General William GRAYSON (1740–1789) Senator

LINTON Chronicles

General William GRAYSON (1740–1789) Virginia Senator

Project

page established April 2009

General William GRAYSON (1740-1789) and Eleanor SMALLWOOD (1744-1789) Copyright © The United States Senate Historical Office. (Uncle of Alexander Dalrymple Orr), a Delegate and a Senator from Virginia; born in Prince William County, Va., around 1740; attended the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania; pursued classical studies in England at the University of Oxford and studied law in London; returned to Virginia and practiced law in Dumfries; during the Revolutionary War was commissioned lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp to General George Washington and promoted to colonel January 1777; commissioner of the Board of War 1780-1781; resumed the practice of law; member, Virginia house of delegates 1784-1785, 1788; member of the Continental Congress 1785-1787; delegate to the Virginia convention of 1788 for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which he opposed; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, until his death in Dumfries, Virginia., March 12, 1790; interment on the old family estate at Belle Air, near Dumfries, Virginia.

General William GRAYSON (1740-1789) Virginia Senator

4^th great-granduncle of Kirk Louis LINTON (1914-1987)

William GRAYSON (1740-1789) was the 3^rd great-granduncle of Annie Lucretia CRONK (1888-1956) and the 4^th great-granduncle of Kirk Louis LINTON (1914-1987).

William GRAYSON (1740-1790 was a planter, lawyer and statesman from Virginia. After leading a Virginia regiment in the Continental Army, Grayson served in the Virginia House of Delegates before becoming one of the first two U.S. Senators from Virginia, as well as a leader of the Anti-Federalist faction. Grayson became the first member of the United States Congress to die while holding office.

William was the son of Caption Benjamin GRAYSON (1684-1758) & Susanna MONROE, (1695-1752). William was born in 1740 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton, Parish, Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia. He died on September 29, 1789 in Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 49. He was buried at Belle Air Plantation, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia.

William married Eleanor SMALLWOOD (1744-1789) the daughter of Bayne SMALLWOOD (1711-1768) & Priscilla HEABARD (1710-1798) in 1764 in Charles County, Maryland. Eleanor was born in 1744 in Saint Charles, Charles County, Maryland and died on September 22, 1789 in Frederick County, Virginia at age 45.

William & Eleanor had children:

Hebe Smallwood GRAYSON (1766–1813); Frederick GRAYSON (1778–1832); George Washington GRAYSON (1778–1832); John Robinson GRAYSON (1779–?); Alfred William GRAYSON (1780–1811);William GRAYSON (1785–1863); Susannah GRAYSON (1786–?); Robert Harrison Hanson GRAYSON (1788–1838)

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Direct Ancestral Linage

William GRAYSON (1740-1789)

Susanna MONROE (1695-1752) & Caption Benjamin GRAYSON (1684–1758)

John LINTON (1730-1775) & Elizabeth "Betty" ELLICOT (1729–?)

John Augustine Elliott LINTON (1769-1822) & Sarah TYLER (1763–1835)

Cyntharine "Cynthia" LINTON (1796-1865) & Peter MILLS (1800–1855)

Sarah Anna "Susanna" MILLS (1833-1866) & Charles Greenberry CRONK (1811–1866)

Charles Fenton CRONK (1852-1918) & Georganna Lucretia COXEN (1855–1897)

Annie Lucretia CRONK (1888-1956) & Charles “Charlie” Edward LINTON (1890-1958)

Kirk Louis LINTON (1914-1987) & Evelyn Virginia BIRD (1922-2012)

5^th great-granduncle of Kenneth “Ken” Edward LINTON & Terry Louis LINTON

Susanna MONROE (1695-1752)

Mother of William GRAYSON ((1740-1790)

grandaunt of President James MONROE (1758-1831)

4^th great-grandmother of Annie Lucretia CRONK (1888-1956)

5^th great-grandmother of Kiri Louis LINTON (1914-1987)

LINTON Chronicles Volume XVIII, Issue 3, Fall © 2023, ISSN 1941-3521

Susanna Monroe (1695-1752) was the mother of General William GRAYSON ((1740-1790) Sentor, the grandaunt of President James MONROE (1758-1831), the 4^th great-grandmother of Annie Lucretia CRONK (1888-1956) and the 5^th great-grandmother of Kiri Louis LINTON (1914-1987).

