Justice John 'of Brandon' Grymes

Notes:

Demonstrating the nature of repeated connections among the Virginia gentry is the following account of the family of Colonel John Grymes II, grandson of Katherine (Unknown) Debnam and the Reverend Charles Grymes:

8. COLONEL JOHN3 GRYMES II (John2, Katherine1), 1691-1748, eldest son of 6 Colonel John and Alice (Townley) Grymes of ?Grymesby? (see earlier), married in 1715, Lucy Ludwell, daughter of Philip and Hannah (Harrison) Ludwell of ?Green Spring? and ?Rich Neck,? and lived at ?Brandon? in Middlesex County (not to be confused with ?Brandon? on the James, which was a Harrison estate). Hannah Harrison was a daughter of Benjamin II and Hannah Harrison of ?Wakefield,? Southwark Parish, Surry County, and sister of Nathaniel Harrison I of ?Brandon? on the James River, and of Benjamin Harrison III of ?Berkeley? (originally called ?Berkeley Hundred? and later known as ?Harrison?s Landing?) on the James, whose son Benjamin Harrison IV married Anne Carter, daughter of Robert ?King? Carter of ?Corotoman? and his (1) wife Judith Armistead, and in 1726 built the present house at ?Berkeley.? (Benjamin Harrison III and his wife Elizabeth Burwell, daughter of Lewis Burwell II of ?King?s Creek,? York County, were the ancestors of Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of two Presidents of the United States, William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.) As previously noted, Philip Ludwell of ?Green Spring? and ?Rich Neck? was a son by his first wife of the earlier Philip Ludwell who had married (1) Lucy (Higginson) Burwell Bernard (widow of Lewis Burwell I of ?Fairfield?/?Carter?s Creek,? Gloucester County, and of William Bernard of Isle of Wight County), and (2) Frances (Culpepper) Stephens Berkeley (Lady Berkeley), the widow of Lord (Governor Sir William) Berkeley of ?Green Spring.?

Colonel John Grymes II represented Middlesex County in the House of Burgesses, 1718-22, and in the latter year was commissioned Receiver General for the Virginia Colony, with his office located in the capitol building in Williamsburg. In 1723 he purchased the residence now known as the William Robertson (Robertson-Grymes-Nelson-Galt) house on Francis Street in Williamsburg (dating from c.1695-1709, it is the oldest house standing in the town and is said to be the oldest frame house standing in Virginia today). He was a member of the Royal Governor?s Council, 1726-1748, and frequently appears in the 1739-1741 diaries of William Byrd II of ?Westover.? Colonel and Mrs. Grymes are buried at Christ Church, Middlesex. The children of Colonel John and Lucy (Ludwell) Grymes of ?Brandon,? Middlesex, were:

37. Hannah Grymes, born 1717, married Dr. Henry Potter of Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County.

38. John Grymes, 1718-1740, a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, died in London while attending the Inns of Court and was buried in the Rounds of the Temple
Church, London.

39. Lucy Grymes, born 1720, married in 1737/8, Carter Burwell, 1716-1756, son of the Honorable Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell of ?Carter?s Creek?/?Fairfield,?
Gloucester County, and grandson of Robert ?King? Carter and his (1) wife Judith Armistead of ?Corotoman,? Richmond County. On the marriage of Nathaniel Burwell to Elizabeth
Carter, her father gave the couple a plantation on the James River near Williamsburg in James City County, the place that came to be called ?Carter?s Grove.? After Nathaniel Burwell?s death in 1721, the estate passed to his son Carter Burwell, who was living on the property by 1738, and by 1755 had built the present house of ?Carter?s Grove.? Today, following alterations and improvements executed by Mr. and Mrs. Archibald McCrae after their purchase of the estate in 1927, ?Carter?s Grove? is considered by many authorities to be the finest example of Georgian architecture in America. Mrs. McCrae dubbed the drawing room the ?refusal room,? asserting that it was there that Miss Mary Cary refused the hand of young George Washington, and on a separate occasion, Miss Rebecca Burwell refused the hand of young Thomas Jefferson. A son of Carter and Lucy (Grymes) Burwell was Nathaniel Burwell of ?Carter Hall,? Frederick County, who married as his (1) wife his cousin Susanna Grymes, daughter of John Randolph Grymes and his wife Susanna Randolph (see below under 40, Philip Ludwell Grymes). Other Burwell children included Mary Burwell who married as his (2) wife Colonel Edmund Berkeley V of ?Barn Elms,? Middlesex County (his [1] wife was Mary Judith Randolph of ?Tuckahoe,? daughter of William and Maria [Page] Randolph), son of Colonel Edmund and Mary (Nelson) Berkeley; and Sarah Burwell who married the Reverend John Bracken, who was rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, 1773-1818, and became president of the College of William and Mary. A brother of Mary (Randolph) Grymes was Peyton Randolph, attorney, speaker of the House of Burgesses, and president of the Continental Congress which convened in Philadelphia in 1774.

