Grant Genealogy
Volume 1, Issue 6
Sept-Oct-Nov, 2002
- Editor: Marty Grant, Kinston, NC,
USA
- E-Mail:
public@martygrant.com
- Website:
http://www.martygrant.com
Welcome to this issue of "Grant
Genealogy", a newsletter devoted to Grant Genealogy in North Carolina,
Tennessee and Virginia (and other states to a lesser extent).
Please visit my Grant web pages at:
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/grant.htm for documented web pages for
numerous Grant families in NC, TN and VA.
To change your subscription information
(change your e-mail address, or unsubscribe) refer to the instructions at
the bottom of this newsletter.
In this Issue:
Introduction
This and that. Grants in the French and
Indian War.
My Grant Book
Not much to report.
Grant DNA
Project?
Anyone want to start a Grant Surname
DNA study?
Family
of the Month:
William Grant (1726) and Elizabeth
Boone of PA, NC and KY
What's New on the Grant Web
pages?
New pages, and recently updated pages.
Expert
Advice:
Finding that elusive maiden name.
Web Links
Introduction
Hi all, I'm sorry that I did not get a
newsletter out before now, but I was just too busy, so I'm making this
one a tri-monthly issue. I figure a late one is better than none!
I've been busy with various projects
and day to day life. I've read several books including an excellent one
on the French and Indian War. I was surprised to see several Grants
mentioned as officers in the British Highlanders fighting the French. I
don't know if any of these Grants are connected to any of our Virginia
or Carolina Grants, but it is certainly possible that some of these
fellows returned home to Scotland and after their service was up, later
returned to America with their families. Unfortunately, the book did not
give first names of the Grants mentioned, usually referring to them as
"Major Grant" or "Lt. Grant", etc. Too bad, but the book was fascinating
anyway. I learned that I knew nothing about the French and Indian
War before reading this book. If you are interested in this book, you
can get it at Amazon or elsewhere. It is called "Montcalm
and Wolfe The French and Indian War" by Francis Parkman, 1884. As
you may know most of the action took place in present day Pennsylvania,
Canada and upstate New York, but the Indian atrocities were responsible
for driving many frontier Pennsylvanians south into Virginia and North
Carolina. The War lasted from 1755 to 1763.
After completing that book, I then read
"Carolina
Cradle, Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1767" by
Robert W. Ramsey, 1964. This book was excellent, and provided a great
deal of data on the settlement of the western Piedmont section of North
Carolina (primarily Rowan County and environs). The William Grant family
(married Daniel Boone's sister) is mentioned as is Colonel James Grant
(of the British Highlanders) who defeated the Cherokee Indians. He later
became Governor of Florida. This book was an interesting read, and I was
surprised at the large number of my relatives mentioned within. I'd
highly recommend this book.
Reading these two books made me wonder
about why our Grants left Scotland and England (and wherever else they
lived) to come to America. I had always assumed it was due to living
conditions in Scotland, as well as the Battle of Culloden (1746) when
many Scots were driven out to America and other colonies. I have not
done much Scottish research, so I'm no expert on the subject, but I'd
like to learn more about where our many Grant ancestors lived.
This newsletter is devoted to Grants in
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, and it seems to
me that most of the Grants in these states are from Scotland
originally, but some could be English or Irish. Perhaps many of the
diverse lines we are studying have common ancestry back in Scotland.
My Grant Book
I have done some work on my Grant book
since the last newsletter, but not a lot. Several of my cousins have
sent me updated data on their branches of the family, and I've
incorporated some of it, and will get all of it in eventually.
Grant DNA
Project?
Has anyone considered starting a Grant
DNA study? I have seen numerous DNA studies crop up recently for various
surnames, including several of my own, but not one for the Grant name.
I'm no expert on this subject, but let me explain what it is all about.
First of all, the DNA testing is
painless (a cotton swab to your inside cheek), but it does cost money
(price varies depending on the type of test, but usually around $100 for
the basic test). The testing lab will take your DNA and provide a
table of results containing a lot of scientific data that I do not
understand, but it is not important to understand it. However, if "John
Grant" takes the test, and then "George Grant" takes the test, and their
results match, it shows that they very likely have a common male Grant
ancestor.