Susanna was the daughter of Captain Andrew MONROE (1661-1714) & Eleanor SPENCE (1664-1708) She was born in 1695 at Monrovia Plantation, Monroes Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Susanna died on November 8, 1752 at Belle Aire Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 57. She was buried in November 1752, at Belle Aire Plantation, in Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia. [i] She attended the Truro Parish Occoquan Church, today known as the Pohick Church. [ii]

Susanna first married Charles TYLER Jr., (1695-1724) the son of Charles TYLER Sr., (1667-1722) & Jane JORDAN (1660-1627) in 1713, in Stafford County, Virginia. Charles was born in 1695 in Stafford County, Virginia and died in 1724, in Stafford County, Virginia, at age 29. [iii]

Susanna & Charles had five children:

i. Charles TYLER (1716-1767) was born in 1716 in Cameron Parish, London, Virginia. and died in 1767, in Cameron, Loudoun, Virginia. at age 51. [iv]ii.

ii. Jane TYLER (1718-1761) was born in 1718 in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died in 1761 in North Carolina. at age 43. Jane married James LOVELL. [v]

iii. Monroe TYLER (1718-?) was born in 1718 in Virginia. [vi]

iv Sallie TYLER (1720-1781) was born in 1720, in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died in 1781 in Prince William, Virginia, at age 61. Sallie married Francis JACKSON. [vii]

v. John TYLER (1724-1792) was born in 1724 in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died in 1792 in Prince William, Virginia. at age 68. ^{^[viii]}

Susanna next married William LINTON (1700-1733)

William LINTON (1700-1733) was the son of Ship Captain John LINTON (1670-1726) & Ann BARTON (1679-1734) in 1728. [ix] They were married in Hamilton Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia. [x] William was born in 1700 at Linton Neck Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Linton Neck Tract was William’s third great grandfather’s, emigrant Moses LINTON (1562–1622) Esquire land, which was passed down from generation to generation. Moses had emigrated in 1609, on board the ship Sea Venture from York, Yorkshire, England. [xi] In 1729 William was elected Justice of Peace of Stafford County, Virginia. In 1731 he was elected Commissioner of Peace [xii] of the newly formed Prince William County, Virginia [xiii] Williiam died in 1733, at his Linton Neck Plantation, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 33. [xiv]

Susanna & William had three children:

i. Ann LINTON (1728-1785) was born in 1728 in Prince William County, Virginia. [xv] She died after 1784, in Colchester, Fairfax County, Virginia. Ann married James NESBETT on January 30, 1749 in Prince William County, Virginia. James was born in 1704 in Prince William County, Virginia and died in April 1783 in Colchester, Fairfax County, Virginia, at age 79. [xvi]

ii. John Taylor LINTON (1730-1775) was born in 1730, at Linton Neck Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Stafford County, Virginia. He died in 1775 at Lintonsford Plantation, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 45. He was buried in 1775 in the Lintonsford Plantation Cemetery, Prince William County, Virginia. John married Elizabeth "Betty" ELLICOT (1729-?) the daughter of John Augustine ELLICOTT (1693-1750) & Sibella HIGGINS (1685-1750), in 1752, in Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia. Elizabeth was born in 1729, in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died at Lintonsford Plantation, Prince William County, Virginia. [xvii]

iii. William LINTON (1732-1790) was born in 1732 at Linton Neck Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Stafford (now Prince William) County, Virginia and died in 1770, Fairfax County, Virginia, at age 38. William married Mary about 1752 in Stafford County, Virginia. Mary was born circa 1732 in Virginia and died in Colchester, Fairfax County, Virginia. [xviii] William acquired and rented numerus town lots in Colchester and operated a tavern from his “Linton enclosure” at the crossroads. He first acquired a tavern license in 1761 and then in 1763. From 1765 to 1770 he was a vestryman of Truro Parish serving with brother John and George Washington [xix] In 1788, William was one of the Founders and Trustees of Carrborough. [xx]

Susanna next married Caption Benjamin GRAYSON (1684-1758) the son of John Benjamin GRAYSON (1656-1736) Susanna WHITE (1663-1736) emigrants from Deal, Kent, England. They married in 1729, in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia. Benjamin was born in 1684 in Lancaster County, Virginia and died in 1758 in Hamilton, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 74. [xxi] Benjamin was one of the earliest of the Scottish merchants to establish Quantico, where Dumfries was to arise. He became a successful merchant and planter, as well as militia officer. In 1731. appointed one of the justices of the peace of Prince William County. He was a land speculator throughout Virginia. He established a tobacco warehouse at Dumphries then Occoquan. [xxii]

Susanna & Benjamin six had children:

i. Benjamin GRAYSON (1735-1768) was born in 1735 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Prince William County, Virginia and died in 1768 in Colchester, Fairfax County, Virginia, at age 33. In 1754, Benjamin married Elizabeth OSBORNE (1735-1828) the daughter of Robert OSBORNE (1710-?) in Prince William County, Virginia. Elizabeth was born in 1735 in Prince William County, Virginia and died on December 20, 1828, in Ashe County, North Carolina, at age 93. [xxiii]

ii. Reverent Spence Monroe GRAYSON (1737–1798) was born in 1737 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Prince William County, Virginia Spence married Mary Elizabeth WAGENER (1742-1810) the daughter of Reverent Peter WAGENER (1717–1798) & Catherine Beverley ROBINSON (1715–1776). Spence in 1757, inherited Belle Air Plantation from his father. Spencer fought in the American Revolutionary War in his brother William’s Regiment. In 1788, Spence was one of the Founders and Trustees of Carrborough. He died in 1798, at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 58. [xxiv]

