Newsletter 2 1978.pdf - The Grayson Family

WYSON GENEALOGY NEWSLEXTER, ITSOL.. 2 NO. 50'. Page 92.
'On pages 92 through 97 are selected sections of the 127 page book
Gracen (Grayson) Family of S.outh CarolinaN sent to us byl
hr. ana blrs, John We Grayson(, 1904 Rozella Road, Augusta, Ga,, 30904.6
I..have Xcxoxes oT the entire boolr on file if anyone needs further
family data..What is remarkableis that this is a Grayson line whhch
heretofore was unknown to any of us even though the immigrant, Sob
Gracen~ came to South Carolina in 177s0 At first glance, it would aeofil
that this Grayson clan must be related to the Graysons of Beaufort,
S.C. who included the early congressman, William John Grayson, - who
marrieh Sarah 60mareretll (1788-1863). The Tather of the congressman
was Wllllem John Grayson who marrie&~Susnnnah Grcsne 9 Oct..1787 itr
the St, Helena Parish of Beaufort. SIC.. and. who died- Scpt0 179'7.
William J-ohh Greyson senior had a-brother, Thomas Wigp- GraysbrY'
who married- Mary Hilll 27 Feb. 1794,. a sister ~lizabct-
who
marrichJohn Mark Verdier; in 1785 at Elcaufort, SIC., and another
sister Mary Graysom.born 7 Aprhl 1764 who marxfeCL-.Michael 0@13rienl 1790.
The father of the above 41 siblings (of William Johh,.Thomas Wigg,,ElPzabeth,
and Mary) was apparently Joh.Gxavsan, b. 1733, died before
1785. marrjed Sarah Wigg on ~prh-j1~,!1~ile famous Texas brothers,
Thomas. 141 Gra son (1808-1873) and Ben S. Grayson ( .- 18491, both
born in Beau %.Co, or were probably sons o m e r William John
Grayson, sr., or of his brother Thomas Wigg Grayson, but there is no
evidence for either lineage,
The point of the above digression isthat we have two John Graysons
in S.C. who died about 1785, oach of whom had a son William and
a daughter Elizabeth and they are different John Graysons, The origin
of the Gracen family irr the book by Dreyer seems to have been Ireland-,
whereas, the other John Grayson came to S.C. via the West Indios
from England, according to my records, (See Newsletter Vol, I No,. 2*')
If' it wereLimportant, to anybody, actual proof of oach step in the
lineage would be necessary to be dogmatic about these two families,
s5nce it would be easy t o assign Erays.ons t o one! line who belong in the
other.
* * *
Recently I was in Windsor, Canada where 11 stopped in Graysunts Jewelry
store and asked the pmprictcr why he was using my name. He sald that
his gradfather came from Poland at the age of 4 and could not spell
his last name which sounded like wGrekont', so the teacher spelled it
Grasin or Gracin, The name was offidally changed to Grayson later, The
man said he had an w l e by that name in Detroit-: I found. a Grasin listed
in the Detroit directory* Also, our new assistant hospital administrator:
is A1 Grayson who says his family came from Poland and the name was
changed but from what he did- not know, The moral of the story is that all
Graysons should not assume they arc English, but must prove it,
* 4& *
See page 98 for more commentary