Newsletter 2 1978.pdf - The Grayson Family

. Grayson
page 3 Page 199, Page 199,
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Wren was discharged from service May 3rd, 1815, after serving 7 mont!~s and 20 days,
incl.uding 6 days travel time. lie was paid at the rate of $8.00 a month and received
a total of $61.33. This information is fxom copies of his military records
on file in the National Archives.
Two other proofs of tllc Graysons' sojol~rn in Bledsoc County havc been discovcs-cd:
Wren siynecl a pctitiorl in 1.G15 in nledsoc CounCy "to delay enactiocnt 31: thc I,ald
Law during tllc war Letveerl Great Buitain and the Unitcd Sta~cs" (his nane was misspelled
- Ren) aid his n;lnle also nppars on a txix list for 1815. Arjaill tile f icry
finger of fate inhibits our search For documents: th- Bledsoe County courthouse in
Pikcville burned with all its records in 1908 and the Narion County courthousc
whcrc Wren col~ceivably could have had records burlled in 1922.
We know that the family stayed in Tennessee at least through 1824 Sccause the lost
of tlic children, Sanford, was born j.11 Tcl~ilcssce that yc~~r
as shown in lzter zcni-us d
scheZules f lorn Indiana. Soinetir~c bcforc 1829 tlc>y app~rcnkly left for S zott County,
Ky . , ' where that year John married Pcrn~elia Cunuuins .
It is not easy to s!:)cctlntc why the Graysons left Tennessee to retu>:.'n to Kcn:.uc-!:y.
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Pcs!ap~ sonlr. clay :.:z ~hzl!. 1Cnci~. 13i.d I2;';cy lcaye rclativas iii 'L'eiilie>scr TiiiiJ quesc:~~
i.s of imlmrtar~ce for future cjcncr11ol;ic;-11 rcscarch inlc I.lrrcr. ' s origins. lu'a havc: s cl.~i::
passed to us fro111 Mrs. Winslow Prjcc of Loui.svil.l.c-. (IIer r:~otr!icl: was Ialauc:e, dauql!Lcr
OF ~alat.llicl. C;rciysorl, who was orlc of 3ohn blrcn Grayson's t11u.ce sons). >,Ir:;, IJl:.L~:f;
rcmc~d~crs I-ier cjriindiathcr, Sal,lt!licl (b. 1837, c!. 1.916) saying thzt. wh:~ he \ITIS i1b01211
11 (1.848) "they vi.sitcc1 rc.l.ations in Tennessee" . 'Snis j.s a most tnntai.%;::i ng l-;:! c:
becan:~ce wc: I;l!or. from the census and other 1-1,istoricaJ. rcio:cd:; that t!~erc vJc2.e i,ul:y
other C: -;lysOi:s i.n n3.cdsoc and l4ar lo:^ Count.j..cs. Even tod~y ,I:rcrny of t1lc.i.r descci ,2ill1l-...;i.:>
s:till. live in !.larion County.
In 1830 tllc. Pedc~ral CI~SUS for Scott Coun+y, ICy., showccl tilo Gxciy:;on f-xni!.ics a:.:.' ~r,:
Cuirznui.ns fm:i:Ly gro~~ped on the sane enumcrc~tpr's paya 3112 tl~c:.!:cf(>rn nc5.qlhrr::
ANDRJnV CiJl~ll~lll\iS; rnalc 1, 50-GO; fcm'ile 1; 50-60; 0 slaves
J011N GicAYSOI:: nialr, 1, 20-30; ic-male 1, 20-30; 1 undo- 5; 0 sl;~vcs
It is obvious from these first two census entrj.cs that John P:rci: Graysoil, age 25 il-$30)
hacl ~i~arricd and incvc-'d out of his father's (Wren) hc.usc. IIe movd to his ow1.1 da~:;.i.ci.l-:
near !lot on1.y his parents' lionc but also his in-law's hoilse. Ai~cii-ci~ Clark Cur::- ins
was living with his wife and no children. We know fron his obl tuary thcit thc1-CI :.as
only oilc Cuw~ins child, Permclin. Wc know also fxom later rcc:ords that t!!c fi~st
child to be born to John and Pr:rrnclia was Rebecca 3rd thus we can recc~r~sLl-uct the
11330 census and state categoricalZy -that Johi, Perr~elia, and baby Rebecca were living
in Scott County.
Another interesting inference becomes posslble regarding the name Rebecca. It is
1il;cly that kebccca, the baby, was named after John's stcpnothc,r. TlxrcCore, dcspite
the aljscnce oi marriage records we can assume that Betsy 0;dcns Grayson died
somet5.m~ between John's birth in 1105 and hsby Rebecca's birth in 3.830, giving Wccn
tjrnc to rcrriarry and John titne to accept his new step-mother.
Two lines further down tsle cnumerntor's page in the 1830 census of Scott County, Ky.,
we find Wren's naruc (mis-spelled \rip --- Grayson). According to both the 1820 and +he
1850 census, neither Wrcll lur Rebecca could read or write. However, the power of
attorney note hc signcd in 1815 is signed in an experienced mar~ner suggesting he could
write at least in a Zi~~uted way.