Spence & Mary had fifteen known children:

Elizabeth GRAYSON (1752–1838); Samuel GRAYSON (1758–?); Catherine GRAYSON Hedgeman (1760–1795); Benjamin GRAYSON (1761–1833); Mary GRAYSON (1764–1795); Susannah Monroe GRAYSON (1768–1822); Colonel Peter Wagener GRAYSON (1770–1816); Anne GRAYSON (1772–1772); Spence Monroe Grayson II (1774–1829); John Robinson GRAYSON (1779–1822); Thomas Robinson GRAYSON (1779–1800); Judith GRAYSON (1780–1851); Beverly Robinson GRAYSON (1782–1843); Sally GRAYSON (1784–?); Caroline Ann GRAYSON (1786–1830).

iii. General William GRAYSON (1740-1789) Virginia Senator was born in 1740 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia. He died on September 29, 1789, in Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia, at age 49. William married Eleanor SMALLWOOD (1744-1789) the daughter of Bayne SMALLWOOD & Priscilla HEABARD, in 1764, in Charles County, Maryland. Eleanor was born in 1744 in Saint Charles, Charles County, Maryland and died on September 22, 1789, in Frederick County, Virginia, at age 45. [xxv]

William & Eleanor eight known had children

Hebe Smallwood GRAYSON (1766–1813); Frederick GRAYSON (1778–1832); George Washington GRAYSON (1778–1832); John Robinson GRAYSON (1779–?); Alfred William GRAYSON (1780–1811); William GRAYSON (1785–1863); Susannah GRAYSON (1786–?); Robert Harrison Hanson GRAYSON (1788–1838)

iv. Elizabeth Monroe GRAYSON (1743-1780) was born in 1743 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia. She died in 1780 in Leestown, Westmoreland County, Virginia, at age 37. Elizabeth married John ORR the son of Alexander ORR & Agnes DALRYMPLE, in 1751 in Virginia. John was born on July 25, 1726 at Waterside, Westmoreland County, Virginia. and died in Leestown, Westmoreland County, Virginia. [xxvi]

v. Susanna Monroe GRAYSON (1745-1822) was born in 1745 at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia. She died in 1822 in Mason County, Kentucky at age 77. [xxvii]

vi. Betty Osborne GRAYSON (1748-?) was born in 1748, at Belle Air Plantation, Hamilton Parish, Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia. [xxviii]

Sources:

[i] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 207… Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.Original data - Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing). … Lineages, Inc., comp, Westmoreland County, Virginia Wills, 1654-1800 - Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfilm copies of wills for this locality. Original data: Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfiche).

[ii] Slaughter, Rev. Phillip (1907). "The History of Truro Parish in Virginia". George W. Jacobs and Company. Retrieved July 8, 2012.

[iii] Global, Find A Grave Index for Non-Burials, Burials at Sea, and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Date:2012 Place: Provo, UT, USA).

[iv] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 207

[v] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 207

[vi] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 207

[vii] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 207

[viii] Lineages, Inc., comp, Westmoreland County, Virginia Wills, 1654-1800 - Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfilm copies of wills for this locality. Original data: Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfiche).

[ix] Yates Publishing, U.S., and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Original data - This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived), Source number: Source type: Number of Pages: Submitter Code:

[x] Selected Virginia Parish Histories & Land Descriptions: Hamilton Parish of Prince William was created by an Act of the Assembly adopted May 1730, effective 01 Jan 1730/31, providing that effective that date that the parish of Overwharton "be divided into two distinct parishes, by Chappawamsic Creek, and a southwest line to be made from the head of the North branch of the said Creek to the parish of Hanover, and that all that part of sd. parish which lies below the said bounds shall forever thereafter remain and be called and known by the name of Overwharton, and that all that other part of the said parish which lies above the said bounds, shall thereafter be called and known by the name of Hamilton. " (4 Hening 304). In other words, the county boundary lines of Prince William, created in 1730/1, and the Parish lines of Hamilton were practically the same. (See Also Truro Parish & Leeds Parish of Fauquier)

[xi] American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI): Details Name William Linton, Birth Place Virginia, Volume 104, Page number 417; Reference Gen. Column of the " Boston Transcript". 1906-1941. (the Greatest Single Source of Material For Gen. Data For the N.E. Area and For the Period 1600-1800. Completely Indexed in the Index.): 16 Apr 1924, 1670

[xii] Landmarks of Old Prince William, A study of origins in Northern Virginia, Volumes I & II, 2nd Reprint Edition; Detail pages 314, 664, Author Fairfax Harrison, Call number LCCCN 24-24847, Publisher Prince William County Historical Commission, Gatewway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1987

[xiii] The General Assembly of the colony of Virginia split Stafford County, Virginia in 1731, and added a section which had previously been part of King George County in order to create Prince William County.[6] The county was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the third son of King George II.[7] The area encompassed by the 1731 act creating Prince William County originally included all of what later became the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, and Loudoun; and the independent cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