40. Philip Grymes, 1721-1762, of ?Brandon,? Middlesex County, married in 1741, Mary Randolph, daughter of Sir John Randolph and wife Susanna Beverley of ?Tazewell Hall?
near Williamsburg (now moved to Newport News), and grand-daughter of William and Mary (Isham) Randolph of ?Turkey Island.? Sir John Randolph was the only native Virginian knighted by the English crown. Children of Philip and Mary (Randolph) Grymes included Lucy Grymes, who married General Thomas Nelson of ?Nelson House? (now called ?York Hall?) in Yorktown, a member of the Royal Governor?s Council, delegate to the Second Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Brigadier General in the Revolutionary War, and governor of Virginia in 1781. (Emmie Ferguson Farrar, in "Old Virginia Houses Along the James," in discussing the Nelson houses in Yorktown, wrote that of the eleven children of General Thomas Nelson and Lucy Grymes, seven married into the Page family, including their daughter Susannah Nelson who married Francis Page of ?Rosewell? and ?Shelly,? they being the parents of Thomas Nelson Page, who married his cousin Julia Randolph, and they in turn were parents of the Virginia novelist Thomas Nelson Page, 1853-1922, of ?Oakland,? Hanover County.) Sons of Philip and Mary (Randolph) Grymes of ?Brandon? included Philip Ludwell Grymes of ?Brandon,? who married (1) Sarah Randolph, daughter of Virginia Attorney General and Loyalist John Randolph and his wife Ariana Jenings of the ?Tazewell Hall? Randolphs, and (2) Judith Wormeley, daughter of Ralph Wormeley of ?Rosegill,? Middlesex County; and John Randolph Grymes, who married Susanna Randolph, sister of Sarah Randolph who married his brother Philip Ludwell Grymes. A daughter of John Randolph and Susanna (Randolph) Grymes was Susanna Grymes who married Nathaniel Burwell of ?Carter Hall,? Frederick County, son of Carter and Lucy (Grymes) Burwell of ?Carter?s Grove? on the James (see above, 39 Lucy Grymes). John Randolph Grymes, like his father-in-law Attorney General John Randolph, was a strong Loyalist and lived in London during the Revolutionary War, but later returned to Virginia. (A brother of Susanna Randolph Grymes and Sarah Randolph Grymes was Edmund Randolph, 1753-1813, governor of Virginia, first US Attorney General under President George Washington, and US Secretary of State under his cousin President Thomas Jefferson.)

41. Charles Grymes, 1723-1727.

42. Alice Grymes, 1724-ante 1747, married in 1743, as his (1) wife, Mann Page II of ?Rosewell? on the York River, Gloucester County. (Mann Page II married [2] in 1747, Anne Corbin Tayloe, daughter of the Honorable John and Elizabeth [Gwynne] Tayloe of "Mt. Airy? in Richmond County in the Northern Neck, and grand-daughter of the Honorable William and Anne [Corbin] Tayloe of Lancaster/Richmond County.) Mann Page II was a son of Mann Page I and his (2) wife Judith Carter, daughter of Robert ?King? Carter of "Corotoman? and his (1) wife Judith Armistead, and grandson of Matthew and Mary (Mann) Page of ?Timberneck Hall,? York River, Gloucester County, whose later home on the York occupied the future site of ?Rosewell.? (Begun in 1725 by their son Mann Page I, ?Rosewell? was considered in its day the finest house in America.) A son of Alice Grymes and Mann Page II was John Page of ?Rosewell,? governor of Virginia. Mrs. Farrar wrote that Governor John Page married Miss Fanny Burwell, a cousin of the Burwells of ?Carter?s Creek.? Governor Page had a residence in Williamsburg known officially as the Robert Carter House on Palace Green.

