Simon was born in Griswold, Connecticut (called Pachaug at the time) in 1759 during the French and Indian Wars, and died in 1835 at age 76.
[1] According to Griswold legend, General George Washington stopped to refresh himself in Pachaug on the way to Boston in June 1775.
Word of his arrival spread rapidly throughout the small community, and Washington noticed a group of young men engaged in exercises such as leaping and wrestling.
Washington summoned him to his room and asked him to be his bodyguard, and Simon remained with him throughout the Revolutionary War.
[2] The Marquis de Lafayette visited Johnson Tavern in Jewett City on August 22, 1824 and met many who had known Washington from the Revolutionary War, one of whom was Simons.