[xiv] Prince William County Probate Records Virginia Wills, Part 2, 1734-1920; Detail Source Given Name William Surname Linton, Year 1736, Inventory Book C, Inventory Page # 72, Account Book C, Account Page # 432

[xv] "Legislation creating Prince William County, Virginia". Historic Prince William. Archived from the original on April 22, 2000. Retrieved September 20, 2008: Content; General Assembly of the colony of Virginia split Stafford County, Virginia in 1731, and added a section which had previously been part of King George County to create Prince William County. The county was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the third son of King George II. The area encompassed by the 1731 act creating Prince William County originally included all of what later became the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, and Loudoun; and the independent cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

[xvi] Edmund West, comp, Family Data Collection - Individual Records (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.), Birth year: 1695; Birth city: Westmoreland; Birth state: VA.

[xvii] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 991, Bowie, Maryland), Birth, Marriage, and Death. .... Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. .... Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp, Virginia Census, 1607-1890 Original data - Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes.Orig). .... Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly …. Lineages, Inc., comp, Westmoreland County, Virginia Wills, 1654-1800 - Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfilm copies of wills for this locality.Original data: Records transcribed from LDS Family History Library microfiche).

[xviii] Yates Publishing, US. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: - This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived), Source number 45; Source type: Number of Pages: 1 ; Submitter Code:

[xix] Sprouse, Edith Moore, COLCHESTER Colonial Port on the Potomac; Published by the Fairfax County Office of Comprehensive Planning under the direction of the County Board of Supervisors in cooperation with the Fairfax County History Commission; Fairfax, Virginia, March 1975, second printing 1977; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-7787. P 179.

[xx] Landmarks of Old Prince William, A study of origins in Northern Virginia, Volumes I & II, 2nd Reprint Edition; Detail pages 664, Author Fairfax Harrison, Call number LCCCN 24-24847, Publisher Prince William County Historical Commission, Gatewway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1987

[xxi] U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Date:2011 Place: Provo, UT, USA), Volume: …. John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 77, 78. .... Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.Original data - Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County. Baltimore: Genealogical P). .... Gale Research, Passenger, and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.Original data - Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passengers), Place: Virginia; Year: 1607-1750; Page Number: 63. … Yates Publishing, U.S., and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 - This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived), Source number: Source type: Number of Pages: Submitter Code:

[xxii] Fairfax Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William, A study of origins in Northern Virginia, Volumes I & II, 2nd Reprint Edition; Detail pages 151,156,272,339; Call number LCCCN 24-24847, Publisher Prince William County Historical Commission, Gatewway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1987

[xxiii] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 210

[xxiv] North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Date:2016 Place: Provo, UT, USA), Book Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 003. … John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 78.

[xxv] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 65,67,68,77,78,122 .... Maryland Revolutionary War Records (Ancestry.com Operations Inc Date:2000 Place: Provo, UT, USA). .... U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 (Ancestry.com. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.), Volume: 13. .... Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005 Original data - United States. Congress. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2005.Original data: United States). .... U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Date:2014 Place: Provo, UT, USA). .... North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, Book Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 003.

[xxvi] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 78.

[xxvii] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 78.

[xxviii] John P. Alcock, Five Generations Of The Family Of Burr Harrison Of Virginia 1650 - 1800 (Heritage Books, INC., 1991, Bowie, Maryland), page 78.

Linton Research Fund Inc., Publication © 1987-2023 "Digging for our Roots"

William LINTON, Sr., (1706-1733) & Susanna MONROE (1693-1752)

(4^th great-grandfather of Annie Lucretia Cronk 1888-1956)

(5^th great-grandfather and great-grandmother of Kirk Louis LINTON 1914-1987)

________________

William LINTON Sr., (1706-1733) was the 2^nd child of John LINTON (1670-1725) and Ann BARTON (1690-1734).

In 1706, William’s Linton ancestors were not new comers to the America colonies. William’s father, John LINTON Jr., (1670-1725) was born on his father’s, John LINTON Sr., (1645-1700) North Farnham tobacco Plantation, in old Northumberland County, Virginia, present day, Farnham, Westmoreland County. John Sr., was born on his father’s William LINTON (1618-1680) Farnham tobacco plantation. William was born at Kecoughtan, Elizabeth Cittie, old Princes Ann County, Virginia.

In 1609, William LINTON, Sr.’s (1706-1733) 2^nd great-grandfather, Moses LINTON (1562-1622) the emigrant, immigrated from York, County Yorkshire, England to America. Moses and older his brother William LINTON (1560-1634) who were both carpenters by trade, were on board the Virginia Company’s flagship Sea Venture when it set sail in the summer of 1609 sailing to Jamestown. When the ships were blown off course, by a hurricane, also on board Sea Venture, were the leaders of the expedition, Sir Thomas GATES, Sir George SOMERS and Master William STRACHEY (1572-1621). The Sea Venture was shipwrecked on the uninhabited island of Somers Isles, now Saint Charles, Bermuda. The survivors eventually reached Virginia after building two small ships during the ten months they spent on the island. On 15 July 1610, William STRACHEY wrote his, now famous, eloquent letter to the "Excellent Lady" in England, about the Sea Venture disaster and his time at Jamestown.