The limitations of the testing are that
only males with the Grant surname can participate. It is a Y chromosome
test, and females do not have the Y chromosome. So, if your surname is
Grant, you are male, and you have a fairly long uninterrupted male
line of Grant ancestors, you can participate. For example, I
couldn't participate, even though I am a male Grant, my Great
Grandfather was born out of wedlock, and it was his mother who was the
Grant, not his father, so that would mess up my test results. If this
out of wedlock connection was many generations back, it wouldn't matter
so much.
The DNA testing can help prove that
cousins are actually cousins. Well, if you already know that, and
can prove it via the paper trail, then the DNA testing isn't that
important, but suppose you have a weak paper trail, and you know,
but can't prove, that your Grant ancestor is a brother to someone else's
Grant ancestor. If you and that person take the DNA test you can prove
your theory, or find out you are not related.
For ladies, you are not completely left
out, although you can't participate personally in the test, you can talk
your brothers, fathers, uncles, or male cousins into taking the test,
provided they carry the Grant surname. Their results will be good enough
to prove your connection in the family.
My workload is such that I don't think
I could be in charge of such a study (and still do it justice), but if
anyone wanted to take on the responsibility of starting a Grant DNA
project, please let me know, and I'll be to help however I can, or if
one is already underway somewhere, let me know about that! We can limit
participants (at fist) to our geographic area (VA, NC, SC and TN), or
open it up world-wide.
The hardest part (to me) is the price.
The 12 marker test (the basic test) is about $100, and the 25 marker
test (the better test) is closer to $169 (or thereabouts). This is the
price at one lab, other labs may have better prices. I've not researched
it too closely. The labs do not share your data with anyone so your
privacy is guaranteed. The results charts (comparing different testers
to show if they have the same DNA) does not include the actual name of
the participant, so your privacy is secure there as well.
I think this is an exciting new aspect
of genealogy, and, while it will not replace traditional genealogy, it
is certainly a neat addition to our "toolkit".
One more thing, we can finally find out
if any of the southern Grants are related to President U. S. Grant!
I'd appreciate any feedback on this
subject. Follow the links below for more information on DNA studies.
Hopefully they can explain it better than I did.
FamilyTree DNA (They are one
of the labs that do the testing)
One name genealogy studies using Y-Chromosome DNA Testing
Oxford Ancestors
Rootsweb Genealogy-DNA mailing List
Do a web search for "Genealogy DNA" and
you'll find many other pages on the subject.
Family
of the month:
William Grant (1726-1804) and
Elizabeth Boone (1732-1814) of Pennsylvania, Rowan Co, NC (now
Yadkin County) and Kentucky.
I don't have much data on this family
in Kentucky, so I'll concentrate on what I do know about them. William
Grant's family is well documented in the Boone family records, since he
was married to Daniel Boone's sister. I will not go into too much detail
in this article, but present the facts, as known.
According to the tradition in this
family, William Grant (Sr) and wife Margery Verner left the Scottish
Highlands for America, settling in Pennsylvania before 1726. That is the
year that William Grant (Jr) was born in Pennsylvania.
The family may have moved to Maryland
for awhile, then later moved to the Yadkin River in North Carolina by ca
1751. It was there that William Grant (Jr) married Elizabeth Boone ca
1751 or 1752. They lived in what became Rowan County in 1753. This area
became Surry County in 1770, and Yadkin in 1850.
I don't know much about William Sr and
wife, except that he was dead by 1771, and she was still living then, as
reported by a Moravian missionary who visited the area that year. He did
not list them by name, but referred to William Grant's aged widowed
mother living with him at that time.
William Grant (Jr) remained in the
Yadkin area for many years until ca 1777 when the Grants, Boones and
others moved to Boones Station (Boonesboro), Kentucky. In 1778 they came
back home to North Carolina until ca 1780 they went back to Kentucky
again. He died in Kentucky (in Fayette County) in 1804, Elizabeth dying
in 1814.
Although all of their children were
born at the Yadkin River in North Carolina, none of them remained in
North Carolina, all going to Kentucky with their parents.
Since the children all left NC (except
Hannah, who died on the way), I'll not follow up on their families,
other than to list their names here:
- Mary Grant (22 Sep 1753 Rowan Co,
NC) married Moses Mitchell.
- John Grant, Colonel (30 Jun 1754
Rowan Co, NC)
- Israel Grant (14 Dec 1756 Rowan Co,
NC)
- Sarah Grant (25 Jan 1757 Rowan Co,
NC) married John Saunders.
