John Grigsby, patriarch of a large family of Rockbridge County, Virginia, was a military veteran of a colonial war and the American Revolution.  His second wife, Elizabeth Porter, was the daughter of an early planter family of the Piedmont area of Virginia.

John Grigsby was born in 1720 in Stafford County in northern Virginia, where his grandfather settled in 1685.  John's father was Charles Grigsby.  His mother may have been Sarah Wilkerson, but this is unclear.  The Grigsby family was apparently part of the same Piedmont planter culture as the Porters and the Beckhams.  Several marriages between these families, including those of John's children, appear in the records of Orange, Culpeper, and Rockbridge Counties.

Because of his service in a "colonial war" and in the American Revolution, John Grigsby was called "Soldier John" by his immediate descendants.  From 1740 to 1742, young John took part in an expedition against the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena on the north coast of South America.  The expedition was led by British Admiral Vernon and the American, Lawrence Washington (half-brother of George).  This action was part of the American phase of England's war with Spain over trading interests called the "War of Jenkins' Ear" (after the appendage allegedly removed from English sailor Jenkins by Spanish authorities), which later grew into the general European war known as the "War of the Austrian Succession." The Cartagena expedition gained neither Cartagena nor any other military objective, but it involved soldiers and sailors from several of the colonies and was a lesson in American cooperation that was valuable in later conflicts with the French and English. It also provided the name of an American landmark when Lawrence Washington named the family estate "Mount Vernon" after his commander of 1740.

Some sources indicate John Grigsby was also a member of a Culpeper County company of the Virginia Militia in a campaign against the Indians in 1774 called "Lord Dunmore's War" (after the Royal governor of the colony).  While this is possible, it seems more likely that the John Grigsby involved was the son of the subject John.

John Grigsby is recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution as a patriot of the Revolutionary War.  He is credited with having been a Captain commanding a company in the 13th Regiment of the "Virginia Line," but documentation is limited.  His service was probably in 1780 and 1781.  The references to John Grigsby’s military service in the Revolution, while very specific, are all in family and other secondary sources.  The DAR is no longer accepting this military service, but does credit John with “patriotic service” in assisting the American cause.)

In about 1746, John Grigsby married Rosanna Etchison and apparently settled with her on the Rapidan River at Culpeper County, Virginia. Rosanna was born about 1730 and is said to have been of Scots ancestry.  She and John had five children before her death in about 1761.

John married Elizabeth Porter about 1764.  She was the daughter of Benjamin Porter who, in 1726, received one of the earliest land grants in what would become Orange County, Virginia.  Her mother was Ann Campbell Porter.  One of her brothers was Abner Porter who is another ancestor of the subject family line. Elizabeth was born February 22, 1734, presumably at Orange County.

In the autumn of 1779, John Grigsby moved his family to the newly established county of Rockbridge, at the southwestern end of the great Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  The county takes its name from the "Natural Bridge," a rock formation in the area, which though now overshadowed by formations in the American west and southwest, was considered a wonder when the Virginia mountains were first explored by Europeans.  Near the Natural Bridge and about six miles from the town of Lexington, John and Elizabeth built a substantial and comfortable home, which they called "Fruit Hill," where they lived the remainder of their lives.  As late as 2006, the Fruit Hill house was still standing and occupied, a stately testament to the lives of John and Elizabeth.

Fruit Hill was only the first notable Grigsby home in this area.  Six additional houses, each with a name including "Hill," were built nearby by John Grigsby's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  "Fancy Hill," a stately house of red brick, was the home of John's daughter, Sarah and her husband Thomas Welch.  John's son, Elisha Grigsby and his wife, and first cousin, Elizabeth Hawkins Porter Grigsby, built "Rose Hill."  Reuben Grigsby, John and Elizabeth's youngest child, made his home at "Hickory Hill" with his wife, Verlinda Alexander Porter Grigsby, his first cousin and sister to his brother Elisha's wife.  "Liberty Hill" was the home of Thomas Welch, Jr. and Eliza Porter Grigsby Welch.  They were first cousins and both grandchildren of John Grigsby.  He was the son of Sarah Grigsby Welch and she was the daughter of Elisha Grigsby.  Elisha Grigsby's daughter, Hannah Ingram Grigsby Greenlee and her husband, David Greenlee, made their home at "Clover Hill," a brick house with two story porch columns.  The seventh of the "Hills" was "Cherry Hill," home of David Greenlee, Jr., great-grandson of John and Elizabeth.  A visitor found all of the houses standing and in use in 1961, with the exception of "Cherry Hill," the last built.  In looking at the intermarriages among the Grigsbys and the Porters and the Beckhams, one is reminded of similar, though fictional, southern families, the Wilkes and Hamiltons of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," who "always marry their cousins."

Although others of John Grigsby's children moved west, there were clearly strong ties of family and place in Rockbridge County and a Grigsby presence there for many, many years.

