William Graves Sr (abt. 1730 - bef. 1791)

Born about 1730 in Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before Feb 1791 before about age 61 in Henry County, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Cornet William Graves Sr served with Virginia Line during the American Revolution.

William Graves Sr is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A047420.

William Graves was born about 1730 in Virginia and was the son of Sarah Ann (Davenport, 1696-1782) and Thomas Graves (1691-1768).

William Graves married about 1743 in Virginia to Mary Dorothy Smith.

Henry County, Virginia was established in 1777. This WILLIAM GRAVES of Smith River, appears on the Henry Co., Va. Tax List of 1780. He is listed by Mrs. P. W. Hiden (Tyler's Ouarterly, vol. 19, no. 3, Jan. 1938) in her article "The Graves Family of Spotsylvania Co." as the son of Thomas GRAVES and Ann. Mrs. Hiden names his wife as Mary from a 1760 deed, Orange Co., Va. (Deed Bk. 12, p. 110), in which Thomas and Ann GRAVES of Spotsylvania Co. and William and Mary GRAVES of Hanover Co. sell 400 acres. This WILLIAM GRAVES first appeared in the deeds of Henry Co., Va. 27 Jan. 1780 (Henry Co. Deed Bk. 2, pp. 26, 27).

A deed naming WILLIAM GRAVES of Smith River dated 20 April 1790 (Henry Co. Deed Bk. 4, pp. 90, 91). WILLIAM and Mary GRAVES sold to Thomas GRAVES all of Henry Co., Va., for consideration received, a tract of land on the south side of Smith River with the old order line of WILLIAM GRAVES, containing 100 acres more or less, and said land now in the possession of Col. George Hairston. The witnesses were: Polly GRAVES Jr., William Martin, Daniel Hammock.

William was a Cornet in the Calvary, for the Virginia Continental Line during the Revoltionary war, Aug,1779-1783. Thus was entitled to land warrants. (See page 33 of source.)^[1] (Note: This link no longer works - 8 Apr 2024. Found using the Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20230731100529/https://www.ancestraltrackers.net/va/resources/virginia-county-records-v6-p1.pdf)

He passed away before February 1791 in Henry County, Virginia. ^[2]

Children

1. William Graves, Jr.
2. Susannah Graves, b: 1758; d: 09 Mar 1837 Leatherwood, Henry Co, VA; buried: Martin Cemetery ^[3] m: 1784 Joseph Lynch Martin
3. Elizabeth (Graves) Anderson
4. Thomas Graves
5. Mary (Graves) Bouldin
6. Nancy (Graves) Pasbury
7. Sarah "Sally" Graves, b: 1775 Pittsylvania Co, VA; d: 04 Jan 1866 Savanah, Hardin Co, TN; ^[4] m: Thomas East
8. John Graves.

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.ancestraltrackers.net/va/resources/virginia-county-records-v6-p1.pdf
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #138394729 for William Graves, b: 1724; d: Feb 1791
3. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #33522126 for daughter, Susanna Martin
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #17792708 for daughter, Sarah East

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=grantpinnix&id=I003352

• Graves family Newsletter, 1984, pp. 36-42 from research by Margaret Swanson Goodrum and Marion Wattenbarger identifying and differentiating between two Williams Graves who at one time were both in Henry County, VA: Williams Graves of Smith River (1730-1791) and William Graves of Pigs River (1724-1809). https://graves-fa.org/gen-histories/gens/gen169app2.html

• Geni family tree for children's info