43. Benjamin Grymes, 1725-ca.1776, Gentleman, of ?Smithfield,? Spotsylvania County, married (1) in 1747, Elizabeth Landon Fitzhugh, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Fitzhugh of ?Eagle?s Nest,? Stafford/King William County, and his wife Lucy Carter, daughter of Robert ?King? Carter of ?Corotoman? and his (2) wife Elizabeth (Landon) Willis. Colonel Henry Fitzhugh was a son of William Fitzhugh of ?Eagle?s Nest,? a member of the Royal Governor?s Council, who had married Anne Lee, daughter of Colonel Richard and Letitia (Corbin) Lee of Westmoreland County; and grandson of the immigrant Colonel William Fitzhugh and his wife Sarah Tucker, and of the immigrant Richard Lee and his wife Anne Constable (see earlier). A daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Landon (Fitzhugh) Grymes was Mary Fitzhugh Grymes who married as her (2) husband, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Kidder Meade (aide-de-camp to General George Washington, and whose [1] wife had been Elizabeth Randolph, daughter of Richard and Jane [Bolling] Randolph of ?Curles?) and their (the Meades?) children included Episcopal Bishop William Meade, author of "Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia," a classic of Virginia history published in Philadelphia in 1857. Benjamin Grymes married (2) Priscilla Rootes, daughter of Major Philip Rootes of ?Rosewall,? Stratton Major Parish, King and Queen County, and his wife Mildred Reade, daughter of Thomas and Lucy (Gwyn) Reade of Gloucester County.

Benjamin Grymes of ?Smithfield? was presiding justice of Spotsylvania County, which he represented in the House of Burgesses in 1761-64, and 1766-71. His financial interests included planting, merchandising, tobacco exporting, land speculation, iron manufacturing and mining, although by 1767 he had suffered extreme financial reverses and in subsequent years he lost the bulk of his properties.

44. Sarah Grymes, 1729-1731.

45. Charles Grymes, 1730-1732.

46. Ludwell Grymes, 1733-ante 1795, of ?Burlington,? Orange County, married Mary Dawson, daughter of William Dawson, D.D, who was president of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and a member of the Royal Governor?s Council.


CONCLUSION

All seven of the Virginia signers of the 1776 Declaration of Independence (Richard Henry Lee and his brother Thomas Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, George Wythe, Carter Braxton, and Thomas Nelson, Jr.) were connected by marriage to descendants of Katherine (Unknown) Debnam Grymes. The two Lees, Jefferson, Harrison, and Nelson have all been noted in the preceding account. George Wythe was married to Elizabeth Taliaferro, daughter of Major Richard and Elizabeth (Eggleston) Taliaferro of ?Powhatan,? James City County. Carter Braxton of ?Elsing Green,? King William County, was a grandson of Robert ?King? Carter of ?Corotoman,? by his (2) wife Elizabeth Landon, whose (Robert ?King? Carter?s) children had several ties of marriage with Katherine?s Grymes descendants as shown in this report.

Name:
Vestryman of Christ Church Parish

John married Alice Townley. Alice (daughter of Lawrence Townley and Sarah Warner) was born Abt 1660, Middlesex, Virginia Colony; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Charles married Frances Jennings. Frances (daughter of Sir Edmund Jennings and Margaret Barkham) was born Abt 1690, York Co. Virginia Colony; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

John married Lucy Ludwell 22 Dec 1715, Green Spring, James City County, Virginia Colony. Lucy (daughter of Philip Ludwell, II and Hannah Harrison) was born 2 Nov 1698, Green Spring, James City, Virginia Colony; died 3 Mar 1748, Christ Church, Middlesex Co., Virginia; was buried , Christ Church Cemetery Christ Church, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Frances married Philip of 'Green Spring' Ludwell, III 1737, Williamsburg, Virginia. Philip (son of Philip Ludwell, II and Hannah Harrison) was born 29 Dec 1716, James City County, Virginia Colony ; died 25 Mar 1767, London, England; was buried , Saint Mary-le-Bow London, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Name:
1 Jul 1651 Indenture between Nicholas Reynolds and Edwd. Hurlstone, carpenter. Witness: Eustace Grimes, John Gossall.