William LINTON Esquire, (1590-?) later left the Kecoughtan, Elizabeth Cittie Colony and his brothers and resettled on Somers Isles. William became a sugarcane plantation owner there and left many Linton descendants including an island named after him, Linton Island.

Ann BARTON (1690-1734) was the daughter of Edward BARTON (1639-1711) and Ann GREEN (1640-1712) of old King George County, Virginia. Ann’s mother had married earlier Martin SCARLETT Jr., (1646-1698)

John LINTON (1670-1725) and Ann BARTON had eight known children. They were Moses LINTON (1705-1752) who married Susanna HANCOCK (1729-?), William (1706-1733), Elizabeth Linton (1709-?), who married Nathaniel ELLICOT, Ann LINTON (1710-1751) who married Scarlet HANCOCK (1708-1741), Frances LINTON (1712-1730), Constant LINTON (1714-?), she married George BRETT (1714-?). ³

John and Ann relocated to from their North Farnham Plantation (present day, Farnham, Westmoreland County) in 1690 to the Linton Neck Plantation on Marumsco Creek. John had rented and then inherited 509 acres of this plantation from his uncle Moses LINTON (1675-1729) of Occoquan Falls, which was located adjacent to Moses’ in-law, Martin SCARLETT (1620-1705 ) of Deep Hole Plantation, in old King George County, containing the old Mason ferry across the Occoquan River ⁴ (present day, Army Radio Station, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia).

William LINTON (1706-1733) was born at his father’s Linton Neck Plantation, on Marumsco Creek, Copley Episcopal Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia (in present day, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia). In 1728, twenty-two year old, William married, the thirty three year old, widow Susanna MONROE Tyler (1695-1752). Susanna was the daughter of Andrew MONROE (1664-1708) and Eleanor SPENCE (1664-1708) of Monrovia Plantation, on Monroes Creek and old Linton Bay in old Northumberland County (now Westmoreland County), Virginia. Widow Susanna MONROE Tyler’s first husband, Charles TYLER (1695-1724) died at age twenty-nine, leaving Susanna his Stafford tobacco plantation (in present day, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia) and five small children: Charles TYLER (1716-1767), Jane TYLER (1718-1761), Monroe TYLER (1718-?), Sallie TYLER (1720-1781) and John TYLER (1724-1792). ⁵

After William Linton’s father’s death, in 1725, and his mother’s death, in 1733/34, William became the guardian, of his sister, Letice LINTON (1726-?), and executor of his sister, Frances LINTON (1712-1733). William had inherited his father’s old Westmoreland County 509 acer Linton Neck Plantation. This plantation was then located in old Stafford County (present day, Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia) and his father’s newly acquired land grant of 384 acres located on Little Rocky Run (present day, Fairfax County, Virginia). ⁶

According to the Hamilton Parish Episcopalian Church records, of Westmoreland County, Virginia, William Linton and Susanna Tyler were married in 1728. William’s household family at this time included his mother and his guardian sister, two year old, Letice LINTON. Susanna’s household family at this time included her five Tyler children. William and Susanna had three children together. They were Ann LINTON (1728-?) She married Doctor NESBETT, John LINTON (1730-1775) he married Elizabeth ELLICOT(1732-?) and William LINTON Jr., (1732-1770) he married Mary. ⁷

William LINTON Sr. was appointed a Justice of Peace of old Stafford County in 1729. On April 27, 1731, William was appointed one first Commissioners of Peace Prince of William County of the newly formed county from Stafford County in 1731. His service in the office was short by his sudden death in 1733. William’s Will was among the lost records, ( lost in the Civil War) but part his estate account was later found in the Virginia Historical Society’s collections . It's entries, begun in late 1733, included payments for Frances Linton's estate, since I am (had) been her executor, They went to brother Moses, for his own share plus those of John and Letice (both still underage) and to George BRETT (abt 1700-?) for his wife Constance LINTON (1714-?). Most of these probate records are lost too, so a complete history can’t be written of the life of William LINTON (1706-1733) of Occoquan Falls, Northern Neck Virginia.

After William's LINTON death in late 1733, widow Susanna MONROE Tyler Linton married Captain Benjamin GRAYSON (1684-1758) in 1734. Benjamin, is first recorded in the Westmoreland County records in 1715. In 1731 Benjamin made a large land speculation grant on Limestone Creek near Kitchen Mountain in the Catoctin Mountain Range (present day Loudoun County, Virginia). On November 4, 1731, Benjamin was appointed a Commissioners of Peace of the newly formed Prince William County, which included his Limestone Creek land grant.