John Grigsby died at his home at Rockbridge County April 7, 1794.  A family story says he was "...coopering a tobacco hogshead..." when he was stricken with his final illness.  He was buried in the graveyard at Falling Spring Presbyterian Church, in the neighborhood of his home.  That church contained (as late as 1961) a window given "...in memory of John Grigsby, Captain in the Continental Army, Revolutionary War and his Son Reuben Grigsby, Captain in the United States Army, War of 1812..."

Elizabeth Porter Grigsby died October 7, 1807 and is buried beside her husband. 

 * * * * * * * SOURCES

United States Census [images at Ancestry.com] 1790, Greenville Co SC, image 7; 1810, Rockbridge Co VA, image 8, 19, 43; 1810, Abbeville Co SC, image 55; 1820, Rockbridge Co VA, image 16, 17, 48; 1820, Abbeville Co SC, image 65; 1830, Rockbridge Co VA, image 37; 1830, Limestone Co AL, image 63; 1830, Bledsoe Co TN, image 31; 1850, Rockbridge Co VA, image 109; 1840, Limestone Co AL, image 1; 1850, Rockbridge Co VA, image 10

Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy by Frederick A. Virkus (1928) [Thos. Jefferson Library, Jefferson City MO] Vol III, pp 371, 482

D. A. R. Patriot Index, Centennial Edition by Nat'l Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (1990) [Personal collection, Nancy L. Capps] Part II, p 1239: Part III, p 3085

Descendants of John & Sarah (Rosser) Grigsby by Lawson Keener Lacy (1961) [NSDAR Library, Washington DC] pp 8-30

Digest of Orange Co VA Will Books, 1734-1838 by Ruth Sparacio & Sam Sparacio (1987) [Mid-Continent Library, Independence MO] p 86

Genealogies & Reminisces by Henrietta Hamilton McCormick (1897) [Allen Co Library, Fort Wayne IN] pp 13-34, 38-47, 50-52, 74-77, 85-87, 92, 95, 104-105

Genealogy of the Beckham Family by James Madison Beckham (1910) [Personal Collection, H. Lee Capps] pp 31, 36

Genealogy of the Grigsby Family by William H. Grigsby (1876) [Allen Co Library] pp 1, 3-8

History of Orange Co VA by W. W. Scott (1907) [Mid-Continent Library] p 180

National Grigsby Family Society Newsletter [Allen Co Library] Vol 2 #3, p 38; Vol 9 #4, pp 26-30; Vol 12 #5, p 35; Vol 13 #3, pp19-21

Orange County Marriages, 1747-1850 by John Vogt & T. William Kethley, Jr. [Mid-Continent Library] p 223

Orange Co VA Tithables, 1734-1782, Parts I & II by Barbara Vines Little (1988) [Library of Virginia] Lists of 1753-1766

Rockbridge Co VA Marriages, 1778-1850 by Dorthie Kirkpatrick & Edwin C. Kirkpatrick [NSDAR Library] pp 33, 91, 302-303

Will Abstracts of Orange Co VA, 1778-1821 by Ruth L. Sparacio & Sam Sparacio (1985) [Mid-Continent Library] First page devoted to Will Bk 5 (unnumbered), Will of Abner

of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution [NSDAR, Washington DC] Application of Sharon Ann Gebhardt Braden NSDAR #815661

Records of the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution [NSSAR, Louisville KY] Application of Joe Hall Capps, NSSAR #107885; Supplemental application of David Lewis McCann, NSSAR #148566

“US & International Marriage Records, 1560-1900” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse .dll?db=worldmarr_ga%2c&gsfn =frances&gsln=porter

“VA Census, 1800-90 Record” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=vacen%2c&gsfn =John&gsln=Grigsby

“Family Data Collection-Marriages” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db =genepoold%2&rank=0&gsfn =Joseph&gsln=Grigsby

“Family Data Collection-Deaths” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=genepoold%2 &rank=0&gsfn =James&gsln=Grigsby

“Family Data Collection-Individual Records” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db =genepoold%2&rank=0&gsfn =William&gsln=Grigsby

“Family Data Collection-Individual Records” -- on the internet: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db =genepoold%2&rank=0&gsfn =Joseph&gsln=Grigsby

“Personal Information – John Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9833406

“Personal Information – James Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=3035497

“Personal Information – Charles Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9832440

“Personal Information – Mary Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9830238

“Personal Information – Caroline Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9832380

“Personal Information – John Etchison Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com /owt/person.aspx?pid=9831447

“Personal Information – Joseph Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9831241

“Personal Information – Jane Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9832862

“Personal Information – Martha Grigsby” -- at Ancestry.com; on the internet: http://trees.ancestry.com/owt /person.aspx?pid=9831643

Gravestones, Falling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Rockbridge Co VA