This record ties the Grimes of this era to the Reynolds. The above indenture is from Surry Co., VA records. Surry Co. was formed from Isle of Wight in 1652.

Sarah married John [18 Tillman] Reynolds 5 Aug 1674, North Farnaham Parish Register, Richmond Co. Virginia Colony. John was born 1653, Essex Co., Virginia Colony; died 1716, Essex Co., Virginia Colony. [Group Sheet]

Sarah married Robert H. Taliaferro. Robert was born 11 Nov 1626, England; died 1 Jun 1687, York Co., Gloucester, Virginia Colony. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

At the time of early English settlers, Leesylvania was believed to be the site of an Algonquian village, overlooking Neabsco Creek.

Henry Lee II settled on the land from 1747 until his death in 1787. He and his wife had eight children at their home including Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee. He is also the grandfather to Civil War general Robert E. Lee. George Washington mentions visiting the Lee House three times in his diaries. In 1825 the property was sold to Henry Fairfax, and later passed to John Fairfax in 1847. Fairfax later served as a staff aide to Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet. The site was Fairfax's boyhood home, and he returned to live on the property in late 1875, remaining there until his death in 1908. The land was also used as a small Confederate force and gun emplacement during the Civil War. The Freestone Point Confederate Battery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.[2] The battery engaged with vessels of the US Navy's Potomac Flotilla on September 25, 1861. There were no casualties on either side, but the Federal vessels withdrew at the conclusion of the fighting. (Ref: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in The War of The Rebellion)

Today, only a small cornerstone of the Lee House remains. The house and its path were completely bulldozed in the 1950s to make way for a road. A restored chimney of the Fairfax House remains. Henry Lee II and his wife, along with Henry Fairfax and his third wife are buried on the property. The sites and the cemetery are accessible by trail. The Leesylvania Archeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[5]


Died:
so says plaque in Leesylvania area of burials

Lucy married Col. Henry Giles Lee, II 1 Dec 1753, James City Parish, Stafford, Virginia Colony. Henry (son of Henry Lee, Sr. and Mary Bland) was born Abt. 1729, Lee Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia; died 15 Aug 1787, Leesylvania Plantation, Prince Edward County, Virginia; was buried , Leesylvania Plantion, Prince William County, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Birth:
Reported by the Virginia Historical Magazine, she died 3rd day of March 1749 in her 32nd year of her age; therefore she was born in 1717, probably not as reported on FAG 1720

Lucy married Carter Burwell Jan 5 1737, Williamsburg, Virginia Colony. Carter (son of Nathaniel Bacon Burwell and Elizabeth Carter) was born 25 Oct 1716, Glouchester, Virginia Colony; died May 1756, James City County, Virginia Colony; was buried , Carters Grove Plantation Family Cemetery James City County, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Birth:
Prob. Richmond

Thomas married Susannah Rogers. Susannah (daughter of William A. Rogers and Theodosia, Mrs. William Rogers) was born Abt 1706, York Co., Virginia Colony; died 1768, Essex Co., Virginia Colony. [Group Sheet]

Jeffrey married Ann Mrs. Jeffrey Reynolds Abt 1695. Ann was born Abt 1677; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Henry married Matilda Ludwell "Divine Matilda" Lee 1782. Matilda was born 1766, Westmoreland County, Virginia; died 28 Jul 1790, Prince William County, Virginia; was buried , Stratford Hall Plantation Cemetery Westmoreland County, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Henry married Ann Hill Carter Jun 1793. Ann (daughter of Charles of Shirley Carter and Anne Butler Moore) was born 26 Mar 1773, Shirley Plantation, Charles City County, Virginia Colony; died 26 Jun 1829, Ravensworth, Fairfax County, Virginia ; was buried , Lee Chapel Museum Lexington, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Name:
US Attorney General under President George Washington. Appointed on December 10, 1795