman's widow." Benjamin Grinman's
widow is a mystery, unless she was the widow of the alienated father in Rhode
Island of Benjamin and Joseph, who might have been a Benjamin Greenman, Sr.
In the Town of Nassau in the old Greenman Hill Cemetery is a stone for
Benjamin Greenman (1757-1841), who must have been the refugee from Rhode
Island in 1778. His wife, also buried there, was Lydia, daughter of Jeremiah
Brown. The cemetery also has Joseph R. Greenman (1754-1827), apparently the
other refugee from Rhode Island in 1778. Also in the cemetery is Martin
Greenman (1772-1858) and Russell R. Greenman (1796-1873) with his first wife
Cabrilla and second wife Lydia.
In the East Nassau Cemetery are Thomas M. Greenman (1841-1892) and Mary
E. Bailey, his wife, their daughter Jennie L. (1869-1903), and their son
Thomas R. (1882-1953). Thomas M. Greenman was the Stephentown Justice of the
Peace in 1870. Another early settler was Bingham Greenman, member of the
Stephentown Baptist Church in 1795.
I have not seen any Lorinda in this family.
Paul Huey