By the time he married widow Linton, he had already became, a successful Occoquan Falls merchant. Benjamin GRAYSON, was born circa 1684, in Scotland. In his eulogy, the Episcopalian Reverend, Scott said of Benjamin GRAYSON Sr., "He had come into the county from the lower parts of Virginia, his broad ax on his shoulder, that his industry and good management, his being executor to some good estates and his marrying a rich widow, had enabled him to acquire a large estate."

Benjamin brought into this marriage his successful business, being it his first marriage. Widow Susanna MONROE Tyler Linton brought with her nine children (including Letice LINTON) and her dower land rights to her two previous husband’s tobacco plantations. Benjamin acquired a small bakery at Occoquan Falls adjacent to Nathaniel ELLICOT and Elizabeth LINTON’s water gristmills on Occoquan River (present day Occoquan, Prince William County). Benjamin, turned this small bakery into a "successful merchant bakery from which "biscuits" were distributed throughout the colonial frontier." Benjamin reached the rank of Colonel of local Prince William County Virginia Militia, during this time of the French and Indian Wars.

By 1738, Benjamin had settled the accounts of his Tyler guardian children, sons Charles, Monroe and John TYLER received the sum of 46 pounds, 12 shillings and one pence from their father, Charles TYLER’s estate (1695-1724). His daughter Jane’s share went to her husband, James LOVELL and Sally’s went to her husband Francis JACKSON. ⁸

Benjamin GRAYSON and Susanna MONROE Tyler Linton had four children together. They were Benjamin GRAYSON Jr. (1735-1768) he married Elizabeth OSBORNE (1736-?), Episcopalian Reverend Spence GRAYSON (1740-1798) he married Mary Elizabeth WAGENER (1740-?), Colonel William GRAYSON (1742-1789) he married Eleanor SMALLWOOD (1743-?) and Elizabeth "Susanna" Monroe GRAYSON (1743-1780) she married John ORR (1726-?).

Benjamin built a new dwelling for their growing family of Tylers, Lintons and Graysons, Belle Aire. This plantation house was located on the old Linton Neck Plantation on a high mound on Marumsco Creek over looking Linton Bay (present day Occoquan Bay). Benjamin GRAYSON’s Belle Aire Plantation now containing over a thousand acres.

The Belle Aire Plantation dwelling was burned to the ground, during the second battle of Bull Run if you’re a southerner or the second battle of Manassas, if you’re a northerner, during the Civil War. The battle was fought on August 28^th through the 30^th of 1862. The dwelling was approximately twenty miles from the battle field. The core of the current structure is believed to be built on the remaining foundation of Belle Aire plantation house. The Grayson family tomb vault, similar to George Washington’s tomb vault, lies in the meadow, below the now existing structure, marked with a small Daughters of the American Revolutionary War marker.

After Susanna MONROE Tyler Linton Grayson’s death at age fifty nine, on "November 8, 1752, Mrs Grayson, Colonel Monroe’s sister died." ⁹ Susanna was buried in the Grayson family tomb vault. Benjamin GRAYSON, in 1748, married the rich Widow Sarah BALL Ewell (1700-?). Sarah brought into the marriage her dower rights to her late husband, Major Charles Ewell’s (1713-1747) 800 acer plantation and their two children Frances EWELL and Jesse EWELL (1743-1805). Sarah BALL Ewell was a first cousin of William Linton Sr. (1706-1733). Benjamin lived for another six years and died in 1758. He was buried next to Susanna at their Bell Aire Plantation vault.

_______________

Footnotes:

3. The Lund Washington Manuscript, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

4. Westmoreland County Court Order Book 1663-1693 pp 43-44, Westmoreland County Court House, Montross, Virginia.

5. Westmoreland County Court Will Book 8, page 329-331 Westmoreland County Court House, Montross, Virginia.

6. Prince William County Court Will Book C, Probate records, page 432, Virginia Historical Society's collections, Richmond Virginia.

7. The Lund Washington Manuscript, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

8. Prince William County Court Will Book C, pages 432-436, Virginia Historical Society's collections, Richmond Virginia.

9. Register of Saint James Northam, Goochland County, Virginia: Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine Vol IV, page 102

William Grayson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Author: Wikipedia contributors

Publisher: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Terry Louis Linton Wikipedia Contributor

Date of last revision: 17 August 2023 00:14 UTC

Permanent link: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Grayson&oldid=1170750063

William Grayson (1742^[1] – March 12, 1790) was a planter, lawyer and statesman from Virginia. After leading a Virginia regiment in the Continental Army, Grayson served in the Virginia House of Delegates before becoming one of the first two U.S. Senators from Virginia, as well as a leader of the Anti-Federalist faction.^[2] Grayson became the first member of the United States Congress to die while holding office.