- William Grant (10 Jan 1761 Rowan Co,
NC)
- Samuel Grant, Captain (20 Nov 1762
Rowan Co, NC)
- Squire Grant, General (1 Sep 1764
Rowan Co, NC).
- Elizabeth Grant (28 Aug 1765 Rowan
Co, NC) married John Mosby.
- Moses Grant (3 Oct 1768 Rowan Co, NC
- 13 Aug 1789)
- Hannah Grant (30 Mar 1771 Surry Co,
NC, died 30 Mar 1777 Surry Co, NC).
- Rebecca Boone Grant (4 Jun 1774
Surry Co, NC) married James Lamond.
I have not attempted to document this
family in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia County) or in Maryland (county
unknown). They left quite a few records in Rowan Co, NC, mainly court
records and deeds.
Sources:
- Genealogies of Kentucky Families
"The Pioneer Grants" by Alice Read Rouse (Mrs. Shelley Rouse),
1981
- "Carolina Cradle", Robert W. Ramsey,
1964
- "The Life of Daniel Boone", Lyman C.
Draper (1815-1891), Edited by Ted Franklin Belue
What's New on the Grant Web
pages?
I have made no Grant page updates since
the last newsletter. (Shame on me!)
Expert
Advice: Mother's Maiden name
Reprinted with permission from Family Tree
Magazine Email Update, copyright 2002 F&W Publications Inc. To subscribe
to this free weekly e-mail newsletter, go to
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter.asp. For a free sample
copy of the print Family Tree Magazine, America's #1 family history
magazine, go to
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/subscribe_mag.html.
Sometimes, finding a mother's maiden name is as easy as finding a Bible
record, marriage record, newspaper article on her wedding, obituary or
tombstone that states the maiden name. A tombstone reading "Lottie
Haynes, wife of H.G. Barnett" indicates Haynes as her maiden
name. Sometimes tombstones use the French "nee," meaning "born," to
indicate a wife's maiden name: "Denisha Jane Brelsford nee Turley" (born
a Turley). However, the stone that reads "Elizabeth Austin nee Huston"
actually reports her name by her first husband, not her maiden name.
Birth or death certificates of the woman's children or her own death
certificate may give her maiden name, but these often contain mistakes.
(On death certificates, one of the
most common maiden names is "don't know," or "d.k.") Of these three
certificates, probably the most reliable source is the birth
certificates of her children. If these are not
available, we use whatever clues we can find and investigate them as
possibilities.
You may discover maiden names in:
* Interviews with older relatives and family friends
* Family letters and diaries
* A will or probate record of a parent naming a married daughter and her
husband
* A deed of gift from a parent to a married daughter and her husband
* A deed whereby a daughter and her husband sold property she inherited
* A prenuptial agreement
You may get a clue from the names of children or grandchildren: Peter
Talbot Phillips, William Darby Orgain, Sarah Warren Orgain, Catherine
Ewing McFadden and William
Lucius Heath Harrison. In these cases, the names are still clues, for no
answers have yet surfaced to explain the presence of these surnames as
middle names. One Virginian,
Archer Allen Coleman, seems to bear the maiden names of his maternal
grandmother and great-grandmother.
A census record sometimes suggests a wife's maiden name by the presence
of a person with a different surname living next door to or with the
family. Johnson Godwin, living
with George and Effie Keahey in 1870, turned out to be Effie's father.
Elizabeth Brelsford, living with Young and Gracey Colvin in 1860, was
Gracey's mother. People listed after the immediate family in a census
may be younger brothers or sisters or other relatives of the wife.
Similarly, tombstones with different surnames within a family group are
sometimes for members of the same family. A tombstone of an earlier
generation may be that of the wife's mother or father.
--Excerpted from "Unpuzzling Your Past" by Emily Anne Croom, $18.99.
Reprinted here with permission from the publisher, Betterway Books.
Available in bookstores or online at
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70526
Web Links
Marty and Karla Grant website:
http://www.martygrant.com
What's New at Marty and Karla Grant?:
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/whats-new.htm
Grant Genealogy - North Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia:
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/grant.htm
What's New on the Grant pages?
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/grant/grant-new.htm
Grant Census Transcriptions 1790-1870:
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/grant/grant-census.htm
Grant Discussion Forum (North Carolina Grants
only):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GrantGenealogyNC/
Other Grant websites:
http://www.martygrant.com/gen/grant/grant-links.htm
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