Chapter 6 Dr. Joel Grammer - Faculty and TA Directory

John I?...Reverend John...Jacob...Dr. Joel
here. Betsy had already been married to Frederick Tope for a couple of years before Dr. Joel
was born, if our dates for Dr. Joel are correct. But what if Dr. Joel fudged his age by just a
couple of years on the 1850 census, when he was at an age when fudging the date could be
desirable? So what if he were actually just a couple of years older? And perhaps Betsy wasn’t
born a Grammer, but had an early first marriage to a Grammer, from which Dr. Joel was born.
Dr. Joel was always close to the children of Barbary (Tope) Penrod, Betsey’s daughter (and
perhaps Dr. Joel’s half sister?). To wit, Emanual Penrod was his friend and executor of his
estate, both Joel and Emanual married Sides sisters, and Joel lent money and sold his Illinois
farm to John G. Penrod. Dr. Joel and his second wife moved to Nevada along with the
Penrods and the Sides. Dr. Joel’s daughter Lousia married (1) Barbary (Tope) Penrod’s son
Jacob (first cousins?). Finally, Barbary (Tope) Penrod and most of her descendants were
Mormons, as were the Clapp family of Dr. Joel’s first wife Elizabeth. Whether or not Dr. Joel
was Mormon is unknown, but certainly his closest connections were Mormon. (Note: Betsy’s
family was apparently in Monroe County, Illinois in 1830.) 23
Alternately, perhaps the Susannah Grammer that married John Cook in Warren County
Kentucky in 1806 was not a Grammer sister, but instead a Grammer widow, from an
unknown brother of the three Southern Illinois Grammers. Perhaps Joel was the son of this
union. The could explain the Graves County connection, at least in part, because Susannah
and John Cook may have ended up in Graves County. (This does nothing to explain the
Alabama connection, however.)
• An illegitimate son of one of the Grammer sisters – possible. He could have been an
illegitimate son of Susannah (Grammer) Cook who married John Cook in Logan County,
Kentucky in 1806. A John Cook died in 1807 in Logan, County, Kentucky, but this could
have been the father of Susannah’s John. Around the 1820s, a John Cook settled at the Eaker
settlement in Graves County, Kentucky 24 and a John Cook was a juryman at the May term of
the Graves County court, 1824. 25 Graves County was where Dr. Joel was in the early 1830s,
and Graves County touches Ballard, Hickman, and McCracken Counties (all part of the
Jackson Purchase). Susannah’s sister Ruthy (Grammer) Sprouse lived in the area after 1820,
too. 26 Perhaps Dr. Joel eventually ended up in So. IL because his aunts and uncles were
there?
Additional notes that have bearing on Dr. Joel’s parentage:
• Two censuses list Dr. Joel’s birthplace as Kentucky. This leaves open all of the possibilities
above.
23 Check out Monroe County records. This, however, would not explain how he ended up in Alabama. Also get
originals of Frederick Tope probate, December 1842 per DD, box T-302, Probate Book 3, page 153; Warren
County 1796-1812, not Logan; 1818 census Fred. Tope original.
24 Battle, Perrin, and Kniffen, page 48.
25 Battle, Perrin, and Kniffen, page 51. Also Davis, Story of Mayfield...,”, page 25.
26 Get KY census records for 1820 and beyond, Jackson Purchase area, looking for a John Cook married to a
Susannah.
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