Early and family life

Grayson was born in 1742 to Benjamin and Susannah (Monroe) Grayson at Belle Aire Plantation.^[3][4] in what is now Woodbridge, Virginia. His father had emigrated from Scotland to the confluence of the Potomac River and Quantico Creek which became Dumfries, Virginia. Benjamin Grayson Sr. became a successful merchant and planter, as well as militia officer and (by 1731) one of the justices of the peace (who jointly governed the vast county of that day, in addition to their judicial duties). Their mother, twice-widowed, had been born to an important family upriver in Westmoreland County and had children by her previous marriages to Charles Tyler and William Linton (also a Scottish-born merchant). One of her nephews, James Monroe, would later serve in the Continental Army, succeed this man as U.S. Senator from Virginia and became President of the United States. Susanna Grayson bore three sons (Spence, Benjamin Jr. and William) and a daughter (also Susanna) in this marriage before she died in 1752, when this boy was ten. His father remarried, to another widow, Sarah Ball Ewell, who also had children by prior marriage, but none in this marriage before her husband died in 1757.

William was sixteen when his father died, so his eldest brother (Benjamin Grayson Jr.) became his legal guardian until he reached 21 years.^[5] Benjamin Grayson Jr. and Spence Grayson, being the elder brothers, inherited their father's business and plantations approximating 2,800 acres in Prince William County, by a will drafted in 1753 which was admitted to probate in 1758 but no longer exists. However, William was well-provided for from the personal estate (which required a 10,000 bond), especially compared to his future commander, George Washington (whose far smaller inheritance caused him to earn a living by surveying beginning as a teenager).^[6] One of the Grayson plantations included a house on a hill above Dumfries that became known as "Grayson's Hill" and later "Battery Hill" (for a Confederate battery during the American Civil War). The other, Belle Aire (often confused with a plantation about five miles inland with the same pronunciation but the name Bel Air which was owned and operated by the Ewell family) was between the Occoquan River and Neabsco Creek near the ferry (later bridge) conducting the King's Highway across the Occoquan River and which became Woodbridge, Virginia. It had been the property of William Linton a previous husband of this man's mother, Susan, who married Benjamin Grayson by 1732.
William Grayson received his first schooling locally under Charles Tyler,^[7] and later became known for familiarity with Latin and Greek as well as English history. His guardian allowed his education in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, and (after graduating) William Grayson sailed to England. Although some family sources claim he studied law for two and a half years, and received his degree from the University of Oxford,^[8][9] neither university nor Inns of Court documentation exists to support that tradition, so he was likely apprenticed to British merchant bankers like William Lee. When his brother and guardian Benjamin faced financial troubles in 1762 (so that he mortgaged his entire estate to his brother Spence), William returned home and as his need for a guardian ended, found that his spending abroad had also diminished the capital he had inherited.^[10] Grayson married Eleanor Smallwood, a sister of Maryland Governor William Smallwood, who survived him. They had four sons (Frederick, George, Robert and Alfred) and a daughter (Hebe).^[11]

Return to the Virginia colony

About three years after returning to Virginia (probably at the conclusion of a clerkship with a local lawyer), Grayson began practicing law in Prince William County and three nearby counties.^[12] The county seat was at Dumfries, Virginia, a port town (now the oldest in the state) not far from Grayson's home as well as Belle Aire Plantation, which his brother Spence Monroe Grayson (1737–1798) inherited in 1757.^[13] On the other side of the Occoquan River lay Fairfax County, Virginia, which had split from Prince William County when Grayson was a boy. The wealthiest planter families (who could hire lawyers to protect their interests) owned land in both counties, and often held positions on church vestries, responsible for social welfare activities, including caring for orphans and the poor. Thus Grayson was familiar with local leaders, especially George Mason and George Washington, who served on the vestry of Pohick Church. Furthermore, after his brother Spence Grayson was ordained an Anglican priest in England in 1771, he served as rector of Cameron and Dettingen parishes in Prince William County, so both brothers socialized with Rev. Scott of Pohick Church both vestries.

American revolutionary

Grayson became involved in the political prelude to the Revolution in Virginia. He was on various Committees of Correspondence and military preparedness, as did nearby planters, including Richard Henry Lee with whom he would serve as the inaugural U.S. Senators from Virginia.^[14]

In June 1776 he became an assistant secretary to George Washington, and was promoted as an aide-de-camp to Washington in August,^[15] which came with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In January 1777, William Grayson recruited a regiment for the Continental Army known as Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment, and served as its colonel (and Spence as its fighting chaplain). The Regiment was attached to General Charles Scott's Brigade and saw frequent action in late 1777 in the Philadelphia Campaign, notably in the delaying skirmishes in Northern New Jersey, the Battle of Brandywine and the Defense of Philadelphia.^[15] In the winter of 1777-78, he led his troops to Valley Forge,^[16] where they suffered privations, and emerged in the spring with considerably fewer men fit for service. On June 28, 1778, Grayson was central to the Battle of Monmouth. In Scott's absence, Colonel Grayson took temporary command of the brigade, which was in the vanguard of an assault as part of Charles Lee's Advance Guard. Grayson and the brigade were in the center of the battle in 100 degree heat, and held a far superior force to a stalemate, when Lee took personal command of all of his forces, while Grayson himself returned to Washington's field command. General Lee badly misunderstood intelligence he was receiving, and the line broke into a disorganized retreat. Subsequently, Lee was court-marshalled by Washington, and Grayson, as one of the key officers at Monmouth, had to testify at the proceedings.^[15] In 1778, William Grayson served on a commission dealing with war prisoners. In 1779, he resigned his military commission to serve on the Congressional Board of War.

