William Grayson (1736 - 1790)

Born 1736 in Prince William County, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor (Smallwood) Grayson — married about 1764 in Charles, Maryland

Descendants

Died 12 Mar 1790 at about age 54 in Dumfries, Prince William, Virginia, United States

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Preceded by US Constitution Ratified March 4, 1789

William Grayson US Senator (Class 1) from Virginia[1] 1789—1790

Succeeded by John Walker

Biography

William Grayson is Notable.

Colonel William Grayson served with Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment (1777), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

William Grayson is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-169634
Rank: Colonel

William Grayson is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A047840.

11 July 1758 - William chose his brother, Benjamin Grayson, as his guardian following his father's death.

William Grayson Infant Orphan of Benjamin Grayson Gent decd [deceased] with the Approbation of the Court made choice of Benjamin Grayson for his Guardian who together with Anthony Russell Charles Tyler & Charles Binns his Securities entered into and Acknowledged their Bond for securing the said Orphans Estate and Indemnifying the Court.^[2]

Colonel William Grayson, (the uncle of Col. Alexander Dalrymple Orr), was a lawyer, soldier, delegate and a U.S. Senator from Virginia. William Grayson was born in Prince William County, Virginia around 1736 ^[3] or 1739 ^[4] or 1740^[5] and attended the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to pursue classical studies in England at the University of Oxford and studied law in London.

Upon returning to Virginia, William Grayson practiced law in Dumfries, and during the Revolutionary War he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel and an Aide-de-Camp to General George Washington. He was later promoted to Colonel in January 1777 when he recruited men for a new regiment under his leadership; it was called Grayson's Regiment and served under the Continental Army. ^[6][7]

William Grayson later served as Commissioner of the Board of War from 1780 to 1781 and resumed the practice of law. He also served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1784, 1785 and 1788, of the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787, and as a delegate to the Virginia Convention of 1788 for the ratification of the United States Constitution, which he opposed.

He was elected to the newly formed United States Senate and served as one of the first U.S. Senators from March 4, 1789, until his death in Dumfries, Virginia on March 12, 1790. He was interred on the old family estate at Belle Air, near Dumfries, Virginia.^[8]

Legacy

Grayson County, Kentucky and Grayson County, Virginia are named in his honor.

Sources

1. ↑ Died in office, vacant March 12, 1790 – March 31, 1790 when successor appointed.
2. ↑ The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 92, No. 4 (Oct., 1984), pp. 416-473.
3. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #6812661
4. ↑ [1]
5. ↑ Wikipedia record for William Grayson
6. ↑ Wikipedia record for Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment
7. ↑ Valley Forge Muster Roll Regiments
8. ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

• Sons of the American Revolution Patriot #P-169634
• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed November 20, 2015), "Record of William Grayson", Ancestor # A047840.
• https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A047840
• William Grayson on Wikipedia
• William Grayson on Wikidata
• The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy Alexander Brown January 1, 1895 Houghton, Mifflin & Company: Parents, Son Robert Harrison Grayson page 452
• https://www.kentuckyhistory.co/county-names/williamgrayson?fbclid=IwAR0idJiFdPUqGQCziYgXsynvBmYE-QlQ1V_Y5USk8EgFM5YmsrdOVkjXnSw
• Heitman, Francis Bernard. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution (W.H. Lowdermilk & Co., Washington, DC, 1893); p. 24, p. 259