Post-War career

In 1781 Grayson returned to Dumfries and his legal practice. Like many Continental Army officers, he was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was also elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1780.^[17]

Like his brothers, Grayson owned slaves. In the 1787 Virginia tax census, by which time his eldest brother Benjamin Jr. had died, William Grayson owned eight enslaved adults in Prince William County, as well as four enslaved teenagers, two horses and eighteen cattle, compared to Rev. Spence Grayson, who owned fourteen enslaved adults, 21 enslaved teenagers, ten horses and 17 cattle.^[18] Grayson's political career began in 1784, when he won election as one of Prince William County's two delegates (part time) in the Virginia House of Delegates. He replaced Arthur Lee and the following year would be replaced by the same man, who was then removed from office as disqualified by his federal office.^[19] Grayson had not stood for re-election because he was a delegate to the Confederation Congress from 1785 to 1787. While in that office, he helped to pass the Northwest Ordinance, including a provision that forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory.

As an Anti-Federalist, he joined George Mason, James Monroe, and Patrick Henry in opposing ratification of the proposed new United States Constitution at the Virginia Ratification Convention in 1788. In that Convention, Grayson argued that the proposed constitution was neither fish nor fowl—neither strong enough for a national government nor decentralized enough for a federal one — and thus eventually would either degenerate into a despotism or result in the dissolution of the Union.

Grayson experienced the inflation caused by Virginia and other states issuing paper fiat currency during the Revolutionary War. He later wrote to James Madison that:

The Ancients were surely men of more candor than We are; they contended openly for an abolition of debts in so many Words, while we strive as hard for the same thing under the decent and specious pretense of a circulating medium. Montesquieu was not wrong when he said the democratical might be as tyrannical as the despotic, for where is there greater act of despotism than that of issuing paper to depreciate for the paying debts, on easy terms.^[20]

United States Senate

Although the Anti-Federalists lost the battle in opposition of the new Constitution, Patrick Henry, Virginia's leading Anti-Federalist, rewarded Grayson by arranging his election to the first United States Senate. Grayson served from March 4, 1789, until his death on March 12, 1790. He and Richard Henry Lee were the only members of the first Senate who had opposed ratification, and so they were unhappy when the Bill of Rights omitted any provisions making serious corrections to the division of powers between the central government and the states. Grayson continued to believe that the Philadelphia Convention had struck precisely the wrong balance.^[21]

Death and legacy

Grayson and his family had moved to Frederick County, Virginia (where his widow ultimately died), but he died at the home of his brother Rev. Spence Grayson on March 12, 1790. He hand wrote a will shortly before his death which appointed executors and charged them to make "all my slaves born since Independance [sic] of America Free", which will was admitted to probate in Frederick County, despite some difficulties with the court clerk, on December 7, 1790.^[22] He was the first member of the United States Congress to die in office.

Rev. Spence Grayson survived another eight years, and both are interred in the Grayson family vault, with the current address (pathway and historical marker) at 2338 W. Longview Drive, Woodbridge.^[23][24] However, the house long out of family hands was used as a field hospital during the Civil War and the vault tomb dynamited. The estate of Richard Stonnell (who had owned the property and died in 1857) was finally settled though special chancery commissioner Eppa Hunton Jr. in 1887, with S.B. Stonnell receiving a deed and erecting a frame house atop the remaining foundation.^[25] The tomb's restoration was opposed by the property owner in 1975,^[26] but the Daughters of the American Revolution restored it in 1981 and further restoration occurred in 2005, and 2014, despite the remainder of the property being in private hands.^[27]

A grandson, William Grayson Carter, became a Kentucky state senator; another grandson was Confederate General John Breckinridge Grayson.

Spence Grayson's son John Robinson Grayson (born in 1779 at Belle Aire), was captured near the Occoquan River from the brig Polly, operated by Lund Washington. Impressed into the British Navy, upon his release in 1800, John Grayson became a captain in the United States Navy. During the War of 1812, Capt. Grayson commanded a squadron of gunboats off Georgia, where he settled.^[13] The original Belle Aire house, as well as mortuary vault, were destroyed during the American Civil War. The mortuary vault was rebuilt, encased in concrete and buried by the Daughters of the American Revolution in the early 20th century.^[28] Grayson County, Kentucky, the city of Grayson, Kentucky, and Grayson County, Virginia, were all named for the senator.^[29][30] in 1976, Prince William County erected a gazebo in Merchant Park beside the Weems-Botts Museum to honor William Grayson, and Virginia also erected a highway marker on Route 1 to commemorate him^[11][31]